Interim Results
Knowledge Technology Solutions PLC
28 March 2003
RNS News Release
28 March 2003
Knowledge Technology Solutions PLC
Interim Results for the period ended 31 December 2002
Knowledge Technology Solutions PLC, the independent provider of real-time data
solutions for financial professionals, today announces its unaudited results for
the six months to 31 December 2002.
Financial and business highlights:
• Strongest ever pipeline of new business prospects for QuoteTerminal
affirms importance of our product and expertise
• Conservative treatment of technology expenditure with all costs
written off as incurred
• Group loss before tax of £321,585, reflecting further investment in
research and development within our Cognita business
• Successful fundraising of £750,000 before expenses in March
• Development of MarketTerminalTM international product almost complete
and will leverage a shared infrastructure with QuoteTerminal
• Business focus moving from technology and product development to
account management and marketing
• Appointment of new Sales and Marketing Director in March
• Since January, annualised recurring revenue based on just the UK-only terminal
progressively moving towards covering the bureau level (fixed cost and
direct customer support) cost base
Chief Executive, Marc Pinter-Krainer, said:
'We believe KTS is in a strong position to capitalise on the downsizing of the
large market data vendors. Our business model has been built on lower unit costs
and advanced technology, creating credible alternatives for financial
institutions. As stockmarkets continue to be volatile, we expect financial
institutions will continue to seek lower-cost alternatives and will migrate from
the full cost providers whose products substantially still rely on legacy
closed-network systems.'
'We are optimistic about the trading environment, and believe that our business
model is robust and able to operate within whatever stockmarket conditions
exist. The Company's pipeline of potential prospects is healthy and this
underpins our expectations going forward.'
For further information, please contact:
Dr Marc Pinter-Krainer Knowledge Technology Solutions PLC 020 8795 2700
John Depasquale Seymour Pierce Limited 020 7648 8700
Neil Boom Gresham PR Ltd. 020 7404 9000
Professional users have the opportunity to request a free QuoteTerminal trial by
calling the QuoteTerminal sales department on 020 8902 1400.
UNAUDITED RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2002
Chief Executive's statement
The focus we put on completing our thin-client technology platform over the last
year is starting to deliver positive results. The Company's recurring revenue is
becoming established, the administrative infrastructure is in place, the
pipeline of prospective qualified opportunities is strong and the attractiveness
of our customer offering has never been more compelling.
This encouraging performance has been delivered against a background of
considerable stock market volatility, with the largest global market data
vendors, our rivals, seeing significant declines in terminal sales as well as
loss of market share.
Starting to establish renewable revenues
Recent contract wins support the Board's view that the market terminal business
is beginning to deliver tangible progress against the significant market
opportunity available. Results for the current period are of academic interest
given that the majority of contracts went live in January and, as expected,
represent the move from legacy web-advertising revenues from our retail investor
site into high quality repeat income from QuoteTerminal.
KTS has already received commitments from, or is in advanced negotiations with
other customers, which will become live during the next few weeks. The results
for future periods will therefore demonstrate the strong defensive qualities of
MarketTerminalTM income, with a broader installed base and higher level of
contracted revenues.
Successful Placing to help accelerate sales
KTS' market data services are based on our core technology, MarketTerminalTM,
which has been considerably enhanced in terms of capacity and capability during
the past year and now provides a robust infrastructure for market data delivery
ASP services. Our browser-based market data platform eliminates the need for
expensive infrastructure and has substantially lower monthly costs for the
customer.
Since the beginning of 2003, KTS has noted the increasing demand for such
services and also the market position which it has established. In order to
develop the significant opportunities and to maximise shareholder value, in
March, we were delighted to raise £750,000 of new equity (before expenses),
despite the extremely difficult global market conditions. The ability of the
Company to raise funds in such a difficult economic environment clearly
demonstrates the strength of KTS' business. We were very pleased with the
continued support of our existing shareholders and welcome two new institutional
investors who participated in the placing.
These funds are being used to:
• Increase sales and marketing in order to maximise 'first-mover' advantage;
• Strengthen our central processing facility; and
• Continue developing the services and building the operational
management infrastructure to deliver the potential from these opportunities.
As part of this endeavour, we were pleased to announce the appointment of
Richard Burtsal also in March, as sales and marketing director. Richard has a
proven track record in the financial market data arena and was previously
Account Director for Europe at Caplin Systems Ltd. Before that, for eight years
he was an Associate Director at Thomson Financial, the global supplier of data,
analysis and information tools to the finance industry.
Winning enterprise-wide contracts for UK-only terminal
An update on QuoteTerminal, the brand name for our UK-only version of
MarketTerminalTM, was issued on 23 January, detailing the enterprise-wide
contract with Morley Fund Management, the UK-based global asset management arm
of financial services giant Aviva plc, for a number of terminals. Since then, we
have received other multiple-terminal orders from other high profile customers.
Our latest customers include Prudential-Bache Limited, a subsidiary of
Prudential Financial, Inc. (USA) and Royal London Asset Management, the
investment adviser to the Royal London Group.
The nature of the business, with customers waiting for expiry of contracts with
existing suppliers, means that there can be a lag of several months before
commitments are converted to the start of service and revenues start flowing. It
is also important to note that our conservative accounting policies mean that
while sales and marketing expenses are written off as incurred, cash received
from customers is not recognised as revenue immediately but spread over the full
term of the subscription.
In summary, KTS now has several significant customers for its market data ASP
services, and these reference sites are now an important driver to our future
sales.
Launch of International MarketTerminalTM
In the coming months, KTS will launch the international version of
MarketTerminalTM with pilot customers, leveraging a shared infrastructure with
QuoteTerminal. This will be a further major step in our development since this
new product will offer the international market data coverage that is required
by major financial institutions, while still being a much more cost-effective
alternative to Bloomberg and Reuters.
The period under review included the costs of purchasing 'live' international
data as we take this product towards completion. This additional expense will
not be revenue generating until the product is launched, but its launch will
allow KTS access to a wider market, at typically higher revenue per unit than
the UK-only product.
The Board considers that KTS is well positioned to gain a significant market
share in this sector. Annualised recurring revenue based on just the UK-only
terminal has been growing and is - month by month - incrementally moving towards
covering the bureau level (fixed cost and direct customer support) cost base.
Outlook
We believe KTS is in a strong position to capitalise on the downsizing of the
large market data vendors. Our business model has been built on lower unit costs
and advanced technology, creating credible alternatives for financial
institutions. As stockmarkets continue to be volatile, we expect financial
institutions will continue to seek lower-cost alternatives and will migrate from
the full cost providers whose products substantially still rely on legacy
closed-network systems.
We are optimistic about the trading environment, and believe that our business
model is robust and able to operate within whatever stockmarket conditions
exist. The Company's pipeline of potential prospects is healthy and this
underpins our expectations going forward.
Dr Marc Pinter-Krainer
Chief Executive Officer
*MarketTerminal is a registered trademark of Cognita Technologies Limited
KNOWLEDGE TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS PLC
CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT
FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2002
Period ended Period ended Year ended
31 December 2002 31 December 2001 30 June 2002
(unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
Notes £ £ £
Turnover 3 44,652 49,109 76,539
Distribution costs (104,380) (45,786) (184,532)
Administrative costs (265,260) (239,831) (487,532)
(324,988) (236,508) (595,525)
Other operating income 4 - 125,000 125,000
Operating loss (324,988) (111,508) (470,525)
Interest receivable 3,403 10,963 19,884
Loss on ordinary activities before taxation (321,585) (100,545) (450,641)
Taxation on loss on ordinary activities 5 - - -
Loss on ordinary activities after taxation (321,585) (100,545) (450,641)
Dividends 6 - - -
Retained loss (321,585) (100,545) (450,641)
Basic earnings per ordinary share 7 (0.39)p (0.13)p (0.57)p
Diluted earnings per ordinary share 7 (0.39)p (0.13)p (0.57)p
All of the results relate to continuing operations.
There are no recognised gains and losses other than the loss for the period.
KNOWLEDGE TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS PLC
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
As at As at As at
31 December 2002 31 December 2001 30 June 2002
(unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
Notes £ £ £
Fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets 48,063 39,120 36,788
Current assets
Debtors 51,127 218,614 120,808
Cash at bank and in hand 221,440 620,119 366,074
272,567 838,733 486,882
Creditors
Amounts falling due within
one year (94,713) (126,113) (82,168)
Net current assets 177,854 712,620 404,714
Total assets less current liabilities 225,917 751,740 441,502
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital 84,256 80,472 81,606
Share premium account 1,107,748 965,674 1,004,398
Profit and loss account (966,087) (294,406) (644,502)
Equity shareholders' funds 11 225,917 751,740 441,502
KNOWLEDGE TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS PLC
CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT
FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2002
Period ended Period ended Year ended
31 December 2002 31 December 2001 30 June 2002
(unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
Notes £ £ £
Net cash outflow from operating activities 8 (234,861) (223,577) (480,980)
Returns on investment and servicing of finance
Interest received 3,403 10,963 19,884
Net cash inflow from returns on investments and
servicing of finance 3,403 10,963 19,884
Capital expenditure
Purchase of tangible fixed assets (19,176) (25,419) (30,038)
Net cash outflow from capital expenditure (19,176) (25,419) (30,038)
Net cash outflow before financing (250,634) (238,033) (491,134)
Financing
Issue of ordinary share capital 106,000 429,132 434,755
Share issue costs - (11,926) (18,493)
Net cash inflow from financing 106,000 (417,206) 416,262
(Decrease)/Increase in cash 9 (144,634) 179,173 (74,872)
KNOWLEDGE TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS PLC
NOTES TO THE INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2002
1 Basis of preparation
The interim financial information in respect of the six months ended 31
December 2002 is unaudited and has been prepared on the basis of the
accounting policies set out in the company's audited accounts for the period
ended 30 June 2002.
The financial information contained in this statement does not constitute
statutory accounts. Statutory accounts for the period ended 30 June 2002
received an unqualified audit report and have been filed with the Registrar
of Companies.
2 Continuing activities
All of the activities are continuing.
3 Turnover
All of the turnover arises in the United Kingdom.
4 Other operating income
Period ended Period ended Year ended
31 December 2002 31 December 2001 30 June 2002
£ £ £
Contribution towards infrastructure expenditure - 125,000 125,000
5 Taxation
As a result of losses available no liability to corporation tax is expected
to arise.
6 Dividends
The Directors do not recommend the payment of an interim dividend.
7 Earnings per ordinary share
The basic earnings per ordinary share has been calculated by dividing the
loss on ordinary activities after tax attributable to shareholders by the
weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period which
carry the right to receive a dividend.
The diluted earnings per ordinary share has been calculated as above on the
basis of full exercise of warrants.
8 Reconciliation of operating loss to net cash outflow from operating
activities
Period ended Period ended Year ended
31 December 2002 31 December 2001 30 June 2002
£ £ £
Operating loss (324,988) (111,508) (470,525)
Non-cash consideration - - 40,802
Depreciation of fixed assets 7,901 2,900 9,851
Decrease/(Increase) in debtors 69,681 (157,533) (59,727)
Increase/(Decrease) in creditors 12,545 42,564 (1,381)
Net cash outflow from operating activities (234,861) (223,577) (480,980)
9 Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement of liquid funds
Period ended Period ended Year ended
31 December 2002 31 December 2001 30 June 2002
£ £ £
(Decrease)/Increase in cash for the period (144,634) 179,173 (74,872)
Net funds at start of period 366,074 440,946 440,946
Net funds at end of period 221,440 620,119 366,074
10 Analysis of net funds
As at As at As at
31 December 2002 31 December 2001 30 June 2002
£ £ £
Cash at bank and in hand 221,440 620,119 366,074
11 Reconciliation of movement in shareholders' funds
Period ended Period ended Year ended
31 December 2002 31 December 2001 30 June 2002
£ £ £
Loss for the period (321,585) (100,545) (450,641)
New share capital issued less costs 106,000 417,206 457,064
Net additions during the period (215,585) 316,661 6,423
Opening shareholders' funds 441,502 435,079 435,079
Closing shareholders' funds 225,917 751,740 441,502
This information is provided by RNS
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