Final Results
Embargoed Release: 07:00hrs Tuesday 18th 2006
SOPHEON PLC
PRELIMINARY AUDITED RESULTS FOR THE YEAR TO 31 DECEMBER 2005
Sopheon plc ("Sopheon"), the international provider of software and services
that improve the financial return from innovation and product development
investments, announces its results for the year ended 31 December 2005 together
with an outlook for the current year. Sopheon shares are traded on AIM in
London and on the Euronext Amsterdam. These results and the 2004 comparatives
are reported under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Areas
materially affected by this change from the group's former UK GAAP policies are
the requirement to expense share option grants, and to capitalise and amortize
certain software development costs.
Highlights:
* Revenue for the year was £4.7m (2004: £4.3m) and the EBITDA loss for the
year was £0.7m (2004: £1.2m).
* Sixteen new customers were added in the year, with 13 extension orders from
existing customers. By year end there were 70 companies throughout the
world that had licensed our software, and the total number of individual
users from within those organizations surpassed 20,000.
* Version 6.0 of our market leading Accolade suite was released, equipping
our solution with further extensive integration to Microsoft Office and
Microsoft Project Server applications. Accolade now supports ten languages
including Japanese and Korean.
* The recurring contract base on entry to 2006 represented £1.4m of revenue.
Revenue visibility for the first half of 2006 stands at £2.2m which is
already ahead of the £1.9m reported for the first half of 2005. Visibility
includes a substantial imminent order, resulting from a successful pilot
that has converted to an enterprise-wide deployment, for which all required
internal investment approvals have now been secured.
* In addition to raising £1m of new equity, Sopheon completed the full
conversion of its convertible loan note, and renewed the group's €10m
equity line facility with GEM Global Yield Fund through December 2007.
Sopheon's Chairman, Barry Mence said: "Two thousand and five was another growth
year for Sopheon. But we were dissatisfied with key aspects of our performance
and, in particular, with our failure to achieve profitability. We have
implemented changesin a range of areas. These actions build on the business and
product strengths that have underpinned our growth, and areaimed at driving
faster expansion of revenues and improved margins. The benefits of thesechanges
are already in evidence, and we shall maintain our efforts to create more value
for our shareholders."
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
Floor van Maaren Citigate First Financial Tel : + 31 (0) 205 754 010
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.
Introduction
Sopheon's consolidated turnover for 2005 grew to £4.7m from £4.3m the year
before. We closed 29 license orders and extensions, taking the total number of
licensed customers to 70. Full-year revenues were 8% higher than 2004. We fell
short of our goal of achieving profitability. Our EBITDA losses were £0.7m
which represents a 40% improvement over 2004 under International Financial
Reporting Standards ("IFRS").
During the year we released version 6.0 of our market leading Accolade suite, a
landmark release, equipping our solution with extensive integration to
Microsoft Office and Microsoft Project Server applications. We also brought
tighter focus to our product portfolio during 2005, initiating steps to convert
our legacy healthcare solutions onto the Accolade platform. This initiative is
scheduled to be completed in June of this year. In the final quarter of 2005 we
also divested Lessenger, the small-scale lab software business in the
Netherlands for net proceeds of approximately £0.07m. Late in the year we
received new market affirmation from IDC, a global IT research and advisory
firm, which credited Sopheon with first-mover status for our actions to
capitalize on the convergence of the product life cycle management and
portfolio management markets.
On the corporate front, we completed the full conversion of the group's
convertible loan note, and renewed the group's €10m equity line facility with
GEM Global Yield Fund through December 2007. We also secured £1m of new equity
funds in May, through a placing of 4.4m shares.
In 2005 we announced our decision to adopt IFRS, in part due to the increasing
importance of the group's shareholders that trade through Euronext. In
Sopheon's case, the key areas of impact are the expensing of share option
grants, and the capitalisation and amortization of software development costs.
Further details of the principal financial effect of these changes are provided
in the notes.
Results
Sopheon's consolidated turnover grew to £4.7m (2004: £4.3m). This overall
result included a strong new sales performance by our US territory, which grew
revenues by 35% in the year, offset by a weaker outcome in Europe. Almost 60%
of our 2005 revenues were from our US operations, up from approximately 45% in
2004. This resulted in 8% annual growth for the business as a whole. This
performance was made up of two very different six month periods from a results
standpoint. Revenues fell 10% in the first half of the year as the organization
focused on delivering on the record sales in the second half of 2004 and
refilled the sales pipeline. This effort set the stage for 45% growth in the
second half of 2005, as sales momentum returned to the business. To put this in
context, since the launch of Accolade five years ago, Sopheon has grown core
dollar based revenues at an annual average of 50%.
In our interim statement we noted a growing proportion of larger sales
opportunities which have the potential to generate revenue volatility, but also
significant growth. Of the seven such opportunities referred to in our 2005
interim statement, one was put on hold, three closed with license orders during
the period, and the remaining three engaged us in extensive services activity
during 2005.
These factors, together with the large license orders secured at the end of
2004 which pulled through implementation services in 2005, led to a shift in
our revenue mix to 40:25:35 license, maintenance and consulting services
respectively (2004: 60:20:20). We believe this shift is a result of the timing
of contract signatures across fiscal years. Accordingly, we expect that
licenses will make up a larger proportion of 2006 revenues and that our
business mix will return to one in which license is more predominant. A
substantial part of this expectation is linked to customers that purchased
services from Sopheon last year, and which are now converting to license.
Coming into 2006, this represented of the order of £2m of potential new
business. Thanks in part to this conversion activity since the year end, our
revenue visibility for the first half of 2006 is now £2.2m. We define
visibility for a period as being the total of (i) license orders including
those which are contracted but conditional on acceptance decisions scheduled
during the period; (ii) contracted services business expected to be delivered
in the period; and (iii) recurring maintenance streams. Visibility quoted in
this report also includes a substantial imminent order arising from a
successful pilot, which has been extended into an enterprise-wide license
deployment. All of the customer's required internal approvals for the
investment have been secured, and contract signature is expected in the very
short term. However, visibility does not include other potential license sales
to customers who have commissioned a proof of concept or who have verbally
indicated a decision to move forward.
Our recurring revenue base has also continued to grow. As a result, we entered
2006 with £1.4m of ongoing maintenance and hosting contracts compared to £1m at
the start of 2005.
As we signaled at the interim stage last year, the higher proportion of
services in our revenue mix required us to make extensive use of subcontractor
partners such as Tata Consulting Services ("TCS"). The cost of this
subcontractor activity reduced our gross margins from 77% to 73%. Although we
are increasing in-house resources to strengthen our ability to deliver large
international implementations, we expect to continue to work with partners as a
way of deepening market awareness of Accolade and continuing to ensure our
capacity to meet customer service demand throughout the world.
In 2005, we implemented an expansion in R&D resources at our Denver development
center and, with assistance from Microsoft and TCS, were able to devote
specific resources to the landmark release of Accolade 6.0. Accordingly, £0.4m
(2004: £0.1m) of our 2005 R&D expenditure met the criteria of IAS38 for
capitalization.
The consolidated EBITDA loss was £0.7m (2004: £1.2m). This total reflects a
deduction of share based payments of £0.1m (2004: £0.1m). It excludes
amortization charges of £0.4m (2004: £0.8m, of which £0.5m relates to acquired
intangible assets which are now fully amortized, and £0.3m relates to R&D) for
the year, and net interest costs of £0.01m (2004: £0.3m). Including these
items, the resultant retained loss for the year was £1.2m (2004: £2.3m)
reducing the loss per ordinary share to 0.9p (2004: 2.0p).
Financingand Balance Sheet
Net assets have remained steady at £2m (2004: £2m) and include £0.8m (2004: £
0.7m) being the net book value of capitalized research and development arising
from the application of IAS38. Cash resources at 31 December 2005 amounted to £
2m (2004 - £1.2m). Approximately £0.2m of the increase over 2004 was due to an
increase in Sopheon's short-term facilities.
During 2005 Sopheon renegotiated its convertible loan instrument. This led to
full conversion into equity by the end of the year, eliminating all non-current
debt.
At the end of the year Sopheon also renewed its €10 million equity line of
credit facility with GEM Global Yield Fund Limited until December 2007,
securing access to a source of equity-based funding over which the company
retains a substantial degree of control. Over 90% of the equity line facility
remains untapped.
In May 2005 Sopheon concluded a placing of 4.4m shares for £1m in cash, to
bring greater strength to the balance sheet, and to position the business to
take timely advantage of possible new opportunities for business expansion.
Market
Sopheon's Accolade belongs to a major class of software applications called
product life cycle management (PLM). Business analysts have placed Sopheon's
Accolade in a sub-class within PLM called product portfolio management (PPM)
solutions. The focus of these applications is to help companies make better
decisions in the management of their portfolios of products. This category
represents only one aspect of what our Accolade system does.
In 2005, Sopheon noted the start of a shift of major PLM suppliers in mature
applications such as product data management which began to shift their
attention toward promising, emerging submarkets. A number of these traditional
PLM suppliers have stated they intend to take advantage of the market
opportunity in product portfolio management. Their movement will change the
competitive landscape for Sopheon, and is likely to confuse the market.
However, we also believe that the emergence of additional providers of product
portfolio management solutions will create increased demand for innovation
process automation, Sopheon's core solution. We expect this to result in more
sales opportunities for Sopheon and an accelerated transition in the overall
maturity of our market from the early adopter stage it is currently in to wider
market acceptance. We had anticipated seeing early advances in this transition
during 2005. It didn't happen. We continue to anticipate a market shift.
Important third-party affirmation of our view of market convergence trends came
late in 2005 in the form of a report from the global IT market research firm,
IDC. IDC analysts cited Sopheon as one of the first to recognize the
convergence taking place between product life cycle management and portfolio
management, and credited the company with being a first-mover in taking
business advantage of the trend. This recognition specifically highlighted the
strategic value of Sopheon's 2005 decision to integrate its Accolade solution
with Microsoft technology to provide a unique, highly beneficial answer for
companies needing both innovation process automation and traditional project
management capabilities in one application.
In 2005, Sopheon strengthened its market-share position in targeted vertical
industries. We continued to focus on manufacturers of chemicals, papers and
foods & beverages. Sixteen new customers were added, and we received 13
extension orders from existing customers. There are now 70 companies throughout
the world licensing our Accolade software. The total number of individual users
from within those organizations has now surpassed 20,000. A principal reason
for the recent rapid rise in user counts is that in the past year Accolade has
transitioned from a departmental-level solution to an enterprise application. A
number of our customers have deployed our system throughout their global
operations. Accolade is now being used in 48 countries worldwide.
Forty-one percent of our revenue in 2005 came from existing clients. We see
additional potential for growth from within our client base in 2006. We will
also leverage current Accolade users as part of our strategies for signing new
clients.
We continue to support our historic position as a supplier to the healthcare
protocol market. Our technology is used by healthcare institutions to provide
doctors, nurses and other medical practitioners with procedural guidelines at
the point of care. A project to convert the code base for our healthcare
solutions to the Accolade platform is scheduled to be completed in 2006, and
expansion of our protocol management market activity is on hold until this
platform transition has been proven successful. We will then readdress
strategies for growing this aspect of our business.
In 2005 Sopheon announced compliance management software, endorsed by Boeing
and Airbus, for the implementation of radio frequency identification (RFID)
technology in commercial airplanes. This project, while still active, has been
slow to move commercially. Our 2006 plans call for minimal business growth from
this initiative.
Partnerships
Sopheon is committed to growing its business through partnerships. We also know
that it takes time and investment to develop a strong network of partners that
can add value to the company. In 2005 we hired a Director of Business
Development to focus on bringing together a global partner network.
2005 was spent working with existing partners to deepen their knowledge and
understanding of our value proposition, the dynamics of our markets and the
capabilities of our product offerings. We were particularly active with our
consultingpartners such as TCS who we engaged in a number of Accolade
implementations throughout 2005. Most of this activity is in North America. In
addition to our ongoing relationship with new product management expert Robert
Cooper and his PDI/SGI organization, we have advanced our outreach and
relationship efforts with a select number of new business-management consulting
partners, with whom we are working to develop the market for innovation-process
automation globally. These relationships are in their early stages, and we plan
to spend more time and energy on building them in 2006 as a prerequisite to
generating meaningful business results. A handful of sales opportunities were
brought forward by these partners in 2005 and continue to be active in our
sales funnels. We expect an increase in lead activity and sales contracts from
this segment in 2006.
While we had hoped for more Accolade sales in 2005 through our partner network
than were achieved, several resellers have now experienced their first sales
and all network participants continue to demonstrate a strong commitment to
representing Accolade. We now have reseller partners signed up in France,
Germany, Portugal, Australasia, Korea and South Africa. Sopheon held a global
kick-off meeting with our resellers in February of 2006 and we were pleased
with the continued commitment and growing knowledge of our market and product
exhibited by those in attendance. Further developing and supporting the
capabilities of this network will be a strategic priority in 2006.
Sopheon continues to build on its active strategic partnership with Microsoft
with a strong focus on technology development and integration. Sopheon has been
selected as a member of the Partner Advisory Council (PAC) for Microsoft's EPM
project server product line. Through our participation, we receive advance
looks at Microsoft technology developments and have the opportunity to
influence product direction and strategy. At the moment there is significant
planning activity around the much anticipated release of Microsoft Office 2007,
expected in late 2006.
Product
In 2005 Sopheon introduced Version 6.0 of its Accolade solution. It features
such enhancements as support for expanded reporting capabilities and advanced
integration with Microsoft technology. It also includes a mix of features that
automate and facilitate the reuse of information throughout the product
innovation process. Accolade 6.0 embodies our strategy of integrating
converging PLM sub-markets: product portfolio management, including automation
of the product development process, and project management. The creation of 6.0
was made possible by our strategic relationship with Microsoft and was
accomplished through the integration of MS Project Server with Accolade.
Microsoft has stated that it is excited about its partnership with Sopheon
because it has resulted in an application that uniquely and effectively focuses
Microsoft technology on the critical front-end of the product development
process and the challenge of product innovation. In addition, Version 6.0
supports ten languages including Japanese and Korean. This will be a key
enabler in our strategies for supporting enterprise-wide adoption of Accolade
by global clients, and for entering new international markets.
Most of Sopheon's clients have already upgraded to 6.0. This was accomplished
with minimal disruption or delay for the adopting organizations. The efficiency
of this transition was a direct result of the high quality of our development
and commercial software code, a core competitive advantage.
Sopheon's technology platform design capabilities place us in a unique position
to take advantage of opportunities in new markets. In 2005 we created an
internal organization called RAD (Research & Application Development) chartered
to create new applications that leverage the strength of the Accolade platform
but don't require investment in the creation of product code. We have already
implemented initial prototypes of this concept. We expect RAD to generate new
sources of revenue for the first time in 2006, with momentum building into
2007.
Recent Change Initiatives
Since its launch five years ago, Accolade has established itself as a market
leading solution that has helped Sopheon to grow core dollar revenues at an
annual average of 50%. By most measures, we have come a long distance in a
short time. And as our financial results show, we continued to grow in 2005.
That said, we were dissatisfied with our 2005 performance and, in particular,
with our failure to achieve profitability. We have consequently initiated a
process of change that is affecting key aspects of our business and is designed
to help us to increase our growth, gain profitability and create more value for
our shareholders.
Much of this change was initiated in 2005, and has been described earlier in
this communication. More needs to be done, but we are encouraged by our
progress. For instance, we have taken steps to change the way we evolve our
product lines, allowing us to further leverage core technology assets and
accelerate our expansion into new markets. We have made organizational changes
that will enable us to grow and manage our indirect sales channels more
effectively. We expect these adjustments to begin paying dividends in 2006 by
producing more sales through our partner network. We have further invested in
vertical marketing with the recent hiring of a senior sales executive who is
focused on selling to the manufacturers of consumer packaged goods. We believe
this specialization model has the potential to increase sales-cycle efficiency
and accelerate our penetration of select industry segments. We have made key
hires to expand the capacity of our implementation services, changes that will
not only enable us to more tightly control the speed and quality of service
delivery but improve margins on this critical aspect of our business
operations.
Outlook
Our internal efforts are intended to ensure continued advances in our business
performance. However, we expect that our growth will be further supported by an
anticipated step-change in activity within our target markets. This belief is
underpinned by such leading indicators as the scale of our recent enterprise
deployments, and the increased attention to our market by traditional suppliers
of product life cycle management solutions. We anticipate that the movement of
these suppliers toward our space will have the additional effect of confusing
the market and that we will have to continue to deal with new competitors.
Our approach to evolving the business continues to be one of steady preparation
and planning so that we are ready when the market accelerates. We believe that
our early success in attracting global industry leaders as clients, our mature
best-practice content, and our dedicated focus on strengthening the business
process of product innovation as a prerequisite to improving decision-making
will continue to differentiate our solution and create barriers to competition.
Maintaining our position of market leadership requires a material level of
ongoing investment, while keeping costs under control. Meanwhile, we expect our
inconsistent revenue performance to continue until Sopheon grows to a more
mature level of business and the influence of individual transactions recedes.
This pattern has persisted in the first months of 2006 which have been
dominated by a small number of large new license opportunities, combined with
continued growth in our services business. That said, with over two months to
go before the end of the period, our revenue visibility for the first half of
2006 stands at £2.2m, already ahead of the £1.9m reported for the first half of
last year.
We know what we have to do, and believe that Sopheon is on the right track. We
continue to look to the future with optimism.
SOPHEON PLC
CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2005
2005 2004
£'000 £'000
as restated
Turnover - continuing and discontinued activities 4,664 4,323
Cost of sales (1,264) (993)
Gross profit 3,400 3,330
Distribution expenses 2,473 2,591
Research and development expenses 974 1,145
Administrative expenses 1,175 1,723
Operating loss (1,222) (2,129)
Investment revenue 53 83
Finance costs (67) (348)
Loss on ordinary activities before taxation (1,236) (2,394)
Taxation - research and development tax credit - 143
Retained loss for the year (1,236) (2,251)
Loss per share - basic and diluted (0.9p) (2.0p)
EBITDA loss (746) (1,189)
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF RECOGNISED INCOME AND EXPENSE
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2005
2005 2004
£'000 £'000
as restated
Exchange difference on translation of foreign 86 (117)
operations
Net income/(expense) recognised directly in equity 86 (117)
Loss for the financial year (1,236) (2,251)
Total recognised income and expensefor the year(all (1,150) (2,368)
attributable to members of the parent company)
SOPHEON PLC
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET AT 31 DECEMBER 2005
2005 2004
£'000 £'000
as restated
Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment 101 110
Intangible assets 764 651
Non-current receivables 10 9
875 770
Current assets
Trade and other receivables 1,741 1,892
Cash and cash equivalents 1,970 1,211
3,711 3,103
Total assets 4,586 3,873
Current liabilities
Short term borrowings 370 129
Trade and other payables 2,253 1,855
Obligations under finance leases 12 -
2,635 1,984
Netassets 1,951 1,889
Equityand reserves
Share capital 6,665 5,794
Shares to be issued - 1,509
Share premium account and other reserves 72,931 71,182
Profit and loss account and translation reserve (77,645) (76,596)
Total equity (all attributable to members of the 1,951 1,889
parent company)
CASH FLOW STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2005
2005 2004
£'000 £'000
as restated
Loss for the year (1,236) (2,251)
Adjustments for non-cash items 623 1,193
Movements in working capital 465 (670)
Tax and interest payments and receipts 14 (286)
Net cash outflow from operating activities (134) (2,014)
Investing activities (416) (44)
Financing activities 1,298 2,381
Increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 748 323
NOTES
1. Basis of preparation
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International
Financial Reporting Standards and Interpretations issued by the International
Accounting Standards Board and those parts of the Companies Act 1985 which
apply to companies preparing their financial statements under IFRS. The
principal accounting policies are set out below. The policies have been applied
consistently to all the years presented, and on the going concern basis.
In 2005 the group's revenues from continuing operations grew to £4.7 million
and its total losses on an EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation
and amortisation) basis fell to £0.7 million. At the year end the group
reported consolidated net assets of £2 million and gross cash resources of £2
million. The group has access to a $1 million (£583,000) bank line of credit
with Silicon Valley Bank, which is secured against the trade debtors of Sopheon
Corporation Minnesota. At 31 December 2004, $622,000 (£362,000) was drawn
against this facility. The facilities with Silicon Valley Bank have been in
place since 1999, and are renewable annually in October.
The directors remain positive about the direction, focus and momentum of the
business and believe that this, together with the group's existing resources
provide it with adequate funding to support its activities through to the point
at which they anticipate that trading will become cash generative on a
sustained basis. This is in turn dependent on the group delivering substantial
sales growth.
Should this not be the case, Sopheon continues to have access to its equity
line of credit facility from GEM Global Yield Fund Limited ("GEM") for an
aggregate of €10 million. The facility has just been renewed for a further two
year term expiring in December 2007. GEM's obligation to subscribe for shares
is subject to certain conditions linked to the prevailing trading volumes and
prices of Sopheon shares on the Euronext stock exchange. To date Sopheon has
made one call on the equity line of credit facility, raising just under €1
million in March 2004, leaving €9 million (£6 million) available.
While uncertainties remain as to the achievement of the expected sales growth
and the continued availability of facilities, the directors believe that
together, these factors enable the group to continue as a going concern for the
foreseeable future. The financial information does not include the adjustments
that would be required if the company or group were unable to continue as a
going concern.
2. Annual Report
The abridged financial information set out herein has been extracted from
financial statements approved by the directors on 13 April 2006, and which will
be delivered to the Registrar of Companies following the Company's annual
general meeting. The auditors have issued an unqualified audit report, but
consistent with prior years, have drawn attention to the uncertainty over going
concern. The financial information does not constitute statutory accounts as
defined in section 240 of the Companies Act 1985. The Annual Report and
Financial Statements will be posted to shareholders shortly and thereafter will
be available from the Company's registered office at 40 Occam Road, Surrey
Research Park, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7YG.
NOTES
3. Principal Accounting Policies
Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards
The adoption of IFRS has resulted in changes to the group's accounting policies
in the following areas that have materially affected, compared to the group's
former UK GAAP policies, the amounts reported in the current and prior year:
i. Under IFRS2, an option pricing model has been used to work out the fair
value of share options granted since November 2002, with this value being
charged to the profit and loss account over the expected vesting period and
leading to a charge of £132,000 in 2004 and £143,000 in 2005; and
ii. Under IAS 38, certain research and development ("R&D") expenditure must be
capitalised and amortised based on detailed technical criteria, rather than
automatically charging such costs in the profit and loss account as they
arise and this has led to the capitalisation of £85,000 in 2004, and £
427,000 in 2005, with amortisation of £340,000 and £392,000 respectively
being charged in each year. This change also increases Sopheon's net assets
in each year by £651,000 and £764,000 respectively.
The treatment and reporting of Sopheon's revenues have consistently applied the
principles of AICPA SOP 97-2, which is considered to be best practice in the
software industry. These principles are not affected by the adoption of IFRS.
Revenue recognition
Revenue is measured at the fair value of the consideration received or
receivable and represents amounts receivable for goods and services provided in
the normal course of business, net of discounts and sales related taxes. Sales
of software products are recognised on delivery, and when no significant vendor
obligations remain. Revenues from implementation and consultancy services are
recognised as the services are performed. Revenues relating to maintenance and
post contract support agreements are deferred and recognised over the period of
the agreements. Revenues and associated costs under long term contracts are
recognised on a percentage basis as the work is completed and any relevant
milestones are met, using latest estimates to determine the expected duration
and cost of the project.
Property, plant and equipment
Computer equipment and fixtures and fittings are stated at cost less
accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses. Depreciation is
charged so as to write off the costs of assets over their estimated useful
lives, using the straight-line method. Assets held under finance leases are
depreciated over their expected useful lives on the same basis as owned assets,
or, when shorter, over the term of the relevant lease. The gain or loss arising
on the disposal or retirement of an item of property, plant and equipment is
determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying amount
of the asset and is recognised in profit or loss.
Share based payments
The group issues equity-settled share-based payments to certain employees.
Equity-settled share-based payments are measured at fair value (excluding the
effect of non-market-based vesting conditions) at the date of grant. The fair
value determined at the date of grant is expensed on a straight-line basis over
the vesting period, based on the group's estimate of the shares that will
eventually vest and adjusted for the effect of non-market-based vesting
conditions. Fair value is measured by the binomial option pricing model. The
expected life used in the model had been adjusted, based on management's best
estimate, for the effects of non-transferability, exercise restrictions and
behavioural considerations.
NOTES
3. Principal Accounting Policies (continued)
Research and development
In accordance with IAS 38, development expenditure on internally developed
software products is capitalised if it can be demonstrated that:
* it is technically feasible to develop the product;
* adequate resources are available to complete the development;
* there is an intention to complete and sell the product;
* the group is able to sell the product;
* sales of the product will generate future economic benefits; and
* expenditure on the product can be measured reliably
Capitalised development costs are amortised over four years. Development costs
not satisfying the above criteria, and expenditure on the research phase of
internal projects, are recognised in profit or loss as incurred.
Deferred taxation
Deferred tax is recognised on differences between the carrying amounts of
assets and liabilities in the financial statements and the corresponding tax
bases used in the computation of taxable profit, and is accounted for using the
balance sheet liability method. Deferred tax liabilities are generally
recognised for all taxable temporary differences, but deferred tax assets are
recognised only to the extent that it is probable that taxable profits will be
available against which deductible temporary differences can be utilised.
Deferred tax is calculated at the tax rates that are expected to apply in the
period when the liability is settled or the asset realised. Deferred tax is
charged or credited to profit or loss, except when it relates to items charged
or credited directly to equity, in which case the deferred tax is also dealt
with in equity.
Treatment of foreign currenciesfor consolidation
For the purpose of presenting consolidated financial statements the assets and
liabilities of the group's foreign operations (including comparatives) are
expressed in sterling using exchange rates prevailing on the balance sheet
date. Income and expense items (including comparatives) are translated at the
average exchange rates for the period. Exchange differences arising (including
exchange differences on intra-group loans) are classified as equity and
transferred to the group's translation reserve. Such translation differences
are recognised in profit or loss in the period in which the foreign operation
is disposed of.
Retirement benefit costs
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit plans are charged as an
expense as they fall due. The group does not operate any defined benefit
retirement benefit plans.
Leasing
Assets held under finance leases are recognised as assets of the group at their
fair value at the inception of the lease or, if lower, at the net present value
of the minimum lease payments. The corresponding liability to the lessor is
included in the balance sheet as a finance lease obligation. Lease payments are
apportioned between finance charges and reduction of the lease obligation so as
to achieve a constant rate of interest on the remaining balance of the
liability. Finance charges are charged to profit or loss. Rentals payable under
operating leases are charged to profit or loss on a straight-line basis over
the term of the relevant lease.
Basis of consolidation
The consolidated financial statements include the results of the company and
its subsidiary undertakings.
LBITDA
LBITDA represents the loss before charging or crediting interest, tax,
depreciation and amortisation.
NOTES
4. Turnover
All of the group's revenue in respect of the years ended 31 December 2005 and
2004 derived from continuing operations and from the group's single business
segment, the design, development and marketing of software products with
associated implementation and consultancy services.
5. Earnings per share
The calculation of basic loss per ordinary share is based on a loss of £
1,236,000 (2004 - £2,251,000), and on 131,059,000 (2004 - 114,883,000) ordinary
shares, being the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during
the year. The effect of all potential ordinary shares is antidilutive.
6. Obligations under finance leases
Obligations under finance leases include £9,000 (2004 - £nil) relating to
amounts due in more than one year.
7. Shares to be issued
'Shares to be issued' at 31 December 2004 included £1,509,000 being the
outstanding amount of the group's Interest Free Mandatory Convertible Loan
Stock (the "Stock"). The terms of the Stock were modified during 2004 such that
it was only repayable in cash upon the occurrence of certain events relating to
the group's ability to continue in business. Accordingly, no fair value is
attributable to the liability component under IAS 32 and the entire amount of
the Stock is presented within equity shareholders' funds in the group's balance
sheet at 31 December 2004. During 2005 the whole of the remaining Stock was
converted into Sopheon ordinary shares, either pursuant to the exercised of
conversion rights or automatically upon maturity on 23 December 2005.
8. Cautionary Statement
Sopheon has made forward-looking statements in this press release, including
statements about the market for and benefits of its products and services;
financial results; product development plans; the potential benefits of
business relationships with third parties and business strategies. These
statements about future events are subject to risks and uncertainties that
could cause Sopheon's actual results to differ materially from those that might
be inferred from the forward-looking statements. Sopheon can make no assurance
that any forward-looking statements will prove correct.