Trading Statement

RNS Number : 2976E

Anite PLC

09 May 2013

 



For Immediate Release

9 May 2013

Anite plc

("Anite" or "the Group")

Trading Update

Notice of Results

Anite plc, the leading provider of software solutions to the international wireless and leisure travel industries, today announces a trading update for its financial year ended 30 April 2013.  Anite intends to issue its final results on 2 July 2013.

Overall trading in the final quarter was strong, slightly ahead of that predicted at the time of the Group's Q3 IMS issued on 11 March 2013.   As a result, Group adjusted¹ profit before tax for the full year will be towards the top end of market expectations.   Revenue will be slightly below market expectations, but margins in the final quarter were strong across all three businesses, continuing the positive trends seen in the first half of the year.  Cash generation was in line with expectations, with net debt at 30 April 2013 of £0.9m (28 February 2013: £8.5m) following the recent £1.5m purchase of further shares for the employee benefit trust.

The Handset Testing business closed the year strongly, with Q4 revenue, margin and operating profit all ahead of the Board's most recent expectations.  Organic revenue growth for the year was around 10% with a higher software mix improving margins.  The Propsim Channel Emulator product line, acquired on 31 January 2013, performed slightly above expectations for revenue and operating profit in its first quarter of ownership, with particularly encouraging order intake.

Network Testing continued the progress seen in Q3; second half revenues and profit grew in line with the mid to high single digit growth rates expected of this business.  Full year revenue in sterling terms was flat year-on-year due to the adverse currency impact seen in the first half.  Good progress has been made in America and Asia Pacific, particularly with the Invex benchmarking product, although Europe remains tougher given the economic back-drop.

Travel profit equalled that achieved last year despite the business securing only a relatively small element of the £1 million licence revenue that it targeted for Q4 due to a few specific customer-related delays.  This was mitigated by a combination of extra man-time revenue and cost controls.  Prospects for the business remain encouraging, with all the opportunities deferred from Q4 continuing as live sales prospects for the new financial year.     

¹  Adjusted results are for continuing operations before share based payments, amortisation of acquired intangible assets, restructuring costs, other gains and losses and recycled hedge losses.

Christopher Humphrey, Anite's Chief Executive, commented:

"The Group has capitalised on its growing pipeline of opportunities, resulting in a strong finish to the year.  This has enabled us to achieve our full year target and I am pleased with the progress we have made throughout the year.

The opportunities for each of our businesses remain encouraging, particularly in Wireless. We continue to increase our total addressable market, both organically and, more recently, with the acquisition of the Propsim product line.  The roll-out of LTE 4G is still at a relatively early stage and we now have additional drivers to sustain growth over the next few years."

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Anite plc                                                                                         www.anite.com

Christopher Humphrey, Chief Executive                                        01252 775200

Richard Amos, Group Finance Director

MHP Communications                                                                 020 3128 8100

Reg Hoare / Giles Robinson  

 

END

 

 

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