SPE.L Regulatory News (SPE)

SOPHEON PLC

("Sopheon" or the "Company")

TRADING UPDATE

Sopheon plc ("Sopheon"), the international provider of software and services that improve the return from innovation and new product development investments, issues a trading update.

We have previously highlighted that we expected performance in 2014 to be weighted to the back end of the year, consistent with the fourth quarter of 2013 which was the strongest in our history. Full year revenue visibility today stands at $17.4m compared to $15.0m at the time of the interims. Once again, meeting our commercial goals required a strong finish to the year, and our pipeline included several major license opportunities that would contribute to achieving them. As we approach the end of the year, orders are coming through, and this includes a record number of signatures expected from new customers, expanding our traditionally strong base of existing customers and underpinning future growth potential. However, it now looks increasingly likely that a number of the highest value orders will defer into the first quarter of 2015. As a result, revenue and profits for 2014 will fall below market expectations. As in previous years we will update shareholders on the year's actual performance in January. As we have often stated, the nature of our business makes it difficult to predict exactly when sales will get signed and be recognized. .

Since our interim statement, we have continued to push forward with operational and corporate developments. We released version 9.2 of our Accolade solution suite, which we believe provides the most comprehensive resource and portfolio planning and management capabilities in the market. We were delighted to hire Pieter Leijten, a senior business development director formerly at Infor. Pieter has a solid track record of overachievement in enterprise software sales and will lead our commercial team in Europe.

Since 2012 Sopheon has implemented a series of actions to improve its corporate profile. These include transferring our Amsterdam listing from Euronext to Alternext; a share consolidation to reduce both the number of shares in issue and the very large number of very small shareholders; a capital restructuring to substantively reduce accumulated losses on the balance sheet; and the securing of new facilities with Silicon Valley Bank. As previously announced, we have faced some challenges. Following our transfer, Euronext announced the closure of Alternext Amsterdam by the end of 2015; the board has not yet concluded on the most appropriate path to address this change. In addition, processing issues in the Netherlands that arose during the original share consolidation procedure led us to initiate a new procedure in recent weeks. The first step, a 500:1 consolidation, was implemented on 18 October and the shareholder meeting for the second step, a 1:500 subdivision, is scheduled for 19 December. Following the first step the directors made a number of share purchases, in Amsterdam, with the intention of providing support for the fractional entitlements that became available, and also underlining the board's continued confidence in the business.

A definition of how visibility is calculated was provided in our half- yearly report published on 28 August 2014. 

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About Sopheon. Sopheon (LSE: SPE) partners with customers to provide complete Enterprise Innovation Performance solutions including software, expertise, and best-practices to achieve exceptional long-term revenue growth and profitability. Sopheon's Accolade® solution provides unique, fully-integrated coverage for the entire innovation management and new product development lifecycle. For the first time, businesses can access a single source of the truth across strategic innovation planning, roadmapping, idea and concept development, process and project management, portfolio management and resource planning. Sopheon's solutions have been implemented by over 200 customers with over 60,000 users in over 50 countries. Sopheon is listed on AIM, operated by the London Stock Exchange, and on the Alternext Exchange in the Netherlands. For more information, please visit www.sopheon.com