ASP.L Regulatory News (ASP)

1 Nov 2006 13:04

Ascribe plc01 November 2006 Press Release 1 November 2006 Ascribe plc ('Ascribe' or 'the Group') AGM Statement Ascribe plc ("AIM:ASP"), the health IT Group, announces that at the Group'sAnnual General Meeting held today in Bolton, Lancashire, all resolutions put toShareholders by the Board were duly passed. At the meeting, the board of Ascribe also updated shareholders on the Group'sperformance since its Preliminary Results statement, as issued on Tuesday 12September for the period ending 30 June 2006. Speaking at the meeting, Stephen Critchlow, Executive Chairman, said: "I amdelighted to report that the Group has made a positive start to the 2006/7financial year, with trading performance in the first quarter being in line withmanagement expectations. Ascribe's core businesses continue to win market shareand, although the timing of new contract wins has recently been harder topredict, the resulting orders are larger than anticipated. "With Chris Dickson now on board as Chief Operating Officer, we are completingthe consolidation of the business with a particular focus on achieving acoordinated development plan. Integrating our operations and product to providea broad interoperable solution puts us in an ideal position to pick up businessfrom those Trusts that were previously expecting deliveries from the NationalProgramme for IT (NPfIT). Achieving this consolidation will also pave the way tobolt on selective and appropriate acquisitions in some key clinical areas. "I am especially pleased that cross-selling opportunities from recentacquisitions Barwick Systems, Jade Healthcare and HE Information Systems arealready contributing significantly to Ascribe's growth. "The Directors remain confident for the year as a whole as these acquisitionsplay an even greater role and the Group continues to deliver across the completeHealth IT market, independently of ongoing issues within NPfIT." - ends - For further information please contact: Ascribe plc Stephen Critchlow, Executive Chairman Tel: : +44 (0) 161 280 8080stephen.critchlow@ascribe.com www.ascribe.com Jeremy Lee, Finance Director Tel: : +44 (0) 161 280 8080jeremy.lee@ascribe.com www.ascribe.com Media enquiries: Abchurch Communications Stephanie Cuthbert / Justin Heath Tel: +44 (0) 20 7398 7700stephanie.cuthbert@abchurch-group.com www.abchurch-group.com About Ascribe plc: Ascribe plc is a leading healthcare company that develops and markets softwaresolutions supporting patient, clinical and business processes to Primary &Secondary healthcare providers on three continents with a range of integratedclinical IT solutions that service the needs of the patient as the ultimatecustomer. Our mission is to improve patient safety through the introduction oftechnologies that enhance communications, provide clinicians with patient dataand decision support systems and ultimately to reduce risks in healthcaremanagement and delivery. The Group provides integrated care management and decision support informationsolutions to clinical professionals in all health care sectors, including:Electronic Health Record solutions (EHR/EPR); Emergency and Minor Injuriesunits; Mental Health and Community units; General Practice surgeries; CommunityRetail Pharmacies; solutions for Patient Administration Systems (PAS) in thecommunity and hospitals; Electronic Prescribing & Medicine Administration(ePMA), Medical Equipment Management and Pharmacy departments. The Group floated on AIM in 2004. Turnover for the year ended 30 June 2006 was£9.9m with an adjusted operating profit of £2.2m. Ascribe currently employs 200 personnel through its seven operating companies inthe UK, Hong Kong, Kenya, Australia and New Zealand. For more information, please visit: www.ascribe.com (c) Ascribe 2006. All trademarks are the property of their respective copyright holders This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange