Rm Regulatory News (RM.)

9 Jan 2008 07:38

RM PLC09 January 2008 9th January 2008 RM shows products for the school of the future at BETT 2008 RM will once again be demonstrating innovation and leadership at BETT, theworld's leading educational ICT event, which opens today at Olympia, London.With seven RM Group companies exhibiting, including recent additions DACTA andSpaceKraft, this is RM's largest ever presence at BETT. Products and servicesrange from the revolutionary RM Asus miniBook one-per-pupil computer, throughlearning platforms and educational software, to IT-controlled 'sensoryenvironments' for special needs pupils. In addition, RM is also hosting the 'Inspiration Centre' at the adjacent Olympia2 conference centre. The Inspiration Centre provides an opportunity for visitorsto BETT to take an in-depth look at RM's latest technology, participate instrategic consultation sessions, discuss BSF projects and catch up withcolleagues during the four days of the show. Analyst and Investor briefings RM will host briefings for investment analysts and institutional investors onthe Thursday and Friday of BETT. These briefings will include productdemonstrations, a visit to the show and presentations from the Group's seniormanagement. A presentation will be available at www.rm.com/investors from 17:00on Thursday 10 January. No update on trading will be given. Commenting on BETT, Tim Pearson, CEO of RM, said: "BETT is a major meeting point for the educational ICT community - not just inthe UK but increasingly internationally as well - it's a great opportunity tocatch up with the latest developments in educational ICT. For RM, it's aninvaluable opportunity to meet current and potential customers and to showcaseour products and services. "With seven RM Group companies exhibiting this year, we'll be showing our widestever range of products and services. These include teaching & learningresources, learning platforms and assessment software, as well as the hardwareand infrastructure required to run them. Our aim for BETT is to demonstrate howthese products can make a profound difference to teaching and learning. "Just as importantly, with 30,000 educationalists attending, BETT allows us tounderstand what leading educational practitioners are thinking and doing. Thisyear, for instance, we'll again be hosting a lunch on the opening day for over500 policy makers and influential local authority ICT specialists, including BSFteams. We're also supporting the first London Edition of TeachMeet, an 'informalgathering for those curious about technologies and teaching." For further information, please contact:Mike Greig/Phil Hemmings, RM plc 08450 700300Mark Antelme, Brunswick 020 7404 5959 Notes: Founded in 1973, the RM Group is a leading provider of educational products andservices to schools, colleges and universities, local government and centralgovernment education departments and agencies. RM works closely witheducationalists to create new products, processes and technology which improveteaching and learning. RM is listed on the main market of the London StockExchange under the symbol RM.L. BETT is an annual exhibition showcasing educational technology, organised byBESA (the British Educational Suppliers Association) and EMAP. It is the year'smajor meeting point for the educational ICT community, attracting an audienceincluding senior policy makers as well as teachers and school managers. With30,000 attendees and approximately 700 exhibitors, it is the world's largesteducational technology exhibition. BETT 2008 takes place at Olympia, London from9 January to the 12 January, and will be officially opened by Jim Knight,Minister of State for Schools and Learners at the Department for Children,Schools and Families. Featured products from the RM Group on show at BETT 2008 include: • Community Connect 4 - the latest version of RM's market-leading network infrastructure software for schools. • Kaleidos Learning Platform - an innovative software system supporting teaching & learning workflow, and communications & collaboration between teachers, learners and parents/carers. • Honeycomb - Softease's Web-based collaboration and creativity environment, which gives pupils a safe and educationally-useful way to make user-generated content. • i-nfer plan - an e-assessment solution system developed in partnership with NFER (National Foundation for Educational Research), which provides topic-level challenges that are automatically marked with results and analysis presented online. • IntegrisG2 - RM's Web-delivered school management and administration solution. • PC hardware - RM's range of educationally-differentiated computer products, including RM One, RM Mobile One, ecoquiet and the revolutionary RM Asus miniBook. • FUSE - a software toolkit that allows non-programmers to quickly and easily create Web-delivered curriculum applications. • scoris - the e-marking software, which forms the core of RM's outsourced examination and assessment services. • TTS Group - a growing range of electronic learning products, now including: Easi-Speak, a classroom MP3 recorder; Tuff-Scope, a digital microscope; and Talk Time, talking, recordable postcards. RM Group stands can be found at: • RM - Stands C60/D60 • DACTA - Stand C79 • Forvus - the Inspiration Centre • Sentinel Products (Ranger) - Stand C100 • Softease - Stand E60 • SpaceKraft - Stand SN60 • TTS - Stands P1/P5 RM made the following comments on prospects in its preliminary resultsannouncement: As we always say at the time of our preliminary results statement, it is tooearly in the year to give any meaningful outlook for FY2008 as a whole. RM is aseasonal business, with the majority of revenue and profit occurring in thesecond half. However, the substantial year-on-year increase in committedrevenues clearly shows that the visibility of RM's future business is muchimproved. BSF remains the single most important driver of the Group's future success. Byany measure, we've had an excellent year for project wins in FY2007 and have setour future project win rate (by value) target higher as a result. BSF is along-term investment case - longer than many others in the software and computerservices sector. The projects won in FY2007 will not significantly impactrevenues and profits before FY2009/10, whilst bidding costs for these projectshave already been expensed. However, with the projects we have already won andthose we expect to win over the next few years, we anticipate the profitcontribution from BSF will exceed bid costs in FY2010. Each of our focus areas is progressing well: Learning Technologies has anextremely strong set of innovative products covering all of the important areasof schools ICT infrastructure; Education Resources has now reached significantscale; Assessment and Data Services has moved from piloting and exploration todelivering mainstream outsourced examination services; and Education ManagementSystems is reaching the end of a period of investment in product development. RM is a group of business wholly focussed on education. With consistenteducation spending growth - both in the UK and across the world - we're aimingfor growth. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange