Business intelligence specialist Ardentia has announced its 2008 annual results, reporting continued growth, with its healthcare operations increasing by 35%.

Overall revenue from normal operations grew from £4.1m in 2007 to £5.7m in 2008 and profit from just under £300K to approximately £1.6m, with revenue from direct sales to healthcare organisations growing to £3.5m in 2008, from £2.6m in 2007.

Commenting on the annual results, Ardentia managing director Gary Luke announced that the company was highly satisfied with another good year of significant growth, and confirmed that it would continue to reinvest a fifth of total revenue into research and development, to ensure the company remains at the forefront in the business intelligence sector.

"Strong profits matter because they have enabled us to keep investing 20% of revenue into product development. With the new pressures on healthcare, and the economy as a whole, we believe that this is a time to keep investing heavily on products that help the NHS provide clinically effective and cost-effective care. That's why we're reaching such high levels of continued spending on R&D."

Ardentia is currently developing patient level costing for both acute and mental health hospitals, and pathway management for both hospitals and commissioners. To ensure it remains at the forefront of the healthcare intelligence industry, the company is also bringing these two solutions together to launch a new costed care pathway application which will show overall costs and income across whole pathways of care.

According to Ardentia, its costed care pathway application will provide vital information on the true costs of actually treating conditions, rather than the costs of individual healthcare events such as an outpatient attendance or an inpatient spell, enabling healthcare providers to manage finances more effectively.

Managing pathways will also become increasingly important as more and more healthcare expenditure goes into chronic care. Mental Health providers are already working with a significant pathway focus, and Commissioners hoping to establish World Class Commissioning will need to be able to track pathways through whole healthcare communities.

Ardentia believes that its commitment to continued research and development will ensure the company continues to give hospitals and trusts the tools they need to optimise financial management, overall performance and patient care.

"20% compares very favourably with the average for our sector, which is more like 7-8%. Even companies such as Merck or Novartis, in the traditionally development-rich sector of pharmaceuticals, tend to spend about 14 or 15%," commented Gary Luke. "This is made possible by continued strong growth and sustained profitability which is what makes last year's results so satisfying. We are building on the platform they gave us to deliver similar strong financial results for the year ahead."

Further information (external website)