11 July 2007
Eurovestech plc
("the Company" or "Eurovestech")
KSS trading update and intention to demerge the Retail Division
Background
In June 2003, Eurovestech acquired 100 per cent. of the issued share capital of
Knowledge Support System Limited ("KSS"), a provider of price optimisation
software to the petroleum and retail industries. At that time, the business was
heavily loss making with revenues of around £1 million per annum and an annual
cost base of approximately £7 million. KSS's strategy was refined, operations
were quickly restructured into two divisions, Fuels and Retail, and operating
expenses were significantly reduced.
In the year ended 27 June 2005, KSS achieved operational profitability.
Subsequently, KSS decided, with support from Eurovestech, to invest heavily to
increase the rate of growth and to broaden its product offerings. This
involved the appointment of experienced industry executives from the retail
software sector to develop the important US market. In addition, substantial
investment was made in product research and development, both for existing
product lines and for a new wholesale fuels pricing solution (RackPrice) to
complement KSS's highly successful fuel pricing solution (PriceNet).
Trading update
We are pleased to report that we believe that this approach has been
successful. In the last year, the Fuels Division has secured a number of client
wins for both its core PriceNet product and for RackPrice. Recent customer wins
include a major US discount retailer (PriceNet), Statoil (PriceNet), Rompetrol
(PriceNet and RackPrice) and a large US oil and gas distributor (RackPrice).
The investment in the Retail Division has delivered five new customers in the
last nine months for its PriceStrat solution. These include a number of
influential US grocery companies and Gigante Supermarkets, one of Mexico's
largest supermarket chains. In the last month, the Retail Division also secured
its first European customer for PriceStrat. The general market adoption of
price optimisation solutions is increasing rapidly, particularly in the US.
Added to the development of the market, KSS's reputation for delivering a
quality solution is increasingly being established through its customer
successes and as a result the sales pipeline is developing strongly.
We are pleased to announce that in the year ended 27 June 2007, KSS achieved
record unaudited revenues of £6.3 million, with annual sales growth of more
than 55 per cent. and operating profitability in the last six months of the
financial year. The pipeline and prospects across both divisions indicate that
the business will continue to deliver strong sales growth with a calendar 2007
revenue target of £9 million.
Intention to demerge KSS Retail Division
The markets in which the Fuels and Retail Divisions operate have distinct
characteristics. KSS's Retail and Fuel divisions have both reached a stage
where their markets and their operational performance have achieved sufficient
momentum to allow them to operate independently. The Fuels Division is cash
generative and profitable. The new RackPrice product is rapidly establishing
itself as a market leading product and has already transitioned from the
investment phase to revenue generation phase. PriceNet continues to perform
well. Having demonstrated the strength and quality of its PriceStrat product
and its skill and capability to successfully deploy the solution, the Retail
Division is forecasting significant sales growth in the coming months and is
expecting to move into profitability at the operating level in the current
fiscal year.
The Board of KSS believes that the timing is now right to demerge the
Retail Division from the Fuel Division to allow both divisions to pursue
independent strategies that are more highly tailored to the needs of their
respective market sectors, customers and potential channel partners. The Board
believes that the demerger will demonstrate the value of the respective
divisions better by improving transparency and, more importantly, will create
additional commercial opportunities to generate additional shareholder value in
each division.
The Board of KSS therefore intends subject, inter alia, to tax clearances and
certain third party consents, to demerge the Retail Division into a new company
which will also be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eurovestech.
Richard Bernstein, Chief Executive of Eurovestech commented: "Sales growth has
been achieved across all of KSS product offerings. Within the Fuels Division,
recent client wins as well as prospects for RackPrice are very encouraging. I
believe that the proposed demerger of the two divisions will not only increase
the focus within these businesses but will enable Eurovestech to provide
increased visibility of the very significant value that has been created within
KSS."
Enquiries:
Eurovestech plc Tel: 020 7491 0770
Richard Bernstein
John East & Partners Limited Tel: 020 7628 2200
Simon Clements/David Worlidge
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