12 Feb 2009 07:00
| Immediate release | 12 February 2009 |
@UK PLC
("@UK" or the "Company")
Trading Statement
@UK PLC (AIM:ATUK.L), a provider of ecommerce, eprocurement, and spend analysis software solutions to government, health and private sectors, today provides the following trading update for the year to 31 December 2008. The Board anticipates that the Group's results for the year will be in line with expectations after the interim results.
Since the Board changes announced in October 2008 the Company has been reorganised and refocused and this is beginning to produce results, with additional cost reductions and contract wins.
In October 2008 @UK announced the award of an OGCbuying.solutions framework for data manipulation and spend analysis. @UK is close to concluding agreement for significant contracts in both spend analysis and the @UK PLC marketplace and expects to announce these in the next month.
The Company is pleased to announce that there are 3 NHS trusts signed up to the @UK marketplace and currently in 'go live'. These are on 3 year contracts. @UK has a realistic pipeline of NHS Trusts for closure in 2009.
@UK is continuing to work with the NHS Supply Chain supplier base, assisting the core suppliers to the NHS to market their products across all NHS Trusts and to provide enriched content into the national catalogue - NHS Cat.
@UK has entered the Higher Education market with its first university signed up and in 'go live'. There is a substantial crossover between the NHS and University sectors supplier base, which will allow University clients to benefit from the work already carried out in the NHS.
A small amount of additional working capital may be required (around £ 100k). The Company may carry out a share issue to provide this capital and the Directors intend to support this share issue, and continue to believe in the business despite the current economic circumstances.
@UK expects to announce its preliminary results for the year to 31 December 2008 towards the end of March 2009, and any potential share issue would take place after the announcement.
@UK PLC Contact
Ronald Duncan
Chairman
Tel 0118 963 7000
Beaumont Cornish Limited
Roland Cornish
Tel 0207 628 3396
Notes to Editors
@UK PLC
Is a leading UK electronic marketplace provider, that has formed over 170,000 companies using its SiteGenerator ecommerce engine and is providing ecommerce to NHS Suppliers as part of NHS Cat with NHS Supply Chain.
@UK's software provides a secure internet eMarketplace enabling buyers such as local authorities, schools and hospitals to buy online from commercial suppliers ranging from large corporations to small to medium enterprises (SMEs). This allows buying and selling to take place with no paperwork and transposition reduced chance of errors, achieving major savings throughout the supply chain.
@UK PLC also offers services to new businesses, including incorporation, company secretarial services and filing annual returns.
@UK is included in the Software and Computer Services Sector (9530). For further information please visit www.uk-plc.net.