BSD.L Regulatory News (BSD)

27 Apr 2006 09:01

Emblaze Ltd27 April 2006 The following replaces the preliminary results released at 7.00am under RNS No: 0781C Under the Review Section, paragraph 1 in the final sentence it should read:Emblaze Mobile acquired a strategic interest in Global Telecoms Distribution plcin November 2005 and not December 2005 as previously stated All other details remain unchanged, and the full amended text appears below. Emblaze Ltd. Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2005 and Trading Update for Q1 2006 Ra'anana, Israel, 27 April 2006: Emblaze Ltd (Emblaze or "the Group") (LSE:BLZ), the wired and wireless telecoms technology group, announces its financialresults for the 12 months ended 31 December 2005 and trading update for thethree months ended 31 March 2006 Financial Highlights •Revenues from operations have tripled to $130.4m (2004: $45.1m*) •Trading in Q1 2006 continued to be strong and ahead of management expectations increasing threefold to over $100m in revenues (Q1 2005: $29m*) •Management expects to double its revenues over 2006 to $260m generating net profit •Operating loss decreased by 93% to $2.3m (2004: $33m*) •Net profit from continuing operations was $10.5m from (2004: $11.1m loss*) •The company has discontinued its Korean manufacturing and moved to cheaper and more effective manufacturing in China and Taiwan. The discontinued operation has created a one time charge of $31.5m, creating an exceptional net loss of $21.1m •Strong balance sheet with total assets amounting to $293.2m (2004: $350.3m*). The decrease in total assets is primarily due to goodwill write-off of the discontinued Korean operation •Net cash remains strong at $239m (2004: $249m*). The decrease of $10m in net cash is mainly due to the acquisition of mobile distribution channels and discontinuing operations in the Far East •The Group reiterates that it anticipates a continuation in growth and profitability in 2006. * For clarity purposes, all 2004 data is presented in its historical valuewithout the net effects of the discontinued operations and prior toimplementation of the "single step" accounting in 2005 Operational Highlights •Emblaze Mobile is the main driver of growth for the group business representing 75% of the total revenues in 2005 and vast majority of trading in Q1 2006 •Boost in sales driven mainly via investment and expansion in mobile trading and distribution in Western Europe achieved through the acquisition of UK based European Telecom •Group management intends to focus on expanding and shifting resources to the Group's core growth drivers. The Company intends to fuel further growth using its cash reserves mainly for M&A activities with the aim of increasing profitability over the coming years. Eli Reifman, Chief Executive Officer of Emblaze, said: "As the results for 2005demonstrate, Emblaze now moves to the black after 5 long years of fighting thetelecom downturn and is on track to fast growth with a stronger andbetter-focused business. We now have the visibility for the main drivers of ourgrowth and can better invest in our core competency and business. We take pridein having the scale, technology, financial strength and above all the people tocapitalise on the industry upturn by delivering further strong growth andshareholder value. "Trading in the first quarter of 2006 was ahead of management expectations withthe Group achieving over $100m revenues in the period. This gives us theconfidence to state that revenues are on track to doubling again to $260m and atprofitable levels for the full year 2006." Enquiries: Emblaze LtdDoron Cohen/ Hagit Gal +972 9 7699831/339 Corfin CommunicationsHarry Chathli, Neil Thapar +44 (0)20 7929 8989 Review These are the first full year results of the restructured Emblaze Group after itunderwent extensive changes during 2004 to position it for growth. Adamind wasformed in November 2004 from the merger of the transcoding business units ofRoyal Philips Electronics and Emblaze Ltd: Philips MP4NET and EmblazeTranscoding. In June 2004, Emblaze merged two of its business units: EmblazeSystems, provider of management solutions for video over wireless IP networks;and Emblaze Mobile, the developer of customised rich media handsets. In August2005, Emblaze VCON was formed following the merger of Emblaze Systems, and VCON,a leading video communication systems company based in Israel. In November 2005,Emblaze Mobile acquired a strategic interest in Global Telecoms Distributionplc., repositioning the division as a wireless product distribution company andan ODM virtual manufacturer with integrated supply chain and logistic servicesbusiness. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange