Trading Statement

RNS Number : 8167C

Anite PLC

20 November 2009

 



Friday, 20 November 2009

Anite plc

Half Year Trading Update

Anite plc ("Anite" or "the Company"), the leading provider of software solutions to the international wireless and leisure travel industries, today announces a trading update for the six months ended 31 October 2009.

Trading 

Trading in the first six months has been in-line with the expectations stated in Anite's Interim Management Statement issued in September 2009.  Consistent with this, the first half has been challenging due to the tough economic conditions and adjusted operating profit* is expected to be approximately £3.5m (2008: £12.4m).  

Overall, Wireless revenues were down around 20% year on year. In Network Testing, customer capital expenditure budgets have been reduced and although gross margins have remained stable, less favourable exchange rates have reduced operating margins. In Handset Testing, the division broke even* as anticipated, reflecting declining demand for older technology combined with the increased planned development spending on 4G LTE, where there is an encouraging pipeline of revenue prospects for the second half. We will provide a detailed update on progress with our 4G LTE product range at the time of the half yearly report. 

Underlying trading in Travel was in line with the rebased expectations for the business. Total revenues were down around 35% on the corresponding period last year reflecting the effect of last year's previously reported one-off customer events.  

Net cash as at 31 October 2009 was £26.0m (30 April 2009: net cash of £27.3m). As expected there was a net finance charge in the period.  The liability on the Group's currency swap was unchanged on the year end position at £22.8m. 

Anite intends issuing its half yearly report for the six months ended 31 October 2009 in early December 2009. 

Commenting, Christopher Humphrey, Anite's Chief Executive said:

"As we expected, trading for the half year has been challenging. Overall, we are trading in line with our expectations for the year as a whole given the encouraging 4G LTE pipeline."

* Operating profit before share based payments and amortisation of acquired intangible assets.

- Ends -

Anite plc	www.anite.com
Christopher Humphrey, Chief Executive	01252 775200
Richard Amos, Group Finance Director
Smithfield	020 7360 4900
Reg Hoare/Will Henderson

 

END

 

 

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