Embargoed Release: 07:00hrs Friday 16th June 2006
SOPHEON PLC
AGM Statement
At the Annual General Meeting of Sopheon plc to be held later today, the
Chairman of the board will give shareholders an update on the business. This
will include the following statement:
"We are almost at the end of the first half of 2006 and in this period we have
had steady and continued development in our business. In addition to business
generated in our traditional territories, we are pleased to report that we have
signed our second major Accolade sale in Scandinavia, and our first in France.
Our teams in the US and Europe have been able to generate 50% more
implementation and consulting services revenue by the end of May than in the
same period last year, thanks in part to management actions taken in the second
half of last year. New license wins and increased recurring maintenance
revenues - which now stand at £1.6m annualized - along with the step up in
services business, has put the overall business on course to significantly
improve on the first half of 2005. However, as always I would mention that our
performance in any reporting period can be materially affected by the signature
date of individual deals. This factor will be a continuing consideration as we
build the business, but one that should be increasingly offset by growth.
The market for product life cycle management (PLM) applications continues to
expand, with analysts forecasting compound annual growth rates ranging from 8%
to 11% through 2008. More importantly, during the same period, the PLM
submarket in which Accolade has been classified is projected to triple in size.
Sopheon's offering is well positioned to take advantage of this anticipated
escalation in demand. In 2005, we strengthened our market-share in the
chemicals, paper and food & beverage industries, and they remain our principal
targets. But we have also enjoyed major successes with new clients in consumer
packaged goods markets, and recently expanded our sales and marketing efforts
to target manufacturers in that sector.
On the product front, we have invested in the creation of a new research and
applications development (RAD) team. Its charter is to create new software
applications that leverage the strength of the Accolade platform and provide
new sources of revenue growth. We are pleased to announce the first
applications produced by the RAD organization, which will be introduced to the
market in the third quarter of this year:
* Accolade Product Roadmapping and Planning Application - this offering will
enable companies to advance the maturity of their innovation processes by
making it easier for them to develop and evaluate long-term product plans,
manage programs or product "families", manage product relationships, and
assess the impact of dependencies among projects during portfolio analysis.
* New Versions of Accolade's Stage-Gate Process and Portfolio Management
Applications - these enhanced versions of existing Accolade applications
will introduce new best-practice models to further support portfolio
planning and the post-launch stages of product life cycle management.
One important benefit of our product strategy will be to further our
relationships with existing clients, which accounted for a quarter of
non-recurring revenues during 2005. We expect our partners to contribute to an
increase in lead activity and sales contracts during 2006 as our reseller
network gains additional traction and our emerging relationships with select
global business-management consulting partners deepen. The importance of
Sopheon's ongoing relationship with Microsoft was raised to a new level with
our recent promotion to the elite status of "named" partner. This advancement
entitles Sopheon to the support of a Microsoft business development manager
dedicated to ensuring that we receive maximum business benefit from our access
to Microsoft technical, sales and marketing resources.
Sopheon also announces that it has filed a certification with the US Securities
and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on Form 15, to immediately suspend its duty to
file reports under the Securities Act of 1934. Sopheon will realize cost
savings by no longer making these filings. The certification confirms, among
other points, that Sopheon has approximately 400 US resident shareholders.
These shareholders represent less than 1% of the company's issued capital, and
Sopheon's ordinary shares are not traded in any US markets. Sopheon began
filing reports with the SEC following its US registration of shares issued in
connection with the acquisition of Teltech Resource Network Corporation in
2000. This change will have no effect on the trading of Sopheon's shares on AIM
and Euronext.
Finally, we wish to inform you that Andrew Davis, a non-executive director, is
retiring from the board of Sopheon as from 30 June 2006, in order to focus on
his other interests. The directors and staff thank him for his contribution to
the development of the group. This brings the overall size of the Sopheon board
to six, comprising three executive and three non-executive directors."
For further information contact:
Barry Mence, Chairman Sopheon plc Tel : + 44 (0) 1483 685
735
Arif Karimjee, CFO
Adam Reynolds Hansard Communications Tel : + 44 (0) 207 245
1100
Andrew Tan + 44 (0) 7957 203 685
Frank Jansen Citigate First Financial Tel : + 31 (0) 205 75 40
24
About Sopheon
Sopheon (LSE:SPE) is an international provider of software and services that
help organizations improve the business impact of product innovation. The
Sopheon Accolade® system automates gate or phase-based product development
processes and provides strategic decision support that allows companies to
increase revenue and profits from new products. Sopheon is listed on the AIM
Market of the London Stock Exchange and on the Euronext in the Netherlands. For
more information, please visit www.sopheon.com.
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