Final Results
Lo-Q PLC
28 March 2006
LO-Q PLC
Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2005
Lo-Q plc ('Lo-Q' or the 'Company'), the virtual queuing design and operation
Company, announces its preliminary audited results for the year ended 31
December 2005.
Enquiries:
Jeff McManus (Chairman), Lo-Q plc 01491 577210
John Prior 0207 448 4400
CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT
The Company has made positive progress during the fifteen months to 31 December
2005.
I would like to draw to your attention that the comparative periods in this
statement are for fifteen months against twelve months. This fifteen month
period contains three quarters of relatively little income, when the parks are
predominantly closed, and two quarters when income is earned.
Bearing this in mind, the Company has performed impressively well in making an
operating profit of £100,000 for the twelve months to September 2005, whilst
reporting a small loss of £60,000, for the fifteen-month period to December
2005, which is smaller than originally anticipated. The comparison of income
between the full accounting periods shows that the Company has almost doubled
its earnings.
The contributory factors to this increased performance, as highlighted in my
interim statement for the 12 months to September 2005, are:
• increased Q-bot rental prices and demand;
• tighter management control; and
• having Steve Drake, our Operations Director, in the U.S.A. for large
periods of the operating season.
With the appointment of new management in senior positions in our customer's
organisation, Six Flags Corporation, we hope to be working more closely at
corporate level, with our aspiration being that this will bring further
increases in rental volumes, prices and demand in the season which is just
starting, and more parks coming on stream in the following years.
We recently attended a major industry trade show and although we saw signs of
renewed confidence in the theme park industry, there is currently a lot of talk
and activity relating to mergers and acquisitions within the sector, which tends
to make senior theme park management cautious about future plans. However we
feel that once this settles, our prospects of growing our park base in the USA
will be enhanced. Alongside this we have appointed, on a trial basis, a company
with established sales resources for marketing in Europe, which is focussing on
identifying potential installations for operation in the 2007 season.
Our Research and Development Team are current working on designing an upgraded
system, which utilises the significant advances in microelectronics and
associated software that have been made in the last couple of years, allowing us
to make substantial system cost reductions whilst also halving the installation
time. This enhanced architecture will also enable us to offer a system capable
of handling all the guests in a park in the not-too-distant future.
Again I would like to thank the Company's staff for their continued hard work
and helping the Company achieve these better results.
GROUP PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT
FIFTEEN MONTHS TO 31 DECEMBER 2005
15 months to 12 months to
31 December 30 September
2005 2004
£ £
GROUP TURNOVER 1,596,482 845,535
Cost of sales 273,269 149,437
GROSS PROFIT 1,323,213 696,098
Administrative expenses 1,460,747 1,229,705
Other operating income (75,671) (25,483)
OPERATING LOSS (61,863) (508,124)
Profit/(loss) on disposal of fixed assets - 159,849
(61,863) (348,275)
Interest receivable 2,139 351
Interest payable (440) (458)
LOSS ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES BEFORE TAXATION (60,164) (348,382)
Tax on loss on ordinary activities (29,565) (37,328)
LOSS FOR THE FINANCIAL PERIOD (30,599) (311,054)
Earnings per share (pence) (0.21) (2.17)
GROUP BALANCE SHEET
AT 31 DECEMBER 2005
31 December 30 September
2005 2004
£ £ £ £
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible assets 18,304 51,157
CURRENT ASSETS
Stocks 208,124 198,448
Debtors 76,315 433,449
Cash at bank and in hand 637,429 259,297
921,868 891,194
CREDITORS: Amounts falling due within
one year
131,568 110,421
NET CURRENT ASSETS 790,300 780,773
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES 808,604 831,930
CAPITAL AND RESERVES
Called-up equity share capital 143,478 143,478
Share premium account 4,971,617 4,971,617
Other reserves 12,473 12,473
Profit and loss account (4,318,964) (4,295,638)
SHAREHOLDERS'FUNDS 808,604 831,930
GROUP CASH FLOW STATEMENT
FIFTEEN MONTHS TO 31 DECEMBER 2005
15 months to 12 months to
31 December 30 September
2005 2004
£ £ £ £
NET CASH INFLOW/(OUTFLOW) FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES 331,868 (357,138)
RETURNS ON INVESTMENTS AND SERVICING OF FINANCE
Interest received 2,139 351
Interest paid (440) (458)
NET CASH INFLOW/(OUTFLOW) FROM RETURNS ON 1,699 (107)
INVESTMENTS AND SERVICING OF FINANCE
TAXATION 41,213 124,730
CAPITAL EXPENDITURE
Payments to acquire tangible fixed assets (5,692) (35,204)
Receipts from sale of fixed assets 1,771 223,648
NET CASH (OUTFLOW)/INFLOW FROM CAPITAL EXPENDITURE (3,921) 188,444
INCREASE/( DECREASE) IN CASH 370,859 (44,071)
RECONCILIATION OF OPERATING LOSS TO NET CASH INFLOW/
(OUTFLOW) FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES
15 months to 12 months to
31 Dec 2005 30 Sep 2004
£ £
Operating loss (61,863) (508,124)
Depreciation 38,545 94,014
Profit on disposal of fixed assets (1,771) -
(Increase)/decrease in stocks (9,676) 21,342
Decrease in debtors 345,486 56,329
Increase/(decrease) in creditors 21,147 (20,699)
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from operating activities 331,868 (357,138)
ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET FUNDS
At At
1 October Exchange 31 December
movement
2004 Cash flows 2005
£ £ £ £
Net cash:
Cash in hand and at bank 259,297 370,859 7,273 637,429
Net funds 259,297 370,859 7,273 637,429
EARNINGS PER SHARE
15 months to 12 months to
31 Dec 2005 30 Sep 2004
£ £
Earnings per ordinary share (0.21) (2.17)
Basic loss per ordinary share is calculated by dividing the loss attributable to ordinary shareholders of £30,599
(2004 - £311,054) by the weighted average number of shares in issue during the relevant financial period of
14,347,837 (2004 - 14,347,837).
The loss attributable to ordinary shareholders and the weighted average number of ordinary shares for the purpose
of calculating the diluted earnings per ordinary share are identical to those used for basic earnings per
ordinary share. This is because the exercise of share options would have the effect of reducing the loss per
ordinary share and is therefore not dilutive under the terms of FRS14.
DIVIDENDS
The Directors do not propose the payment of a dividend for the period.
The Preliminary Announcement was approved by the board of directors on 27 March
2006. The full set of accounts will be sent to shareholders in due course and
will be available from the offices of Corporate Synergy Plc, 30 Old Broad
Street, London EC2N 1HT.
This information is provided by RNS
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