Interim Results

Manpower Software PLC 28 January 2004 Manpower Software plc ("Manpower Software" or the "Company") Interim results for the six months ended 30 November 2003 Manpower Software plc, the provider of manpower planning, staff scheduling and resource optimisation software, today announces its interim results for the six months ended 30 November 2003. Highlights • Revenue up 184% to £2.46m (2002/3 1st half: £0.87m) • Pre tax profit for the period of £0.26m • Anticipated 12 month revenues under contact from existing customers of £3.1m • Gross margin increased to 36% (2002/3 year: 17%) • MAPS software now in use at HQ Land Command, British Army • First sale to a Tri-Service (Army, Navy, Air Force) defence organisation • First sale of MAPS Taskforce ward rostering software to the NHS • First significant sale to the shipping industry outside the cruise sector • First reseller agreement signed - Maersk Data AS, part of the AP Moller group of companies Significant new contracts announced (shown with contract value) • 6 June 2003 AP Moller Group £1.3m • 15 September 2003 HQ Land Command £0.6m • 2 December 2003 Defence Medical Services £1.2m • 3 December 2003 Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust £0.6m Enquiries: Manpower Software plc Simon Thorne, Finance Director 020 7389 9500 Strand Partners Limited Rory Murphy, Director 020 7409 3494 Shore Capital Alex Borrelli, Director 020 7408 4090 Chairman's Statement Introduction I am pleased to report a successful start to trading in 2003/4 following our return to profitability in the previous half year period. I am particularly pleased that this has been achieved by successes in three markets without dependence on any one contract. We now have an increased number of sales opportunities, our software products are delivering significant benefits to customers and recurring revenues, relating to software support, are increasing as sites go live. In many cases, our customers have signed contracts extending over periods greater than one year. The Company's MAPS products are now used across three distinct markets. • In defence, the British Regular and Territorial Armies have acquired MAPS for force generation, force modelling, state of readiness and training management. The software was used to help manage the deployment of Territorial Army forces to Iraq and will form the foundation of Army force planning and mobilisation. MAPS will assist the Army to send rapid deployment units with the required balance of competences and qualifications wherever in the world they may be required. • In cruise and maritime, MAPS is used for crew manning, on-board duty rostering and access control services. We are particularly pleased that Cunard Line is using MAPS to recruit, train and schedule its 1,250 crew on-board the RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest ocean liner ever built. • In the NHS sector, MAPS provides workforce planning, workforce development, establishment control and ward rostering for nurses, doctors and ancillary staff. Scheduling staff efficiently is a crucial part of hospital workforce management. It is critical that shifts are assigned to staff who are appropriately skilled to perform them. Working with Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, we have understood the issues critical to hospital-wide rostering. In all these markets, MAPS uses unique time-based functionality to allow both long-term and short-term scheduling of staff. The same core MAPS software is used in each market, where it is configured and rebranded to meet each sector's specific requirements, whether this is for the Armed Forces, on board ocean-going ships, or NHS ward rostering. Results Revenue in the first half of the financial year was £2.46m (2002: £0.87m), resulting in a profit for the period of £0.26m (2002: £1.324m loss). Gross margin increased to 36%, compared with 17% for the 2002/3 year as a whole. Administrative costs have been maintained at just above £600,000, compared with the second half of 2002/3. Operational Review Defence Following the contract announced in May 2003 to supply the UK Territorial Army with our Selection and Mobilisation Management Information System, now referred to as FORGE ("Force Generation"), in September 2003 we announced the sale to HQ Land Command of the British Regular Army as well. Since then, we have continued our work with the UK Armed Forces, resulting recently in a contract to supply the FORGE software to the UK Defence Medical Services ("DMS"). DMS is the organisation responsible for providing medical capability to the UK Armed Forces and is our first Tri-Service contract award. DMS will use FORGE to plan and manage deployment and training of their medical staff throughout the Reserve Forces and the Regular Forces within the Defence Medical Education and Training Agency and the Defence Dental Agency. The value of the contract is approximately £1.2 million over 41/2 years, none of which was recognised in the interim period. Since the end of the interim period, we have signed an additional contract with Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe at NATO. We are now receiving enquiries for our products from NATO members and Commonwealth countries and are in the early stages of discussion with a number of these. Maritime During the interim period, the Company delivered software to the following companies: Carnival Cruise Lines, Cunard Line, Norwegian Cruise Line and Princess Cruise Lines. This impressive list reflects the strength of the Company's products in the cruise market. The Norwegian Cruise Line system went live in December 2003. The systems at Carnival and Princess are scheduled to go live later this year. The Cunard system is currently in use on RMS Queen Mary 2, Cunard's new flagship liner. MAPS gives Cunard a central database of crew information that can be accessed from anywhere in the world, enabling it to share its records between its offices in Southampton and Miami, as well as to synchronise data with the fleet for on-board access. Travel costs and control will be improved through integration with the crew scheduling operation and flight requests will be tracked accurately. The Company has commenced implementation of its software at AP Moller Group and recently signed a reseller agreement with Maersk Data AS, a subsidiary, whereby we will work together to promote each others' products and generate new customer opportunities. With about 3,400 employees and offices in Europe, Asia and USA, Maersk Data is one of Europe's leading software implementation and service providers, specialising in the shipping, government and transport sectors. National Health Service Shortly after the end of the interim period, we announced a second contract with Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust for the sale of our MAPS Taskforce ward rostering software. This is currently being implemented at Derriford Hospital. The value of the contract is approximately £570,000 over three years. Derriford Hospital, which has a total of 6,000 employees, will use MAPS Taskforce to control the rostering of its complete staff of nurses, doctors and allied health professionals. Ward rostering is currently a significant overhead for those nurses and doctors performing it. Numerous factors such as skills, working hours, working legislation and availability (including holidays, maternity leave, sickness etc.) need to be examined. Staff must be utilised effectively and Agency Staff used only when no alternative is available. MAPS handles the end to end rostering process, ensuring a better allocation of staff, reducing rostering overhead, giving visibility across the hospital and reducing agency spend. The process, which can be automatic or manual, follows user-defined business rules that take into account elements such as a staff member's mix of skills or availability and ensures that legal requirements are properly enforced. Product Development In response to market feedback, we have enhanced the capabilities of our MAPS Taskforce short-term duty rostering product in order to broaden our offerings to the cruise and healthcare sectors. The period under review has also seen the launch of the latest version of MAPS. This new version includes a completely new and innovative Payroll Administration module, a significant enhancement that will benefit many of our current and prospective customers. Outlook In defence, as a consequence of the supply of FORGE to the British Army, there is now a high level of interest in Manpower Software's products from many defence organisations in the UK and overseas. We are currently seeking to exploit the opportunities in overseas defence markets and are committed to achieving our objective of being the leading provider of force deployment software in Europe. In maritime, we are focused upon achieving successful rollouts to our existing customers and building upon the interest generated by the sale made to AP Moller Group in order to achieve further orders and expand our prospect base among both large and medium-sized fleets in the non-cruise maritime market. In the UK NHS, our Establishment Control software is now operational at Derriford Hospital and we are in the process of implementing our duty rostering software. We intend to strengthen the breadth of knowledge and experience of our health sales team and anticipate further sales of the Derriford solutions to other NHS Trusts within the UK. While it is the Company's belief that MAPS can be applied to resource planning and optimisation for a variety of commercial businesses and the public sector, our present intention is to focus on these three markets. We are intent on developing partnerships with companies that will sell, install and support the MAPS products in our existing markets and, in the medium term, use their sector expertise to launch MAPS into new markets. The figure for anticipated twelve-month revenues under contract from existing customers currently amounts to £3.1m, the same figure reported for the end of May 2003 and a significant result for the interim period. With the current opportunities available to the Company in its chosen markets, the directors believe there remains a solid platform for the Company to achieve a further improvement in its annual results in 2004 and beyond. Robert Drummond Chairman 28 January 2004 CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT For the 6 months ended 30 November 2003 Note (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) 6 months 6 months 6 months ended 30 Nov ended 31 ended 30 2003 May 2003 Nov 2002 £ £ £ Turnover 2,463,669 2,694,375 866,166 Cost of sales: Third party costs (56,245) (57,586) (9,772) Selling and operational expenses (1,525,318) (1,480,624) (1,414,455) Gross profit/(loss) 882,106 1,156,165 (558,061) Administrative expenses (637,454) (634,588) (770,227) Operating profit/(loss) 244,652 521,577 (1,328,288) Interest receivable 17,643 4,041 13,036 Interest payable (2,370) (3,386) (9,368) Profit/(loss) on ordinary 259,925 522,232 (1,324,620) activities before taxation Taxation 900 - - Profit/(loss) on ordinary 260,825 522,232 (1,324,620) activities after taxation Dividends - - - Profit/(loss) retained 260,825 522,232 (1,324,620) Earnings/(loss) per share Basic 3 0.59p 1.18p (2.99)p Diluted 3 0.58p 1.18p (2.99)p CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET AT 30 NOVEMBER 2003 (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) As at As at As at 30 Nov 2003 31 May 2003 30 Nov 2002 £ £ £ Fixed assets Tangible assets 212,312 248,886 318,294 Current assets Debtors 1,726,438 1,561,137 1,304,160 Cash at bank and in hand 1,118,292 2,032,053 487,312 2,844,730 3,593,190 1,791,472 Creditors: amounts falling due (962,663) (1,993,169) (737,863) within one year Net current assets 1,882,067 1,600,021 1,053,609 Total assets less current 2,094,379 1,848,907 1,371,903 liabilities Creditors: amounts falling due - (24,619) (53,569) after more than one year Net assets 2,094,379 1,824,288 1,318,334 Capital and reserves Called up share capital 2,212,254 2,212,254 2,212,254 Share premium account 6,429,879 6,429,879 6,429,879 Profit and loss account (6,547,754) (6,817,845) (7,323,799) Equity shareholders' funds 2,094,379 1,824,288 1,318,334 CASHFLOW STATEMENT For the 6 months ended 30 November 2003 Note (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) 6 months 6 months 6 months ended 30 ended 31 ended 30 Nov 2003 May 2003 Nov 2002 £ £ £ Net cash (outflow)/inflow from 6 (857,531) 1,580,852 (818,265) operating activities Returns on investments and servicing of finance Interest received 17,643 4,041 13,036 Interest paid (1,293) (4,164) (5,000) Finance lease interest paid (1,077) 778 (4,368) Net cash inflow from returns on 15,273 655 3,668 investments and servicing of finance Capital expenditure and financial investment Payments to acquire tangible fixed (40,419) (10,088) (67,320) assets Sale of fixed assets - 3,351 - Cash (outflow)/inflow before (882,677) 1,574,770 (881,917) financing and management of liquid resources Management of liquid resources Sale/(purchase) of short term 1,000,000 (500,000) - deposits Financing Loan repayments (17,097) (32,813) - Capital element of finance lease (13,987) 2,785 (31,431) rentals Net cash outflow from financing (31,084) (30,028) (31,431) Increase/(decrease) in cash 86,239 1,044,742 (913,348) STATEMENT OF TOTAL RECOGNISED GAINS & LOSSES (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) 6 months 6 months 6 months ended ended ended 30 Nov 2003 31 May 2003 30 Nov 2002 £ £ £ Profit/(loss) for the financial period 260,825 522,232 (1,324,620) Currency differences on opening 9,266 (16,277) - reserves 270,091 505,955 (1,324,620) NOTES TO THE INTERIM RESULTS 1 BASIS OF PREPARATION The interim financial statements have been prepared in accordance with applicable accounting standards and under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies of the Group have remained unchanged from those set out in the Group's 31 May 2003 annual report and financial statements. The interim financial statements have been reviewed by the Group's auditors. A copy of the auditors' review report is attached to this interim report. 2 TAXATION There are no tax charges for the interim period as there are sufficient tax losses brought forward to extinguish any liability for the period. 3 EARNINGS PER SHARE 6 months ended 6 months ended 6 months ended 30 November 31 May 30 November 2003 2003 2002 £ £ £ Profit/(loss) for the 260,825 522,232 (1,324,620) financial period Weighted average number of Number Number Number shares of shares of shares of shares For basic earnings per share 44,245,086 44,245,086 44,245,086 For diluted earnings per 45,149,291 44,245,086 44,245,086 share 4 DIVIDENDS No dividends have been paid or proposed for the period. 5 PUBLICATION OF NON-STATUTORY ACCOUNTS The financial information set out in this interim report does not constitute statutory accounts as defined in Section 240 of the Companies Act 1985. The figures for the period ended 31 May 2003 have been calculated from the statutory financial statements which have been filed with the Registrar of Companies. The auditors' report on those financial statements was unqualified and did not contain a statement under Section 237(2) of the Companies Act 1985. 6 NET CASH OUTFLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) 6 months 6 months 6 months ended 30 Nov ended 31 May ended 30 Nov 2003 2003 2002 £ £ £ Operating profit/(loss) 244,652 521,577 (1,328,288) Depreciation and amortisation 75,890 76,986 91,346 charges Loss on sale of tangible fixed - (3,144) 3,144 assets Exchange differences written off 9,266 (16,277) - (Increase)/decrease in debtors (165,301) (256,977) 415,929 (Decrease)/increase in creditors (1,022,038) 1,258,687 (396) Net cash (outflow)/inflow from (857,531) 1,580,852 (818,265) operating activities 7 RECONCILIATION OF NET CASH FLOW TO MOVEMENT IN NET DEBT (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) 6 months 6 months 6 months ended 30 Nov ended 31 May ended 30 2003 2003 Nov 2002 £ £ £ Increase/(decrease) in cash in the 86,239 1,044,742 (913,348) period Capital outflow from decrease in debt 31,084 30,028 31,431 and finance leases Change in net debt resulting from 117,323 1,074,770 (881,917) cash flows (Decrease)/increase in liquid (1,000,000) 500,000 - resources Movement in net debt in the year (882,677) 1,574,770 (881,917) Net funds at the beginning of the 1,941,644 366,874 1,248,791 period Net funds at the end of the period 1,058,967 1,941,644 366,874 8 ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET DEBT (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) 6 months 6 months 6 months ended 30 Nov ended 31 ended 30 2003 May 2003 Nov 2002 £ £ £ Cash at bank and in hand 1,118,292 2,032,053 487,312 Finance leases (26,505) (40,492) (120,438) Bank loans (32,820) (49,917) - 1,058,967 1,941,644 366,874 INDEPENDENT REVIEW REPORT TO MANPOWER SOFTWARE PLC Introduction We have been instructed by the company to review the financial information for the six months ended 30 November 2003 which comprises the consolidated profit and loss account, the consolidated balance sheet, the consolidated cash flow statement and the related notes 1 to 8. We have read the other information contained in the interim report which comprises only the Chairman's Statement and considered whether it contains any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the financial information. Our responsibilities do not extend to any other information. Directors' responsibilities The interim report, including the financial information contained therein, is the responsibility of, and has been approved by the directors. The directors are responsible for preparing the interim report in accordance with the AIM Rules, which require that the accounting policies and presentation applied to the interim figures should be consistent with those applied in preparing the preceding annual accounts except where any changes, and the reasons for them, are disclosed. Review work performed We conducted our review in accordance with guidance contained in Bulletin 1999/4 "Review of Interim Financial Information" issued by the Auditing Practices Board for use in the United Kingdom. A review consists principally of making enquiries of management and applying analytical procedures to the financial information and underlying financial data and, based thereon, assessing whether the accounting policies and presentation have been consistently applied unless otherwise disclosed. A review excludes audit procedures such as tests of controls and verification of assets, liabilities and transactions. It is substantially less in scope than an audit performed in accordance with United Kingdom auditing standards and therefore provides a lower level of assurance than an audit. Accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion on the financial information. Review conclusion On the basis of our review we are not aware of any material modifications that should be made to the financial information as presented for the six months ended 30 November 2003. GRANT THORNTON CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS LONDON 28 January 2004 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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