IT Morning Bulletin

04 March 2010

IT Morning Bulletin

Results

Playtech Limited - Notice of Results

Spirent Communications PLC - Preliminary Results

Highlights:

Revenue grew by 6 per cent to £272.1 million (2008: £257.9 million); at constant currencies revenue was down 10 per cent, with signs of recovery in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Operating profit ahead of expectations up 14 per cent; at constant currencies down 6 per cent.
Further increases in gross profit margin to 66.3 per cent and in operating margin to 20.3 per cent.
Adjusted basic earnings per share up 11 per cent at 6.91 pence (2008: 6.24 pence) after charging 0.20 pence (2008: 0.30 pence) for share-based payment and acquired intangible amortisation.
Strong cash flows resulted in cash and cash equivalents of £108.0 million at 31 December 2009 (31 December 2008: £59.7 million).
Order intake growth in the fourth quarter was strong as book to bill ratio reached 129.
Final dividend up 10 per cent to 0.66 pence per share (2008: 0.60 pence).
Spirent released more new and innovative solutions to the market in 2009 than ever before.

CAP-XX Limited- Half Yearly Report

Financial Highlights:

· Sales revenue of A$2.6m was down due to the timing of the Murata R&D Feasibility payments and drop in reduced volumes.

· Operating expenses of A$2.4m was a 40% decreases on the corresponding period of 2008/09.

· Net Operating Loss of A$2.1m was negatively impacted by foreign exchange losses due to the strengthening Australian dollar.

· Cash Balance as at the end of December 2009 was A$1.45m

Psion PLC - Annual Financial Report

Highlights:

·	Results were in line with the Board's expectations. The slight improvement in sales activity and order intake reported in the second half has carried over into the current year. We were pleased to win new orders from a range of new customers including RWE npower, Dusseldorf Airport, and EON. By the last quarter of 2009, order books were at the highest level since we began to see the effects of the downturn in November 2008.
·	Revenues in 2009 were £170.0m (2008: £199.4m). Sales in Europe, Middle East and Africa expressed in Euros were €117.1m (2008: €152.2m). Sales in the Americas were US$83.3m (2008: US$115.2m), while sales in Asia were US$18.6m (2008: US$29.7m).
·	The company made progress in the second half of 2009 towards its previously stated goal of achieving a 10% adjusted operating margin. The normalised operating margin moved from a negative 1.3% in the first half to positive 6.0% in the second half.
·	Psion exceeded its internal cash targets for the year through improvements in supply chain and debtor management processes. This has enabled the company to maintain its strong balance sheet.
·	The Group has no debt. The Group's cash balance at the end of the year increased to £45.3m (2008: £41.3m). This increase in cash and cash equivalents has been delivered after restructuring costs, capital expenditure, tax, the currency impact on opening balance and dividends which together have absorbed £28.0m of net cash in 2009. We remain confident in our ability to generate significant operating cash in future.
·	The Change Programme begun in 2008 delivered targeted annualised cost savings of £46m, of which £35m relate to operating expenses and £11m relate to overheads charged to cost of sales. Inventory fell by 35% in 2009, driven largely by greatly improved processes, and debtors and receivables have been reduced by 26%.
·	We are reinvesting some of the savings from the Change Progamme to accelerate the refresh of Psion's major products. Our blend of modularity and an open business model, called 'Open Source Mobility' (OSM), will give Psion the best chance of exploiting the economic upturn and establishing a platform for satisfactory, sustainable profit delivery.
·	The Board has declared a second interim dividend of 2.6p per share in lieu of a final dividend for 2009 (2008 final: 2.5p) making a total of 3.8p for the year (2008: 3.7p), to be paid on 1 April 2010 to shareholders on the register on 12 March 2010.

Trading Statements / Contract Wins / Acquisitions:

Synchronica PLC- Contract win

Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of Synchronica, said,

"Operators in the Middle East have the opportunity to establish the mobile phone as the primary device for mobile internet access, and Synchronica provides a key component to turn this vision into reality. This purchase order is the sixth with this particular operator and demonstrates clearly the reliability of Synchronica's products and services, not only to the client, but also to the end user."

Imaginatik PLC - Trading Update

Mark Turrell, CEO of Imaginatik, commented,

"We have secured several significant contracts during the course of the year, with some of the world's leading organizations. However, the challenging economic environment continues to have an impact on the business. Whilst it is disappointing not to achieve the revenue forecast for the Company in this financial year, our cash position remains comfortable, and we remain confident in the future prospects for Imaginatik and for the market place in which we operate."

Miscellaneous:

SciSys PLC - Second Interim Dividend

Xaar PLC - Directorate Change

Newspaper Investment Highlights:

Times – Need To Know

Google: The internet group has backed HTC, its smartphone manufacturer, after the Taiwanese company was sued by Apple for patent infringement.

Panasonic: Fumio Ohtsubo, president of the Japanese electronics group, said that he was optimistic about the profit opportunities from taking over Sanyo, its smaller and unprofitable Japanese rival, particularly in the solar panels and batteries business. Panasonic bought Sanyo last year for $4.6 billion (£3 billion).

Nokia: The Finnish mobile phone maker said that its smartphone users could make free calls after it teamed up with Skype, the internet phone pioneer.