AGM Statement
15 June 2010
SOPHEON PLC
('Sopheon')
AGM Statement
At the Annual General Meeting of Sopheon plc to be held later today, the
chairman of the board will give shareholders an update and review of the
business. This will include the following statement:
"As for many businesses, 2009 was a challenging year for Sopheon. Revenues
totaled £8.3m, compared to £9.3m in 2008 and £6.3m in 2007. After reporting
year-over-year revenue growth of nearly 50% in 2008, we were clearly
disappointed by a decline, and the resultant impact on profitability. However,
performance improved towards the end of the year, with 21 new and extension
license orders in the fourth quarter, compared to a total of 27 for the first
three quarters. In addition to this shift, careful cost adjustments taken
during 2009 contributed to a positive EBITDA result for the second half of last
year. Furthermore, due to these actions, operating costs, before the
capitalization and amortization of research and development expenses, are
expected to be of the order of £0.6m lower in the first half of 2010 compared
to the first half of 2009.
Since the start of 2010, we have closed a total of 14 new and extension license
orders. The total number of licensed customers to date now stands at 173, and
the annual recurring revenue base from maintenance, hosting and rental licenses
now stands at £3.9 million. Full year revenue visibility for 2010 from
contracted business and recurring revenue streams has risen to £6.0 million.
This continued evidence of commercial activity is encouraging. In this regard,
we continue to work on several prospect opportunities which have the potential
to close by the end of the quarter, and if concluded, would enable us to exceed
the first half revenue performance of last year. Combined with our reduced cost
base, this is expected to result in improved bottom line performance compared
to last year. Nevertheless, wider market conditions remain uncertain. As we
have noted in our previous announcements, predicting the timing and value of
individual sales remains challenging, which can inevitably impact on revenue
performance.
Major analyst organisations such as Forrester, Gartner and AMR Research
continue to see growing traction and opportunity in our market. In December
2009, Forrester noted increasing interest and investment in project and
portfolio management tools for product development (PPM) and in the same month
Gartner noted that software that supports product strategy and planning is
gaining attention as a segment of the product lifecycle management (PLM)
software market. Forrester also identified Sopheon as one of the clear market
share leaders in the PPM space.
We entered 2010 having devoted considerable investment and effort to product
development during the preceding year. Tangible results included the launch of
Accolade® Idea Lab™, which brings to market the first integrated solution that
both facilitates generation and development of ideas, and enables those ideas
to be moved seamlessly into product development; release of a major new version
of our Accolade Vision Strategistâ„¢ roadmapping software; significant changes to
our core Accolade Process Managerâ„¢ software that deepen the differentiation and
value proposition; and most recently launch of the www.isustain.com green
chemistry website in partnership with Cytec Industries Inc and the Beyond
Benign Foundation. In conjunction with these product advancements, we invested
in new marketing capabilities that leverage emerging channels such as social
media. We have also been working hard to improve the strength of our partner
relationships, both at the reseller level and at the strategic level. All these
areas have advanced well in 2010, and we continue to drive them forward with
vigor."
For further information contact:
Barry Mence, Chairman Sopheon plc Tel : + 44 (0) 1483 685 735
Arif Karimjee, CFO Sopheon plc Tel : + 44 (0) 1483 685 735
Justine James / Kirsty Hansard Communications Tel : + 44 (0) 207 245 1100
Corcoran
Floor van Maaren Citigate First Financial Tel : + 31 (0) 205 754 010
Catherine Leftley / Seymour Pierce Corporate Tel : +44 (0) 20 7107 8000
Jonathan Wright Finance
About Sopheon
Sopheon (LSE: SPE) is an international provider of software and services that
help organisations improve the business impact of product innovation. Sopheon's
solutions automate and govern the innovation process, enabling companies to
increase revenue and profits from new products. Sopheon's solutions are used by
industry leaders throughout the world, including BASF, Cadbury, Corning,
Electrolux, Honeywell, Motorola and SABMiller. Sopheon is listed on the AIM
Market of the London Stock Exchange and on the Euronext in the Netherlands. For
more information, please visit www.sopheon.com.
Accolade®, Vision Strategisttm Idea Labtm and Process Managertm are trademarks
of Sopheon.
Revenue visibility is defined in Note4 of Sopheon's 2009 annual report which is
available from the investor section of www.sopheon.com .
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