Interim Results
Clarity Commerce Solutions PLC
30 November 2004
Clarity Commerce Solutions plc
Interims profits up 58%
Clarity Commerce Solutions plc, a leading supplier of software management
solutions for the entertainment, ticketing, hospitality and leisure sectors,
announces its Interim Results for the six months to 30 September 2004.
Financial Highlights
• Turnover increased by 70% to £8,236,000 (2003 H1: £4,853,000)
• Operating profit before goodwill up 40% to £318,000 (2003 H1: £227,000)
• Pre-tax profit up 58% to £306,000 (2003 H1: £194,000)
• Underlying* earnings per share increased by 26% to 1.44p (2003 H1: 1.14p)
*Underlying earnings per share before goodwill.
Operational Highlights
• Recent acquisition of Baron LRMS - expands the suite of software services
and extends Clarity's geographic reach
• New clients signed include Burberry and Yo! Sushi
• Integration progressing well with cross selling opportunities exploited
• Strong forward order book
Graham York, Clarity Commerce Solutions, Chief Executive, said:
'We continue to strengthen our position as market leader in the provision of
software solutions to the leisure sector, increasing the cross selling
opportunities across the client base and adding new customers. The acquisition
of Baron extends the Group's presence internationally.
'The forward order books remains strong and we have yet to fully exploit the
potential offered by our newly developed software. This, combined with the new
software introduced through acquisition, provides us with confidence for our
future growth prospects.'
30 November 2004
Enquiries:
Clarity Commerce Solutions
Graham York, Chief Executive Officer 01722 746200
College Hill
Adrian Duffield/Clare Warren 020 7457 2020
Clarity Commerce Solutions plc
Interims result for six months to 30 September 2004
Financial Review
We are pleased to report that the Group has increased profits before interest
and taxation for the half year ended 30 September 2004 by 40% to £318,000 (2003:
£227,000).
As a result of the Group's acquisitive and organic growth, revenues have
increased by 70% in the half year to £8,236,000 (2003: £4,853,000).
Earnings per share have increased by 26% to 1.44p (2003: 1.14p).
Net assets have increased to £9,250,000 (2003: £8,663,000).
In line with the Group's strategy of product integration and new product
release, the Group continues to focus heavily on Research and Development, with
an increase in expenditure this half year of 86% to £650,000 (2003: £350,000).
Operating Review
The Group has continued with the task of building and extending our integrated
product solution, spanning entertainment, ticketing, hospitality and leisure.
Integration has also continued within the business operations that we have
acquired, and this is an ongoing task.
Clarity has also (since the first half year) completed the acquisition of Baron
LRMS Ltd. Baron provides specialist booking and facility management software for
membership clubs, golf clubs and spas, and includes St Andrews, Gleneagles and
the RAC Club amongst its customers. Baron was acquired in October 2004 for a
maximum consideration of £600,000.
Leisure
Our Leisure division provides a membership, bookings and centre management
software suite that is focused on the public sector.
A number of new orders were secured, and existing customers have continued to
order and install Internet bookings at a steady pace, complying with government
directives.
Progress was made in respect of cross selling Group products, with leisure,
hospitality and smartcard functionality being successfully installed in
Bracknell Borough Council. The Group's MIS software for Leisure has also been
demonstrated to a number of customers.
Design and development of the next generation leisure software solution has
commenced, which will be fully integrated with the Group's existing product
range.
Business Intelligence Software
Romulus, based in Edinburgh, provide specialist data mining and business
intelligence software based on the Cognos platform. In the six months to
September, Romulus has continued the growth demonstrated over the past two
years, with turnover increasing.
Romulus is now a fully accredited Cognos Enterprise Planning Partner, and the
Romulus offering has been extended to include the full Corporate Performance
platform.
Demand from existing customers has continued to grow with new orders placed by
Raytheon, Hardys & Hanson and Greene King.
The development of a business intelligence tool for other divisions has
continued in all areas, with interest being expressed, and orders being placed
from customers in Hospitality, Ticketing and Leisure.
Entertainment and Ticketing
This division of Clarity provides a leading ticketing solution, with emphasis on
the cinema market. The Group is developing a second generation product based
around the Microsoft .NET platform, which will create a wider target market for
the product. It is expected that the first installation of this new software
will be in the second half of our year.
Installations of the existing solution continued in the UK, USA and Europe. In
the UK, an extension of our interface services has brought new on-line web
booking services to Apollo Cinemas and IVR (voice recognition) to CineUK.
In France and Germany work has continued installing the current ticketing
solution into new sites, providing support and maintenance for existing
customers, and carrying out trials of our EPOS product in cinemas.
In the USA Clarity installed ticketing software with two small cinema chains,
and began to trial our hospitality software in new market sectors. Major
initiatives were continued with our loyalty and stored value software.
In both Europe and the USA a number of presentations of the new software were
made, both to existing and new customers.
The order book remains strong for the second half of our year.
Hospitality
Our hospitality division provides software for operators in the catering, bar
and restaurant sector, based around Clarity Central head office software.
Although development resource in this period has focused on the integration of
the new ticketing solution into our existing Clarity Central and EPOS solutions,
this has coincided with the release of a new generation of our software for
hospitality, with greatly improved features.
Considerable work was carried out on the specification and testing of this
software in preparation for the recently announced Yo! Sushi contract. This has
included new features such as a completely wireless install of our EPOS solution
and a special sales tracking for Yo! Sushi's unique business requirements.
Further installs of our Central software were made into multi site pub and
restaurant operators. Hall & Woodhouse continued the rollout of Clarity EPOS,
back office and Staff Management solutions into their managed estate, all based
on the platform of Clarity Central head office software.
The second half of the year will see continued installations with current
customers within the terms of existing contracts.
Services
Cyntergy Services was acquired by the Clarity Group to provide a high quality
support vehicle for Clarity's clients, and customer feedback has verified the
soundness of that decision. Clarity now operates an industry recognised helpdesk
and training service.
This is operated as a stand alone service division with the majority of its
revenues coming from retail and hospitality clients outside of the Clarity
Group.
In the past six months, we have delivered training contracts for a variety of
retail and hospitality customers including both software vendors and systems
integrators.
Notable contracts include the world - wide implementation and training of EPOS
for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in numerous British Embassies throughout
the world. In addition Travelodge have commenced a technology refresh of their
estate of lodges and we continue to provide training to all areas of the
Whitbread Group. The Helpdesk has recently added a new client, Burberry.
Development
In this six months the group has developed an approved CHIP and PIN solution for
the UK, continued development of our .NET ticketing software and commenced
development of a new sports and leisure product suite. In the second half of
the year, we expect to see the new ticketing product installed in our customer
base.
Employees
The Group currently employs 149 in the UK, and 50 overseas. The Board would
like to thank the Group's staff and management for their hard work and
dedication to the Group's continued progress.
Prospects
The order book remains strong for the second half of the year, providing the
Board with confidence for the full year result.
The Board believe that we have yet to fully exploit the potential offered by our
newly developed software. This, combined with the new software introduced
through acquisition, provides us with confidence for our future growth
prospects.
End
Consolidated Profit and Loss Account
For the period ended 30 September 2004
Period Period Period
1 April 2004 to 1 April 2003 to 1 April 2003 to
30 September 30 September 31 March
2004 2003 2004
Unaudited Unaudited Audited
£'000 £'000 £'000
Turnover
continuing operations 8,236 4,853 13,325
8,236 4,853 13,325
Cost of sales -3,556 -1,860 -5,052
Gross Profit 4,680 2,993 8,273
Operating costs -4,362 -2,766 -7,680
Operating profit 318 227 593
Operating profit split between:
continuing operations 318 227 593
318 227 593
Operating profit is analysed
between:
Operating profit before impairment of
goodwill 318 227 826
Impairment of goodwill - - -233
Operating profit after impairment of
goodwill 318 227 593
Interest receivable 312 110 322
Interest payable -324 -143 -404
Profit on ordinary activities before
taxation 306 194 511
Taxation on profit on ordinary activities -77 -30 -131
Retained profit for the year 229 164 380
Profit per ordinary share
basic 1.44p 1.14p 2.54p
fully diluted 1.41p 1.12p 2.49p
adjusted basic 1.44p 1.14p 4.10p
Consolidated Balance Sheet
As at 30 September 2004
At At At
30 September 30 September 31 March
2004 2003 2004
Unaudited Unaudited Audited
£'000 £'000 £'000
Fixed assets
Intangible assets 10,300 10,683 10,322
Tangible assets 501 508 518
10,801 11,191 10,840
Current assets
Stocks 463 654 501
Debtors 4,229 4,564 4,023
Cash at bank and in hand 1,360 1,349 2,122
6,052 6,567 6,646
Creditors: amounts falling due
within one year -5,227 -6,153 -5,973
Net current assets 825 414 673
Total assets less current
liabilities 11,626 11,605 11,513
Creditors: amounts falling due after
more than one year -2,376 -2,942 -2,492
Net assets 9,250 8,663 9,021
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital 3,985 3,856 3,985
Share premium account 5,833 5,662 5,833
Shares to be issued 125 125 125
Profit and loss account -693 -980 -922
Equity shareholders' funds 9,250 8,663 9,021
Consolidated Cashflow Statement
For the period ended 30 September 2004
Period Period Period
1 April 2004 to 1 April 2003 to 1 April 2003 to
30 September 30 September 31 March
2004 2003 2004
Unaudited Unaudited Audited
£'000 £'000 £'000
Net cash (outflow) / inflow from operating
activities -192 773 2,290
Returns on investments and servicing of
finance
Interest received 312 110 322
Interest paid -324 -143 -404
Net cash outflow from returns on investments
and servicing of finance -12 -33 -82
Taxation - 54 -161
Capital expenditure and financial investment
Purchase of tangible fixed assets -45 -50 -151
Sale of tangible fixed assets - 15 41
Net cash (outflow) from capital expenditure
and financial investment -45 -35 -110
Acquisitions and disposals
Purchase of subsidiary undertakings - -3,010 -2,989
Cash at bank acquired with subsidiary - 969 767
Net cash outflow from acquisitions - -2,041 -2,222
Net cash outflow before financing -249 -1,282 -285
Management of liquid resources
Movement in blocked cash collateral account 282 -70 -118
Financing
Issue of share capital - 750 750
New secured loan - 1,540 1,540
Repayment of loan notes -352 -60 -110
Capital element of finance leases -9 -10 -32
Bank loan repayments -152 -42 -194
Net cash (outflow) / inflow from financing -513 2,178 1,954
(Decrease) / increase in cash -480 826 1,551
Notes
1 Nature of the financial information
The Company prepares statutory accounts annually to 31 March. These are the
interim accounts covering the six months ended 30 September 2004.
The results for the period from 1 April 2003 to 30 September 2003 and year to 31
March 2004 are extracted from the previous year's interim and final accounts
respectively.
The results for the six months ended 30 September 2004 and the period from 1
April 2003 to 30 September 2003 are unaudited, and have been prepared in
accordance with the accounting policies set out in the Company's annual report.
The financial information set out above does not constitute statutory accounts
within the meaning of section 240 of the Companies Act 1985. The results for the
year ended 31 March 2004 are an abridged version of the full statutory accounts
that have an unqualified audit report and have been delivered to the Registrar
of Companies.
2 Taxation
The taxation charge for the six months ended 30 September 2004 and 2003 is based
on the anticipated tax position for the full year.
3 Earnings per share
Basic earnings per share for the period ended 30 September 2004 is calculated by
dividing the profit for the period of £229,000 (period ended 30 September 2003
profit of £164,000, year ended 31 March 2004 profit of £380,000) by 15,944,642
(period ended 30 September 2003 14,361,828, year ended 31 March 2004 14,957,917)
being the weighted average number of shares in issue during the period.
The adjusted basic earnings per share for the period ended 30 September 2004 is
calculated by dividing the profit for the period before impairment of goodwill
of £229,000 (period ended 30 September 2003 profit of £164,000, year ended 31
March 2004 profit of £613,000) by 15,944,642 (period ended 30 September 2003
14,361,828, year ended 31 March 2004 14,957,917) being the weighted average
number of shares during the period.
The diluted earnings per share has been calculated by dividing the profit for
the period to 30 September 2004 of £229,000 (period ended 30 September 2003
£164,000, year ended 31 March 2004 £380,000) by the weighted diluted average
number of shares being 16,233,239 (period ended 30 September 2003 14,632,200,
year ended 31 March 2004 15,246,514).
4 Dividend
The Company does not propose the payment of a dividend.
The Interim Report will be posted to Shareholders shortly. Copies will be
available free of charge from the Company's registered office: Clarity Commerce
Solutions plc, 1 Netherhampton Business Centre, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP2 8PU.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
Latest directors dealings
- 11 hours ago The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited
- 11 hours ago The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited
- 11 hours ago Smurfit Westrock (DI)
- 12 hours ago Menhaden Resource Efficiency
- 12 hours ago BP