NASA.L Regulatory News (NASA)

17 Jul 2009 12:02



version 9

Nasstar Plc

Board Changes and Trading Update 

Board Changes

Nasstar plc (AIM: NASA) ("Nasstar" or "the Company") announces that Kevin Bird, Director and Ric Francis, non-executive Director, have stepped down from the Board with immediate effect. Thomas Greenall will be responsible for the Company's direct sales.

Trading Update

The Board announces that substantial professional costs have been incurred concerning a potential transaction with a third party, discussions in relation to which have now terminated. 

The Board is pleased to report a strong increase in subscriber numbers. During the current financial period the number of Hosted Desktop subscribers being invoiced is likely to double (as at the end of June 2009 they had increased by 72 per cent to 943 from 508 subscribers in September 2008) which will result in a substantial proportionate increase in the income generated from the sale of Hosted Desktop in comparison to the last financial year. The number of Hosted Desktop subscribers under long term contracts has also increased during the period, with approximately 600 additional subscribers due to be added to the Hosted Desktop platform in accordance with agreed roll-out project plans; these additional subscribers will mainly benefit future financial periods. In respect of the Company's Hosted Exchange email service, the number of subscribers has increased by 13 per cent. from 7,726 in September 2008 to 8,772 at the end of June 2009.

Despite this encouraging performance, trading in the year to date is behind forecasts and as a result of this, the costs associated with the board changes described above and the professional costs on the abovementioned abortive transaction, the Board expects that the results for the current year are likely to be materially below market expectations.

Outlook

In respect of the partner programme, there has been significant interest recently from some larger potential partners interested in licensing Nasstar Hosted Desktop for distribution through their own channel partners. The Directors consider that distribution of Nasstar Hosted Desktop in this way would give the Company the opportunity to gain a much greater volume of subscribers in future periods. The Company hopes in due course to provide a further update on this proposed distribution strategy.

As reported in the Interim Results statement, the Board considers there is a growing awareness of the advantages of hosted desktop and that the growth prospects for the market and for Nasstar within that market remain encouraging. A recent report on the hosted desktop market by Gartner released in March 2009 suggests the worldwide demand for hosted 'virtual' desktops will increase 100-fold by 2013 with an increase to 49 million hosted desktops worldwide. It is in this market that Nasstar is confident of its growth prospects.

In respect of the Company's cash position, a number of steps have now been implemented which will ensure that the Company is both EBTIDA positive and in a cash generative position during the next financial year. 

In the meantime, as stated in the Interim Results, the Directors will continue to support the Company's cash position and remain confident about the growth and financial prospects for the future.

Contact information

About Nasstar plc

Nasstar (http://www.nasstar.com) provides computing over the internet, enabling subscribers to do all of their computing in the internet cloud, with access to their desktop, files, applications and email over the internet rather than on-premise. Cloud computing is a highly scalable service that provides benefits including anywhere access to computing and provides an alternative to traditional locally installed on-premise computing.

Nasstar was founded in 1998 by Charles Black. Nasstar plc was admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market in December 2005 (AIM: NASA).

- ENDS -