Trading Statement
Clarity Commerce Solutions PLC
11 April 2005
Clarity Commerce Solutions plc
Trading statement and news update
Clarity Commerce Solutions plc, a leading supplier of software management
solutions for the entertainment, ticketing, hospitality and leisure sectors, is
publishing today a trading statement followed by a detailed update on the
Group's operations for the year ended 31 March 2005.
Trading update
The Group's overall trading performance for the recently completed financial
year has been in line with both the Board's and market expectations.
Cross-selling opportunities arising from recently acquired software divisions
are being realised, and the interest in the Groups' range of products remains
strong. There continues to be strong demand by multi-site organisations for
integrated software products, together with a growing focus on centralised
solutions for the management of larger chains.
The Group's investment in providing a broad platform of software spanning a
number of market sectors and disciplines continues to appeal to existing and new
clients, as demonstrated in the news update below. The migration of the Group's
core software products to the .Net software platform is already underway, with
installations of .Net thin client versions taking place in the Group's Ticketing
and Hospitality divisions over the coming months.
Both the Business Intelligence and Services divisions continue to grow as
complimentary operations to Clarity's software division, but with a wider
customer focus.
In geographical terms, Clarity is beginning to exploit its reach into new
countries, particularly North America and Europe.
The Group expects to report preliminary figures for the year to 31 March 2005 in
late June.
11 April 2005
Enquiries:
Clarity Commerce Solutions
Graham York, Chief Executive Officer 01932 778000
College Hill
Adrian Duffield/Clare Warren 020 7457 2020
CLARITY NEWS UPDATE
SOFTWARE DIVISION
Leisure
UK and Ireland
Clarity has continued to grow market penetration with the installation of
systems for Bolton Metropolitan Council, Manchester Leisure Trust (15 sites),
North Country Leisure, Luton Borough Council (6 sites) and Medway Council (7
sites). Bolton Metropolitan Council's leisure centres (managed by Serco plc) are
using the system to provide a smart card solution for a government sponsored
pilot scheme.
The Internet Bookings software module has secured orders from 6 local
authorities in the period. The incorporation of Cognos software from the Group's
Business Intelligence division into leisure solutions has raised interest from
existing customers, with Serco Plc installing this solution across 55 sites.
Following the acquisition of Baron, the golf and spa software provider, a number
of new orders have been awarded. Spa contracts have been secured with The Vale
of Glamorgan Hotel and Knockranny House, whilst in the golf sector, The Prince's
Golf Club are now using Clarity software, joining illustrious sites such as St
Andrews Links and Royal Troon. Further online booking software orders include
Carton House Golf Club and Druids Glen Golf Club.
The Reebok Sports Club at Canary Wharf is due to go live with a thin client
deployment of Clarity's leisure software. The Group is installing a suite of
management applications to manage membership, leisure and spa facilities.
Europe
Clarity reseller BlueNine has secured orders to implement membership, booking
and point of sale applications to 8 Spanish golf clubs. The launch of golf
management applications in Spanish has resulted in 2 further orders.
Sheraton La Caleta is the latest Starwood Group site to adopt Clarity solutions.
Asia/Middle East
Clarity spa software has been installed at the luxury Amaatra Spa in India
(installation undertaken by Clarity reseller Prologic). The Taj Hotel Group has
also placed an order. These sites add to Clarity's local presence along with
Sahara Estates' luxury golf resort Amby Valley.
In the Middle East, the Clarity software implementation at the Tower Links Club
in Dubai is complete. A further order has been received from the Jumeirah Beach
Group.
North America
Clarity reseller LeisureTek Inc continue to rollout spa software across the
Orient Express hotel chain. An order has also been placed by The Galt House
Hotel in Kentucky with implementation underway.
Ticketing
UK and Ireland
National Amusements (Showcase Cinemas in the UK) has placed a new hardware and
software upgrade order, and a new handheld solution is being installed at
selected sites.
The merging of UGC and Cineworld in the UK has seen major ticketing and
concessions integration projects commence across the 97 location estate. This
process will drive software and some hardware upgrades across the Cineworld
circuit.
Europe
The EuroPalaces contract (see separate statement issued April 11 2005)
strengthens the Group's European reach. Clarity also has an order from Filmfest
Munchen for the Group's ticketing and reservation systems. Filmfest Munchen is
Germany's leading film festival, with a combined audience of an estimated 65,000
cinemagoers, 600 press members, and over 1000 film-related professionals.
North America
Paramount Parks, a division of Viacom, Inc., operates some of the most popular
theme parks in North America, it has placed an order for the installation of
Clarity's new .NET-based POS application. Installations commenced in March 2005
and continue through April.
ZyaCorp, the owner of stadium-style theatres under the Cinemagic brand has
placed an order for a New Hampshire theatre to serve as the initial installation
site of Clarity's new .NET-based cinema ticketing solution, Clarity Venue. The
system is scheduled to go live in April 2005.
National Amusements Inc., owner and operator of more than 1,390 cinema screens
in the US, UK and Latin America has ordered further software to be installed in
a new Ohio theatre opening in May 2005, in addition to an Argentinean site due
to open in June 2005.
Calway Park, located near Calgary, Alberta, has ordered additional hardware and
software to support expanding park operations. Installation is scheduled for May
2005.
Hospitality
UK and Ireland
The rollout of Clarity software continues at Hall & Woodhouse brewery with
orders for site installations over the next three months.
The installation at Greene King of the Clarity Central product to manage the 410
pubs purchased from the Laurel Pub Company was completed one month ahead of
schedule.
YO! Sushi installed Clarity's EPOS and Cash control system across their UK
estate complete with further sites scheduled to receive installations in early
2005. Chip and PIN credit card handling was installed in a pilot site and
Clarity's new .Net based stock management software is due for rollout to Yo!
Sushi by the summer 2005.
Ongoing installations of systems for; Strada pizza restaurant chain; Bacchus
wine bar/restaurant group; Paulo Gianni's restaurant group; Welsh business La
Brasseria; pub and bar operator Pleisure Group; and the Real Pubs Group.
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE DIVISION
Clarity's Business Intelligence Division, Romulus Enterprises, continues to make
good progress and is developing new independent revenue streams.
Romulus is now accredited to sell and implement the Cognos Enterprise Planning
suite, and has secured an order from Robert Wiseman Dairies plc. The number and
type of training courses run in partnership with Cognos have also been extended,
with strong client attendances for new courses in the last quarter.
Recent new customer orders include Caledonian Brewery, Trelleborg, J&J Haslett,
Bowie Castlebank and Sparrows. Sales to existing clients continue to grow,
whilst sales to Raytheon have grown particularly strongly.
Romulus now offers standardised business intelligence solutions for accounting,
ERP and HR systems. This is seen as a significant growth area, and the Group is
in the late stages of signing a new joint marketing partner.
SERVICES DIVISION
Cyntergy is Clarity's helpdesk and training services division, providing support
to clients across the Retail and Hospitality markets. This division has
progressed well since acquisition.
Helpdesk
A 1-year rolling contract to provide 1st level helpdesk services to Warnaco for
their 25 European Calvin Klein and Speedo retail outlets was won, support will
be provided in English and French.
A new support contract was signed in February 2005 by ATM Technology Management,
a leading IT services company, where helpdesk support will be provided to ATM's
client Jarvis Hotels (65 hotel estate).
A further contract supporting 600 network connections for TFM's clients
including Travelodge, Officers Club, Co-op, Uniqlo and H&M, was also secured.
Helpdesk services continue to be provided to BT Expedite clients including
Mothercare, Bewise and Phase 8 covering 450 stores. The number of stores will
rise to over 1000 by September 2005.
Contracts with Wincor Nixdorf supporting 97 NAAFI retail and hospitality sites
and 140 British Consulates worldwide were extended.
A contract with Datavantage supporting 33 European stores was extended in
January 2005 for an additional 12 months.
Training
A six month Foreign Office contract for the implementation and training of
software designed to process VISA fees at UK Visa was won. This involved
on-site training in 140 VISA offices, worldwide.
The division also managed the training for a hotel software rollout to over 300
sites for Travelodge.
Specsavers awarded Clarity with a contract to provide off-site classroom style
training for approx 500 stores in the UK, with the introduction of new customer
booking software.
Training resources are being provided to a number of hotel groups including
Devere, Intercontinental Hotels and Hilton Hotels.
www.claritycommerce.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange