BLTG.L Regulatory News (BLTG)

13 March 2012

Regenersis plc

Interim Results for the six months ended 31 December 2011

Regenersis plc (LSE AIM: RGS) ("Regenersis" or the "Group"), a strategic outsourcing partner to many of the world's leading consumer technology companies, is pleased to announce interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2011, which demonstrate good momentum in the business and reflect the strong progress already made in executing on the Group's new strategy.

Financial Highlights

·; Group revenue increased 15.9% to £69.9 million (2010: £60.3 million)

·; Headline operating profit(*) increased 18.3% to £3.8 million (2010: £3.2 million)

·; Operating profit remained at £2.9 million after acquisition related costs

·; Operating cash flow increased to £1.6 million (2010: £0.7 million)

o Improved control of working capital

·; Net debt was £4.1 million (December 2010: £4.4 million)

Operational Highlights

·; Entry into two new emerging markets, South Africa and Turkey.

·; Significant multi-year contract secured for roll-out of in-field diagnostic testers with Virgin Media

o First US trial for in-field diagnostic testers also secured

·; Rapid growth in the B2B business

·; Significant performance improvement from turnaround focus at UK Depot Solutions

·; Acquisition of the Nordic business formerly owned by Anovo

·; Bank facility increased to £23.25 million from £15 million in anticipation of further potential corporate development opportunities

(*) Headline operating profit excludes exceptional restructuring costs, amortisation or impairment of acquired intangible assets, share-based payments and share of results of jointly controlled entities.

Regenersis' Executive Chairman, Matthew Peacock, commented:

"The results of this first, full half year under the new board are pleasing. They demonstrate that our plans to deliver a step-up in operational and financial performance are beginning to take effect, driven by turnaround action in the underperforming UK business and by good contractual growth in Western Europe.

We have also made strong progress in establishing a solid platform for future growth. We have established new businesses in high growth markets such as Turkey and South Africa, signed a key multi-year contract to launch our in-field diagnostic tester, and acquired a new business in the Nordic market. Given this progress, the Board looks forward to the second half of the year and beyond with confidence."

For further information please contact:

Regenersis Plc +44 (0) 1480 482866

Matthew Peacock, Executive Chairman

Jeremy Wilson, Chief Financial Officer

Arden Partners plc (Nomad and Joint Broker) +44 (0) 121 423 8900

Steve Douglas

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Joint Broker) +44 (0) 20 7459 3600

Dominic Morley / Brett Jacobs

FTI Consulting +44 (0) 20 7831 3113

Matt Dixon / Jon Snowball

Summary

First half revenues grew by 15.9% to £69.9 million (2010: £60.3 million) and headline operating profit grew by 18.3% to £3.8 million (2010: £3.2 million). Headline operating margins improved to 5.5% from 4.9% in the second half of last year. Margins have continued to show positive progress up from the 5.1% for the financial year to June 2011. Head office expenses were reduced by £0.4 million for the six months, in line with our reduced cost target for the year of £1.8 million.

Operating cash flow increased 2.4 times in the period, substantially driven by improved working capital management, despite revenue growth. Net debt, as a result, was £4.1 million at the end of the period, having been reduced from £4.4 million at December 2010, despite the costs of an aborted acquisition.

During the period, the Group was engaged in a formal process to acquire Anovo SA ("Anovo"), the business of a large competitor, out of administration. The Group advanced to the last stage of the final two bidders but was unsuccessful. The advisory and other costs incurred were £0.6 million which have been expensed as an exceptional item in the period. Various commercial benefits have, however, resulted from this engagement including, subsequently, the acquisition of a 50% share in the Nordic business of Anovo on 23 January 2012.

Results

Emerging Markets

Revenue fell 2.6% to £21.3 million (2010: £21.8 million) and headline operating profit was flat at £2.7 million. Headline operating margin, before central costs, improved to 12.5% (2010: 12.2%).

The Emerging Markets division includes the Group's businesses in Poland, Romania, South Africa and Turkey as well as the joint venture in Russia. The Group's strategy is to grow this division organically and by acquisition, leveraging the exceptional model established in Poland (people, processes, systems and culture) in new territories to win off-shore business from high-cost developed markets such as the UK and Scandinavia. Once a foothold and customer base is established, the Group then aims to layer on new services and device types to progressively reinforce the scale and position of these operations in their local markets. While financial progress was weaker than targeted, progress and investment for the future was pleasing in a number of respects, particularly the developments in Turkey and South Africa.

In the half year just ended revenue was reduced due to a large client reducing the quantity of swap units, although this did not impact profit. There is a healthy pipeline of potential new contracts and on-going investment is being made into building a dedicated Emerging Markets sales force. Headline operating profit was depressed in the period by the initial operating costs associated with opening our new facility in South Africa.

In South Africa a new greenfield depot site and organisation has been set up to support major new contracts from RIM (which has a c.60% share of the smartphone market in South Africa) and HTC. The Group did not previously have a presence in South Africa. These actions are now substantially complete and, while early operating losses were incurred during this period, the business is rapidly improving in efficiency and the Board is confident that this will become a substantial, profitable business in the future.

In Turkey we provide mobile vendor management services, which improve the service quality and cost effectiveness of client customer care points and service centres. This is an exciting platform for the Emerging Markets division, positioning us as a value-added partner rather than a cost centre with clients. This saves our clients problems and costs in areas such as parts importation and management, and the elimination of fraudulent warranty claims.

In Poland, the business is focused primarily on the repair of mobile phones. Volumes from our largest clients were higher than for the same period last year as either their own volumes grew or they rationalised their supplier base in favour of Regenersis. We are in the process of adding an additional depot facility to grow capacity in Poland.

In Romania, the business primarily repairs set top boxes, satellite navigation devices and mobile phones. This business has continued to provide consistently strong service at labour costs that are lower than many other European markets.

Our joint venture in Russia continues to grow and generated a small profit in the period.

Western Europe

Revenue increased by 34.7% to £40.4 million (2010: £30.0 million). Headline operating profit increased 72.5% to £1.3 million (2010: £0.8 million) generating a margin, before central costs, of 3.3% (2010: 2.6%). These results are a testament to the change in management and profit focus in the UK as well as the growing strength of our businesses in Germany.

The Western Europe division comprises the depot solutions businesses in UK and Germany. The Group's strategy in this division is to grow our B2B business globally, and return our UK mobile phone business to profitable growth after several years of poor results.

The B2B business is focused on repair and maintenance support of devices including cash machines, payment terminals, other handheld business terminals and medical IT devices, primarily in Germany. The Group intends to grow internationally in this segment, which is attractive because customer requirements are particularly demanding and we are strongly positioned in terms of technical capabilities, track record, and multinational clients. During the period we significantly expanded our business with Wincor Nixdorf under a new outsourcing contract (as previously announced), launched handheld terminal operations in the UK with another of our key clients, and significantly grew our medical devices business including the co-location of a service centre for Siemens near Frankfurt, which is now well-established and growing quickly.

In the UK depot solutions business, primarily serving the mobile phone segment, the Group has focused on improving client delivery and profit performance while managing major changes (including the end of the large H3G contract acquired in the TRS acquisition in 2009, and the launch of new operations for clients including HTC, DHL, O2 and Telenor, as previously announced). The comparable prior period additionally included the two recycling facilities since disposed of or closed. Our Glasgow site, which housed the H3G contract, remains under review given its low utilisation. Profit improvement initiatives are continuing.

Our operation with DHL in Normanton has grown and is now profitable, compared to a loss of £0.1 million in the same period last year. We are well positioned to win business together in the UK and to replicate the model across DHL's footprint. Elsewhere we have improved the profitability of our operations including call centre, vendor management and mobile insurance fulfilment for a range of clients.

Advanced Solutions

Revenue reduced by 3.4% to £8.2 million (2010: £8.5 million). Headline operating profits reduced to £0.7 million (2010: £1.0 million). Results were impacted by the deferral of some business into the second half of this financial year and by lower volumes, particularly in servicing our retail clients where consumer spending has been down. The new Virgin contract is significant and the pipeline for further new contracts is promising. Growth has picked up and progress is expected for the full year with the full benefit of new technical developments in diagnostics and the Virgin contract coming through next financial year.

The Group's strategy in Advanced Solutions is to address repair and returns avoidance, mitigation, diagnosis and management of the overall repair and returns cycle - focused on pay TV operations (set-top box) and consumer electronics brands and retailers (predominantly television, notebooks and tablets). This strategy augments traditional depot repair with services to eliminate returns flows before they reach the depot or even leave the customer's home.

The Group has been engaged in a close partnership for several years with Virgin Media in the UK to develop and roll-out our pioneering in-field diagnostic testing solution. Virgin Media's engineers will be enabled to diagnose and address technical performance of equipment in the customer's home, both improving the customer experience and eliminating inefficient "no fault found" returns. The In-Field Tester delivers an identical test in the home to that performed by our automated depot-based test platforms. We are rolling out the solution together at scale over the next few months following the signing of this contract.

The Group has been marketing this unique approach and capability extensively in the USA, a very large potential market for these services. We secured our first contract from a major US cable television operator, for a pilot of our automated test technology in April, based on the In-Field Tester.

In the consumer electronics area, the division continued to invest over the period in the development of automated depot testing solutions for televisions and notebook computers. These are presently being rolled out at the Glenrothes facility. As in the set-top box area, the first objective is to improve the quality and efficiency of the depot process, with the intent to progress from here to delivering similar tests remotely or in the field.

Cash and Working Capital

Operating cash flow improved by 2.4 times to £1.6 million (2010: £0.7 million). Included within this are payments for exceptional costs of £1.1 million relating to redundancies and buildings in the current period and £1.0 million relating to the disposal of the European recycling business in the first half 2010.

Improved control of working capital led to a cash outflow of £2.2 million in the period, compared with a cash outflow of £3.0 million in the prior period. This working capital movement was pleasing in light of revenue increasing 16% (£10 million) and the working capital investment in new business in South Africa, UK and Germany. Within this, debtors increased by £0.3 million and stock increased by £1.3 million while stock turn remained at approximately 9 times. 

Net debt of £4.1 million at 31 December 2011 comprised gross debt of £8.7 million (2010: £8.0 million) and cash and cash equivalents of £4.6 million (2010: £3.6 million).

At 30 June 2011, the Group's main bank facility was £15 million (2010: £10.75 million). During the first half, the Group increased the bank facility with HSBC to £16.25 million and in January 2012, this was increased further to £23.25 million, anticipating further potential corporate development opportunities.

Acquisition

The first acquisition, since the current Board was appointed, was the purchase of a 50% share in Anovo Nordic, to be renamed Regenersis Nordic AB, in January 2012. The other 50%, over which the Group has an option to acquire, is owned by the local management. This business has a substantial market share in mobile repair in Sweden and a committed management team and workforce. The business requires substantial restructuring, which is intended to occur over the course of the next 12 months. The Group is keen to develop the business from its position in the mobile market to include Advanced Solutions and B2B services.

Board

The Board is pleased to welcome Kevin Bradshaw as a new independent non-executive Director. The Board welcomes Jog Dhody as the new Chief Financial Officer, replacing Jeremy Wilson who leaves in April.

Dividend

The Board will consider the payment of a dividend in light of the results delivered for the full year.

Outlook

Since the period end, the Group has continued to grow both revenue and operating profits in line with the Board's expectations. 

There is encouraging momentum in all three of the Group's divisions and the Board continues to target double digit revenue growth on steadily improving operating profit margins over the next two to three years and seek further corporate development opportunities.

Condensed Consolidated Income Statement

for the six months ended 31 December 2011

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

for the six months ended 31 December 2011

*Exchange loss in the period is principally due to the weakening of the Zloty since June 2011Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet

as at 31 December 2011

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

for the six months ended 31 December 2011

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

for the six months ended 31 December 2011

Notes to the Interim Report

for the six months ended 31 December 2011

This interim report has been prepared on the basis of the accounting policies expected to be adopted for the year ended 30 June 2012. These are in accordance with the Group's accounting policies as set out in the latest annual financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2011. The Group's accounting policies can also be found on the Group's website.

All International Financial Reporting Standards ('IFRS'), International Accounting Standards ('IAS') and interpretations currently endorsed by the International Accounting Standards Board ('IASB') and its committees as adopted by the EU and as required to be adopted by AIM listed companies have been applied. AIM-listed companies are not required to comply with IAS 34 'Interim Financial Reporting' and accordingly the Company has taken advantage of this exemption.

The financial information in this interim report does not constitute statutory accounts for the six months ended 31 December 2011 and should be read in conjunction with the Group's annual financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2011. Financial information for the year ended 30 June 2011 has been derived from the consolidated audited accounts for that period which were unqualified.

The condensed consolidated interim financial statements for the six months to 31 December 2011 have not been audited or reviewed by auditors pursuant to the Auditing Practices Board guidance on Review of Interim Financial Information.

This unaudited interim report was approved by the Board of Directors on 13th March 2012.

 2. Segmental reporting

Internal reporting now uses three reporting segments - Depot Solutions: Emerging Markets, Depot Solutions: Western Europe and Advanced Solutions which reflect the way the business is managed and reviewed.

Emerging Markets include the operations in Poland, Romania, Turkey and South Africa. Western Europe includes the UK (excluding Glenrothes) and German businesses whilst Advanced Solutions aggregates the Group's businesses promoting techniques in remote diagnostics, automation, mitigation and avoidance of repair.

The Group continues to deliver world class services to its customers in the fields of service and repair of smart phones and other consumer electronic devices, coupled with associated services including customer call centres, warranty management and insurance replacement programmes.

*restated to reflect the change in segmental reporting established year ended 30 June 2011

3. Headline operating profit

'Headline operating profit' is the key profit measure used by the Board to assess the underlying financial performance of the operating divisions and the Group as a whole. 'Headline operating profit' is stated before amortisation or impairment of acquired intangible assets, exceptional costs, share-based payments and share of results of jointly controlled entities.

Costs incurred in relation to the Group's unsuccessful acquisition of Anovo in the period have been disclosed separately. In the year ended 30 June 2011 exceptional costs related to redundancy and restructuring costs incurred following the strategic and operations review carried out by the Directors, plus an onerous lease and dilapidations provision following the loss of a significant customer.

4. Taxation

The tax charge for the six months to 31 December 2011 is based on the estimated tax rate for the full year in each jurisdiction.

6. Dividends

No interim dividend is proposed in respect of the six months to 31 December 2011.

The facility available to the Group as at 31 December 2011 totalled £16.25m (30 June 2011: £15m; 31 December 2010: £10.75 million). The facility was increased to £23.25m on 31 January 2012 and expires on 31 October 2015.

8. Subsequent events

Regenersis (Sweden) Limited, in which the Group has a 50% interest, was established in January 2012. The Group's investment in the joint venture is €250,000. On 23 January 2012 Regenersis (Sweden) Limited acquired 100% of the share capital of Regenersis Nordic AB (formally Anovo Nordic).

9. Copies of the interim report

Further copies of the interim report are available from the registered office, Kingfisher Way, Hinchingbrooke Business Park, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE29 6FN or on the Company's website - www.regenersis.com.

10. Cautionary statement

This document contains certain forward-looking statements with respect of the financial condition, results, operations and businesses of Regenersis plc. These statement and forecasts involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause the actual result or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward looking statements and forecasts. Nothing in this document should be construed as a profit forecast.