Sopheon plc, the international provider of software and services that improve the financial return from innovation and product development investments, issues the following trading update for the six months to 30 June 2012.
In our Annual General Meeting announcement issued on 13 June we indicated that we had a substantial amount of business that we were working to close by the end of June. Much of this has concluded successfully. Accordingly, revenue visibility was over £9.6 million at the mid-year point, compared to £7.5 million at the time of the Annual General Meeting.
This is a strong achievement, and compares favorably with £7.8 million visibility a year ago. Looking forward to the second half of the year, our sales pipeline remains strong. However, we would note that as always in our industry, accurate prediction of the timing and value of sales events can be difficult.
Reported first half revenue is expected to comfortably exceed revenues for the corresponding period last year. As we have previously announced, we have continued a controlled expansion of staff levels in sales and delivery. These actions, coupled with the full-year effect of additional staff added during 2011, mean that our costs also exceed the previous year. Nevertheless, the reported EBITDA result is expected to show significant improvement compared to the first half of 2011.
Details will be provided in our interim financial report, scheduled for release on 23 August 2012. Expectations noted above are subject to completion of the period-end financial close and auditor review processes.
Revenue visibility is defined in Note 4 of Sopheon’s 2011 annual report which is available from the investor section of www.sopheon.com .
About Sopheon
Sopheon (LSE: SPE) is an international provider of software and services. Sopheon’s solutions structure, align and manage innovation processes to help organizations generate more revenues and profits from new products. Sopheon's solutions are used by industry leaders throughout the world, including BAE Systems, BASF, Corning, Electrolux, Honeywell, Novartis and SABMiller. Sopheon is listed on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange and on the Euronext in the Netherlands.
