CBUY.L Regulatory News (CBUY)

10 Nov 2006 12:34

@UK PLC10 November 2006 @UK PLC Strategic Review Introduction Since the announcement of the Interim Results on 28 September 2006, the Boardhas been conducting a strategic review of the business of the Group, itsoperating structure and cost base. The Board now wishes to update Shareholderson the outcome of that review. Board & Management Restructuring Lyn Duncan, who founded the Group with her husband Ronald, will move to the roleof Business Development Director in order to focus wholly on maximising herstrong relationships within the public sector. In particular a number ofadditional opportunities have arisen in recent weeks within the Health Sectorand Lyn will be closely involved in developing those opportunities. The Company has commenced the search for a Chief Executive Officer. Grant Oliver has been appointed Interim General Manager. Grant has more than 15years' experience in the IT and Software sector, including working with thePublic Sector. He has held a number of positions including that of ManagingDirector. He has been assisting the company in recent weeks in a consultativecapacity and will continue to work on the restructuring and development of thebusiness with the management team. Chris Hoar, Commercial Director and Dudley George, Marketing Director, haveresigned from the Board with immediate effect. Operating Review As indicated at the time of the Interims in September, the Public Sector istaking longer to initiate and implement e-Procurement, than originallyanticipated. This has adversely affected the Company's revenue growth on boththe buyside and the supplyside. In response to these delays the Board hasimplemented a cost reduction programme. Employee numbers within the Company arein the process of being reduced by approximately 25 to 80. There will also beadditional savings in the area of sales and marketing. Overall total savings areanticipated to amount to approximately £100,000 per month and the monthly "cashburn" of the Group will fall to under £200,000. As at the end of October 2006, the Group had cash and short term deposits of£4.6m. Overall exceptional cash costs associated with the reorganisation are expectedto amount to £225,000. Current Trading While there has been no material change in current trading since theannouncement of the interim results, the improvement on the supplyside referredto at that time has continued. In total, more than 1,000 suppliers have agreedto join the @UK marketplace since the beginning of September following therecruitment and training, during July and August 2006, of the new supplieradvisor team. Further substantive progress on the supplyside will be dependent upon thesuccess of initiatives being taken with regard to the Group's existing publicsector clients. These include a sales strategy which supports buyside customersthrough the whole lifecycle of implementing eProcurement, including programmanagement, identification of early cashable savings and additional support andtraining and to assist buyers in realising these. This approach is expected toresult in additional revenue earning opportunities within existing andprospective customers, whilst providing a strong impetus for buyers to sign upsuppliers and move to electronic trading. The Group intends to publish its Preliminary Results for the year ended 31December 2006 by the end of March 2007 and will publish a pre-close seasontrading update before the end of January 2007. For further information please contact: @UK PLC +44 (0) 118 963 7000Bernard Fisher - Chairman Shore Capital Mike Sawbridge +44 (0) 151 600 3722Smithfield +44 (0) 20 7360 4900Sara Musgrave +44 (0) 7736 979 302Tania Wild Notes to Editors: eCommerce can be defined as the buying and selling of products and services overthe internet and eProcurement as the process by which larger organisations carryout their purchasing using eCommerce. eProcurement is conducted via aneMarketplace, a secure internet platform that enables trade between one or morepurchasing organisations and a variety of suppliers. @UK is one of the UK's leading eMarketplace providers. Via the internet, @UK'ssoftware provides a secure eMarketplace enabling buyers such as localauthorities, schools and hospitals to buy online from commercial suppliersranging from large corporations to small to medium enterprises (SMEs). The government has set up ambitious targets for public sector bodies to practisesuccessful eProcurement. The 2004 Gershon Review identified eProcurement as amajor cost-saving opportunity for the government and all public sector bodiesare now in the process of identifying, adopting and implementing eProcurementsolutions. Currently, there are over 1,000 public sector bodies spending over£100 billion annually on goods and services with around one million suppliers. @UK aims to become the market leader in its field and the partner of choice forpublic sector bodies requiring an eMarketplace. @UK joined AIM in December 2005, raising £8 million before expenses at an issueprice of 60p. It purchased Coding International Limited, its first acquisitionsince becoming a quoted company, in May 2006. @UK is included in the Softwareand Computer Services Sector (9530). For further information please visitwww.ukplc.net. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange