Final Results

Eckoh Technologies PLC 07 July 2005 For Immediate Release 7th July 2005 Eckoh Technologies plc Preliminary announcement Eckoh Technologies ("Eckoh"), one of Europe's largest speech application service providers, today announced preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2005. Highlights of the Year 6 months ended 6 months ended Year ended Year ended 31 March 2005 30 Sept 2004 31 March 2005 31 March 2004 (£'000) Turnover 40,304 39,416 79,720 62,504 Adjusted profit/(loss) before taxation* 643 241 884 (226) Loss before taxation (8,441) (970) (9,411) (1,097) Cash and short-term investments 13,296 9,083 13,296 10,239 * before intangible asset amortisation and impairment and exceptional items (note 6) Financial Highlights • Turnover from continuing operations up 32% to £79.7m (2004 - £60.2m) • Adjusted profit before taxation to £0.9m (2004 - loss £0.2m) • Loss before taxation of £9.4m (2004 - loss £1.1m) • Speech turnover up 56% to £5.0m (2004 - £3.2m) • Cash and short-term investment balances up £3.1m to £13.3m (2004 - £10.2m) Operational Highlights • Acquisition of Anglia Telecom Centres Limited for up to £10.0m • New commercial contracts with ITV, IPC Magazines, Ideal Shopping Direct, NIE and Three Valleys Water • Good trading performance in key areas of operation Martin Turner, Chief Executive Officer, commented today: "Annual turnover from continuing operations increased 32% to £79.7 million, profit before taxation (excluding goodwill charges and exceptional items) was £0.9 million and year end cash balances increased by £3.1m to £13.3 million. Despite these improvements in financial and operating performance, the Board believes that Eckoh's current share price does not fully reflect the value of its constituent businesses, and is therefore committed to pursue a strategy to unlock value for Eckoh shareholders." For further enquiries, please contact Eckoh Technologies plc Martin Turner, Chief Executive Officer Nik Philpot, Chief Operating Officer Adam Moloney, Acting Group Finance Director www.eckoh.com Tel: 08701 100 700 Buchanan Communications Mark Edwards/Jeremy Garcia Tel: 020 7466 5000 Operating and Financial Review Group Overview The Group has seen strong growth during the year ended 31 March 2005 with turnover rising 28% to £79.7m (2004 - £62.5m) and gross profit increasing to £20.0m (2004 - £17.2m). Speech Solutions turnover rose by 56% to £5.0m (2004 - £3.2m) as a number of new corporate contracts came on stream. The Group generated a profit before taxation (excluding intangible asset amortisation, impairment and exceptional items) of £0.9m (2004 - loss £0.2m). The loss before tax for the year was £9.4m, which included £10.3m of intangible asset amortisation and impairment charges. The loss before tax for the prior year was £1.1m. The Group currently operates four distinct business divisions - Eckoh Speech Solutions, Eckoh Interactive Voice Response (IVR), Symphony Telecom and Internet Services. Before the allocation of central costs, all four made a positive contribution for the first time. The Group also saw strong cash generation during the year, with year end cash and short-term investment balances increasing by £3.1m to £13.3m (2004 - £10.2m). On 29 April 2005, the Symphony Telecom Division was significantly enlarged with the completion of the acquisition of Anglia Telecom Centres Limited ("Anglia") for cash consideration of up to £10.0m. The transaction was partly financed by £6.0m of senior debt provided by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Anglia is a long-established and successful distributor of mobile phones and related services to the UK SME market. Anglia's turnover for the year to 31 March 2005 totalled £30.5m and it generated pre-tax profits of £1.3m. Following completion of this transaction, the directors are evaluating a number of strategic options for the enlarged Symphony business. Eckoh Speech Solutions Division Eckoh is a European market leader in self-service call centre solutions using advanced speech recognition and related technologies. The Company has an exclusive partnership with BT to provide its top corporate customers with hosted speech recognition services. To date this alliance has delivered 17 clients and over 20 applications. Key assets of the Speech Solutions Division include: • Call processing platform with over 6,000 speech recognition lines • Highly experienced technical delivery team • Exclusive contract with BT • Management team with a long history in designing and managing interactive services • Flexible pricing model benefiting from Eckoh's group traffic volumes Eckoh's clients utilise a multi-tenanted hosting infrastructure which ensures their costs remain extremely competitive whilst catering for significant variances in call volume. Eckoh has continued to increase the capacity and capability of this hosting platform in response to the needs of its client portfolio and has now consolidated the infrastructure into a BT facility in St Albans and a carrier independent facility in Heathrow. The overall capacity is now approaching 10,000 lines - 6,000 of which have speech recognition capability. This makes Eckoh's speech platform one of the largest worldwide. Eckoh's speech solutions are increasingly geared towards customer self-service. This ranges from the automation of certain routine enquiries, such as branch location or basic information requests, which are likely to be integrated as part of the client's overall CRM solution (as in the case of TD Waterhouse where Eckoh provide the automated share price component in a much larger CRM system), through to a full self-service solution such as the ticket-booking service Eckoh built and currently hosts for UGC Cinemas. The majority of Eckoh's current clients have large and predictable inbound traffic streams, with over 60% of current revenues recurring each month, and most clients are signed up to long-term multi-year contracts. This enables Eckoh management to have good visibility of future turnover and profitability. A number of client wins during the latter part of the year, including the contract announcement to provide a train tracker service for National Rail Enquiries, the power outage service for Northern Ireland Electricity and the Age Verification contract with O2, have yet to reach their full revenue potential. In addition, since year end further new contracts have been won, particularly in the utilities sector, with services for Three Valleys Water and NIE going live through the BT alliance, and a two-year contract with Ideal Shopping Direct to provide complex data capture services. Key contracts have also been renewed with clients such as William Hill, which is a good indication that Eckoh's proposition remains competitive and is delivering the appropriate value. Turnover for the year grew 56% to £5.0m (2004 - £3.2m) with a gross margin of 53% (2004 - 53%). Direct operating expenses were £2.2m (2004 - £1.9m). Eckoh management intends to continue to deliver high growth rates in this area of operation, and is therefore increasing its sales and marketing investment in order to maintain high levels of growth. The division has excellent operational gearing and, provided that 50% gross margins can be maintained, further growth will have a material impact on the Group's overall profitability. The division made a positive contribution, before allocation of central costs, for the first time in 2005. Eckoh IVR Division The Eckoh IVR Division operates in two quite distinct markets, as follows: Advertised Services Eckoh IVR operates a variety of consumer entertainment voice and data products such as dating, community chat, competitions, and mobile content ("Advertised Services") which are available to both fixed line and mobile users. Eckoh IVR management has extensive experience running such services in over 30 countries since 1992, and whilst these are currently offered only in the UK, management continues to evaluate new opportunities particularly in the area of premium SMS services, which could include expansion back into international markets. The major risks in this area revolve around advertising restrictions and regulatory issues. Where appropriate, Eckoh IVR invests its own money promoting these services on TV, radio and in print media under a number of different product brands. Since July 2003 this includes L!VE TV as a flexible and low cost environment to test, promote and showcase Eckoh IVR's services. Gross margins from individual campaigns fluctuate with advertising efficiency, which is influenced by price, seasonality, TV programming and availability. Whilst turnover from Advertised Services remained flat at £11.6m (2004 - £11.6m), gross profit increased by 25% to £5.0m (2004 - 4.0m). This illustrates the success of a refocusing of management effort since last summer. Although direct operating expenses rose to £2.3m (2004 - £2.2m), the overall performance of the Advertised Services operation delivered a strong contribution. Client Services Eckoh IVR is one of the UK's largest IVR and SMS operators, and works with a number of prominent media owners such as ITV, Trinity Mirror, Channel 4, IPC, EMAP, and Northcliffe Newspapers. Eckoh delivers an end-to-end interactive solution including creation, design, development, implementation, deployment, hosting and reporting. Highlights of the period include a very successful year handling over 28 million calls as ITV's preferred provider of telephony services (widely regarded as the largest contract of its type), which has resulted in a new extended contract running until at least August 2006; a contract to supply the Trinity Mirror group of over 240 national and regional newspapers with IVR and SMS services; a one year extension from Northcliffe Newspapers for the provision of IVR and SMS services to its southern group of titles, and an agreement with Channel 4 and Cactus TV to operate the hugely successful Richard and Judy show. More recently Eckoh IVR was awarded the highly prestigious three-year contract with the leading UK consumer publisher IPC Magazines, beginning in June 2005, to supply IVR and SMS services to their portfolio of magazines which sell over 330 million copies a year. The market is highly competitive, with a handful of large, high-profile clients periodically putting contracts out to tender. Call handling capacity, network resilience and responsive service support are of utmost importance to these clients - particularly for TV-driven campaigns. However, the relative simplicity of many media and broadcast products, together with pricing transparency have forced profit margins lower over the past year. Eckoh management has therefore focused efforts on its most significant customers which has enabled costs to be reduced without compromising quality. The recent renewals of the ITV, Trinity and Northcliffe contracts, combined with winning IPC, suggests this strategy is already delivering results. Eckoh is also striving to cross-sell more complex (and profitable) products and services into this market to improve margins. For example, Eckoh provided the first mass use of speech recognition voting for Endemol's Music Hall of Fame on Channel 4. As an Annex II licensed telecommunications operator with its own switched network, Eckoh benefits from full interconnect rates on call traffic through its network. It therefore offers wholesale network services to third parties such as number ranges, connectivity and hosting. While associated volumes of wholesale traffic can be high, gross margins are typically very low with most business on short-term or no-term contracts. While Eckoh is currently not actively pursuing wholesale business as part of a concerted marketing effort, it will continue to exploit such opportunities as and when they arise. High volumes generated by the ITV contract enabled turnover from Client Services to increase by 73% to £39.0m (2004 - £22.6m), with gross profit increasing to £3.4m (2004 - £2.9m). Direct operating expenses were £3.1m (2004 - £2.3m). In response to falling gross margins, management undertook a review of the cost base of its IVR operation in December to ensure that the division continues to generate a satisfactory contribution towards central costs. This review, combined with the new contract wins recently announced, should ensure that this objective is achieved in 2006. Looking forward, Eckoh IVR will continue to concentrate its efforts on competing for long-term, quality media and broadcast business from the major UK players. The traffic volume generated by the large media clients supports the buying effectiveness of the Group with major carriers such as BT and Cable & Wireless. Symphony Telecom Symphony Telecom occupies a mid-market position as an independent telecommunications service provider to UK SMEs. It offers a range of directly-billed voice, data and mobile products and services that can be combined into a single telecommunications solution for the end-user, and trades under the "Symphony" and various affiliated brands. Symphony is a reseller of both fixed line and mobile products and services aimed at corporate customers with telephony needs of approximately £3,000 annually. There are three routes to market: direct sales, seven joint ventures and a dealer network of telephone system resellers located across the UK and Ireland. The fixed line business provides a range of telephony services by routing customer call traffic through the most efficient and cost effective network. It has non-exclusive supplier arrangements with a range of fixed line carriers - principally Energis, Cable & Wireless and MCI. These services include fixed voice, data, private and ISDN circuits, wholesale line rental and non-geographic numbers. The mobile business of Symphony is one of 9 businesses in the UK to hold Service Provider licenses for both Vodafone and O2, which were both secured in 2000. Under these contracts, Symphony purchases network capacity from Vodafone and O2 at wholesale rates and resells a full range of retail-priced mobile services (both voice and data) to its base of around 11,000 business connections. Mobile sales now represent the fastest growing component of Symphony's product offering, with annual turnover growth of around 23% over the last two years. Symphony's turnover was £21.0m (2004 - £20.8m) with gross profit increasing to £6.8m as a result of improved wholesale rates from network suppliers and an increased mobile base (2004 - £6.1m). Direct operating costs increased to £5.3m from £4.3m reflecting the costs involved in expanding the distribution network and strengthening the sales and management teams within Symphony. Symphony generated a contribution of £1.5m (2004 - £1.8m). On 29 April 2005, Symphony Telecom Holdings plc completed the acquisition of Anglia Telecom Centres Limited from TTG Europe plc for a cash consideration of up to £10.0m. Anglia was founded in 1984 and specialises in mobile distribution for all five UK mobile network operators (Orange, Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile and Three). It is a registered cellular distributor for the mobile network operators in the UK and has national coverage through a network of approximately 280 dealers. Anglia also offers fixed line telecommunication services to UK SMEs as a reseller for Energis and Opal. Anglia's turnover for the year ended 31 March 2005 was £30.5m, generating a profit before tax of £1.3m. The enlarged Symphony business will occupy a unique and influential position in the growing UK business telecommunications market by offering mobile distribution, mobile service provision and fixed line resale. The Directors are also of the opinion that there are significant cost savings and additional benefits to be realised by the integration of Anglia. These cost savings are largely based on eliminating duplicate activities such as billing, customer services, information technology, facilities and distribution. Additional benefits are expected to include complementary product lines, geographical coverage and a good management fit. Internet Services (Freecom.net) Freecom.net has built a successful business selling a full range of complementary internet products and data services, including web-site design, e-commerce solutions, e-mail services, connectivity (dial-up and broadband), search engine submission and directory services, and hosting to SMEs. Eckoh acquired Freecom.net as part of the acquisition of Intelliplus Group in September 2003. Freecom.net has two routes into a fragmented SME market: direct sales, primarily targeting second generation websites from the 10+ employee SME sector, and telesales targeting the 1-5 employee, entry-level website sector. The head office (including outbound telesales) is based in Warrington, with a second office in Birmingham providing all support functions. Turnover from Freecom.net was £3.2m (2004 (7 months) - £2.0m) with a gross profit of £2.2m (2004 (7 months) - £1.4m). Direct operating expenses were £2.1m (2004 (7 months) - £1.2m). Net Operating Expenses Operating expenses include direct operating costs, amortisation and impairment of intangible fixed assets (predominantly goodwill) and Eckoh's central costs. Direct operating costs of the four divisions increased to £15.0m (2004 - £11.9m excluding discontinued operations) due to increased business activity across the entire Group, and the first full year impact following the acquisition of Intelliplus in September 2003. During the year an impairment review of the goodwill relating to the acquisition of Intelliplus was carried out. The impairment review assessed whether the carrying value of goodwill was supported by the net present value of future cash flows derived from the business. The discounted cash flow did not support the carrying value of goodwill and as such the goodwill has been impaired. The impairment charge is £7.8m. Intangible asset amortisation totalled £2.5m for the year (2004 - £1.4m). Central costs are largely fixed in nature, and include indirect operating costs, depreciation and corporate costs. • Indirect operating expenses include the cost of Eckoh's central support functions such as finance, IT and its Hemel Hempstead head office occupation costs. These costs totalled £1.3m for the year (2004 - £1.4m). • The depreciation charge on tangible fixed assets was £1.3m (2004 - £1.3m). • Corporate costs include the Board of Directors, legal, secretarial, audit, registrar, professional advisors, insurance and other plc-related costs. These totalled £1.9m for the year (2004 - £2.0m), and were reduced in the second half of the financial year following a cost review and management changes during the summer. • Restructuring costs of £0.5m in the prior year relate to the integration of Intelliplus. Balance sheet Following the write-off of goodwill relating to Intelliplus, Eckoh's shareholders' funds reduced to £9.0m as at 31 March 2005 (2004 - £18.4m). Net current assets increased to £7.0m (2004 - £6.8m), with year end cash and short term investment balances increasing by £3.1m to £13.3m (2004 - £10.2m) due to cash generation from operating activities and improvements in the Group's cash cycle. Cash Flow Statement Eckoh's cash and short-term investment balances increased from £10.2m to £13.3m during the year. The Group generated cash from its operating activities of £4.5m (2004 - £0.1m). Net capital expenditure during the year totalled £1.7m (2004 - £0.1m income), which included further development of the speech-enabled call-processing platform, and expenditure on a new billing and customer care system for Symphony. Short-term investments generated £0.4m of interest (2004 - £0.4m). Cash reserves are placed on fixed term deposits in accordance with the Group's strict treasury policy. International Financial Reporting Standards The Group expects to implement IFRS in its March 2007 financial statements. The transition project has commenced. Operating Loss and Net Loss The Group incurred an operating loss for the year of £9.8m (2004 - £2.5m) after charging £10.3m (2004 - £1.4m) of intangible asset amortisation and impairment, predominantly in relation to the Intelliplus acquisition in 2003. Excluding intangible asset amortisation and impairment and exceptional items, Eckoh recorded an operating profit of £0.5m for the year compared to an operating loss of £0.6m in 2004. The Group recorded a loss after tax of £9.4m for the year ended 31 March 2005 (2004 - £1.0m), or 3.5p per share (2004 - 0.4p per share). The adjusted earnings per share was 0.3p (2004 - 0.1p loss per share). Due to the uncertainty surrounding the future benefits of net tax losses carried forward, the Group has not recognised a deferred tax asset. Board changes On 25 June 2004, Brian McArthur Muscroft, Group Finance Director, resigned from the Board in order to take up a position elsewhere. Pending the appointment of a permanent candidate, the Group Financial Controller, Adam Moloney, has been appointed Acting Finance Director. Peter Reynolds, a Non-Executive director, was appointed Non-Executive Chairman following the resignation of David Best on 5 July 2004. Outlook Since the start of the new financial year Eckoh has traded in line with expectations. The Directors are confident of the financial and trading prospects for the Group in the current financial year. They are also evaluating a number of strategic options, and will make further announcements in due course. Consolidated profit and loss account for the year ended 31 March 2005 Year Year ended ended 31 March 31 March 2005 2004 Note unaudited audited £'000 £'000 Turnover 79,720 62,504 Continuing operations 79,720 60,189 Discontinued operations - 2,315 Cost of sales (59,675) (45,333) Gross profit 20,045 17,171 Net operating expenses before intangible asset amortisation and impairment (19,533) (17,754) and restructuring costs Amortisation of intangible assets (2,539) (1,381) Impairment of intangible assets (7,756) - Restructuring costs - (489) Net operating expenses (29,828) (19,624) Operating profit/(loss) before intangible asset amortisation and 512 (583) impairment and restructuring costs Continuing operations 512 (565) Discontinued operations - (18) Operating loss (9,783) (2,453) Continuing operations (9,783) (2,435) Discontinued operations - (18) Gain on disposal of trade investment - 662 Loss on closure of discontinued operation - (424) Gain on disposal of hardware services operation - 208 Net interest receivable 372 357 Discount on loan redemption - 553 Loss on ordinary activities before taxation (9,411) (1,097) Taxation (6) 73 Loss on ordinary activities after taxation (9,417) (1,024) Minority interests (23) (24) Loss for the year (9,440) (1,048) (Loss)/earnings per ordinary share 2 Basic and diluted loss per share (3.5p) (0.4p) Basic and diluted earnings/(loss) per share before intangible asset 0.3p (0.1p) amortisation and impairment and exceptional items Statement of total recognised gains and losses for the year ended 31 March 2005 Year Year ended ended 31 March 31 March 2005 2004 unaudited audited £'000 £'000 Loss for the year (9,440) (1,048) Exchange adjustments offset in reserves (8) 37 Total recognised losses for the year (9,448) (1,011) Consolidated balance sheet as at 31 March 2005 31 March 31 March 2005 2004 unaudited audited Note £'000 £'000 Fixed assets Intangible fixed assets 918 10,422 Tangible fixed assets 1,571 1,729 2,489 12,151 Current assets Stock 22 62 Debtors 11,021 10,873 Short term investments 7,000 6,500 Cash at bank and in hand 6,296 3,739 24,339 21,174 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (17,353) (14,405) Net current assets 6,986 6,769 Total assets less current liabilities 9,475 18,920 Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year (65) (59) Provisions for liabilities and charges (152) (454) Net assets 9,258 18,407 Capital and reserves 3 Called up share capital 679 678 Share premium account 147 122 Merger reserve - 6,734 Profit and loss account 8,125 10,839 Total equity shareholders' funds 4 8,951 18,373 Minority interests 307 34 Capital employed 9,258 18,407 Consolidated cash flow statement for the year ended 31 March 2005 Year Year ended ended 31 March 31 March 2005 2004 unaudited audited Note £'000 £'000 Net cash inflow from operating activities 5 4,475 138 Return on investments and servicing of finance Net interest 372 357 Taxation - 87 Capital expenditure and financial investment Purchase of tangible fixed assets (1,167) (482) Expenditure on intangible fixed assets (540) (57) Disposal of trade investment - 662 (1,707) 123 Acquisitions and disposals Purchase of subsidiary undertaking - (616) Net cash acquired with subsidiary undertakings - 149 - (467) Cash inflow before use of liquid resources and financing 3,140 238 Management of liquid resources (Increase)/decrease in short-term investments (500) 3,010 Financing Issue of shares 26 126 Loan repayments (80) (2,071) Capital element of finance lease payments (29) (39) (83) (1,984) Increase in cash in the year 2,557 1,264 Notes to the preliminary results 1. Basis of preparation The financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2005 have been prepared using accounting policies consistent with those set out in the Company's consolidated 2004 statutory accounts. These statements do not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of section 240 of the Companies Act 1985 and are unaudited. The balances and results as at 31 March 2004 have been extracted from the statutory accounts, which have been filed with the Registrar of Companies. The auditors' report on those accounts was unqualified and did not contain any statement under section 237 of the Companies Act 1985. The preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2005 were approved by the Board on 6 July 2005 and will be posted on the Company's web site, www.eckoh.com, on 7 July 2005. 2. (Loss)/earnings per ordinary share of 0.25p each Year Year ended ended 31 March 31 March 2005 2004 £'000 £'000 Profit/(loss) for the year before the following: 855 (177) Intangible asset amortisation and impairment (10,295) (1,381) Restructuring costs - (489) Loss on closure of discontinued operation - (424) Gain on disposal of hardware services operation - 208 Discount on loan redemption - 553 Gain on disposal of trade investment - 662 Loss for the year (9,440) (1,048) Weighted average number of shares in the year: Basic and diluted 271,226,435 237,801,055 The dilutive effect of share options in issue and shares to be issued is not material enough to impact on the disclosed earnings per share for the year ended 31 March 2005. In addition no dilution of losses per share will arise due to losses in the year. 3. Share capital and reserves Ordinary Share Profit share premium Merger and loss capital account reserve account £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 At 1 April 2004 678 122 6,734 10,839 Loss for the year - - - (9,440) Net exchange adjustments - - - (8) Shares issued under the share option schemes 1 25 - - Realisation of merger reserve - - (6,734) 6,734 At 31 March 2005 679 147 - 8,125 4. Reconciliation of movement in equity shareholders' funds Year Year ended ended 31 March 31 March 2005 2004 £'000 £'000 Opening equity shareholders' funds 18,373 11,589 Loss for the year (9,440) (1,048) Share consideration for acquisition of subsidiary undertaking - 7,707 Net movement in contingent share consideration - (38) Employee share options exercised 26 126 Exchange adjustments offset in reserves (8) 37 Closing equity shareholders' funds 8,951 18,373 5. Net cash inflow from operating activities Year Year ended ended 31 March 31 March 2005 2004 Operating loss (9,783) (2,453) Depreciation of tangible fixed assets 1,319 1,339 Amortisation and impairment of intangible fixed assets 10,295 1,381 Decrease in stock 40 625 (Increase)/decrease in debtors (148) 598 Increase/(decrease) in creditors/provisions 2,745 (1,412) Loss on disposal of tangible fixed assets 7 60 4,475 138 6. Adjusted profit/(loss) before taxation Year Year ended ended 31 March 31 March 2005 2004 Loss before taxation (9,411) (1,097) Adjust for: Amortisation of intangible fixed assets 2,539 1,381 Impairment of intangible fixed assets 7,756 - Restructuring costs - 489 Gain on disposal of trade investment - (662) Loss on closure of discontinued operation - 424 Gain on disposal of hardware services operation - (208) Adjusted profit/(loss) before taxation - (553) 884 (226) This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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