Interim Results

County Contact Centres PLC 10 February 2003 COUNTY CONTACT CENTRES PLC INTERIM STATEMENT OF RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2002 Highlights 6 months ended 6 months ended 12 months 31 December 31 December ended 2002 2001 30 June (unaudited) (unaudited) 2002 (restated) (audited) £ £ £ Continuing activities 600,692 326,704 1,079,642 Discontinued activities - 204,960 219,330 ------- ------- --------- Turnover 600,692 531,664 1,298,972 Loss on ordinary activities before tax and exceptional items 498,409 475,781 690,023 - Continuing activity sales continue to rise, 84% higher than the corresponding period last year. - Loss in the 6 months slightly higher than the corresponding period, reflecting investment in the CallScripter project. - No dividend as resources will be retained within the company to fund continuing growth and development. Further enquiries: William Catchpole - Managing Director Stuart Gordon - Financial Director Telephone - 01473 321 800 Chairman's statement The result for the six months to December 2002 has shown a satisfactory advance in turnover but an increased loss due to investment in our CallScripter product. Ansaback delivered a significant turnover increase when compared with both the like for like period and the previous six months, but has yet to achieve sustained profitability. It remains our target to fill all of the Call Centre seats and achieve sustainable profitability by the end of 2003. CallScripter met all of its sales presentation and contract preparation targets and now has an order pipeline of over £1 million under consideration. We are encouraged by the enthusiasm shown for our product and are confident that sales will come through, as the demonstrated savings and increased efficiencies have been accepted by these prospective users. However it is very difficult to forecast the timescales for conversion of these prospects, as the uncertainty created by the Middle Eastern conflict, the fall in the Stock Exchange and a general commercial drift results in clients delaying beneficial expenditure decisions. Ansaback has continued to progress with call centre sales increasing from both new and existing clients. One prominent blue chip insurance company has placed additional business with us and is likely to pass further volume increases during 2003, due to the ability of our software to capture, manipulate and facilitate data import into client legacy systems. Towards the end of the year we were awarded a major bookings and brochure request contract for activity adventure breaks within the Forestry Commission. We anticipate substantial growth from this client as the predicted number of outlets is forecast to rise from 4 to 20 by the year 2005. Ansaback also continues to be an excellent demonstration site for prospective CallScripter software clients. All of our 247 Ansaback clients utilise the package running some 400 different scripts. It is a major benefit to be able to showcase the fully working system during the assessment and evaluation processes. CallScripter has achieved several notable milestones, including the successful launch of Version 2 in September 2002, while enquiries have been received from as far a field as New Zealand and Japan. The French business Nextira One (the sales arm of Alcatel) has evaluated the package and officially appointed CallScripter as a partner and Nextira will now offer CallScripter as part of its software bundle in proposals to French call centres. Turnover has increased and, having strengthened the software sales team and invested additional expenditure on promotion and marketing, the company has made 3 times as many demonstrations and proposals as during the same period last year, following the Call Centre Expo in September. As mentioned in the opening paragraph the resulting prospective pipeline is most encouraging and the next few months are, without doubt, extremely important in replicating the previous year's form. The company has also started two new services to augment and compliment its existing infrastructure. We have set up a recruitment business in Ipswich, trading as "Lots of Jobs", to provide a third party specialist service to the burgeoning number of call centre style operations and service all of the staffing requirements of Ansaback, thereby reducing overall costs. We have also set up a non-geographic number and least cost routing business called "Tier One Telecoms" which will offer a range of special telephone numbers and reduced telephone costs. This no-cost business sits comfortably with the outsourcing call centre service, as the decision-making managers are likely to be the same. We have been asked by several carriers in the past to consider offering our clients this service and see synergies to the customer base albeit in a different service area. The Group website (www.countycontactcentres.com) reflects these new ventures and provides further details of the new services on offer. In this position the Board thought it appropriate to arrange additional funding of £250,00 from Barclays Bank PLC, under the Small Company Loan Guarantee Scheme, of which £100,000 is available straight away with the remaining £150,000 dependent on our first month with a clear profit after all expenses. We expect to achieve this by the 2003 fiscal year end. In addition we intend to execute a small fund-raising exercise in the very near future. It has been decided not to declare an interim dividend but to retain resources within the company to fund future growth and development. Your directors remain confident that our products and services meet clients' needs at the right price and expect to report a satisfactory result at the end of June. Peter M. Brown Chairman 10 February 2003 CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT FOR THE 6 MONTHS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2002 6 months 6 months 12 months ended ended ended 31 December 31 December 30 June 2002 2001 2002 (unaudited) (unaudited) Note (restated) £ £ £ Turnover Continuing operations 600,692 326,704 1,079,642 Discontinued operations - 204,960 219,330 ------- ------- --------- Turnover 600,692 531,664 1,298,972 Cost of sales Continuing operations (405,977) (263,777) (603,895) Discontinued operations - (3,067) (2,354) ------- ------- --------- Cost of sales (405,977) (266,844) (606,249) Gross profit Continuing operations 194,715 62,927 475,747 Discontinued operations - 201,893 216,976 ------- ------- --------- Gross profit 194,715 264,820 692,723 Administrative expenses Continuing operations (702,039) (594,753) (1,220,804) Discontinued operations - (169,700) (198,746) ------- ------- --------- Administrative expenses (702,039) (764,453) (1,419,550) Operating profit / (loss) Continuing operations (507,324) (531,826) (745,057) Discontinued operations - 32,193 18,230 ------- ------- --------- Operating loss (507,324) (499,633) (726,827) Exceptional items Profit on disposal of discontinued operations 4 - - 155,000 Other interest receivable and similar income 8,915 23,876 36,828 Interest payable and similar charges - (24) (24) ------- ------- --------- Loss on ordinary activities before taxation (498,409) (475,781) (535,023) Tax on loss on ordinary activities 5 - - 114,953 ------- ------- --------- Loss on ordinary activities after taxation deducted from reserves (498,409) (475,781) (420,070) Basic loss per share 3 1.9p 1.8p 1.6p There are no recognised gains or losses for the period other than the loss disclosed above. CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2002 31 December 31 December 30 June 2002 2001 2002 (unaudited) (unaudited) £ £ £ Fixed assets Tangible assets 121,294 166,434 136,596 ------- ------- ------- Current assets Debtors 320,964 281,509 566,423 Cash at bank and in hand 268,316 719,006 564,964 ------- ------- ------- 589,280 1,000,515 1,131,387 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (242,105) (255,786) (301,108) ------- ------- ------- Net current assets 347,175 744,729 830,279 ------- ------- ------- Total assets less current liabilities 468,469 911,163 966,875 Capital and reserves Share capital 268,572 268,572 268,572 Share premium account 5,873,199 5,873,199 5,873,199 Other reserve - 25,000 - Merger reserve 18,396 18,396 18,396 Profit and loss account (5,691,698) (5,274,004) (5,193,292) ------- ------- ------- Shareholders' funds 468,469 911,163 966,875 CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2002 6 months 6 months ended 12 months ended 31 December ended 31 December 2001 30 June 2002 (unaudited) 2002 Note (unaudited) £ £ £ Net cash outflow from operating activities (285,493) (876,255) (1,190,722) Returns on investments and servicing of finance Interest received 8,915 23,876 36,828 Interest paid - (24) (24) ------- ------- ------- Net cash inflow from returns on investments and servicing of finance 8,915 23,852 36,804 ------- ------- ------- Capital expenditure and financial investment Purchase of fixed assets (20,090) (8,512) (16,940) Proceeds from the sale of COUNTYWeb fixed assets 4 - - 155,000 Proceeds from sale of tangible fixed assets 20 14,161 15,062 ------- ------- ------- Net cash (outflow)/ inflow from capital expenditure and financial investment (20,070) 5,649 153,122 ------- ------- ------- Decrease in cash (296,648) (846,754) (1,000,796) Notes 1. Basis of preparation of financial information The financial information contained in this statement does not constitute statutory accounts as defined in section 240 of the Companies Act 1985. The unaudited financial information has been prepared on the basis of the accounting policies set out in the Group's statutory accounts for the year ended 30 June 2002. The financial information relating to the 12 months ended 30 June 2002 has been extracted from the audited financial statements, which have been delivered to Companies House. 2. Ongoing business The Directors plan to execute a small funding exercise in the very near future, while a bank loan has been secured from Barclays Bank PLC. On the assumption that the fund raising is successful and with a modest growth forecast within Ansaback the Directors are of the opinion that there is a reasonable expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For the reasons above the Directors have continued to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements. 3. Loss per ordinary share The calculation of loss per ordinary share is based on the loss on ordinary activities after taxation deducted from reserves divided by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the relevant period: 6 months 6 months 12 months ended ended ended 31 December 31 December 30 June 2002 2001 2002 (unaudited) (unaudited) Loss on ordinary activities after taxation deducted from reserves £498,409 £475,781 £420,070 Weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period 26,857,172 26,857,172 26,857,172 4. Profit on disposal of discontinued operations On 18th April 2002 the subsidiary, County Contact Centres (UK) Limited, sold the fixed assets of its business directory network for a consideration of £155,000. These assets had previously been fully written down and therefore the disposal gave rise to a profit of £155,000, which has been credited to the profit and loss account for that year as an exceptional item and analysed as discontinued. 5. Tax on loss on ordinary activities The tax credit represents UK corporation tax in previous years and is in respect of a repayment to the Group arising from a Research and Development claim for the period to 30th June 2001. 6. Availability of interim statement Copies of this interim statement are being sent to the Company's shareholders and will also be available from the Company's head office at Melford Court, The Havens, Ransomes Europark, Ipswich, Suffolk IP3 9SJ. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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