Brady Regulatory News (BRY)

18 July 2012

Brady plc ("Brady" or the "Group")

 Half Year Trading Statement

Brady plc, the leading global supplier of trading, risk management and settlement solutions to the energy, metals and soft commodities sectors, is pleased to provide a trading update for the half year to 30 June 2012. Full details of the Group's financial performance for the period will be provided in the interim results, which are expected to be announced on 10 September 2012.

The Group achieved revenue growth of more than 30% for the first six months of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011 and is pleased to confirm that its trading is in line with the Board's expectations for the full year.

The Group signed eight significant new licence deals in the period, a record number of deals for a first half year, compared to six for the same period in 2011 and 14 for the whole of 2011. The average deal size has more than doubled compared to the same period in 2011 and one deal included a sale of Brady's new cloud based solution to a significant South American mining company.

The Navita and syseca acquisitions were completed in the first quarter and have already been successfully integrated into the enlarged Brady Energy business. Under the leadership of Brady Energy they now have a clear strategic direction and operational and financial goals. The Brady Energy business is performing ahead of managements' expectations and has contributed three of the eight significant new licence deals, with one being cross-selling of a newly acquired solution into an existing Brady customer.

The Group's recurring revenues increased by approximately 40% compared to the same period in 2011, representing approximately 56% of total revenues compared to 54% for the same period in 2011.

In addition, the Group has continued its significant investment programme in its solution offering, routes to market and infrastructure in order to deliver and support further anticipated growth. After this investment, the Group's revenue increase translated into a similar level of EBITDA, excluding exceptional costs, compared to the same period in 2011.

The Group incurred transaction costs in relation to the acquisitions of Navita and syseca and these will be treated as exceptional costs. Certain of the reorganisation costs incurred by Navita are required to be expensed under IFRS and these amounts have also been included within exceptional costs.

The Group continues to enjoy a strong cash position with net cash of approximately £7.9 million and no debt at 30 June, increasing to £9.3 million and no debt as at 13 July 2012.

Commenting on the trading update, Gavin Lavelle, CEO of Brady Plc, said:

"I am pleased to see continued success from our strategy of gaining scale through organic and inorganic growth. We have a comprehensive suite of solutions, stronger geographic reach and, critically, are now being seen as a key strategic supplier. Despite the challenging macro-economic conditions, we focus on market growth drivers with our 250 clients, and have consequently shown continued growth. We are encouraged by our robust business pipeline for the second half. Brady is now independently ranked as the largest Energy and Commodity Trading and Risk Management company headquartered in Europe, the largest in metals globally, the fourth largest globally with the largest energy installed base in Europe. We have made a solid start to the year and I am pleased to see momentum continuing to grow. We anticipate a very busy second half year and look to the future with confidence."  

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About Brady

Brady plc (BRY.L) is the largest European-headquartered provider of trading and risk management software to the global commodity and energy markets. Brady combines fully integrated and complete solutions supporting the entire commodity trading operation, from capture of financial and physical trading, through risk management, handling of physical operations, back office financials and treasury settlement, for energy, refined and unrefined metals, soft commodities and agriculturals.

Brady has 25 years' expertise in the commodity markets with over 250 customers worldwide, who depend on Brady's software solutions to deliver vital business transactions across their global operations. Brady clients include many of the world's largest financial institutions, trading companies, miners, refiners and producers, tier one banks and a large number of London Metal Exchange (LME) Category 1 and 2 clearing members and many leading European energy generators, traders and consumers.

For further information visit: www.bradyplc.com

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