Intercede Regulatory News (IGP)

31 Mar 2006 07:02

Intercede Group PLC31 March 2006 31 MARCH 2006 INTERCEDE GROUP PLC ("Intercede" or "the Company") Trading Update for the Full Year to 31 March 2006 Intercede today provides an update on trading at the end of its financial yearended 31 March 2006. Intercede is pleased to report significant progress over the past year incontinuing to strengthen its position in the identity and smart card managementmarket. This market is relatively new, but is expected to grow rapidly as aresult of the increasing need for digital identities for employees, citizens andindividuals. It is likely that every citizen, and especially every employee, inthe US and EU will have a digital identity within the next 3 to 5 years. We seethis becoming a global trend within the next 10 years. During the financial year, we have added RSA Security and VeriSign to ourgrowing OEM partner list. SafeNet has also become an active OEM partnerfollowing its acquisition of Datakey, a long term Intercede partner. RSASecurity, SafeNet and Verisign are the top three corporate IT security solutionscompanies in the world. It is an outstanding achievement for Intercede to havepenetrated the main supply chains which service its target market. The fact thatlarge, global entities such as these are choosing topartner with Intercede is a major endorsement for its MyID identity and smartcard management software. The US Federal Government's, Homeland Security Presidential Decision-12, knownas HSPD-12, is creating a major new and specific market opportunity forIntercede's MyID technology. This directive stated that smart card identitybadges will be issued to all US Federal Government employees and contractorsstarting in October 2006. HSPD-12 is also accelerating the use of smart cards inthe rest of the US market. Through its partner network, Intercede is in anexcellent position to exploit this rapid growth as the US becomes the largestsingle market for smart card technology. It is too early to say with certaintywhen the contracts to procure the necessary technology will be awarded.However, Intercede has developed strong links with a range of partners who willbe actively involved in this process and is therefore well placed to exploitthis market opportunity at its earliest stages. The outturn for the current year is now expected to result in revenues that willbe slightly lower than previously expected and a small loss is expected to beincurred. The year end cash balance will, however, close ahead of target. Thisis primarily the result of the accounting treatment of a non-refundable paymentof £0.3m for OEM licences. Although the payment was received in January 2006, itwill nevertheless be taken as revenue in the financial year ending 31 March2007. Intercede expects to announce its full year results towards the end of May 2006. About Intercede Intercede Group plc is a leading developer and supplier of smart card andidentity management software listed on the London Stock Exchange (IGP LN)(IGP.L). The Group's MyID software manages the secure registration, issuance andlifecycle of digital identities for a wide range of uses. This requires theintegration of multiple technologies and products from many different vendors,including smart cards, biometrics, digital certificates and Open Platformapplets. Intercede's customers cover a range of industries and include Athena SmartcardSolutions, Department of Transport Ireland, Fujitsu, Getronics PinkRoccade,GemPlus, Lloyds TSB, National Health Service (NHS), Metropolitan Police,Oberthur Card Systems, RSA Security, Royal Bank of Scotland, SafeNet, Siemens,Thales, Ubizen, VeriSign and various US and UK Government agencies anddepartments. For more information, visit www.intercede.com Intercede and MyID are registered trademarks or trademarks in the UK and/orother countries. ENQUIRIES Intercede Group plc Tel. +44 (0)1455 558111Richard Parris, Chairman & Chief ExecutiveAndrew Walker, Finance Director Pelham Public Relations Tel. +44 (0)20 7743 6679Archie Berens This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange