SPE.L Regulatory News (SPE)

15 Jul 2005 06:00

Embargoed Release: 07:00hrs Friday 15 July 2005 SOPHEON PLC ("Sopheon" or "the Company") TRADING UPDATE Sopheon plc, the international provider of software and services that improvethe financial return from innovation and product development investments,issues a trading update on the first half of 2005.As previously announced, the Company was endeavouring to close on severaltransactions prior to the end of June. A number of sales were concludedfollowing Sopheon's Annual General Meeting, bringing the count for the firsthalf of the year to eleven new and extension license sales among a total oftwenty sales transactions. The new licenses included our first sale inAustralia, through the new reseller in that territory. However, a further fourlicenses that were expected to close in June did not complete. Of these, threewere verbally committed in June and remain in advanced contract discussionstoday. This includes two that are of relatively significant size.The delay in closing the above four transactions has restricted license revenuecompared to the equivalent period in 2004. Offsetting this, maintenance andservices revenues have increased by 50%, reflecting greater stability in therecurring revenue base of the business. The overall effect is that revenuereported for the first half will be moderately below that reported for the sameperiod in 2004. We expect that the pending contracts will come through in thethird quarter, along with new transactions from a pipeline that continues tobring in additional prospects.Barry Mence, Chairman, commented:"We are,of course,disappointed that we were not able to drive all thetransactions we hoped for to closure in June. However, we remain positive aboutthe underlying direction of our business,with the strategic opportunitiesavailable to us, and with our potential for growth in a market that is buildingmomentum."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 010About 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 (PD) 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. Sopheon preliminary results 2002 / page 2ENDSOPHEON PLC