AGM Statement

RNS Number : 3084X

Tern PLC

04 May 2021

 

4 May 2021

Tern Plc

("Tern" or the "Company")

AGM Statement

Tern Plc (AIM:TERN), the investment company specialising in the Internet of Things ("IoT"), announces that at the Company's Annual General Meeting ("AGM") being held later today Tern's Non-Executive Chairman, Ian Ritchie, will make the following statement:

"It is disappointing that the ongoing Covid-19 related restrictions mean that we will not be able to welcome shareholders to the AGM this year, but I hope as many as possible will be able to attend the online presentation and Q&A session being held later today.

These are exciting times for all of Tern's portfolio companies and I am particularly pleased with the further progress that they have made in recent months.

As an investment company we are pleased that we were able to support our portfolio companies' growth, enabling them to achieve recent developments including, in March 2021, Device Authority launched KeyScaler for Azure Sphere in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace.  Device Authority continues to see an increase in the demand for its security and management integrations with Microsoft Azure, which is integral for customers building and deploying IoT strategies.  In that regard it was very pleasing to hear that at the well-attended two-day IoT security summit that Device Authority hosted in February 2021, a Microsoft representative described KeyScaler as the 'glue' that holds the IoT together.

Device Authority is also part of the IoT technical working group supporting the new FIDO Device Onboard ("FDO") protocol, a new open IoT standard which is designed to enable devices to simply and securely onboard to cloud and on-premises management platforms, announced by FIDO earlier this month.  Device Authority will be supporting FDO in its KeyScaler platform, enabling current and future customers to leverage FDO in their IoT projects, which we believe is key to driving a standards based approach for device onboarding and accelerating the adoption of IoT devices.

Building on recent commercial successes, particularly in the automotive and medical sectors, Device Authority has also added to its team with Kyle Pond joining as Vice President Sales and Business Development in February 2021 and Tyler Gannon joining as Vice President, Strategic Alliances for North America in April 2021, focused on growing Device Authority's partnerships, including those with Microsoft and PTC. Tyler has 20 years' experience in enterprise technology focused on building strategic alliances that drive market growth, including a 12-year career with Microsoft in multiple roles where he managed global strategic partners, led business development teams, and focused on technology integration for joint sales initiatives.

Talking Medicines, our most recent investee company, released their PatientMetRx platform in February 2021, to provide a systematic way of measuring the patient experience of medicines for the pharmaceutical industry.  I am pleased to note that they have secured their first customer for the platform and are seeing significant further interest.

Wyld Networks, through its Wyld Connect Satellite IoT solution, which is intended to be a key part of the delivery of communications technology via the emerging constellations of low earth orbit satellites, has significant developments anticipated during the course of this year.  They have also been focussed on securing further routes to market, including recently through the Fujitsu ecosystem platform globally and with Wezen Group in Latin America, which we anticipate will drive adoption of their solutions.  Wyld Networks also continues to trial and promote its Wyld Proximity and Safe Access Management solution for care homes, which has seen further interest since its recent coverage on BBC television.

InVMA is another portfolio company that is focussed on increasing its routes to market and a recent highlight has been the expansion of their relationship with a global, multi-billion Euro revenue supplier to the industrial and construction sectors which originally focused on the UK but now supplies InVMA's SaaS asset monitoring platform, AssetMinder, in France and Belgium.  Further European expansion is anticipated later this year.

FundamentalVR continues to build on its recent contract successes, with, in particular, a further rollout with a key pharmaceutical client, demonstrating their focus on securing customers and then expanding the products supplied to that customer.

We are highly focussed on securing Tern shareholder value from our portfolio companies as we help them to develop commercially and position them for their next stages of development, whether that be through our continuous involvement, third party syndicated private equity investment, trade participation or the public markets.

We are working to position Tern as the go to investment company for exciting IoT start-ups that we believe bring otherwise difficult to obtain large market opportunities to our shareholders.

IDC forecasts that the IoT market will maintain double-digit annual growth rates and will surpass the US$1 trillion mark in 2022*, and we are proud to be able to offer Tern shareholders a participation in a portfolio of companies that we believe to be at the forefront of IoT technology.  We look forward to continuing to provide regular updates on the progress of our portfolio companies."

*   https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS46609320  

Online Investor Presentation and Q&A Session

Tern's management and management from certain of Tern's portfolio companies will be hosting an online presentation and Q&A session at 5.30 p.m. today, Tuesday 4 May 2021. This session is open to all existing and prospective shareholders.

Those who wish to attend, and have not already done so, should register via the following link and they will be provided with access details:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jyS_9iNiSpSrRec7PAWMdw  

Participants will have the opportunity to submit questions during the session, but questions are welcomed in advance and may be submitted to: [e-mail] .

Enquiries

Tern Plc Al Sisto (CEO) Sarah Payne (CFO)	via IFC Advisory
Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker) David Worlidge / Alex Brearley (Corporate Finance) Matt Butlin / Kelly Gardiner (Sales and Corporate Broking)	Tel: [phone]
IFC Advisory (Financial PR and IR) Tim Metcalfe Graham Herring Florence Chandler	Tel: [phone] [e-mail]

 

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