25 Oct 2007 07:00
Embargoed Release: 07:00hrs, Thursday 25 October 2007
SOPHEON PLC ("Sopheon") TRADING UPDATE Sopheon, the international provider of software and services that improve thefinancial return from innovation and product development investments issues atrading update.Since the mid year, we have divided our effort between our core pipeline, theadditional pipeline resulting from our acquisition of Alignent Software and thecustomer conversion opportunities stemming from our recently announcedagreement with IDe. During that period we added three new customers for ourAccolade solution and three for Vision Strategist, the product acquired withAlignent. We also closed six extension orders within the combined customerbase. This activity brings the total number of customers licensing Sopheonsoftware to 131, up from 87 upon entering 2007. The total of 131 is representedby 99 for the Sopheon platform and 35 for the Alignent platform, of which 3 arealso Accolade users.The Alignent and IDe transactions, although somewhat disruptive over the summermonths, have substantially strengthened Sopheon's market position and businessprospects. Most of the core integration activities associated with ouracquisition of Alignent are now behind us. People, facilities, and resourceswere successfully integrated in the third quarter. In addition to the new salesnoted above, we expect to renew all but one of Alignent's recurring maintenanceand license contracts that were due for renewal between the acquisition dateand year-end, underlining the strong business value of the Vision Strategistproduct.In parallel with commercial activities, we have continued to invest heavily inproduct development. In September, our development team released a new versionof Vision Strategist to the market. In the third quarter we announced that anintegration of the portfolio management capabilities of our Accolade solutionwith Vision Strategist, and made the integrated solution available forpurchase. Initial orders are expected in the fourth quarter. Looking forward,we are on track to introduce the most significant new release of our Accoladesolution in our history. Scheduled for introduction at the end of the year,this release will extend the value and functionality of Sopheon's software forthe non-process manufacturing markets, including the large aerospace, defenceand automobile sectors. As part of this release we will also be introducing anew version of Vision Strategist. The combination will be the first in theindustry to integrate product planning and product development execution, andis expected to have immediate impact on our business development efforts.In August we announced that we had entered into an exclusive agreement to offertransitional services to the customers of IDe, a former Sopheon competitor. Wehave since contacted all of IDe's customers, and three have already signedagreements to adopt Accolade. This will drive maintenance and services revenuein the short term, and possible license extension orders in the medium term.The initial services engagements were kicked off in early October. Twoadditional customers have signed letters-of-intent, indicating a desire to workwith Sopheon moving forward. We remain in discussion with a handful of others.Contracted and recurring revenue visibility for 2007 stands at ‚£5.8m. We haveoften noted the influence that the timing of individual sales can have on ourresults, and achieving our objectives for the year will remain challenging;however, in our interim statement we also noted that our sales funnel wasrobust, with a number of potentially large deals in the prospect population,and this remains the case. Subject to the above, the current high levels ofactivity in our pipeline, coupled with existing visibility, give us continuedconfidence that our full-year performance for 2007 will show substantialimprovement over 2006. -Ends-
For further information contact:
Barry Mence, Chairman Sopheon plc Tel : + 44 (0) 1483 685 735 Arif Karimjee, CFO Andrew Tan Hansard Communications Tel : + 44 (0) 207 245 1100 + 44 (0) 7957 203 685 Floor van Maaren Citigate First Financial Tel : + 31 (0) 205 754 010 David Newton Seymour Pierce Tel : + 44 (0) 207 107 8000About SopheonSopheon is an international provider of software and services thathelp organizations improve the business impact of product innovation. Sopheon'ssolutions automate and govern the innovation process, enabling 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.
SOPHEON PLC