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Lombard Risk Management plc (“the Group”
or “LRM”) today announces its interim results for the period
ended 30 September 2004.
- Revenues for the half year £ 2.29
million (2003 : £ 2.33 million)
- Loss before tax narrowed to £ 0.38
million (2003 : £ 0.57 million)
- Initial Public Offering completed
on London AIM market (London Stock Exchange ticker LRM)
Summary
The successful IPO of Lombard Risk Management plc on the London
AIM market in September 2004 made this a particularly significant
period for the Group.
The pre-tax loss narrowed appreciably
as a result of tight cost controls, with revenues being comparable
to the previous year.
Significant progress was made in two
key areas. A development partnership was established to expand
the Firmament Credit software product to handle collateralised
debt obligations (CDOs). In addition, the Independent Valuation
Services initiative was developed using a combination of our
software and our data to provide clients with a derivative
position valuation service.
Several strategic appointments were made
during the period, including a new Director of Sales, which
will assist in the execution of the strategic plan for the
Group.
Trading
The Group’s revenues were £2.29 million for the half year
against £2.33 million in the previous year and £4.53 million
in the full year to March 2004. The pre-tax loss narrowed
to £0.38 million against £0.57 million in the previous year
and £1.21 million for the full year to March 2004. Before
exceptional items, the pre-tax operating loss narrowed to
£0.19 million. In calculating profitability, R&D was again
fully expensed as incurred, as in previous years.
The Oberon software product continued
to be profitable, as was the Valuspread managed service. Firmament,
the company’s new flagship software product, has initial functionality
for credit trading, equity trading and collateral management
and will soon also have fixed income capability. Firmament
shows promising signs of creating a major recurring revenue
stream for the Group.
Software Products
Oberon, the Group’s core software product, recorded its 15th
year of profitability, maintaining its position as a cashflow
provider for LRM’s other product initiatives. By the beginning
of the period the entire customer base had been upgraded to
Oberon 5 allowing the support function to be streamlined.
In addition, extra functionality was added to Oberon for emerging
market bonds and derivatives, increasing the potential new
customer base.
Firmament has made further progress from
its credit trading base, with an equity module now installed
at its first customer site. Initially handling credit default
swaps and default baskets, Firmament Credit Trading is now
being extended to handle CDOs and other correlation products,
and is building up a useful sales pipeline. Firmament Collateral
is also attracting a lot of customer interest.
Managed Services and Data
The Valuation Services division continued to build its client
base for the Valuspread managed service for credit derivative
price verification. This showed a significant increase in
the volume of data being managed, and has moved from being
a weekly to a daily service. Even the largest banks have difficulty
in verifying their traders’ prices, and this service meets
many of their regulatory, auditing and line management needs.
Valuspread’s client list includes most of the largest trading
firms in the credit derivatives market, including JP Morgan
Chase, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Lehman Brothers,
Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas.
Sales of the resulting data to third
parties have continued to grow rapidly, with a 30% increase
in the number of credits being made available for public use.
Finally, we made headway with services to provide independent
third party valuations by combining our credit derivative
data and our Firmament software. We believe this has considerable
commercial potential for the years ahead.
Investments
The company has a stake of over 3% (5.6 million shares) in
its former subsidiary IDOX plc, which is also quoted on AIM.
Shares in IDOX have traded in the range 9p – 13p in the last
twelve months. The board sees little if any strategic value
in retaining this holding, and consequently the board will
retain or dispose of the holding based on investment considerations
alone.
Financing
The Group raised £1.25 million in the IPO, or £0.99 million
after costs of the issue, at a price of 8p per share.
In late November 2004, the Group raised
a further £1.1 million at 9p per share from Putnam Lovell
NBF, through its parent National Bank Financial Inc. (NBF),
a subsidiary of National Bank of Canada. Putnam Lovell is
an investment bank that has made other strategic investments
in firms that sell to hedge funds or to investors in hedge
funds, and the board believes that the association with Putnam
Lovell and its network of contacts will bring significant
additional benefits to the Group, particularly as it seeks
to expand its North American customer base.
Prospects and Conclusion
The directors are encouraged by the build-up in sales pipeline
since the sales team was strengthened in the summer and by
the increasing interest in our new product offerings. We are
cautiously optimistic that the second half of the current
financial year will show appreciable revenue growth over the
first half and over the comparable period in the previous
financial year. Inevitably the investments made as a result
of the IPO have also increased the cost base, but our objective
is to return to regular monthly profitability within the next
12 months.
Our employees worked very hard over the
past year in a period where costs had been cut, and their
efforts in helping us achieve our IPO are much appreciated.
It was also gratifying that around 40% of our employees decided
to invest personally in our shares at the IPO. All employees
are being rewarded with share options at strikes of 9p -11p.
Our thanks are also due to our customers and suppliers, our
advisors and our investors.
It is exciting now to be in position
to take the company to the next stage in its development.
The growth of the hedge fund market and the credit derivative
market, and the need for more infrastructure as both these
markets become more mature, should all work in our favour
at a time that we have more funds available to invest.
John Wisbey
Chairman & CEO |
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Consolidated Profit
and Loss Account
For the six months ended 30 September 2004 |
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6 months to 30 Sep-04 (unaudited)
£ |
6 months to 30 Sep-03 (unaudited)
£ |
12 months to 31 Mar-04 (audited)
£ |
| Turnover |
2,290,246 |
2,330,586 |
4,525,652 |
| External charges |
(103,093) |
(97,782) |
(241,170) |
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2,187,153 |
2,232,804 |
4,284,482 |
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| Staff costs |
1,842,270 |
1,865,608 |
3,636,148 |
| Other operating charges |
531,881 |
643,201 |
1,321,319 |
| Exceptional costs |
192,480 |
192,488 |
384,975 |
|
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(2,566,631) |
(2,701,297) |
(5,342,442) |
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| Operating Loss |
| Before exceptional items |
(186,998) |
(276,005) |
(672,985) |
| Exceptional costs |
(192,480) |
(192,488) |
(384,975) |
|
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| Total operating loss |
(379,478) |
(468,493) |
(1,057,960) |
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| Exceptional items |
| Profit on disposal of current asset investment |
49,024 |
2,340 |
2,340 |
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| Interest receivable |
774 |
1,028 |
4,892 |
| Interest payable |
(55,279) |
(104,743) |
(157,139) |
|
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| Loss on ordinary activities before taxation |
(384,959) |
(569,868) |
(1,207,867) |
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| Tax on loss on ordinary activities |
- |
110,000 |
460,008 |
| Non equity appropriation |
- |
(18,742) |
(21,488) |
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| Loss for the year transferred from reserves |
(384,959) |
(478,610) |
(769,347) |
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| Earnings / (loss) per share |
| Basic and diluted (pence) |
(0.5) |
(0.6) |
(1.0) |
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Consolidated Balance
Sheet
At 30 September 2004 |
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At 30 Sep-04 (unaudited) £ |
At 30 Sep-03 (unaudited) £ |
At 31 Mar-04 (audited) £ |
| Fixed assets |
| Tangible assets |
172,810 |
84,516 |
93,496 |
|
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172,810 |
84,516 |
93,496 |
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| Current assets |
| Debtors due within one year |
1,302,359 |
765,825 |
915,087 |
| Debtors due after one year |
- |
17,142 |
- |
| Current asset investment |
571,250 |
599,250 |
599,250 |
|
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| Cash at bank and in hand |
877,520 |
120,415 |
72,887 |
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| Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year |
(3,790,719) |
(2,644,325) |
(3,010,323) |
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| Net current liabilities |
(1,039,590) |
(1,141,693) |
(1,423,099) |
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| Creditors: Amounts falling due after one year |
(212,726) |
(400,198) |
(355,937) |
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(1,079,506) |
(1,457,375) |
(1,685,540) |
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| Capital and reserves |
| Called up share capital |
948,102 |
865,881 |
867,881 |
| Share premium |
1,398,392 |
448,610 |
486,610 |
| Revaluation reserve |
170,957 |
395,728 |
408,151 |
| Other reserves |
118,181 |
118,109 |
119,193 |
| Profit and loss account |
(3,715,138) |
(3,285,703) |
(3,567,375) |
|
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| Shareholders deficit |
(1,079,506) |
(1,457,375) |
(1,685,540) |
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| Equity shareholders’ funds |
(1,079,506) |
(2,186,116) |
(2,417,027) |
| Non equity shareholders’ funds |
- |
728,741 |
731,487 |
|
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| Shareholders deficit |
(1,079,506) |
(1,457,375) |
(1,685,540) |
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Consolidated Cash Flow
Statement
For the six months ended 30 September 2004 |
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6 months to 30 Sep-04 (unaudited) £ |
6 months to 30 Sep-03 (unaudited) £ |
12 months to 31 Mar-04 (audited) £ |
| Net cash outflow from operating activities |
(680,234)
|
(46,931)
|
(410,861)
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| Returns on investments and servicing
of finance |
| Interest received |
774 |
1,028 |
4,892 |
| Interest paid |
(54,728) |
(104,193) |
(156,038) |
| Hire purchase interest |
(551) |
(551) |
(1,101) |
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| Net cash outflow from returns on investments and
servicing of finance |
(54,505) |
(103,716) |
(152,247) |
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| Taxation |
- |
333,106 |
570,008 |
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| Capital Expenditure and financial investment
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| Payments to acquire tangible fixed assets |
(115,556) |
(30,131) |
(95,782) |
| Payments to increase holding in current asset investment |
(316,000) |
- |
- |
| Disposal of current asset investment |
393,027 |
1,475,735 |
1,475,735 |
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| Net cash inflow / (outflow) from capital expenditure
and financial investment |
(38,529) |
1,445,604 |
1,379,953 |
|
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| Financing |
| Issue of shares |
992,003 |
- |
- |
| Shareholder loans |
275,000 |
- |
- |
| Capital element of finance lease |
(2,318) |
(2,318) |
(4,636) |
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| Net cash inflow from financing |
1,264,685 |
(2,318) |
(4,636) |
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| Increase in cash |
491,417 |
1,625,745 |
1,382,217 |
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Notes to the Interim
Statement
- Basis of preparation
The interim results have been prepared under the historical
cost convention and in accordance with applicable United
Kingdom accounting standards.
- Interim financial statements
The above financial information does not constitute statutory
accounts within the meaning of section 240 of the Companies
Act 1985. The six month figures use the same accounting
policies for the period ended 31 March 2004 and have not
been audited by the Company’s auditors. The figures for
the period ended 31 March 2004 are based upon the latest
statutory accounts which have been delivered to the Registrar
of Companies. The report of the auditors on these accounts
was unqualified and did not contain a statement under Section
237 (2) of (3) of the Companies Act 1985.
- Dividends
The Directors do not propose to pay an interim dividend
at this time.
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Enquiries:
Lombard Risk Management plc:
John Wisbey, Chairman and CEO
Tel : +44 (0)20 7384 5000
Click here to email Lombard Risk's Investor Relations team
Noble & Company Ltd:
Matthew Hall
Tel: +44 (0)20 7763 2200 |
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