Greenwood, Colorado-based Ciber reported a net profit of $7.93m for the three months ended June 30, up 16% on 2003, on revenue that grew 18% to $208.3m. Revenue was also up 16% on the previous quarter, of which 4% was organic. However, gains here were offset somewhat by a sharp decline in available cash, which fell 90% to $12.9m. Ciber said it secured $250m worth of deals in the US during the quarter, and its US pipeline is now worth $1.5bn.

During the period, Ciber made a sizable acquisition in the UK market, taking on systems integrator Ascent Technology Ltd for approximately $40m, which in addition to providing consulting and systems integration services around SAP, Sage and Microsoft .NET tools, develops its own Ascent CRM software. The company targets SMEs and counts companies such as Hugh Mackay Carpets, Aston Villa Football Club, Gepp & Sons, Yates Group, Deep Pan Pizza, and Martin Baker Aircraft among its customers. Ciber said the company is profitable, and has grown to make some $41m in annual revenue.

The deal added to the completion of the takeovers of government contractor SCB Computer Technology in May, which is expected to add some $100m in additional revenue in 2004, and FullTilt Solutions in April, which made revenue of $15m in its last financial year.

During the quarter, Ciber said it had secured a $10m PeopleSoft implementation project with a US state, an offshore software development deal with a US financial institution, a call center contract with a federal government agency, a $1m Oracle project, and two deals for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance services. Ascent also won three SAP deals during the quarter. Perhaps most significant however is that 25% of all major software related projects are now being performed using Ciber’s offshore delivery model through its Ciber India Pvt Ltd venture, which gives the company access to some 1,500 people located in India.

The company said it expects to generate revenue of between $820m and $830m in full year 2004, up as much as 20% on 2003, and earnings of between $0.48 and $0.52 per share.