Atlantic Lithium Regulatory News (ALL)

21 Jun 2005 07:00

Manpower Software PLC21 June 2005 21 June 2005 MANPOWER SOFTWARE PLC (the "Company") Trading Update The Directors of Manpower Software plc announce today that, following theirinitial review of the results for the year ended 31 May 2005, turnover is likelyto be about £5.8 million - £5.9 million. In addition, operating profit for theyear as a whole is expected to be in the range £0.2 million - 0.3 million. Atthe year-end cash balances were £1.5 million. These results reflect a significant increase in turnover in the second half.Although they slightly under-perform current market expectations, with thebreadth of actions taken by the management team during the year, the Directorshave confidence the Company will achieve profitable growth in the current yearand beyond. The following substantial changes have taken place within the Company. • In Defence, contracts secured with the British Army, Defence Medical Services and NATO have given the Company critical mass to supply its Force Generation and Force Modelling products to military forces external to the UK. The partnership agreement signed with Alphawest Services Pty Ltd in Australia has positioned the Company to achieve the first of these non-UK sales in the Asia/Pacific region. • In Health, the foundations for growth into the UK NHS Trusts' requirement for ward and theatre rostering have been established. The sales team has been expanded and an Alliance Agreement has been signed with Specialist Computer Centres plc, to facilitate G-CAT (Government IT Catalogue) approved sales in accordance with the provisions of the Office of Government Commerce. Two sales of MAPS Healthroster were closed in May 2005 under this Agreement, further details of which are given below. • In Maritime, the first sales of MAPS Framework and MAPS Quick Start were achieved. • The Company's sales teams have been expanded in all three vertical markets, particularly to broaden the UK Defence customer base into the worldwide military arena, where the opportunities are considerable in both size and number but the costs of selling and timescales to sell are greater. • The services function across the Group has been re-organised to enable shorter procurement and delivery times, delivering standard and consistent products that have high quality design and the ability to scale without significant support. The focus is on achieving new licence fee sales. • Considerable work has been undertaken in standardising the MAPS products to address the specific requirements of the three verticals. • Mr Mark Loveland joined the Company's Board. Mark has considerable experience in the support and development of software technology companies. During the second half of the financial year, the Company closed three strategiccontracts. • At Headquarters Land Command, British Army, the Company agreed a sale of its software valued up to £4 million over 6 years. The British Regular and Territorial Armies are now using MAPS for Force Generation, Force Modelling, state of readiness and training management. Manpower Software has been supporting HQ Land for some time in delivering this capability and has previously provided a software tool for Force Generation ("FORGE") to enable HQ Land to manage its reserve forces with greater efficiency and clarity. This capability has now been extended to the whole Army, Regular and Reserve. • Working through its partner, Specialist Computer Centres plc ("SCC"), the Company has agreed the sale of its ward and theatre duty rostering software, MAPS Healthroster, to Ashford & St Peter's NHS Trust and North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust. In each case the order covers Trust-wide implementation of MAPS Healthroster and follows a successful pilot installation. The Company is now working closely with SCC to deliver further sales of MAPS Healthroster to other NHS Trusts in the UK and will be expanding its sales team further to take advantage of the opportunities open to it. Additional licences were also sold under existing contracts to Defence MedicalServices and AP Moller. It is expected that the preliminary results of the Company for the year ended 31May 2005 will be announced during end-July/early August 2005. A further improvement in revenue in 2005/6 is expected. Costs will continue tobe tightly controlled and investment for growth made. As mentioned above, theDirectors remain confident of the ability of the Company to achieve profitablegrowth in 2005/6 and beyond. Enquiries: Manpower Software plcSimon Thorne, Finance Director 020 7389 9500 Shore CapitalAlex Borrelli 020 7408 4090 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange