Interim Results
System C Healthcare plc
23 January 2008
System C Healthcare plc
Interim results for the six months ended
30 November 2007
System C Healthcare plc ("the group"), a leading independent provider of IT
implementation solutions for the UK healthcare sector, announces its unaudited
interim results for the six months ended 30 November 2007.
Financial Highlights
The financial highlights for the six months ended 30 November 2007 are:
• Revenue up 29% at £8.4m (2006: £6.5m)
• Profit from operations increase to £1.1m compared to a break even position in
the prior year
• PBT significantly ahead at £1.5m (2006: £0.3m)
• EPS grows substantially to 1.14p per share (2006: 0.25p per share)
• Strong cash generation from operating activities of £2.5m (2006: £0.6m)
• Strong cash position with cash net of borrowings of £11.4m (2006: £8.6m)
• Interim dividend of 0.18 pence per share, a 50% increase on prior year
(2006: 0.12 pence per share)
• Full year profits expected to be at or around the top end of market
expectations
Chief Executive's Statement
Commenting on these results, Chief Executive Ian Denley said: "The Group has
turned in a strong all-round performance over the period, and I am very pleased
to be able to announce significant growth, improved profitability and a robust
cash balance.
We have continued to secure new clients and contracts in both public and private
sector healthcare organisations, and have played a significant role in most of
the major go-lives within the National Programme for IT throughout England.
In July we completed the acquisition of IQ Systems Services Ltd. This
acquisition has enabled us to enter new markets in healthcare IT, as the company
has a number of major clients in the Independent Sector Treatment Centre
("ISTC's") including Circle Health and Care UK.
In addition, the first stage of the Group's £7.5m IT project computerising the
Isle of Man's healthcare services has gone live on time and within budget with
over 1,300 users receiving training.
The Group's strong performance reflects our focus on delivering quality services
in partnership with our clients, successfully adapting our business to our
changing market place, and is a direct result of the hard work and effort of all
our employees. We now aim to build on our current position through further
organic growth, strategic acquisitions and continued investment in new products
and services.
Trading has continued to progress well since the end of the interim period on
both the services and products sides of the business. We look forward with
confidence to a good performance for the full financial year and beyond."
For further information please contact
System C Healthcare plc
Dr Ian Denley, Chief Executive
Andrew Coll, Finance Director Tel: 01622 691 616
Maitland
Emma Burdett Tel: 020 7379 5151
Richard Farnsworth
Collins Stewart Europe Limited
Mark Connelly Tel: 020 7523 8304
Notes to Editors
System C Healthcare plc (www.systemc.com), established in 1983, specialises in
the provision of information systems and solutions to the healthcare sector. Its
employees have an average of 15 years' healthcare experience and can provide all
aspects of systems design, development and deployment services. System C is
founded upon the belief that IT solutions, when effectively implemented, can
significantly contribute towards improving patient care.
System C is a specialist developer and supplier of Patient Administration and
Electronic Patient Record Systems to the health service. The Group's MedWay
product is successfully installed at a number of NHS hospitals including Noble's
Hospital Isle of Man, University Hospitals Aintree, Swindon and Marlborough NHS
Trust, Tameside Hospitals NHS Trust and the Christie, one of the UK's leading
cancer hospitals.
System C has helped to install healthcare systems at over 150 NHS Trusts and
offers a wide range of services to the NHS, other healthcare providers and
third-party suppliers. Services include programme/project/change management,
design, build and test, implementation, training, data migration, interfacing
and helpdesk/support services. Within the National Programme for IT (NPfIT),
System C people have been involved in 75% of secondary care go-lives to date as
well as many GP, community, Single Assessment Programme and child health
deployments
Chairman's Statement
I am pleased to report that System C has had a good first half of the year,
making strong progress on all fronts. During the period, the company has
diversified its client base, secured new contracts, contained costs and made
significant progress with major product developments.
On the financial side we have achieved an increase of 29% in revenues to £8.4m,
profit before income tax of £1.5m (2006: £0.3m) and an increase in cash net of
borrowings to £11.4m (2006: £8.6m).
This performance reflects an increase in revenues in both our services and
products divisions as well as a well-managed cost base.
Services
Sales of services were strong during the period. In addition to contracted
services revenue the Group generated more than £4m through additional work
within existing framework contracts or through entirely new business.
New business wins included a contract to build and deploy a patient booking and
electronic X-ray system (PACS) for a client which has won a major procurement to
provide diagnostic services to the NHS. Another is a deployment contract to
install a third party community and mental health system in Guernsey. We have
also been awarded significant amounts of deployment and support work by NHS
Trusts across the country.
The Group has continued to enhance its hard-won reputation for deploying complex
systems quickly and safely. On the basis of our track record, System C employees
are now working extensively with NHS Connecting for Health (CFH) and Local
Service Provider teams to support the majority of the go-lives across the
country. The Group has successfully extended its support into most care
settings, and is now working with acute, community and mental health hospitals
as well as with Ambulance and Primary Care Trusts. In addition, the Group is
moving into many areas of deployment support, including the Government's new
Summary Care Record and clinical systems deployment. We are delighted to be
involved in such a strategic project from the outset.
A notable achievement over the period was the deployment team's delivery of a
complex patient management and imaging system to 28 static and mobile imaging
facilities across London. This contract was awarded in support of the
Government's Independent Sector Diagnostics Programme.
Products and Software Development
The operational performance within the products division has been strong.
An important milestone was reached in late 2007 when the product and services
teams combined to deliver our own MedWay Electronic Patient Record system to
Nobles and Ramsey Hospitals on the Isle of Man in just eight months. This was
the first phase of the Group's 7 year £7.5m contract to computerise healthcare
across the island. The deployment included a Patient Administration System
(PAS), Accident and Emergency, maternity, and document tracking and reporting
systems. Additional modules including ambulance, theatres and community and
social services systems will be rolled out during the course of 2008.
This has also been a very good period for the System C software team, with
significant progress on all of its software development programmes.
Our close relationship with Microsoft continues to bring benefits to software
development, both in our use of new technologies from the .Net framework and the
integration of standard Microsoft applications into our healthcare product set.
We have also benefited from working with Microsoft in the NHS/Microsoft
collaboration to produce a Common User Interface (CUI) for healthcare
applications.
Medway Sigma, the Group's five year redevelopment of its Electronic Record and
Patient Management systems to comply with Microsoft technologies, is now close
to completion and will be launched in 2008. Customer reaction to early releases
of the software has been positive, and we are expecting good take-up both in the
UK and overseas. European partners are already translating Medway Sigma for use
in their home markets.
The first Sigma module, the Microsoft version of the HealthData Manager
reporting solution, was delivered in November 2007 to the Isle of Man. This was
an important development milestone for the business. We have also secured two
new contracts to supply HealthData Manager to English hospitals.
The Group has continued to develop and support the existing MedWay suite and has
made over 100 major improvements in the year, including a new service to support
the Government's 18 week Referral to Treatment Time (RTT) programme.
Acquisitions
Our ongoing acquisition strategy is to identify opportunities which provide
System C with new clients in related markets and strategic related technologies
for use within the Medway Sigma product range.
We acquired IQ Systems Services Ltd ("IQ") in July 2007. This company develops
and markets the IQUtopia patient management and clinical system to independent
treatment centres. The acquisition has furthered System C's expansion into the
private healthcare market. We have successfully integrated IQ into the Group,
and in the period IQ contributed revenues of £420k and PBT of £122k. We have
been working closely with IQ clients such as Circle Health and Care UK to
enhance product functionality and capability. The close synergies between IQ and
the Group has also meant that System C staff are being contracted directly to IQ
clients. Our focus on strengthening IQ's business development activities has led
to considerable interest in the product range from private healthcare providers
in the UK and overseas.
Market
In England, the National Programme for IT is gathering momentum with an
increasing number of successful deployments. This has translated into work for
the Group in a wide range of geographic and product areas. The deployment of
patient management systems into acute hospitals, which is much more complex and
resource intensive than the equivalent deployments in the mental health and
community sectors, is now underway and a number of hospitals have gone live
successfully over the past year.
The coming year is expected to see an increase in the installation of acute
systems, the area of System C's greatest expertise, and this is expected to
continue until 2010/11 and beyond. In parallel with the acute PAS activity, the
LSPs are expected to begin the deployment and roll out of clinical systems this
year and these programmes of work are likely to generate continued ongoing work
for our teams.
Outside the National Programme, there is a growing enthusiasm for the next
generation of healthcare systems and we are getting increased interest in our
.Net Electronic Patient Record solutions from within the UK and overseas. The
new applications integrate traditional healthcare software with the new
Microsoft open architecture for its Office products and we believe this is
becoming a clear direction of travel for the market as a whole. System C will be
launching "ready to install" products into this market in 2008.
Staff
The improved performance could not have been achieved without the dedication and
expertise of our employees, and I would like to thank all of them for their
significant contribution throughout the period. We continue to develop our
position as the employer of choice in healthcare IT, and have achieved our
Investors in People reaccreditation this year. We are currently looking to
increase our staff capacity to support the top-line growth we are achieving.
Earnings per Share and Dividends
The Board is pleased to declare a interim dividend of 0.18 pence per share, a
50% increase on prior year (2006: 0.12 pence per share). The dividend will be
paid on 12 March 2008 to those shareholders on the register at the close of
business on 15 February 2008.
Outlook and Current Trading
We have strengthened our competitive position within the healthcare IT market
place as demonstrated in our improved operating performance, broader client
base, strategic acquisition and strong cash generation. Our objective for 2008
is to further enhance this position through organic growth, continued investment
in new products and services, and a programme of strategic acquisitions.
Trading has continued to progress well since the end of the interim period, with
both the services and products sides of the business performing well, and
continued strong cash generation. On this basis, and given the strong first
half, the Board expects that profits for the full financial year will be at or
around the top end of market expectations.
Jim Horsburgh, Chairman
System C Healthcare plc
Consolidated Income Statement
For the six months ended 30 November 2007
Six months Six months
ended ended
30 Nov 30 Nov
2007 2006
(unaudited) (unaudited)
£000 £000
Revenue 8,357 6,482
Cost of sales (4,023) (3,389)
---------- ----------
Gross profit 4,334 3,093
Selling and marketing costs (125) (346)
Research and development costs (573) (631)
Administration and general overheads (2,550) (2,160)
---------- ----------
Profit /(loss) from operations 1,086 (44)
Interest receivable 427 385
Interest payable (16) (59)
---------- ----------
Profit before income tax 1,497 282
Income tax expense (501) (59)
---------- ----------
Profit for the period 996 223
---------- ----------
Earnings per ordinary share
- basic 1.14p 0.25p
- diluted 1.13p 0.25p
All of the activities of the Group are continuing.
Notes 1 to 13 form an integral part of this condensed consolidated half-yearly
financial information.
Consolidated Balance Sheet
As at 30 November 2007
At 30 Nov 2007 At 31 May 2007 At 30 Nov 2006
(unaudited) (audited) (unaudited)
£000 £000 £000
ASSETS
Non-current assets
Property, plant and
equipment 529 673 822
Goodwill 1,749 - -
Intangible assets 1,079 351 198
Deferred income tax assets 496 927 1,190
Trade and other receivables 699 774 1,036
----------- ----------- -----------
4,552 2,725 3,246
----------- ----------- -----------
Current assets
Trade and other receivables 5,667 6,491 5,925
Cash and cash equivalents 11,621 10,574 9,579
----------- ----------- -----------
17,288 17,065 15,504
----------- ----------- -----------
TOTAL ASSETS 21,840 19,790 18,750
----------- ----------- -----------
LIABILITIES
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables 3,157 3,153 2,242
Deferred consideration 680 - -
Current income tax
liabilities 188 92 42
Borrowings 198 528 827
----------- ----------- -----------
4,223 3,773 3,111
----------- ----------- -----------
Non-current liabilities
Borrowings - - 198
Deferred consideration 643 - -
Deferred income tax
liabilities 150 - -
Provisions and other
liabilities 95 102 86
----------- ----------- -----------
888 102 284
----------- ----------- -----------
----------- ----------- -----------
TOTAL LIABILITIES 5,111 3,875 3,395
----------- ----------- -----------
----------- ----------- -----------
NET ASSETS 16,729 15,915 15,355
----------- ----------- -----------
SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY
Share capital 895 895 894
Share premium account 9,767 9,757 9,752
Capital redemption reserve 3,127 3,127 3,127
Own shares held in trust (1,235) (1,235) (1,235)
Retained earnings 4,175 3,371 2,817
----------- ----------- -----------
TOTAL EQUITY 16,729 15,915 15,355
----------- ----------- -----------
Notes 1 to 13 form an integral part of this condensed consolidated half-yearly
financial information.
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity
For the six months ended 30 November 2007 and 30 November 2006
Own
Share Capital shares
Share premium redemption held in Retained Total
capital account reserve trust earnings equity
(unaudited) (unaudited) (unaudited) (unaudited) (unaudited) (unaudited)
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
As at 1 June 2006 893 9,732 3,127 (1,235) 2,757 15,274
Profit for the period - - - - 223 223
Share-based
payment charge - - - - 29 29
Issue of new shares 1 - - - - 1
Premium on issue of
new shares - 20 - - - 20
Dividends - - - - (192) (192)
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
As at 30
November 2006 894 9,752 3,127 (1,235) 2,817 15,355
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
As at 1 June 2007 895 9,757 3,127 (1,235) 3,371 15,915
Profit for the period - - - - 996 996
Share-based
payment charge - - - - 30 30
Premium on
issue of new shares - 10 - - - 10
Deferred tax - - - - (13) (13)
Dividends - - - - (209) (209)
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
As at 30
November 2007 895 9,767 3,127 (1,235) 4,175 16,729
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Notes 1 to 13 form an integral part of this condensed consolidated
half-yearly financial information.
Consolidated Cash flow Statement
For the six months ended 30 November 2007
Six months Six months
ended ended
30 Nov 30 Nov
2007 2006
(unaudited) (unaudited)
£000 £000
Cash flows from operating activities
Cash generated from operations 2,541 638
Interest paid (16) (59)
Income tax paid (52) -
----------- ------------
Net cash generated by operating activities 2,473 579
----------- ------------
Cash flows from investing activities
Acquisition of subsidiary, net of cash
acquired (913) -
Purchases of property, plant and equipment (57) (164)
Capitalised development costs (269) (98)
Interest received 343 381
----------- ------------
Net cash (utilised in)/generated from
investing activities (896) 119
----------- ------------
Cash flows from financing activities
Repayment of borrowings (330) (496)
Issue of equity share capital 10 21
Dividends paid (210) (192)
----------- ------------
Net cash utilised by financing activities (530) (667)
----------- ------------
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 1,047 31
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of
period 10,574 9,548
----------- ------------
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 11,621 9,579
----------- ------------
Cash flows from operating activities
Six months Six months
ended ended
30 Nov 30 Nov
2007 2006
(unaudited) (unaudited)
£000 £000
Profit for the period 996 223
Taxation 501 58
Financial income (427) (384)
Financial expense 16 59
------------ -----------
Profit /(loss) from operations 1,086 (44)
Decrease in trade and other receivables 1,239 498
Increase/(decrease) in trade and other
payables 1,224 (277)
Net movement on provisions (7) 5
Deferred consideration (1,323) -
Share-based payment charge 30 29
Depreciation of property, plant and
equipment 207 366
Amortisation of intangible assets 85 61
------------ -----------
Net cash inflow from operating
activities 2,541 638
------------ -----------
Notes 1 to 13 form an integral part of this condensed consolidated
half-yearly financial information.
Notes
1. General information
The Company is a limited liability company incorporated and domiciled in the UK.
The address of its registered office is Brenchley House, Week Street, Maidstone,
Kent, ME14 1RF.
The Company has its primary listing on AIM, a market of that name operated by
the London Stock Exchange.
This condensed consolidated half-yearly financial information was approved for
issue on 22 January 2008.
These interim financial results do not comprise statutory accounts within the
meaning of Section 240 of the Companies Act 1985. Statutory accounts for the
year ended 31 May 2007 were approved by the Board of Directors on 11 September
2007 and delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The Report of the Auditors on
those accounts was unqualified, did not contain an emphasis of matter paragraph
and did not contain any statement under Section 237 of the Companies Act 1985.
2. Basis of preparation
This condensed consolidated half-yearly financial information for the half-year
ended 30 November 2007 has been prepared in accordance with the AIM Rules for
Companies and with IAS 34, 'Interim Financial Reporting' as adopted by the
European Union. This half-yearly condensed consolidated financial report should
be read in conjunction with the annual financial statements for the year ended
31 May 2007, which have been prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the
European Union.
3. Accounting policies
The accounting policies adopted are consistent with those of the annual
financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2007, as described in those
annual financial statements.
The following new standards, amendments to standards or interpretations are
mandatory for the first time for the financial year ending 31 May 2008.
• IFRIC 10, 'Interims and impairment', effective for annual periods
beginning on or after 1 November 2006. This interpretation has not had any
impact on the timing or recognition of impairment losses as the Group already
accounted for such amounts using principles consistent with IFRIC 10.
• IFRIC 11, 'IFRS 2 - Group and treasury share transactions', effective
for annual periods beginning on or after 1 March 2007. This interpretation is
not relevant to the Group at the current time.
• IFRS 7, 'Financial instruments: Disclosures', effective for annual periods
beginning on or after 1 January 2007 and IAS 1, 'Amendments to capital
disclosures', effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January
2007. As this interim report contains only condensed financial statements, and
as there are no material financial instrument related transactions in the
period, full IFRS 7 disclosures are not required at this stage. The full IFRS
7 disclosures, including the sensitivity analysis to market risk and capital
disclosures required by the amendment to IAS 1, will be given in the annual
financial statements.
4. Segmental reporting
The Group's primary format for segmental reporting is business segment. As the
business only operates in the UK the Group does not have a secondary reporting
format.
Six months ended 30 Nov 2007
Development and
Products Services Shared Services Total
(unaudited) (unaudited) (unaudited) (unaudited)
£000 £000 £000 £000
Revenue 2,818 5,539 - 8,357
Profit before
tax 1,568 1,848 (1,919) 1,498
Net assets 3,090 2,361 11,278 16,729
Six months ended 30 Nov 2006
Development and
Products Services Shared Services Total
(unaudited) (unaudited) (unaudited) (unaudited)
£000 £000 £000 £000
Revenue 1,763 4,719 - 6,482
Profit before
tax 450 1,781 (1,949) 282
Net assets 2,788 2,493 10,074 15,355
5. Capital expenditure
Six months ended 30 November 2007 Tangible and
Intangible
assets
(unaudited)
£000
Opening net book amount 1 June 2007 1,024
Additions 2,625
Depreciation and amortisation (292)
----------
Closing net book amount 30 November 2007 3,357
----------
The fixed asset additions primarily relate to the acquisition of IQ Systems
Services Ltd (£2,299,000) and the capitalisation of internally generated
development costs (£269,000).
Six months ended 30 November 2006 Tangible and
Intangible
assets
(unaudited)
£000
Opening net book amount 1 June 2006 1,182
Additions 262
Depreciation and amortisation (424)
----------
Closing net book amount 30 November 2006 1,020
----------
The fixed asset additions relate to new contract assets (£164,000) and the
capitalisation of internally generated development costs (£98,000).
6. Share capital
The Group has 89,548,464 ordinary 1p shares in issue with a nominal value of
£895,000 (2006 - £894,000).
Employee share options exercised during the six months to 30 November 2007
resulted in 67,500 shares being issued (2006 - 151,000), with exercise proceeds
of £10,000 (2006 - £21,000). The related weighted average price at the time of
exercise was 31.5p (2006 - 27.83p) per share.
7.Income tax
The tax expense recognised is based on management estimates of the tax charge
for the period.
8. Earnings per share
Earnings per share attributable to equity shareholders of the company arises
from continuing operations as follows:
Six months Six months
ended ended
30 Nov 30 Nov
2007 2006
(unaudited) (unaudited)
Earnings per share for profit from continuing
operations attributable to the equity of the
Company
- basic 1.14p 0.25p
- diluted 1.13p 0.25p
The calculation of earnings per share excludes 2,287,741 ordinary shares held by
The System C Healthcare plc Employee Benefit Trust in accordance with IAS 33
'Earnings per share'.
9. Dividends
A dividend that related to the year ended 31 May 2007 and amounted to £209,000
was paid on 9 November 2007.
In addition, the Directors propose an interim dividend of 0.18p per share
payable on 12 March 2008 to shareholders who are on the register at 15 February
2008 (2006: 0.12p per share) This interim dividend amounting approximately to
£157,000 has not been recognised as a liability in this half-yearly financial
report.
10. Business combinations
On 2 July 2007 the Group acquired 100% of the share capital of IQ Systems
Services Ltd, a company that provides Patient Administration Systems to the
independent healthcare sector, for an initial cash consideration of £787,000
with potential additional consideration of up to £1,360,000 that is dependent on
the achievement of certain performance criteria.
The acquired business contributed revenues of £420,000 and profit after tax of
£97,000 to the Group for the period from acquisition to 30 November 2007. If the
acquisition had occurred on 1 June 2007, consolidated revenue and consolidated
profit after tax for the six months ended 30 November 2007 would have been
£8,419,000 and £992,000 respectively. Details of net assets acquired and
goodwill are as follows:
(unaudited)
£000
- cash paid 787
- direct costs relating to the acquisition 36
- fair value of deferred consideration 1,323
---------
Total purchase consideration 2,146
- provisional fair value of net identifiable
assets acquired (see below) (397)
---------
Goodwill 1,749
---------
The goodwill is attributable to the strong position and product capability of IQ
Systems Services Ltd within the independent sector treatment market in the UK.
The Group has yet to finalise the amount of the fair value of the net
identifiable assets acquired, however further details of the provisional fair
values in respect of this acquisition are given below.
Acquiree's
carrying Provisional
amount fair value
(unaudited) (unaudited)
£000 £000
Property, plant and equipment 6 6
Intangible assets - 544
Trade and other receivables 257 257
Bank overdraft (90) (90)
Trade and other payables (170) (170)
- (150)
------------ ---------
Deferred income tax liabilities
------------ ---------
Net identifiable assets acquired 3 397
------------ ---------
Outflow of cash to acquire business, net of cash acquired:
- Cash consideration 787
- Cash and cash equivalents in
subsidiary acquired (overdraft) 90
---------
Cash outflow on acquisition 877
---------
11. Related party transactions
Key management compensation amounted to £605,000 for the six months to 30
November 2007 (2006 - £517,000)
Six months Six months
ended ended
30 Nov 2007 30 Nov 2006
(unaudited) (unaudited)
£000 £000
Salaries and other short-term benefits 573 493
Pension 32 24
---------- -----------
605 517
---------- -----------
Transactions between the Company and its subsidiary, which are related parties,
have been eliminated on consolidation and are not disclosed in this note.
12. Events occurring after the balance sheet date
Details of the interim dividend proposed are given in Note 9.
13. Statement of Directors' Responsibilities
The Directors confirm that this condensed set of financial statements has been
prepared in accordance with IAS 34 as adopted by the European Union and the AIM
Rules for Companies.
The Directors of System C Healthcare plc are listed in the System C Healthcare
plc Annual Report for the year ended 31 May 2007. A list of current directors is
maintained on the System C Healthcare plc website: www.systemc.com.
By Order of the Board
Name
Title
Date
Independent Review Report to System C Healthcare plc
Introduction
We been engaged by the company to review the condensed set of financial
statements in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30
November 2007, which comprises the consolidated income statement, the
consolidated balance sheet, the consolidated statement of changes in equity, the
consolidated cash flow statement and related notes. We have read the other
information contained in the half-yearly financial report and considered whether
it contains any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the
information in the condensed set of financial statements.
Directors' responsibilities
The half-yearly financial report is the responsibility of, and has been approved
by, the directors. The directors are responsible for preparing the half-yearly
financial report in accordance with the AIM Rules for Companies.
As disclosed in note 2, the annual financial statements of the group are
prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union. The
condensed set of financial statements included in this half-yearly financial
report has been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standard
34, "Interim Financial Reporting", as adopted by the European Union.
Our responsibility
Our responsibility is to express to the company a conclusion on the condensed
set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report based on our
review. This report, including the conclusion, has been prepared for and only
for the company for the purpose of the AIM Rules for Companies and for no other
purpose. We do not, in producing this report, accept or assume responsibility
for any other purpose or to any other person to whom this report is shown or
into whose hands it may come save where expressly agreed by our prior consent in
writing.
Scope of review
We conducted our review in accordance with International Standard on Review
Engagements (UK and Ireland) 2410, 'Review of Interim Financial Information
Performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity' issued by the Auditing
Practices Board for use in the United Kingdom. A review of interim financial
information consists of making enquiries, primarily of persons responsible for
financial and accounting matters, and applying analytical and other review
procedures. A review is substantially less in scope than an audit conducted in
accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) and
consequently does not enable us to obtain assurance that we would become aware
of all significant matters that might be identified in an audit. Accordingly, we
do not express an audit opinion.
Conclusion
Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe
that the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial
report for the six months ended 30 November 2007 is not prepared, in all
material respects, in accordance with International Accounting Standard 34 as
adopted by the European Union and the AIM Rules for Companies.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Chartered Accountants
Gatwick
22 January 2008
Notes:
(a) The maintenance and integrity of the System C Healthcare plc web site is the
responsibility of the directors; the work carried out by the auditors does not
involve consideration of these matters and, accordingly, the auditors accept no
responsibility for any changes that may have occurred to the interim report
since it was initially presented on the web site.
(b) Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and
dissemination of financial information may differ from legislation in other
jurisdictions.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange