AGM Statement

RNS Number : 1601E

Eckoh PLC

24 September 2008

 



24 September 2008

Eckoh PLC

AGM Trading Statement

Peter Reynolds, the Chairman of Eckoh PLC ('Eckoh'), will provide the following trading statement at the Group's AGM later today: 'I am pleased to report to you today that Eckoh has made strong progress in the first half of the financial year to 30 September 2008. 

This marks a significant turning point after the well documented turbulent period in 2007/8, as the business was overshadowed by a series of adverse stories on the use of premium rate telephony in Broadcasting. Our progress is the result of the bold changes we undertook to create a stronger business going forward. 

Last year the Group introduced a series of measures to reduce costs, restructure and streamline the Group. The benefits of this strategy continue to be demonstrated in the Speech Solutions division with a number of exciting new long-term contracts secured as well as a series of significant contract renewals from existing clients. The recently announced multi-million pound contract with a global financial services company was a landmark deal for Eckoh and a validation of our technical expertise, as it involved deploying the first pan-European VoiceXML solution hosted centrally from the UK. European expansion is a key part of our strategy and it is tremendous to spearhead that with such a significant contract. 

This agreement followed on from two other significant agreements with the Ministry of Justice and National Rail Enquiries announced in August and June 2008 respectively. The Group has also seen crucial contract renewals from Ideal Shopping and TFCC and has developed a strong sales pipeline. Such strong progress reinforces the confidence of the Board that the future of the Group lies with the Speech Solutions division where we remain committed to extending our footprint into other European territories.

The Client IVR (interactive voice response) division has also delivered a strong performance in the first half of the financial year to 30 September 2008. We have increased the gross margin in the division and the reduction in fixed costs have contributed to a much improved financial performance in 2008/9. Significantly, Eckoh have renewed a contract for two years with Trinity Mirror, the largest revenue generative client within the division, and are in the process of renewing with other major clients in the division.  

These steps saw a strong improvement in the financial performance of the business during 2007/8 with an adjusted (excluding intangible asset amortisation, impairment charges and restructuring costs) loss before tax of £1.2m in the first half of 2007/8 reducing to £0.4m in the second half. The announcement of our interim results in November will demonstrate a further significant improvement made during the early months of 2008/9. The impact of the recently won contracts will further improve this financial performance in the latter months of 2008/9 with the outlook for significant future profits being extremely positive.

The Board continues to believe that Eckoh's share price does not fully reflect the value of the Group's constituent businesses and assets, and as such remains committed to pursue a strategy to unlock value for Eckoh shareholders. 

Finally, I would like to thank our staff for their continuing loyalty, dedication and hard work over the past twelve months, as we all look forward to another year of progress.'

Enquiries:

Eckoh plc
Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer  Adam Moloney, Group Finance Director Jim Hennigan, Executive Director
www.eckoh.com	Tel: [phone]
Seymour Pierce Limited
Jonathan Wright	Tel: [phone]
Corfin Communications
Harry Chathli, Alexis Gore	Tel: [phone]

About Eckoh

Eckoh is the UK's largest provider of hosted speech recognition services and sets the standard for outsourced automated solutions across Europe. Eckoh enables its clients to communicate more effectively and to enhance their profitability, while making life better for the people who use their services.

Eckoh provides automated services in virtually every industry sector for clients including TD Waterhouse, Vue Cinemas, William Hill, O2, Ideal Shopping Direct, DEFRA, The London Stock Exchange, the COI, National Rail Enquiries, AXA PPP healthcare, Parcelforce Worldwide, BAA, Barclays Stockbrokers, United Utilities and ScottishPower.

Eckoh is also a market leader in providing interactive services to large media owners and has amongst its clients Trinity Mirror, the largest newspaper publisher, IPC, the leading consumer magazines group and Bauer, the largest privately owned publisher in Europe.

In 2003, Eckoh formed a strategic alliance with BT to capitalise on the growing opportunity for speech recognition services in the corporate marketplace. The alliance, which was extended in July 2005 until 2010, has supplied speech services to over 25 clients. The combined strengths of both parties have created an unrivalled and value-added speech proposition and clients of the alliance include: National Rail Enquiries, AXA PPP healthcare, Parcelforce Worldwide, Barclays Stockbrokers, TD Waterhouse, NIE, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Three Valleys Water.

Eckoh has a call processing platform of 10,000 lines (capable of handling over 650,000 calls an hour) of which over 8,000 lines incorporate speech recognition technology making it one of the largest speech enabled call processing platforms in Europe.

In the financial year ending March 2008, Eckoh generated turnover of £25.6 million and had cash and short term investment balances of £6.8 million. Further information can be found at www.eckoh.com.

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