Trading Update

RNS Number : 3154D

Sopheon PLC

28 January 2015

 



28 January 2015

SOPHEON PLC

("Sopheon", the "Group" or the "Company")

TRADING UPDATE

Sopheon plc, the international provider of software and services for complete Enterprise Innovation Performance solutions, announces initial indications of the Group's performance in 2014.

Revenues for the year ended 31 December 2014 are expected to be in the region of $18m, compared to reported revenues for 2013 of approaching $21m. Costs have been managed tightly and it is expected that the Group will continue to show a positive EBITDA result, albeit substantially lower than the approximately $3m achieved in 2013. In December, we noted that a number of material transactions we were expecting to conclude during the year were deferred to 2015.  Activity towards the end of the year remained high, with 10 license transactions in December alone. We have entered 2015 with a recurring revenue base at approximately $8m, and committed services of approximately $2m. During the year, we have continued to penetrate our key markets, including business from market leaders such as BASF, PepsiCo and Bayer MaterialScience. Furthermore, all the very large deals that were in play at year end continue to be actively pursued in the current year.

As noted in our December announcement, we have continued to push forward with operational and corporate developments alongside business development. Our commercial team was strengthened with the hire of Pieter Leijten, formerly of Infor, to lead European sales. We released version 9.2 of our Accolade solution suite, which we believe provides the most comprehensive resource and portfolio planning and management capabilities in the market. Our rapid pace of product enhancement continues, with the release of version 9.3 expected in February. Alongside 9.3 will be the first iteration of our new Accolade Express offering, which will enable enterprises to rapidly automate innovation processes, based on implementing out-of-the-box best practices rooted in Sopheon's extensive experiences with industry leading customers. On the corporate side, we successfully completed our share consolidation and subdivision, which we believe has reduced Sopheon's shareholder base from around 12,000 when we first embarked on this process to under 2,000 today. As part of that process, Sopheon's board stood behind fractional entitlements that were sold on the market and purchased the equivalent of 471,500 current ordinary shares, emphasizing their belief in the Company's prospects. 

Financial expectations noted above are subject to the completion of year-end financial close and audit processes. Sopheon plans to issue results for the year ended 31 December 2014 on 19 March 2015.

Barry Mence, Chairman, commented:

"Although we did close ten license transactions in December, we are disappointed with the way key deals deferred into 2015. We remain confident of the strategic path we are following and look for better commercial progress in the coming year, to match and leverage the major strides made in the last year with product and corporate matters."

For further information contact:

Barry Mence, Chairman	Sopheon plc	+ 44 (0) 1483 685 735
Arif Karimjee, CFO	Sopheon plc	+ 44 (0) 1483 685 735
Charlotte Stranner / Victoria Bates	finnCap	+ 44 (0) 20 7600 1658
Tim Thompson / Heather Armstrong / Ed Treadwell	Newgate Threadneedle	+ 44 (0) 20 7653 9842
Claire Verhagen	Citigate First Financial	+ 31 (0) 205 754 010

About Sopheon. Sopheon (LSE: SPE) partners with customers to provide complete Enterprise Innovation Performance solutions including software, expertise, and best-practices to achieve exceptional long-term revenue growth and profitability.  Sopheon's Accolade^® solution provides unique, fully-integrated coverage for the entire innovation management and new product development lifecycle.  For the first time, businesses can access a single source of the truth across strategic innovation planning, roadmapping, idea and concept development, process and project management, portfolio management and resource planning.  Sopheon's solutions have been implemented by over 200 customers with over 60,000 users in over 50 countries. Sopheon is listed on AIM, operated by the London Stock Exchange, and on the Alternext Exchange in the Netherlands.  For more information, please visit www.sopheon.com

 

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