Final Results
County Contact Centres PLC
13 August 2007
COUNTY CONTACT CENTRES PLC
FINAL RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30th JUNE 2007
CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT
Operational Highlights
• Profit before tax increased by 78%
• Profit before tax of £304,861 compared to a previous year profit of
£171,417
• Turnover increased by 22% to £3,572,059
• Closing cash balance of £413,890 at 30th June 2007 compared to £299,892 at
30th June 2006
• New international sales of CallScripter software
Statement
Building on the previous year's performance, we have once again seen significant
progress with continued growth in both sales and profitability. Each part of the
Group has contributed to this success. Ansaback's growth in Direct Response
Television Advertising (DRTV), Accident Management and the Eco Repair market has
been impressive and CallScripter achieved a 58% increase in sales. As a result
the Group has declared record profits.
The Market
The Ansaback market will continue to grow as the frenetic effort to maximise
returns on advertising and promotion continues. The outlook for the bureau
contact centre is good. One of our key strengths is our ability to provide
rapidly a bespoke service to discerning clients requiring a bureau facility.
Last year we reported that CallScripter software had broadened its channels to
market and as a result we have seen an increase in orders both domestically and
internationally. One telecommunication company, Interactive Intelligence Inc.
(ININ) distributes a version of CallScripter under the OEM (Original Equipment
Manufacturer) brand of EasyScripter. The first year's results have been
encouraging and we look forward to ININ increasing this performance in 07/08. We
are proposing to capitalise on this current momentum by recruiting supplementary
sales staff and increasing promotional activity over the next twelve months.
Financial
During the year the Company decided to reorganise its capital and held an
Extraordinary General Meeting in June to obtain shareholder approval. Following
subsequent court proceedings the capital re-organisation became effective 6th
August 2007. All of the costs of the capital re-organisation have been charged
to the Profit and Loss account in the year. This reorganisation has a positive
effect on both the Group and Company Balance Sheets, as well as paving the way
to allowing the Company to pay dividends in the future if the Board consider it
appropriate to do so. Whilst the published statements reflect the position at
30th June 2007 (prior to the re-organisation), the table below illustrates the
effect that the capital reorganisation would have made had it taken place in the
2006/07 fiscal year. As can be seen the overall position remains unchanged, but
we would have reflected a positive balance on the Profit and Loss Account.
Before After
£ £
Called up share capital 297,908 297,908
Share premium account 6,045,563 -
Profit and loss account (5,895,865) 149,698
---- ----
Shareholders' funds 447,606 447,606
---- ----
In December 2006 the Group reached a settlement with the Inland Revenue in
relation to the June 2002 investigation into the Research and Development
claims, with the Group repaying £15,000. The associated costs for professional
advice on this matter have been charged to the profit and loss account for the
year ended 30th June 2007 but it should be noted that these costs were incurred
over a number of years.
People
After 5 years as Chairman, Peter Brown stepped down in October 2006 and I took
over the chair. Peter remains on the Board as a non-executive.
During the year James Thorpe was appointed Software Development Director of the
CallScripter (UK) Limited subsidiary, continuing our emphasis of promoting from
within.
The Board would like to record its thanks to the staff for their hard work,
which has produced another good year for the Group.
Prospects
Our two business sectors are in growing markets. Accordingly, we look forward to
the future with confidence. We continue, however, to be alert to opportunities
to enhance shareholder value through organic growth, acquisition and
partnerships.
Philip Dayer
10th August 2007
BUSINESS REVIEW
Ansaback
It has been a good year for Ansaback with a steady rise in turnover.
The run up to Christmas was very busy with calls from our DRTV clients showing a
marked increase. Analysis of this sector led to the launch of a new service -
Ansaback Plus. All operators within this new section are trained sales agents
who seek to increase our client's profitability by maximising sales
opportunities during the call. Additionally, we have recruited a Business
Development Manager to specifically target the DRTV business sector and develop
the Ansaback Plus service. We exhibited at the ERA (Electronic Retailers
Association) in Monte Carlo in June and have strong leads to pursue, which we
are confident will bring new business in the next financial year.
The ability of modern telephone technology to switch calls seamlessly within the
network provides both our, and other call centre's, clients with the option of
having more than one call centre working for them. This process of maximising
the returns and responsiveness to media advertising remains a strong driving
force, as a client advertising on a television shopping channel will be looking
for an answer response rate as near to 100% as possible. This high level can
only be achieved by using modern systems, as well as multiple call centres. The
number of call centre partners using Ansaback for overflow, nighttime and
weekend work has increased from 13 to 20 over the last 12 months. One potential
risk with this type of call centre overflow business is that as the partner call
centre grows they invest in their own infrastructure, expand and as a result
take calls back in-house.
We continue to provide clients with detailed data regarding call durations and
outcomes, using our in-house developed CallScripter software package. Scripts
are designed in a manner reflecting the client businesses, ensuring that the
agent delivery reflects the culture of the client's organisation. Ansaback is
monitored and controlled on the actual and predicted billable minutes and this
Key Performance Indicator, as well as the number of agent call minutes per hour,
is reviewed on a daily basis to ensure the correct levels of staff efficiencies
within the call centre. We also scrutinise our Grade of Service and Percentage
of Calls Answered to maintain our contracted Service Level Agreements of
answering 80% of calls presented within 20 seconds.
Out of hours telephone/broadband fault repair logging (Eco Repair) is another
area, which we have developed over the period. Again this requires slightly more
specialist agent knowledge and we currently have fifteen clients that use our
fault logging service.
In September we gained a new contract, which has become one of our larger
clients, handling accident reporting calls for bus drivers and follow up
outbound calls to third parties to arrange vehicle repair. This has proved to be
a very worthwhile market and is one that we will be exploring further.
We continue to see growth across all business sectors including a web based
designer clothing retailer who has recently opened a US operation. As a result
of this we have seen an increase in calls late at night.
We have decided to invest in a 'state of the art' modern telephone switch over
the next 6 months. This new switch will include fail-over systems to further
increase our business continuity / disaster recovery readiness whilst also
enabling us to offer additional services to clients.
Looking at other risks, to lower our susceptibility to power outages, we have a
standby generator in case of power cuts, while our main computer systems have
been upgraded to improve their resilience and minimise any down-time should a
problem arise.
CallScripter
The CallScripter division had a very encouraging year securing numerous
contracts within its traditional market as well as expanding its international
direct customer base. New territories included Columbia, Australia & Canada.
Our OEM agreement with ININ continues to generate new revenues and the
EasyScripter application now boasts over 1,500 installed licences covering
Europe, North America, South Africa & Australia. Being part of the ININ solution
enables us to be involved in larger projects as well as opening up additional
opportunities through their established reseller base. One example is our
current largest customer who runs 450 concurrent licences over two locations in
the Netherlands & Suriname further highlighting CallScripter's scalability &
flexibility.
Another project of note has been the adoption of EasyScripter by Schipol airport
in Amsterdam, who use the system to manage emergency ambulance call out
procedures as well as building maintenance roof access control.
CallScripter Version 4 was released in Quarter 1, 2007. The product has been
given a fresh new look and feel with specific improvements to the Outbound
module, an encryption engine as part of compliance with the new PCI (Credit
Card) Guidelines and a real-time .NET reporting dashboard. This improved
functionality has already allowed us to secure new business.
To coincide with the release of Version 4, the opportunity was taken to revamp
the marketing of the product. New sales brochures have been produced as well as
a revitalised website. Totally rewritten, the website now includes a support
section and knowledge base area for existing clients.
In October 2006 we exhibited at our 6th Call Centre Expo, the principal UK
showcase for suppliers to the call centre trade, which attracts both a domestic
and international audience looking for the latest offerings. During the year we
were also invited as guests to the ININ EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Asia)
conference held in Barcelona. Here we presented the latest EasyScripter version
to a wide range of ININ distributors.
The risks to the CallScripter division continue to be in the ability of our
internal sales team and the partner resellers to achieve market penetration. We
are confident that the sales targets can be achieved.
Social Responsibilities & Green Initiatives
We are delighted to report that we recently achieved the Investors in People
award showing our commitment to our staff, who, as a service industry, are our
key asset. Investors in People is a prestigious award designed to recognise
companies with a real commitment to their work force. While we were convinced
that we had most of the policies in place this proved to be a very inspiring and
motivating exercise for the whole Company.
This year the staff voted to adopt Neuroblastoma (which helps fight childhood
cancer) as our 'Charity of the Year'. Various events and raffles have been
organised to support this worthy cause over the last 12 months including a
regular 'dress-down' day on the last Friday of each month.
During November we donated 20 of our older computers to the 'Computers for
Africa' campaign.
The Company has also been the lead player working with five other local
businesses on the Europark campaigning for a bus shelter on the main road behind
our offices. We have jointly raised donations and will be erecting a
weatherproof bus shelter to help encourage staff to use public transport.
Looking ahead
Both sides of our business will continue to push forward with exciting
prospects.
Ansaback will be focusing on further development of the Ansaback Plus and
telephone fault logging services - areas where we feel we have a unique selling
point, while CallScripter will continue to target new revenue streams with
reselling partners and other software manufacturers as well as increasing the
existing revenue streams from both the OEM and direct sales.
Overall we expect to perform well in the coming year.
William A Catchpole
10th August 2007
CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30th JUNE 2007
2007 2006
£ £
Turnover 3,572,059 2,921,879
Cost of sales (2,014,931) (1,682,012)
---- ----
Gross profit 1,557,128 1,239,867
Administrative expenses (1,254,193) (1,066,953)
---- ----
Operating profit 302,935 172,914
Other interest receivable
and similar income 10,962 8,951
Interest payable
and similar charges (9,036) (10,448)
---- ----
Profit on ordinary
activities before taxation 304,861 171,417
Tax on profit on ordinary
activities 61,000 -
---- ----
Profit on ordinary activities
after taxation transferred
to reserves 365,861 171,417
Basic and diluted
earnings per share 1.2 p 0.6 p
All of the activities of the Group are classed as continuing.
There were no recognised gains or losses for the year other than the profit
disclosed above.
The accompanying accounting policies and notes form an integral part of these
financial statements.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
AS AT 30th JUNE 2007
2007 2006
£ £
Fixed assets
Tangible assets 79,727 40,317
79,727 40,317
Current assets
Debtors 736,243 490,444
Cash at bank and in hand 413,890 299,892
1,150,133 790,336
Creditors:
amounts falling due within
one year (570,318) (492,958)
Net current assets 579,815 297,378
Total assets less current
liabilities 659,542 337,695
Creditors:
amounts falling due after more
than one year (34,564) (78,578)
624,978 259,117
Capital and reserves
Share capital 297,908 297,908
Share premium account 6,045,563 6,045,563
Merger reserve 18,396 18,396
Profit and loss account (5,736,889) (6,102,750)
Shareholders' funds 624,978 259,117
The accompanying accounting policies and notes form an integral part of these
financial statements.
COMPANY BALANCE SHEET
AS AT 30th JUNE 2007
2007 2006
£ £
Fixed assets
Investments 201,609 201,609
201,609 201,609
Current assets
Debtors 337,671 128,102
337,671 128,102
Creditors:
amounts falling due within one
year (76,674) (59,400)
Net current assets 260,997 68,702
Total assets
less current liabilities 462,606 270,311
Creditors:
amounts falling due after more
than one year (15,000) (61,667)
447,606 208,644
Capital and reserves
Share capital 297,908 297,908
Share premium account 6,045,563 6,045,563
Profit and loss account (5,895,865) (6,134,827)
Shareholders' funds 447,606 208,644
The accompanying accounting policies and notes form an integral part of these
financial statements.
CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30th JUNE 2007
2007 2006
£ £
Net cash inflow from
operating activities 241,546 249,915
Returns on investments and
servicing of finance
Interest received 10,962 8,951
Interest paid (6,233) (9,831)
Interest element of finance
leases (2,803) (617)
Net cash inflow/(outflow)
from returns on investments
and servicing of finance 1,926 (1,497)
Taxation (15,000) -
Capital expenditure
and financial investment
Purchase of tangible fixed
assets (51,250) (21,681)
Proceeds from sale of tangible
fixed assets - 5,350
Net cash outflow from capital
expenditure and financial
investment (51,250) (16,331)
Financing
Repayment of borrowings (50,000) (50,000)
Capital element of
finance leases (13,224) (2,536)
Net cash outflow from
financing (63,224) (52,536)
Increase in cash 113,998 179,551
1. BASIC PROFIT PER SHARE
The calculation of the basic profit per share is based on the profit of £365,861
(2006: £171,417) attributable to ordinary shareholders divided by the weighted
average number of shares in issue during the year of 29,790,743 (2006:
29,790,743). No diluted profit per share is shown because all options are
non-dilutive.
2. RECONCILIATION OF MOVEMENTS IN SHAREHOLDERS' FUNDS
Group
2007 2006
£ £
Shareholders' funds at 1st July 2006 259,117 87,700
Profit for the financial year 365,861 171,417
Shareholders' funds at 30th June 2007 624,978 259,117
3. NET CASH INFLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES
2007 2006
£ £
Operating profit 302,935 172,914
Depreciation 36,252 33,527
Profit on disposal of fixed assets - (5,350)
Increase in debtors (169,799) (7,489)
Increase in creditors 72,158 56,313
Net cash inflow from operating activities 241,546 249,915
4. RECONCILIATION OF NET CASH FLOW TO MOVEMENT IN NET FUNDS
2007 2006
£ £
Increase in cash in the year 113,998 179,551
Cash outflow from financing 50,000 50,000
Cash outflow from finance leases 13,224 2,536
Change in net funds resulting from cash flows 177,222 232,087
New finance leases (24,412) (28,407)
Movement in net funds in the period 152,810 203,680
Net funds/(debt) at 1st July 2006 162,354 (41,326)
Movement in net funds in the year 152,810 203,680
Net funds at 30th June 2007 315,164 162,354
5. ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET (DEBT)/FUNDS
At 1st Other At 30th
Jul-06 Movement Changes Jun-07
£ £ £ £
Cash at bank and in hand 299,892 113,998 - 413,890
Debt (111,667) 50,000 - (61,667)
Finance leases (25,871) 13,224 (24,412) (37,059)
162,354 177,222 (24,412) 315,164
6. The financial information above for the years ended 30 June 2006 and 2007
in respect of which the accounting policies are consistent, does not constitute
the statutory financial statements for those years. It is anticipated that the
annual report and accounts for the year ended 30 June 2007 will be posted to
shareholders on or around 16 August 2007. Copies will be available from the
company's registered office, Melford Court, The Havens, Ransomes Europark,
Ipswich, Suffolk IP3 9SJ.
For further information, please contact:
Brewin Dolphin Securities Limited (NOMAD) Tel: 0845 270 8600
Richard Evans
ENDS
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