SPE.L Regulatory News (SPE)

7 Mar 2005 07:00

Embargoed Release: 07:00 hrs Monday 7th March 2005 SOPHEON PLC (`Sopheon' or `the Company') Product Innovation Focus Prompts Cadbury Schweppes to Deploy Sopheon Portfolio and Process Management System Food and Beverage Leader Implements Accolade Enterprise-wide to Support Integrated Portfolio Management, Increase Revenue from New Products Sopheon, the international software and services company, announced today thatCadbury Schweppes, a leading global confectionary and beverage company, hasselected Sopheon's Accolade portfolio and process management system to enhancea company-wide integrated portfolio management initiative aimed at increasinggrowth from innovation. The Accolade deployment spans 45 countries and includes2,400 users in product development, marketing and commercial strategy. Itencompasses all five of Cadbury's operating regions, specifically AmericasBeverages; Americas Confectionery; Europe, Middle East and Africa; EuropeanBeverages; and Asia Pacific.One of the largest international confectionery and beverage companies in theworld, Cadbury Schweppes employs well over 50,000 people and has an impressivelist of popular brand name products, including Cadbury, Schweppes, Halls,Trident, Dr Pepper, Snapple, Trebor and Dentyne. Sopheon's Accolade will beused both to support product portfolio management and to automate and managethe company's implementation of Stage-Gate, a widely-used product developmentprocess methodology. The software system will serve as a central repository forproduct information within business units and across the company. Accolade waschosen because of its ease-of-use, speed and ease of deployment, comprehensiveportfolio decision-support capabilities and overall cost-effectiveness."Cadbury Schweppes' stature as a leading innovator reaches back over 200years," said Christine Connelly, chief information officer at CadburySchweppes. "We are determined that this commitment to innovation will be asmuch a part of our future as it has been our past. To maintain ourmarket-leading position, we have outlined an organic growth strategy thatrelies upon our ability to innovate well and achieve high levels of return onour innovation investments. Sopheon's Accolade will give us the processuniformity and performance consistency we need to enable the sharing ofknowledge and expertise across a common process and system platform, ensuringfaster time-to-market with winning products.""The list of `most admired' companies adopting Sopheon's Accolade systemcontinues to grow," said Mike Connolly, Sopheon's director of sales in the U.K."Cadbury Schweppes is an industry vanguard with a clear vision of what it takesto drive innovation across geographies, organizational and functionalboundaries, and product categories to sustain business success. The company'sdecision to deploy Accolade reflects and affirms our solution's capacity tohandle the critical and unique product-portfolio and process-management needsof food and beverage manufacturers. We are delighted by the opportunity topartner with Cadbury Schweppes in the pursuit of its innovation and businessgoals."Sopheon Accolade‚® is a registered trademark of Sopheon plc.All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the soleproperty of their respective owners.About Cadbury SchweppesCadbury Schweppes (LSE: CBRY) is a major global group which manufactures,markets and distributes branded confectionery and beverage products around theworld. With origins stretching back over 200 years, today Cadbury Schweppes'products-which include brands such as Cadbury, Schweppes, Halls, Trident, DrPepper, Snapple, Trebor, Dentyne, Bubblicious and Bassett-are enjoyed in almostevery country around the world. In 2004, Cadbury Schweppes was voted Britain'smost admired company by its peers. It is number one in sugar and functionalconfectionery, a strong number two in gum and the world's third-largest softdrinks group. For more information, please visit www.cadburyschweppes.com.About SopheonSopheon (LSE: SPE) is an international provider of software and services thathelp organizations improve the business impact of product development. TheSopheon Accolade‚® product development system automates gate- or phase-basedproduct development processes and provides strategic decision support thatallows companies to improve innovation, cut product development spending wasteand shorten time-to-market. Sopheon's Monitor software operates as a "readingrobot" that automatically reviews, filters, analyzes and pushes relevantcontent to healthcare and engineering professionals to enable effectivecompliance with protocols, standards and regulations. Sopheon is listed on theAIM Market of the London Stock Exchange and on the Euronext in the Netherlands.For more information, please visit www.sopheon.com. # # # 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 Floor van Maaren Citigate First Financial Tel : + 31 (0) 205 754 010END