Interim Results
CONCURRENT TECHNOLOGIES PLC
Interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2007
Concurrent Technologies Plc, which manufactures high-end embedded computer
products for critical applications in the defence, telecommunications and
industrial markets, announces interim results for the six months ended 30 June
2007.
Financial Highlights
* Profit before tax, after capitalisation of certain development costs for
the current period, declined 11% to £835,198 (H1 2006: £939,619). Second
half bias anticipated
* Increased interim dividend to 0.40p per share (H1 2006: 0.35p)
* Gross margins strengthened to 47% (H1 2006: 45%)
* Cash of £4.3m and no borrowings
Operating Highlights
* Customers successfully transitioned to new RoHS compliant products
* Ranked in the top 5% of embedded board vendors by an independent global
market analysis report
* Many new products successfully launched during the period
* Expansion into India:
- Increasing customer enquiries
- Planned establishment of a new design centre in Bangalore in India
Michael Collins, Chairman, commented:
"The number of sales opportunities, especially in the USA, continues to
increase. In addition, in recent months the number of sales requests emanating
from India has much increased and so in the coming months, sales channels will
be established in the sub-continent to address the defence and
telecommunications markets in particular."
"We have announced some important new product launches this year already and we
expect that the release of even more new products based on the latest
multi-core Intel® processors should ensure that we are in an excellent position
to take advantage of these sales opportunities."
19 September 2007
Enquiries
Concurrent Technologies Plc 01206 752 626
Glen Fawcett, Managing Director
Nexus Financial Ltd 020 7451 7050
Nicholas Nelson / Kathy Boate
Nominated Adviser
Brewin Dolphin Investment Banking 0141 221 7733
Alan Stewart / Ken Fleming
CONCURRENT TECHNOLOGIES PLC
CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT
Financial Summary
As I reported in March 2007, the introduction of the RoHS environmental
regulations had a significant impact on us in 2006 in particular. One
consequence was that some customers advanced product purchases into 2006 as
they made "last time buy" purchases of products containing leaded components
which would in the normal course of events have been purchased in 2007.
Consequently, whilst turnover and profits for the second half of 2006 were
boosted by this unusual event the results for the first half of 2007 were
depleted for the same reasons. In addition, many customers who were making the
change to unleaded products decided that they should also transition towards
our new dual-core processor based products and this transition is continuing.
Profit before tax, calculated after capitalisation of certain development costs
for the current period, declined 11% to £835,198 (H1 2006: £939,619) but we
anticipate a second half bias for the full year.
Despite the continued weakness of the US dollar gross margins during the period
strengthened to 47% from 45% in the same period last year.
We ended this half year with cash of £4.26m and no borrowings, while our
earnings per share for the period was 0.86p (H1 2006: 0.98p). Market conditions
continue to be good.
In preparing the figures for the first half of 2007 we have made the transition
from UK GAAP to International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). There are
many changes in the way we report our results, in particular relating to the
treatment of development costs, some of which for the first time for many years
have been capitalised and now appear as intangible assets in the balance sheet.
Business Summary
Concurrent Technologies designs, builds and supplies high-end embedded computer
products to the defence, telecommunication and industrial markets. Our range of
products includes central processing unit ("CPU") boards, computer
inter-connections and computer systems. These computer products are integrated
into a variety of applications which require very high levels of processing
power and superior levels of reliability; applications include military
systems, communications, networking, medical imaging, industrial automation and
scientific research.
The Group's product range, which is mainly based on long life-cycle components
produced by Intel®, includes single and dual processor computer boards using
single and dual-core processors. Designed for the CompactPCI®, VME, AMC
(Advanced Mezzanine Card) and Multibus II open architecture standards, the
majority of the designs are for use in standard operating conditions with some
extended temperature range versions for use in more extreme environments.
In addition to hardware design capability, our engineering teams undertake a
significant amount of software and firmware development to provide
interoperability between products, generate test software both on-board and for
production test purposes, and also provide support for leading embedded and
real-time operating systems.
Review of Operations
During the first half of this year the Company focussed on the introduction of
new products, and in particular in transitioning existing and new customers to
our latest ranges of RoHS compliant dual-core products. These products are
being marketed world-wide and targeted primarily at defence and
telecommunication industries.
These new products include significant technological developments resulting in
this period being one of the most productive in our history. In addition to our
new processor boards, we have now developed technology using multi-channel
switches operating at gigabit data rates that can be used in high-speed
switched fabric VME systems.
Many new products which support the Intel® Core™2 Duo range of processors have
now been released. These processors enable the Company to offer products which
provide enhanced processing capabilities without a significant increase in
power consumption - an important attribute for the end users. The low power
consumption also leads to higher reliability and is a characteristic much in
demand by users of embedded computer products.
The Company has also produced a further product that features two Dual-Core
Intel® Xeon® processors on a single CompactPCI® board. The board is ideal for
intensive processing applications where the four processor cores can access up
to 8 Gbytes of onboard memory.
Many advances are being made in the development of products with enhanced
environmental capabilities, and important product announcements are expected
later this year.
The Company's image within its markets was further enhanced during the first
half by an independent global market analysis research report which placed the
Company within the top 5% of embedded board vendors. This was particularly
encouraging.
Where appropriate we have successfully transitioned customers to our new
dual-core product ranges, and these customers are now in their test and
development stages using this new technology. In addition, we have identified
many new customers and our products have been designed into a number of new
development programmes, particularly within the defence market. Most of these
programmes have yet to go to the production stage, but we are confident that
many of these will generate business for several years.
Future Plans
It is key to the future success of the business that we continue to expand our
range of products targeted primarily at the CompactPCI® bus architecture,
including the newer smaller sized 3U version, together with the VME and AMC
architectures. We will continue to design products for complex, high
technology, low to medium volume and high margin applications, and in an
increasing number of cases these products are targeted for use in harsh
environments.
We will, therefore, continue increasing our substantial investment in design
and development. As part of this aim we have plans to establish a new design
studio in Bangalore, India which enjoys a concentration of high technology
design skills suited to our needs. Shareholders should expect us to be moving
quickly to make India another product development centre, although we currently
have no plans to manufacture there.
The Company has the authority to buy back its own shares and the Directors, as
in past periods, will consider re-purchases if good opportunities arise at
suitable times.
As I said in March 2007, with the Group's strong financial base and market
positioning, we maintain a proactive policy of exploring value enhancing
acquisition opportunities as they arise.
Dividend
The Board is declaring an interim dividend of 0.40p per share (2006 0.35p). The
total cost of this interim dividend will amount to £289k. The ex-dividend date
for the interim dividend is 3 October 2007, the record date is 5 October 2007
and the payment date is 2 November 2007.
Outlook
The second half of 2007 has started well although due to their own market
conditions, a few customers have experienced delays during 2007. These delays
coupled with customers migrating to our dual-core processing products means
that we do not anticipate that the year as a whole will surpass last year's
excellent performance.
The number of sales opportunities, especially in the USA, continues to
increase. In addition, in recent months the number of sales requests emanating
from India has much increased and so in the coming months, sales channels will
be established in the sub-continent to address the defence and
telecommunications markets in particular.
We have announced some important new product launches this year already and we
expect that the release of even more new products based on the latest
multi-core Intel® processors should ensure that we are in an excellent position
to take advantage of these sales opportunities.
Michael Collins
Chairman
18 September 2007
All companies and product names are trademarks of their respective organisation
CONCURRENT TECHNOLOGIES PLC
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT
Six months Six months Year
ended ended ended
30/06/07 30/06/06 31/12/06
£ £ £
CONTINUING OPERATIONS
Sales revenue 4,756,967 5,829,566 12,507,280
Cost of sales 2,530,813 3,217,770 6,683,124
Gross profit 2,226,154 2,611,796 5,824,156
Net operating expenses 1,497,937 1,759,143 3,716,999
Group operating profit 728,217 852,653 2,107,157
Finance income 106,981 86,966 187,501
Profit before tax 835,198 939,619 2,294,658
Tax 216,443 228,453 539,515
Profit for the period 618,755 711,166 1,755,143
Attributable to:
Equity holders of the parent 618,755 711,166 1,755,143
Basic earnings per 0.86p 0.98p 2.42p
share
Diluted earnings per 0.85p 0.98p 2.41p
share
CONCURRENT TECHNOLOGIES PLC
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
At 30 June At 30 June At 31
2007 2006 December
2006
ASSETS £ £ £
Non-current assets
Property, plant and 475,577 465,523 467,244
equipment
Intangible assets 656,701 133,038 131,289
Deferred tax assets 106,020 102,866 119,706
1,238,298 701,427 718,239
Current assets
Inventories 1,561,751 1,390,274 1,279,465
Trade and other 1,769,116 1,823,053 2,047,454
receivables
Cash and cash 4,255,556 4,296,070 4,813,022
equivalents
7,586,423 7,509,397 8,139,941
Total assets 8,824,721 8,210,824 8,858,180
LIABILITIES
Non-current liabilities
Deferred tax liabilities 132,257 37,113 -
Other provisions 14,802 - 16,445
147,059 37,113 16,445
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables 1,567,008 1,525,386 1,628,905
Provisions 45,323 - 43,680
Current tax liabilities 36,284 404,109 299,029
1,648,615 1,929,495 1,971,614
Total liabilities 1,795,674 1,966,608 1,988,059
Net assets 7,029,047 6,244,216 6,870,121
EQUITY
Capital and reserves
Share capital 727,000 727,000 727,000
Share premium account 3,405,817 3,405,817 3,405,817
Capital redemption 256,976 256,976 256,976
reserve
Cumulative translation (197,656) (90,776) (165,969)
adjustment
Profit and loss account 2,836,910 1,945,199 2,646,297
Equity attributable to 7,029,047 6,244,216 6,870,121
equity holders of parent
Total equity 7,029,047 6,244,216 6,870,121
CONCURRENT TECHNOLOGIES PLC
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT
Six months Six months Year
ended ended ended
30/06/07 30/06/06 31/12/06
£ £ £
Cash flows from operating
activities
Profit for the period 618,755 711,166 1,755,143
Adjustments for:
Finance income (106,981) (86,966) (187,501)
Tax 216,443 228,453 539,515
Depreciation 60,426 71,537 143,546
Amortisation 22,605 15,697 33,302
(Profit)/loss on disposal of (306) - 1,331
fixed assets
Capitalisation of development (502,427) - -
costs
Share-based payment 12,876 16,041 29,311
(Increase)/decrease in stock (282,286) 111,280 222,089
Decrease/(increase) in trade and 278,338 (129,762) (354,163)
other receivables
(Decrease)/increase in trade and (61,897) (116,151) 48,803
other payables
Cash generated from operations 255,546 821,295 2,231,376
Tax (paid)/received (306,875) 2,395 (429,903)
Net cash (used in)/generated (51,329) 823,690 1,801,473
from operating activities
Cash flows from investing
activities
Interest received 106,981 86,966 187,501
Purchases of property, plant and (69,056) (105,202) (180,334)
equipment (PPE)
Purchases of intangible assets (45,955) (38,014) (55,341)
Proceeds from sale of PPE 306 - 587
Net cash used in investing (7,724) (56,250) (47,587)
activities
Cash flows from financing
activities
Equity dividends paid (470,015) (363,500) (617,950)
Purchase of treasury shares - - (140,743)
Net cash used in financing (470,015) (363,500) (758,693)
activities
Net (decrease)/increase in cash (529,068) 403,940 995,193
Cash at beginning of period 4,813,022 3,978,139 3,978,139
Effect of foreign exchange rate (28,398) (86,009) (160,310)
changes
Cash at the end of the period 4,255,556 4,296,070 4,813,022
CONCURRENT TECHNOLOGIES PLC
NOTES TO THE INTERIM REPORT
1. These condensed consolidated interim financial statements, which are
unaudited, have been approved for issue by the Board of Directors on 18
September 2007.
2. The condensed financial information set out in this interim report does not
constitute statutory accounts as defined in Section 240 of the Companies
Act 1985. The Group's statutory financial statements for the year ended 31
December 2006, prepared under UK GAAP (United Kingdom Generally Accepted
Accounting Practice), have been filed with the Registrar of Companies. The
auditor's report on those financial statements was unqualified and did not
contain a statement under Section 237(2) of the Companies Act 1985.
3. These condensed consolidated interim financial statements are for the six
months ended 30 June 2007. They have been prepared in accordance with IAS
34 "Interim Financial Reporting" and the requirements of IFRS 1 "First-time
Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards" relevant to
interim reports, because they are part of the period covered by the Group's
first IFRS financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2007. They
do not include all of the information required for full annual financial
statements, and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated
financial statements of the Group for the year ended 31 December 2006.
4. Current tax expense is recognised in these condensed consolidated interim
financial statements based on the estimated effective tax rate for the full
year.
5. The calculation of basic earnings per share for the six months ended 30
June 2007 is based on the weighted average number of Ordinary Shares
outstanding during the period of 72,310,012. Comparative basic earnings per
share for the periods shown are based on the weighted average number of
Ordinary Shares outstanding of 72,700,012 in respect of the six months
ended 30 June 2006 and 72,657,889 in respect of the year ended 31 December
2006.
The calculation of diluted earnings per share incorporates the following number
of Ordinary Shares in respect of performance related employee share options:
six months ended 30 June 2007 - 675,940, six months ended 30 June 2006 -
69,377, year ended 31 December 2006 - 250,083.
6. Copies of this report will be sent to shareholders and are available at the
Company's Registered Office.