New Academy / Trading Outlook
FDM Group PLC
29 January 2007
Embargoed for release at 7.00am
29 January 2007
FDM Group plc
("FDM" or the "Company")
Opening of new City of London Training Academy
Trading outlook
New City of London Training Academy
The Board of FDM Group plc, (LSE: FDMG), the IT services business, today
announces that its new City of London Training Academy will be opening for
business this week. The new Academy was conceived in response to continued
client and industry appreciation of FDM's award-winning IT training programme.
It is apparent to the Board that there is significant scope for FDM to increase
the number of Mounties, who can then be placed with clients. Given that a
considerable amount of FDM's work is sourced from organisations operating in
London, the establishment of the new Training Academy represents a logical step
in FDM's development to address the skills gap that continues to exist in the IT
industry.
The location of the new Training Academy, in the heart of the City of London,
will offer FDM an additional pool of talent thus helping FDM to significantly
increase its intake of IT recruits each year, and providing an important
platform for the Company's projected growth.
Trading outlook
FDM's current trading remains strong, with demand for IT contractors and
Mounties as robust as ever. FDM has a strong pipeline of new business prospects
and has recently won several new clients, including Lloyds Register, Monster and
Nomura. The booming financial services sector has enabled the UK to cross-sell
Mounties to Mainland Europe and the USA with Deutsche Bank, HSBC, ABM Amro and
Commerzbank. The Board remains confident of the Company's prospects for 2007,
even after absorbing the costs associated with the establishment and fitting out
of the new City of London Training Academy.
As announced on 14 December 2006, the Group's results for 2006 will be in line
with management's expectations. The total number of contractors being utilised
at the end of 2006 was 626, including 153 internally trained Mounties, compared
to 572 contractors, including 118 Mounties, as at 30 June 2006. Mountie
utilisation rates were steady throughout the second half of the year at 97%.
FDM will be announcing its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December
2006 on 21 March 2007. There will be an analysts meeting at 9.30a.m. at the
offices of Pelham Public Relations, No. 1 Cornhill, London EC3V 3ND.
Ivan Martin, Chairman of FDM, commented:
"I am delighted to announce the opening of our City of London Training Academy.
This is the next step in FDM's growth, as we continue to focus on delivering our
unique Mountie model to our clients. The Board views 2007 with confidence and I
look forward to reporting further success."
For further information please contact:
FDM Group Plc Noble & Company Limited Pelham PR
Tel: 0870 060 3100 Tel: 0207 763 2200 Tel: 0207 743 6679
Rod Flavell, Chief Executive Officer Nick Naylor Archie Berens
Julian Divett, Chief Operating Officer Nick Athanas
Notes to Editors
ABOUT FDM
FDM is an international IT company providing IT staffing, and IT services to
companies for over 20 years. With offices in the UK, USA and Europe, FDM has
maintained its leadership in this highly competitive marketplace by investing in
a unique, industry-leading training programme (FDM Academy).
Like a number of other organisations in this sector, FDM supplies freelance IT
contractors to clients. However, FDM also trains, certifies and places its own
employed consultants (known as Mounties). This sets FDM apart from the majority
of competitors in the IT staffing market, who rely on a shared agency database
of IT contractors.
STRUCTURE
FDM is made up of two business units:
IT Services - systems development, support and IT training utilising FDM's pool
of Mounties and specialist freelance contractors.
IT Staffing - offering freelance contractors for the duration of clients'
projects.
FDM ACADEMY
FDM's award-winning Academy runs a unique fast track training programme designed
to provide the IT staff of today and tomorrow. The Academy provides hi-tech
apprenticeship schemes for developers (Sun Microsystems Java or Microsoft .NET),
testers and finance analysts, Over 1000 IT professionals have now graduated
from the Training Academies in the UK, Mainland Europe and the USA.
TRACK RECORD
FDM provides IT services across multiple business sectors including: Financial
Services; Systems Integrators and Software Houses; Telecommunications and
Broadband; Media and Transportation. Clients include blue-chip organisations
such as JP Morgan, Sony, Barclays Wealth Management, Deutsche Bank, EDS, The
BBC, Siemens and T-Mobile.
KEY VENDOR PARTNERSHIPS
FDM has established partnerships with industry heavyweights including IBM,
Oracle, Sybase, Sun and Microsoft, enabling the Group to offer services in
leading-edge technical environments.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange