Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 0184N

RM PLC

25 September 2012

 



 25th September 2012  

RM plc

Interim Management Statement

RM is today issuing its Interim Management Statement for the period from 1 June 2012 to 24 September 2012.

Trading in the third quarter of RM's 2012 financial year has continued to progress in line with the Board's expectations for adjusted operating profit for the current year. While the stabilisation and recovery of the Group continues to be positive, the Board remains cautious due to the previously reported market changes over the next few years.

Net cash at 31 August 2012 increased significantly to £13.2m, compared with net debt including deferred consideration of £(18.5)m a year earlier.

Consultation with members regarding the closure of the RM defined benefit pension plan to future accrual of benefits is progressing, with the expectation that this will occur around the year end. Discussions with the trustees of the scheme with regards to the triennial valuation as at 31 May 2012 are well advanced. The expectation is that the deficit reduction plan will include an initial cash contribution of c.£5m before the year end and ongoing annual deficit recovery payments will more than double from the current level of £1.7m p.a.

In the period, the Group announced the launch of RM Books, the first ebook system designed specifically for schools, with the first customers now live. RM Books is free to use, includes hundreds of free curriculum literature books and provides access to high quality curriculum textbook titles from leading education publishers using a unique pricing model designed to be compatible with school budgets. The online system enables schools to rent, buy and manage ebooks which can be viewed on, or downloaded to, virtually any internet enabled device, eliminating the major budget and technology constraints to ebook adoption in schools. RM Books is a key strategic investment for the Group and is not expected to contribute positively to profitability during the investment phase, when the priority is to establish the user base and to increase adoption of the service.

RM has also launched an innovative single sign-on application launch pad and library called RM Unify. This new platform brings together the best cloud based services and applications for supporting teaching and learning and makes them available via the Unify Application Library. RM Unify enables schools to manage the users of these applications through simple, seamless and secure provisioning of accounts with a single log-on for users. The upgraded version of Glow will include RM Unify, meaning that all maintained schools in Scotland will have access to this ground-breaking platform. The first public demonstration of RM Unify took place at the Scottish Learning Festival on 19th September 2012.

Contacts

RM plc

Martyn Ratcliffe, Chairman                                                     08450 700300

Iain McIntosh, Chief Financial Officer

FTI Consulting                                                                      020 7831 3113

James Melville-Ross

Sophie McMillan

 

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