SPE.L Regulatory News (SPE)

16 Jun 2006 07:00

Embargoed Release: 07:00hrs Friday 16th June 2006 SOPHEON PLC AGM Statement At the Annual General Meeting of Sopheon plc to be held later today, theChairman of the board will give shareholders an update on the business. Thiswill include the following statement:"We are almost at the end of the first half of 2006 and in this period we havehad steady and continued development in our business. In addition to businessgenerated in our traditional territories, we are pleased to report that we havesigned our second major Accolade sale in Scandinavia, and our first in France.Our teams in the US and Europe have been able to generate 50% moreimplementation and consulting services revenue by the end of May than in thesame period last year, thanks in part to management actions taken in the secondhalf of last year. New license wins and increased recurring maintenancerevenues - which now stand at ‚£1.6m annualized - along with the step up inservices business, has put the overall business on course to significantlyimprove on the first half of 2005. However, as always I would mention that ourperformance in any reporting period can be materially affected by the signaturedate of individual deals. This factor will be a continuing consideration as webuild the business, but one that should be increasingly offset by growth.The market for product life cycle management (PLM) applications continues toexpand, with analysts forecasting compound annual growth rates ranging from 8%to 11% through 2008. More importantly, during the same period, the PLMsubmarket in which Accolade has been classified is projected to triple in size.Sopheon's offering is well positioned to take advantage of this anticipatedescalation in demand. In 2005, we strengthened our market-share in thechemicals, paper and food & beverage industries, and they remain our principaltargets. But we have also enjoyed major successes with new clients in consumerpackaged goods markets, and recently expanded our sales and marketing effortsto target manufacturers in that sector.On the product front, we have invested in the creation of a new research andapplications development (RAD) team. Its charter is to create new softwareapplications that leverage the strength of the Accolade platform and providenew sources of revenue growth. We are pleased to announce the firstapplications produced by the RAD organization, which will be introduced to themarket in the third quarter of this year: * Accolade Product Roadmapping and Planning Application - this offering will enable companies to advance the maturity of their innovation processes by making it easier for them to develop and evaluate long-term product plans, manage programs or product "families", manage product relationships, and assess the impact of dependencies among projects during portfolio analysis. * New Versions of Accolade's Stage-Gate Process and Portfolio Management Applications - these enhanced versions of existing Accolade applications will introduce new best-practice models to further support portfolio planning and the post-launch stages of product life cycle management. One important benefit of our product strategy will be to further ourrelationships with existing clients, which accounted for a quarter ofnon-recurring revenues during 2005. We expect our partners to contribute to anincrease in lead activity and sales contracts during 2006 as our resellernetwork gains additional traction and our emerging relationships with selectglobal business-management consulting partners deepen. The importance ofSopheon's ongoing relationship with Microsoft was raised to a new level withour recent promotion to the elite status of "named" partner. This advancemententitles Sopheon to the support of a Microsoft business development managerdedicated to ensuring that we receive maximum business benefit from our accessto Microsoft technical, sales and marketing resources.Sopheon also announces that it has filed a certification with the US Securitiesand Exchange Commission ("SEC") on Form 15, to immediately suspend its duty tofile reports under the Securities Act of 1934. Sopheon will realize costsavings by no longer making these filings. The certification confirms, amongother points, that Sopheon has approximately 400 US resident shareholders.These shareholders represent less than 1% of the company's issued capital, andSopheon's ordinary shares are not traded in any US markets. Sopheon beganfiling reports with the SEC following its US registration of shares issued inconnection with the acquisition of Teltech Resource Network Corporation in2000. This change will have no effect on the trading of Sopheon's shares on AIMand Euronext.Finally, we wish to inform you that Andrew Davis, a non-executive director, isretiring from the board of Sopheon as from 30 June 2006, in order to focus onhis other interests. The directors and staff thank him for his contribution tothe development of the group. This brings the overall size of the Sopheon boardto six, comprising three executive and three non-executive directors."For further information contact:Barry Mence, Chairman Sopheon plc Tel : + 44 (0) 1483 685 735 Arif Karimjee, CFO Adam Reynolds Hansard Communications Tel : + 44 (0) 207 245 1100 Andrew Tan + 44 (0) 7957 203 685 Frank Jansen Citigate First Financial Tel : + 31 (0) 205 75 40 24 About SopheonSopheon (LSE:SPE) is an international provider of software and services thathelp organizations improve the business impact of product innovation. TheSopheon Accolade‚® system automates gate or phase-based product developmentprocesses and provides strategic decision support that allows companies toincrease revenue and profits from new products. Sopheon is listed on the AIMMarket of the London Stock Exchange and on the Euronext in the Netherlands. Formore information, please visit www.sopheon.com.ENDSOPHEON PLC