Parity Regulatory News (PTY)

2 May 2008 07:00

Parity Group PLC02 May 2008 2 May 2008 Parity Group plc Interim Management Statement Parity Group PLC, the UK IT services group, today announces its first InterimManagement Statement, which covers the period from 1 January 2008. Resources has made a good start to the year. As a result of our market focus weare experiencing continued strong demand with first quarter gross margin ratesimproving over the same period in the prior year and contractor numbers growingthrough the quarter. We are keeping discretionary spending tight, whilstgradually increasing our selling capacity to be able to respond to the marketopportunities that continue to emerge. Training experienced a weak first quarter due to delays in orders from clients,which we believe was due to the macro economic environment. However since thenwe have seen a significant improvement in demand, which, combined with somefurther cost reductions, is already beginning to deliver a strong second quarterand is expected to continue in subsequent quarters. Solutions has also experienced some delays in award of contracts. We areresponding with highly focused selling activities, which are starting to yieldgood results across new and existing clients. We are also effecting costreductions, to reduce a small but persistent excess of capacity. However, thefull benefit of these measures will not be seen until the third quarter. Management has taken these prompt actions in light of this trading weakness,initiating targeted cost reductions and re-focusing some sales efforts. The Board anticipates that trading in the second quarter will show a goodrecovery in profitability, but the first quarter weakness, and the associatednon-recurring charges (which are expected to amount to £500k) will result in aweaker than expected first half. While the Board is still anticipating goodprogress in 2008 over what has been achieved to date, the current tradingoutlook for the year is below management's previous expectations, and will besignificantly weighted towards the second half. ENDS Enquiries:Parity Group PLC 0845 873 6942Alwyn Welch, Chief Executive OfficerIan Ketchin, Finance Director The Hogarth Partnership 020 7357 9477John Olsen/Sarah Richardson Notes to editors: About Parity Group PLC Parity Group PLC is a UK-focused IT and Business services company, operating viathree core business units - Parity Resources, Parity Solutions and ParityTraining. Parity Resources is a leading IT recruitment specialist, with over 30 yearsexperience in providing permanent and contract technology staff, temporary staffand managed recruitment services across all markets. Parity Solutions specialises in providing IT, Projects and Consulting, usingleading edge technologies and drawing upon the depth of experience of itsconsultants in Programme and Project Management. Parity Training is one of the UK's leading Management and IT training providers.In addition to a comprehensive schedule of public courses, Parity deliverstailored learning solutions and customised programmes for major clients. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange