Investment from Invest Northe

RNS Number : 8337I

First Derivatives PLC

19 March 2010

 



19 March 2010

First Derivatives plc

("First Derivatives" or "the Company")

First Derivatives secures new investment from Invest Northern Ireland

First Derivatives (AIM:FDP.L, IEX:GYQ.I), a leading provider of software and support services to the financial services and technology industries, is pleased to announce that it has secured financial investment from Invest Northern Ireland ("Invest NI") (Northern Ireland's Economic Development Agency) in support of its ongoing research and development program.  This follows on from the previously announced financial investment for employee training and recruitment from Invest NI totaling £3.1m.

First Derivatives has secured £1.29m of research and development investment, which is part funded from the European Regional Development Fund. The investment will facilitate research and development projects geared towards the enhancement of the groups offering in the areas of Real Time Risk Management and Market Data Management. The projects build on the recent development work undertaken by the company in the areas of automated trading and market data capture and analysis.

These projects form part of First Derivatives core strategy to add a suite of complementary software products to its existing software services portfolio. In addition the funding will be used to further develop the capabilities of the Company's staff.

The Company anticipates that these funds will be drawn during the course of 2010 and 2011.

Chief Executive Brian Conlon commented: "This latest investment from Invest NI will allow us to continue to accelerate our ambitious R&D program. We have successfully completed three projects with help from Invest NI which have already started to yield sales in North America and Asia. We are committed to becoming leaders in innovation in the world's financial markets and our programme is dedicated to applying the latest theoretical breakthroughs in technology to resolving seemingly intractable problems in finance; particularly in the areas of trading, risk and data management. We believe that this latest investment in Research and Development will contribute significantly to the Company's growth and will help First Derivatives to further enhance its reputation globally."

Enquiries:

First Derivatives plc,	Tel.       [phone]
Brian Conlon, Managing Director	Web.     www.firstderivatives.com
Graham Ferguson, Finance Director
Charles Stanley Securities,	Tel.       [phone]
Nominated Advisor
Russell Cook
Carl Holmes
Goodbody Stockbrokers,	Tel.       [phone]
IEX Advisor
Diane Hodgson
Linda Hickey
Finbarr Griffin
ICIS Limited,	Tel.       [phone]
Financial PR
Bob Huxford
Tom Moriarty

About First Derivatives

Founded in 1996, First Derivatives is a specialist provider of software and consulting services to the capital markets technology sector. The Company's Delta product suite includes enterprise risk, algorithmic/program trading and data management solutions which deliver true real-time performance.

First Derivatives currently employs over 450 people worldwide and counts many of the world's top investment banks and hedge funds as its customers. It has operations in London, New York, Stockholm, Shanghai, Singapore, Toronto, Sidney, Dublin, Newry and Hong Kong.

 

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