Final Results

County Contact Centres PLC 09 August 2005 County Contact Centres PLC CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2005 2005 2004 £ £ Turnover 2,619,343 1,735,475 ---------- --------- Loss on ordinary activities before taxation (114,757) (177,681) ========== ========= At December 2004 we reported a small profit for the first six months of this year as well as the opening of a call centre in Romania. However this opening coincided with a serious fall off in traffic, which started just before Christmas with a general business malaise in almost every sector that appeared likely to last for some time. This gave us a difficult decision whether to hold on and hope that traffic picked up or close the facility quickly. We decided that the prudent approach would be closure and the use of another Romanian call centre on an outsourced basis. This we managed to achieve with minimal disruption to the UK business, but with regrettable closure costs. Annual turnover has increased by £884,000, year on year, and the business returned to profitability during the final quarter after the cessation of the Romanian operation. However this was not sufficient to recover the Romanian loss of £152,000. The Group's bank remains supportive and has agreed to increase our facilities should we have reason to need them in the future. Our CallScripter software has had an encouraging year culminating in an integration deal with Interactive Intelligence Inc, a NASDAQ quoted US telephone switch manufacturer ("ININ"). This allows us to move forward into a stronger position in the market and we delivered our first joint project to a Swiss Media company, on the 16th March 2005. Since then we have made four presentations to potential clients who would not have considered our proposition on a stand- alone basis. Having reviewed the options available to us, and concluded that the existing space, infrastructure and location were ideal for our foreseeable business requirements, we have concluded negotiations to remain at The Havens, Ipswich for a further five years. Two senior managers have been appointed directors of the Ansaback subsidiary business. Sharon Ball becomes the Director of Call Centre Operations and Toni Vincent becomes Sales Director. Their areas of responsibility will be for maintaining the growth trend and managing the efficient running of the bureau business. We have invited Philip Dayer to join the board as a non-executive director on 1 October 2005. Philip is a qualified chartered accountant with a wealth of experience having worked for over 30 years in the corporate advisory divisions of a number of investment banks. He retired from Hoare Govett Limited in 2004 and will add relevant experience to the board. Peter M Brown Chairman 8 August 2005 BUSINESS REVIEW FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2005 Overall the Directors are pleased with the core performance of both arms of the business. Sales have increased by 51% on the previous year and our propositions, both in terms of call centre services and software, have been well received in the market. Ansaback The current scale and diversity of the Ansaback client base now provides a degree of stability. Seasonality and weather conditions may affect some call centre's traffic patterns but although order lines are busy in the run up to Christmas and then dip in January, another sector such as boiler call out work increases through the early months of the year and it is only major public interest events such as Wimbledon or European Football which may have a significant impact on the pattern of traffic built up over the past three years. Annual call centre traffic has grown by 47% in the year, although this could have been significantly greater if we had not suffered a dip in the third quarter telephony traffic, when activity across all sectors was suppressed. No single area of commerce dominates our client base although Ansaback remains particularly active in the Direct Response TV arena where our in-house CallScripter software provides commercial advantages. This looks likely to be an area that will continue improving with the service being further developed to ensure that we remain first choice for our clients. Our success as "the Call Centre's Call Centre", where other call centres overflow to Ansaback either when they are closed or when they have staffing problems, has seen annual sales double, which has been a key factor in our turnover rise. This impacts our staffing rotas by providing extra workload at the weekends and evenings. We continuously monitor and review key performance indicators to ensure that the correct call centre staffing levels are available around the clock. We anticipate further growth in this overflow business during the next 12 months. CallScripter's rapid functionality enables us to add value to specific sectors, such as immediate online credit card validation. This reduces lost opportunities for our clients in trying to process invalid cards and then failing to reach the caller to get a valid credit card and this ability to dynamically link with other third party agencies looks likely to grow. CallScripter CallScripter had a much better year, with sales up 69% on the previous year, and it looks likely that this will continue into the current year. This division sells our award winning software to other call centres and we believe that this product, written in the latest code, compares favourably with other telephony solutions in the market place because of its simplified functionality. Following our attendance in September 2004 at the Call Centre Expo, the principal showcase for suppliers to the international call centre trade, we gained a number of new business opportunities and we have re-booked for the next show in September 2005. In March 2005 we concluded a commercial contract with ININ. This deal offers CallScripter to over 1,000 existing clients and all new prospective clients, and under the terms of the deal, Interactive Intelligence's award winning Customer Interaction Center (R) (CIC) contact centre software is now available with a connector to the CallScripter (R) software tool, which interactively scripts conversations for agents. "This worldwide initiative is the company's first OEM deal driven from outside the U.S., reflecting our growing strength throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa," said Dr. Donald E. Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer for Interactive Intelligence. "The deal fits well with our ethos of ensuring customer choice. Rigorous testing and development of the connector mean that resellers can confidently offer faster implementation and integration with CallScripter, ensuring minimum disruption for the customer." MediaLine, a tele-services operation based in Switzerland that supplies both outbound and inbound multi-lingual call centre services, has become the first customer to take advantage of the OEM deal. When it placed an order for a 25-seat installation of Interactive Intelligence's Customer Interaction Center (R) (CIC) software, installed in 2005, CallScripter was included in the functions it selected delivering scripts to agents in four different European languages. While the current year's figures were adversely affected by the closure of the Romanian office giving a somewhat disappointing final result, the Directors remain confident that the outlook for our call centre services and software remains very positive. William A Catchpole 8 August 2005 CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2005 2005 2004 £ £ (restated) Turnover 2,619,343 1,735,475 Cost of sales (1,635,366) (1,037,720) ----------- ----------- Gross profit 983,977 697,755 Administrative expenses (1,098,070) (867,650) ----------- ----------- Operating loss (114,093) (169,895) Other interest receivable and similar income 12,090 3,124 Interest payable and similar charges (12,754) (10,910) ----------- ----------- Loss on ordinary activities before taxation (114,757) (177,681) Tax on loss on ordinary activities - - ----------- ----------- Loss on ordinary activities after taxation deducted from reserves (114,757) (177,681) =========== ============ Basic loss per share (0.4) 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 loss disclosed above. The accompanying accounting policies and notes form an integral part of these financial statements. CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET AS AT 30 JUNE 2005 2005 2004 £ £ Fixed assets Tangible assets 23,756 49,147 ----------- ----------- 23,756 49,147 Current assets Debtors 482,955 455,526 Cash at bank and in hand 120,341 265,227 ----------- ----------- 603,296 720,753 Creditors: amounts falling due within one (427,685) (405,776) year ----------- ----------- Net current assets 175,611 314,977 Total assets less current liabilities 199,367 364,124 Creditors: amounts falling due after more (111,667) (161,667) than one year ----------- ----------- 87,700 202,457 =========== =========== 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 (6,274,167) (6,159,410) ----------- ----------- Shareholders' funds 87,700 202,457 =========== =========== CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2005 2005 2004 £ £ Net cash outflow from operating activities (35,646) (176,173) Returns on investments and servicing of finance Interest received 12,090 3,124 Interest paid (12,754) (10,910) ----------- ----------- Net cash outflow from returns on investments and servicing of finance (664) (7,786) ----------- ----------- Taxation - 51,499 Capital expenditure and financial investment Purchase of fixed assets (63,166) (9,256) Proceeds from sale of tangible fixed assets 4,590 - ----------- ----------- Net cash outflow from capital expenditure and financial investment (58,576) (9,256) ----------- ----------- Financing Receipt of bank loan - 150,000 Repayment of borrowings (50,000) (35,000) ----------- ----------- Net cash (outflow)/inflow from financing (50,000) 115,000 ----------- ----------- Decrease in cash (144,886) (26,716) =========== =========== NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2005 1. BASIC LOSS PER SHARE The calculation of the basic loss per share is based on the loss of £114,757 (2004: £177,681) attributable to ordinary shareholders divided by the weighted average number of shares in issue during the year of 29,790,743 (2004: 29,790,743). No diluted loss per share is shown because all options are anti-dilutive. 2. RECONCILIATION OF MOVEMENTS IN SHAREHOLDERS' FUNDS Group 2005 2004 £ £ Shareholders' funds at 1 July 202,457 380,138 Loss for the financial year (114,757) (177,681) ----------- ----------- Shareholders' funds at 30 June 87,700 202,457 ----------- ----------- 3. RECONCILIATION OF NET CASH FLOW TO MOVEMENT IN NET (DEBT)/FUNDS 2005 2004 £ £ Decrease in cash in the year (144,886) (26,716) Cash outflow/(inflow) from financing 50,000 (115,000) ----------- ----------- Change in net funds resulting from cash (94,886) (141,716) flows ----------- ----------- Net funds at 1st July 2004 53,560 195,276 Movement in net funds in the year (94,886) (141,716) ----------- ----------- Net (debt)/funds at 30th June 2005 (41,326) 53,560 =========== =========== 4. ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET (DEBT)/FUNDS At 1 At 30 July 2004 Movement June 2005 £ £ £ Cash at bank and in hand 265,227 (144,886) 120,341 Debt (211,667) 50,000 (161,667) --------- --------- --------- 53,560 (94,886) (41,326) ========= ========= ========= 5. INFORMATION The financial information above for the years ended 30 June 2004 and 2005 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 2005 will be posted to shareholders on or around 12 August 2005. Copies will be available from the company's registered office, Melford Court, The Havens, Ransomes Europark, Ipswich, Suffolk IP3 9SJ. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

Companies

PCI-PAL (PCIP)
UK 100

Latest directors dealings