SPE.L Regulatory News (SPE)

21 Mar 2006 07:00

Embargoed Release: 07:00hrs Tuesday 21st March 2006 Sopheon Plc (`Sopheon') Sopheon Expands into French Market New VenturePositions Company to Capitalize on Escalating Interest in Its Product Innovation Process SolutionAmong Manufacturers inFrench Region Sopheon, the international software and services provider, announced today theformation of a new venture, Sopheon France SARL, to promote and sell itsAccolade solution throughout France and the French-speaking regions ofSwitzerland. This development is part of a larger Sopheon strategy aimed atbuilding worldwide sales and support presence for its Accolade offering, asoftware system that has been recognized as best-of-class among productinnovation process and portfolio management solutions in the product life cyclemanagement (PLM) market. Sopheon has taken a 20% minority stake in the company,and will equity-account for the participation in accordance with IAS 28.A recent global PLM market study determined that French manufacturers spent inexcess of ¢â€š¬1.1 billion on PLM solutions in 2005, up by 8% compared to 2004.According to the research, France ranks as the second largest region in Europefor PLM solutions. Sopheon had been seeking to develop a local presence thatwould allow it to take better advantage of escalating business opportunity inthis area. The company reports that more than thirty prospects in France,including a number of significant multi-nationals, have contacted it about itssoftware.Founding management of Sopheon France are Patrice Duponchel and Jean-ClaudeBourguigneau. Both are successful software entrepreneurs, each with more than20 years of experience in building and operating companies that specialize inreselling enterprise software solutions and providing related services to theFrench market."Manufactured goods account for 75% of France's proliferating export trade,"said Patrice Duponchel, chief executive officer of the newly formed company."French manufacturers understand that continuous innovation is essential tocompeting successfully in global markets. Demand is growing for technologysolutions that will enable them to automate, control and rationally executetheir innovation processes, and help them make good decisions in the earlieststages of product development. The Sopheon system has proven over and over thatit can connect with a company's innovation strategies and provide processautomation and decision support that will lead to higher levels of growth andprofits from new products. We believe that Sopheon's Accolade is the rightsolution at the right time for the French market. ""We see significant potential for Accolade in the French region," said AndyMichuda, chief executive officer of Sopheon. "We are very pleased to be able toenter this critical market through a partnership with professionals who havethe experience, industry knowledge and contact networks to make things happenfor us."Sopheon Accolade‚® is a registered trademark of Sopheon plc.All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the soleproperty of their respective owners.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 is listed on the AIM Market of the LondonStock Exchange and on the Euronext in the Netherlands. For more information,please visit www.sopheon.com.Arif Karimjee, CFO Sopheon plc Tel : + 44 (0) 1483 685 735 Andrew Tan Hansard Communications Tel : + 44 (0) 207 245 1100 + 44 (0) 7957 203 685 Floor van Maaren Citigate First Financial Tel : + 31 (0) 205 754 010ENDSOPHEON PLC