Year End Trading Statement

RNS Number : 5363O

RWS Holdings PLC

12 October 2012

 



For immediate release                                                                                              12 October 2012

RWS Holdings plc

Year End Trading Statement

RWS Holdings plc (RWS), Europe's leading provider of intellectual property support services (patent translations and searches) and technical translations, today provides an update on trading for the year ended 30 September 2012 ahead of the announcement of its final results, which is expected on 13 December 2012.

Group trading has continued in line with expectations, after allowing for currency adjustments, against a challenging economic and market background, not least in the Eurozone.  On a constant currency basis, RWS will achieve at least a 7.7 % increase in revenues to approximately £70 million (2011: £65 million), primarily reflecting further organic growth in the core patent translations business, strong growth in China, Japan and PatBase. The performance of our German business has also improved in the second half. After the effect of the marked weakness of the Euro in the second half, reported revenues are expected to be £69 million (2011: £65 million).  Profit before tax is expected to be within the range of market expectations before the negative impact of currency during the period.

RWS' strategy is focused upon organic growth, complemented by the deployment of its significant cash resources for selective acquisitions.  We announced on 11 October 2011 the acquisition of inovia, a leading provider of web-based international patent filing solutions, which adds a highly complementary and scaleable service to our existing patent search and translation offering.  RWS owns a one third stake in inovia, with the price of the remaining two thirds subject to an earn out based upon inovia's performance in the year ended 30 June 2013.  For the year ended 30 June 2012, inovia's sales were US$19.3m, an increase of 28%.  inovia has also contributed translation revenues to RWS in the six months ended 30 September 2012, which were significantly ahead of our expectations.

Looking forward, RWS has hedged the bulk of its estimated net Euro exposure to 31 January 2013 at an average rate of 86.3 pence per Euro.  RWS has also sold further Euro surpluses for US dollars in order to accumulate funds for the ultimate purchase of inovia.

The RWS balance sheet continues to strengthen, with shareholder funds in excess of £63.0 million and net cash of £25.3 million (2011: £24.8 million) after acquisitions amounting to £6.1 million.  The Directors anticipate that this strong balance sheet will underpin an increase in the final dividend for shareholders in line with market consensus, and payable in February 2013.

Andrew Brode, Executive Chairman, commented:

"RWS has achieved further record sales, demonstrating the strength of its core patent translations business and of PatBase, despite the backdrop of the Eurozone crisis and the contraction in worldwide economic growth.

"With a healthy pipeline of new client wins and prospects, the full benefit of the acquisition of inovia still to be realised, and the improvement in our German business, the Group remains well positioned to make further positive progress in the new financial year and to continue to grow its share of the worldwide patent translations market."

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For further information contact:

RWS Holdings plc

Andrew Brode, Executive Chairman                                                                               01753 480200

MHP

Katie Hunt/Simon Hockridge                                                                                        020 3128 8100

Numis

Stuart Skinner (Nominated Adviser)                                                                              020 7260 1000

James Serjeant (Corporate Broker)

About RWS:

RWS is the world's leading provider of patent translations and one of Europe's leading players in the provision of intellectual property support services and high level technical, commercial, legal and financial translation services. Specialist divisions provide for the diverse needs of a blue-chip multinational client base from Europe, North America and Asia in the aerospace, automotive, chemical, defence, electronics, financial, insurance, legal, medical, pharmaceutical and telecommunications industries.  RWS is based in the UK, with offices in Europe, New York, Tokyo and Beijing, and is listed on AIM, the London Stock Exchange regulated market (RWS.L).

Approximately 2,000,000 patent applications are filed per annum. The 240,000 applications filed in Europe (source: European Patent Office), represent a doubling in the last ten years. Applications from Asia have also seen significant recent growth.

For further information please visit: www.rws.com

 

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