Ultrasis posts first pre-tax profit

The interactive software program "Beating the Blues" has helped Ultrasis (LSE: ULT.L - news) record its first full-year pre-tax profit.

The interactive healthcare software maker reported pre-tax profits of £704,000 ($1.17m) for the year to July, compared with a pre-tax loss of £343,000 last year.

Revenues increased by 59 per cent from £2.6m to £4.2m, and earnings per share rose to 0.21p compared with a loss per share of 0.023p in 2008. No dividend was paid. Ultrasis shares fell 15.3 per cent, or 18p, to close at 100p on Wednesday.

"Beating the Blues", a computerised cognitive behavioural therapy to treat depression, is now available in 120 of the 153 Primary Care Trusts in England, and provides 90 per cent in Ultrasis' revenues.

Since the year-end, a Dutch version of "Beating the Blues" was launched by a partner of Ultrasis and the company won a contract in Northern Ireland worth £1.1m "with the potential to rise to £2m over its lifetime" to March 2012, it said.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has recognised computerised cognitive behavioural therapy as a popular treatment for mild and moderate depression.

"The Nice (Milan: NICE.MI - news) announcement opens up many new opportunities for Ultrasis and potentially expands our market," Nigel Brabbins, the company's chief executive, said. The new guidelines "will double or triple" the number of people for which the therapy is an appropriate treatment.