The top boss of an Oxfordshire software firm has said the resilience of the business will see it through the recession.

Turnover at Wallingford-based Gladstone increased by two per cent to £9.73m in the year ended August 31, which chairman and chief executive Said Ziai believes is evidence that it has come through a “difficult and unpredictable” year successfully.

Dr Ziai said: “General market conditions are difficult for any business and these results show we are being resilient.”

Pre-tax profit at the company fell from 1.75m at the same time last year £1.21m this time, a drop of 31 per cent, but £0.7m of this was used to defend the company from a hostile takeover bid by rival Canadian software firm Constellation.

While this was successful, Gladstone has now received further approaches one of which has led to an offer for the company at a price of 33p per share currently being considered by shareholders. The current share price is 29p.

Dr Ziai added: “This is substantially more than that offered by Constellation and shows we are a very attractive business.”

Gladstone, which makes entry systems for leisure centres and smart cards and fingerprint registration software for schools, employs 80 staff in Wallingford and Dr Ziai said he was continuing to recruit in key positions.

He added that the company was well placed to withstand any funding cuts in the public sector, having won several new contracts from local authorities.