Brady Regulatory News (BRY)

23 January 2013

Brady plc ("Brady" or the "Company")

Trading Statement for Full Year 2012

Brady, the leading global provider of trading, risk management and settlement solutions to the energy, metals, recycling and commodities sectors, provides an update on trading performance for the full year to 31 December 2012. 

The Group expects to report EBITDA excluding exceptional costs of approximately £5.2 million, 40% ahead of 2011. Adjusted EPS1 are expected to be approximately 5.7p, in line with market expectations. Revenue growth in 2012 was approximately 47%, supported by the acquisitions of Navita, syseca and SAI in 2012.

The revenue mix in the year was significantly weighted towards licence revenue reflecting a slower transition from an up-front licence model to the rental model than initially anticipated. However, the Group's strategy continues to be to adopt a rental model, and intends to accelerate the pace of transition during 2013.

The Group secured a record 20 substantial new licence contracts in the year. including new clients in South America, Africa, Asia and the USA. Twelve of the deals were signed in the second half showing increased momentum in signing new business The Group has continued to see an increasing trend in average licence deal values, which increased approximately 75% compared to 2011. The Group's recurring revenues increased by approximately 48% and represented approximately 52% of total 2012 revenues.

The Group is pleased that three of the new licence deals were in the recycling space. The acquisition of Systems Alternatives International LLC (SAI) in November has required minimal integration effort. SAI has retained its strong leadership and has clear strategic direction and operational, development and financial goals. Securing substantial new business through SAI in the seven weeks since acquisition is a very strong start with the business trading ahead of managements' expectations.

The reorganisation of the Brady Energy division was completed during the second half of the year. While the reorganisation took longer than anticipated, Brady Energy, under the leadership of Patrik Egervall as the new Brady Energy CEO, now has a clearly defined product offering, a simplified organisational structure with lower general management overhead, and a stronger sales team. Certain of these further reorganisation costs have been included within exceptional costs. The Board anticipates that the positive benefits from this reorganisation will flow through in 2013.

The Group has continued to invest in its solution offering and routes to market in order to support the growth that has been achieved and the further growth that is anticipated.

The Group continues to enjoy a strong financial position with cash at 31 December of £7.9 million, equivalent to 10 pence per share. The Group has no debt.

Gavin Lavelle, CEO, commented: "I am pleased to show continued growth in new business wins despite the severe macroeconomic headwinds. Brady continues to execute on its plan of leadership in selected markets combined with strategic acquisitions to augment its client base, solution portfolio, geographic reach and domain knowledge.

Our brand value is strengthening, increasingly with top quality clients outside of Europe. Brady is already established as the leading energy and commodity trading software company based in Europe and the global leader in metals. Brady has the most European energy trading clients. We have now established a leadership position in recycling, which is highly complementary to our metals business. Brady now has approximately 300 clients and we are increasingly able to cross-sell into those clients. Five of the significant new licence contracts were cross-selling new asset lines into our existing client base."

Full details of the Group's financial performance together with an outlook for 2013 will be provided in the preliminary results, which are expected to be announced on 11 March 2013.

(1) Adjusted to exclude share based payments, amortisation of acquired intangible assets, exceptional items and normalised tax

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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, unrefined and scrap metals, soft commodities and agriculturals.

Brady has 25 years' expertise in the commodity markets with some 300 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, recycling companies, scrap processors, 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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