24 Sep 2015 07:00
TUNGSTEN CORPORATION PLC
("Tungsten" or the "Company")
For Immediate Release
24 September 2015
AGM Statement / Trading Update
Tungsten will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) today at 14:00 UK-time, as previously announced. At the AGM, Richard M. Hurwitz, Chief Executive Officer will provide the following update on trading in the current financial year to date:
"In the two months since my appointment I have been engaged in a thorough review of Tungsten's operations in order to maximise the Company's growth prospects, enhance operational efficiency and streamline customer processes. We are firmly committed to our strategy of establishing Tungsten as an indispensable partner to organisations by optimising their accounts payable, procurement and working capital.
We have further changes to make, notably in supplementing the new leadership team to accelerate supplier on-boarding and our Early Payment offering. In addition, we are undertaking a detailed review of our operating cost base to help us meet our growth plans in an efficient manner. We will provide a further update on the expected outcomes from this process when we report our 2016 Interim Results in mid-December.
Revenues in the first four months of the financial year were more than 20% higher than in the same period in the prior year. Two new buyers contracted to join the Tungsten Network in the period and six existing buyers agreed contract renewals, at an average expected fee increase of 22% on a like for like basis. We are focused on working with buyer customers with whom we can expand the relationship to multiple products. Nearly 7,000 net additional e-invoicing suppliers were activated in the four month period.
4.9 million e-Invoices were sent over Tungsten Network in the first four months (14.2 million over the 12 months to August 2015), totalling £35.7 billion (£107.0 billion over the 12 months to August 2015). These are respectively 9% and 12% higher than the same period in the prior year. E-Invoices, which will replace total invoices as our key performance indicator, represented 95% by volume and 92% by value of total invoices processed in the four months.
We now have 238 suppliers registered to use Tungsten Early Payment with 89 live who have financed £62 million of invoices.
To meet our growth plans we need to increase the pace of bringing suppliers onto the Network, sign-up more new buyers to join the network, secure further buyer renewals at enhanced pricing and new suppliers to Early Payment. We have strong buyer and supplier pipelines and excellent relationships with our buyers who want to work more closely with us. We need to ensure each of these are fully leveraged over the remainder of the financial year to meet our targets.
We continue to progress our strategic review of Tungsten Bank and we expect to provide an update at the time of our 2016 Interim Results. We have appointed a new Chief Executive Officer of Tungsten Bank, subject to regulatory approval. We will make a further announcement in due course."
2016 Interim Results
Tungsten will report Interim Results for the six months ending 31 October 2015 in mid-December this year, earlier than planned, so as to provide shareholders with a timelier overview of performance in the first half of the financial year. As a consequence of this accelerated reporting timetable, the Company will not provide a trading update in November this year.
Outlook
The Board remains optimistic about prospects for the current financial year and reiterates the outlook provided at the time of our full year results in July. We are grateful to shareholders for the £17.5 million equity raised at the start of the financial year and the Board continues to believe that the Company has sufficient cash resources to be able to deliver its current strategy.
Enquiries:
Tungsten Corporation plc. Richard Hurwitz, Chief Executive Officer Juliana Wheeler, Head of Global Communications (Media) |
+44 20 7280 7713 +44 20 7280 7973 | |
Charles Stanley Securities (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker) Dugald J. Carlean |
+44 20 7149 6000 | |
Canaccord Genuity Limited (Joint Broker) Simon Bridges/Emma Gabriel |
+44 20 7523 8000 | |
Neustria Partners (Investors and Analysts) Robert Bailhache/Nick Henderson/Charles Gorman |
+44 20 3021 2580 | |
About Tungsten Corporation plcTungsten Corporation (LSE: TUNG) accelerates global trade by enabling customers to streamline invoice processing, improve cash-flow management and make better buying decisions from their detailed spend data.
Buyer organisations that join Tungsten Network, the world's largest compliant electronic invoicing network, can reduce their invoice-processing costs by 60%. Suppliers benefit from efficiencies, greater visibility of their invoice status and peace of mind. Tungsten offers options for supply chain financing and helps buying organisations profit by applying real-time spend analytics to its vast repository of line-level invoice data.
Tungsten serves 56% of the Fortune 500 and 67% of the FTSE 100 by connecting the world's largest companies and government agencies to their thousands of suppliers around the globe. It enables suppliers to submit tax compliant e-Invoices in 47 countries, and last year processed transactions worth over $187bn for organisations such as Alliance Data, Aviva, Cargill, Deutsche Lufthansa, General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline, Henkel, IBM, Kellogg's, and the US Federal Government.
Contact: Juliana Wheeler, Head of Global Communications, +44 20 7280 7973.
juliana.wheeler@tungsten-network.com