Trading Statement

RNS Number : 9383A

RWS Holdings PLC

10 April 2012

 



For immediate release                                                                                                   10 April 2012

RWS Holdings plc

Half Year Trading Statement

RWS Holdings plc (RWS), Europe's leading provider of intellectual property support services (patent translations and searches) and technical translations, today provides an update on trading for the half year ended 31 March 2012 ahead of the announcement of its half year results on 7 June 2012.

Trading & Financial Update

The Board expects Group revenues for the half year ended 31 March 2012 to be approximately £33.5 million compared to £32.4m in the strong first half of the prior financial year.  This has been driven by a resilient performance in the Group's core patent translations business and the initial benefit of strong subscriptions in the important January renewal period for our high margin PatBase service offset by the continued weak performance in our Berlin operations, which are focused upon translations for German exporters, as stated in our AGM statement on 13 February 2012.  Overall our profit expectations for the year as a whole remain unchanged with a greater second half weighting anticipated as a result of recent client wins, some benefit from the ongoing rationalisation in Germany, a full half year contribution from increased PatBase subscriptions, an increase in the number of translations being transferred from inovia and a healthy pipeline of opportunities.

We now have our estimated Euro and dollar trading exposure hedged at average maturity rates of 1 Euro = 87.2p until 31 January 2013 and $1.60 = £1 until 30 September 2012 respectively.

The Group continues to enjoy a strong financial position with shareholder funds in excess of £58 million and net cash of £22 million as at 31 March 2012, underpinning the Group's ability to both make acquisitions and support its progressive dividend policy.

Market Update

On March 5, the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) published figures showing a 10.7% increase in the annual PCT filings to 181,900 from 164,316, setting a new record and demonstrating that procuring international patent rights has remained an integral part of many IP strategies despite the economic conditions. The European Patent Office also recently published figures showing that the total number of European patent filings increased by 3.7% to 244,437 in 2011 from 235,700 in 2010.

Andrew Brode, Executive Chairman of RWS, commented on outlook:

"Whilst RWS is not immune to global economic conditions, especially in the Eurozone, the provision of intellectual property support services has proved to be a resilient niche and we are well placed to continue to grow our share of the patent translation and intellectual property services markets.

"We have a strong balance sheet, our recent investment in inovia will provide an additional platform for growth, and we are seeing further interesting niche acquisition opportunities. We, therefore, anticipate delivering continued progress in 2012."

For further information contact:

RWS Holdings plc

Andrew Brode, Executive Chairman                                                                              020 3128 8789

MHP

Katie Hunt/Simon Hockridge                                                                                        020 3128 8100

Numis

Stuart Skinner (Nominated Adviser)                                                                              020 7260 1000

James Serjeant (Corporate Broker)

About RWS:

RWS is the world's leading provider of intellectual property support services (patent translations and technical searches) to the medical, pharmaceutical, chemical, aerospace, defence, automotive, electronics and telecoms industries.  RWS also provides specialist technical, legal and financial translation services for areas of industry outside the patent arena.  RWS is based in the UK, with offices in Europe, New York, Tokyo and Beijing, and is listed on AIM, the London Stock Exchange regulated market (RWS.L).

Approximately 2,000,000 patent applications are filed per annum worldwide, with particular growth in China and a good recent recovery in Europe post recession, where a record number of applications in 2011 were recently reported by the European Patent Office.

For further information please visit: www.rws.com

 

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