Trading Statement

Comino Group PLC 25 January 2002 COMINO GROUP PLC TRADING STATEMENT In its September 2001 trading statement, Comino Group reported that performance in the first half of its financial year had been significantly below expectations. The Interims Report confirmed this and the Group announced a loss for the six months to 30 September 2001 of £1.1 million (before charging goodwill amortisation of £148,000 and £165,000 of costs associated with the new venture, Comino Techflow). The disappointing outcome was principally attributable to three factors: delays in the award of local authority contracts; increased development costs for Occupational Pensions and a related deferral of revenue; and an increase in overheads to support growth which had yet to materialise. Whilst the Local Government order situation is improving, the prospect list continues to be affected by slow decision making. As a consequence, although the Group expects to be profitable in the second half of the year, it may not now be possible to recoup the full extent of first half losses. However, the outlook for the Group remains very positive. Social Housing continues to operate profitably and enjoys a high level of repeatable income from the customer base. The client base is moving steadily from legacy software to new generation Comino products. We have a significant opportunity in Local Government and continue to invest in this area to provide fully functional e-government compliant products in line with central government policy. In addition, the upgraded product for our existing Local Government customers has now been completed and will provide a better balance between new customer sales and sales to the existing customer base during the coming year. Significant progress has been made in tackling the development issues surrounding the Occupational Pensions product and the underlying problems have largely been corrected. The problems have seriously impacted this years performance but the order book is now building and we expect this division to return to profitability next year. The current financial year is a disappointment. However, the Company is strongly positioned in each of its markets and is reinforcing this by the continuing development of sophisticated, cost effective and flexible solutions. With patience and with the continuing efforts and commitment of management and employees, we expect to see the Group's considerable strengths translated into commensurate profitability in near term. END This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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