Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 9390X

Anite PLC

23 February 2012

 



23 February 2012

Anite plc

Interim Management Statement

Anite plc ("Anite" or "the Group"), the leading provider of software solutions to the international wireless and leisure travel industries, today announces an Interim Management Statement, covering the period from 1 November 2011 to 22 February 2012.

Trading

Overall Group trading in the quarter ended 31 January 2012 ("Q3") was very strong and continued the trends identified in the half year report.  Group order intake, revenue and adjusted¹ profit before tax were all ahead of both the same period last year and the Board's expectations for the quarter.

The Handset Testing business continued to provide the outperformance, with on-going strong demand for LTE and 2G/3G products.  Year to date, LTE products now account for around 45% of Handset Testing revenues compared to 34% in the full year to 30 April 2011.  Significant year on year growth is still being experienced in both Conformance Testing and Inter-operability Testing.

Trading in Network Testing and Travel in Q3 continued to be broadly in line with the Board's expectations for those businesses.

Anite continues to report a strong financial position.  The Group had an expected £2.8m cash outflow in Q3 caused by seasonal working capital swings.  As at 31 January 2012 the Group retained net cash of £9.8m (31 October: net cash of £12.6m) and committed undrawn facilities of £25m.

¹ - Adjusted profit before tax is defined as profit for continuing operations before tax, share based payments, amortisation of acquired intangible assets, restructuring costs, other gains and losses and recycled hedge losses.

Outlook

The better than expected Q3 performance in Handset Testing has increased the Board's expectation for its second half result.  Handset Testing is now expected to deliver growth in revenue and operating profit when compared to the first half of the year.

Expectations for Network Testing remain unchanged, whilst the Travel business requires the signature of around £1.5m of licence revenue from new and existing customers before the year end to support existing expectations.  A significant pipeline of opportunities exists to meet this requirement.

Taking these factors into account, the Board remains confident about the full year out-turn, and anticipates that full year adjusted profit before tax will be at least in line with current consensus market expectations.

Commenting, Christopher Humphrey, Anite's Chief Executive said:

"The continued strong trading in Handset Testing during Q3 underpins our expectations for the full year.  Looking further into the future we remain encouraged by the Group's prospects for achieving sustainable growth."

-     Ends    -

Anite plc	www.anite.com
Christopher Humphrey, Chief Executive Richard Amos, Group Finance Director	01252 775200
MHP Communications
Reg Hoare / Giles Robinson	020 3128 8100

 

END

 

 

IMSZMGZZNZGGZZM