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FFastFill plc - 20th November 2007

Half year results for the six months ended 30 September 2007


FFastFill plc (‘FFastFill' or the ‘Company'), the leading provider of application services for the derivatives trading community, announces its interim results for the six months ended 30 September, 2007 .

Highlights
  • Revenue of £4.716 million (2006/7 £2.758 million)
    - Overall growth of 71%
    - Application Services revenue growth of 127%
  • EBITDA profit of £0.490 million (2006/7 EBITDA loss £0.381 million)
  • Operating Loss £0.081million (2006/7 £0.849 million)
    - Excluding exceptional cost £0.240 million (2006/7 nil)
  • An order book for the next 12 months of £10.497 million (2006/7 £6.045 million)
    - Application Services order book growth of 104%
  • Increase in overall customer base to 71 including 21 Global Banks
  • A cash balance of £1.878 million (£1.271 million )
  • Successful integration of Exchange Systems Technology Ltd
  • Gained several important new customers

Commenting on the results, Keith Todd , Executive Chairman of FFastFill, said:

‘It has been a period of significant progress in which we have successfully integrated Exchange Systems Technology (EST) and also maintained strong organic revenue growth. We now have the capability to start to offer multi-asset class, straight through processing (STP) delivered as a service. We have gained a number of important new customers during the period and have maintained a strong sales pipeline. I am confident of further improvement in the company's performance in the second half of the year.'

For further information, please contact:

FFastFill plc
Keith Todd , Executive Chairman - 020 7665 8900
Nigel Hartnell , Director
Paul Colcombe , Company Secretary

Rostron Parry
John Parry - 020 7490 8062

KBC Peel Hunt
Oliver Scott
Richard Kauffer - 020 7418 8900

 

Chairman's statement

Introduction

I am pleased to announce another six months of significant financial and operational progress including the successful integration of the acquisition of Exchange Systems Technology “EST” which was completed on the 2 July 2007.

During the past six months we have achieved:

  • Revenue of £4.716 million ( 2006/7 £2.758 million)
    - Overall growth of 71%
    - Application Services revenue growth of 127%
  • EBITDA profit of £0.490 million (2006/7 EBITDA loss £0.381 million)
  • Operating Loss £0.081million (2006/7 £0.849 million)
    - Excluding exceptional cost £0.240 million (2006/7 nil)
  • An order book for the next 12 months of £10.497 million (2006/7 £6.045 million)
    - Application Services order book growth of 104%
  • Increase in overall customer base to 71 including 21 Global Banks
  • A cash balance of £1.878 million (£1.271 million)

Financial results for the six months to 30 September 2007

 Revenue for the six months to 30 th September 2007 grew by 71% to £4.716 million (2006/7 £2.758 million). Application services revenue at £3.530 million (2006/7 £1.555 million) grew 127% and now accounts for 75% of our revenue. EST accounted for £1.053 million of revenue reflecting the three months trading since the acquisition. Our top 20 customers now account for 81.8% of our total revenue and average revenue from these customers now stands at £0.386 million (2006/7 £0.257 million).

We have a strong order-book for the next 12 months standing at £10.497 million (2006/7 £6.045 million). The application services order book stands at £8.097 million and has grown 104%.

We achieved an EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of £0.490 million. This compares to an EBITDA loss last year of £0.381 million in the comparable period.

The group incurred an Operating Loss of £0.081 million (2006/7 £0.849 million). EST made a net £0.221 million positive contribution prior to the exceptional charges of £0.240 million mainly relating to redundancies.

Cost were again kept under tight control with operating costs being held to £3.160 million, an increase of £0.645 million on the same period last year (2006/7 £2.515 million); this included £0.694 million in additional costs resulting from the acquisition of EST.

Cash inflow from operations was £0.463 million compared to an outflow of £0.730 million last year. Capital expenditure in the period was £0.212 million primarily spent on assets required for customer deployments. During the period we successfully placed 78,571,428 of shares, raising £5.5 million to finance the acquisition and integration of EST. Cash at the end of the period was up 48% to £1.878 million (2006/7 £1.271 million).

Operational Review

 Strategy:

The core applications services strategy (Software as a Service (SaaS)) has continued to be executed successfully. SaaS is increasingly being accepted as the way to deliver software and our early entry into the electronic trading SaaS market has given us a real competitive advantage compared to those who have only just recognised the benefits. This competitive advantage comes from the experience we have gained over four years of deployment which has resulted in us building robust operational service support systems and implementing additional defensive programming into our software so as to build additional resilience and improved recovery time into our services. It is our view, as other industry specialists have commented, that the days of generic wholesale outsourcing are numbered. This approach was relevant when it addressed infrastructure only but in the world of SaaS, infrastructure is only an ‘important commodity'; we believe it is the industry knowledge, software functionality, software support and service expertise that is essential for systems that are mission critical to our customers.

We have also extended our service offering to include business metrics that are generated from the systems we run for our customers. This provides information that is valuable to our customers in running their businesses and is another compelling proposition for our services.

Our strategy of expanding our focus from the Exchange Traded Derivatives “ETD” to other asset classes continues as does our drive to offer full Straight Though Processing “STP”. We will offer this initially for the metals market exploiting FFastFill's and EST's capabilities across the front, middle and back office for this market. We then plan to extend this to cover other asset classes building on our flexible technology platforms that are already multi asset class enabled.

EST known as Post Trade Processing “PTP”:

The acquisition completed on 2 July 2007 . The subsequent integration has gone very well and we were able to implement the £0.5 million of planned cost savings within the first 90 days. We have also established a strong link between PTP's London-based development team and our Prague-based resource centre. We have already recruited a small team of Oracle developers in Prague which is not just more economical, but has opened up a new pool of resources for the PTP team. The nature of the back office systems business is that there is often additional development or customisation required by prospects prior to go live and therefore the access to high quality development skills is critical to the growth of the business. Customer reaction has been very positive with additional development work requested by existing customers and additional features commissioned by new customers. There is a strong pipeline of prospects for new back-office customers and we have been very encouraged at the reaction to our proposed one-stop shop for the full STP including the delivery of an integrated offering for execution, risk management, order book management clearing and settlement. In our view some customers will, over time, migrate to this integrated offering.

Business development:

We continue to expand the range of functional services that we can offer. We are focusing on extending our multi asset class offerings and elements of our STP offering. We have developed the first beta system for our new, middle office, clearing technology service. The full suite of services covering six clearing houses will be available for general release in January 2008. We are currently demonstrating the new service and are encouraged by the very positive reaction from our prospects. The sales pipeline is strong with interest across the range of service offerings. We have seen good growth in the last six months primarily from expansion of services to existing customers. Future growth this year will come primarily from the existing customer base.

Staff:

We are delighted with the commitment and knowledge of the new members of the FFastFill team that have joined as part of the recent acquisition as well as the recent new recruits. Our current staff numbers now stand at 139 as at 30 September. The board and I would again like to thank all the staff in London , Prague and Chicago who have contributed to the first half improved performance.

Outlook:

The board is delighted with the progress in the first half and is confident that FFastFill will continue to grow which is expected to result in further improvements in the group's overall financial performance.

Keith Todd
Chairman & CEO

20 November 2007

CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT
for the period ended 30 SEPTEMBER 2007

 

Notes

 

Six months ended

30 September 2007

(unaudited)

 

 

Six months ended

30 September 2006

(unaudited)

 

 

 

Year ended 31 March 2007

(audited)

 

 

£'000

 

£'000

 

£'000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

 

4,716

 

2,758

 

6,063

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(4,797)

 

(3,607)

 

(7,146)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Operating loss

 

 

(81)

 

 

(849)

 

 

(1,083)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finance income

4

22

 

9

 

25

Finance costs

5

(12)

 

(22)

 

(39)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exceptional items

6

(240)

 

-

 

-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loss before income tax

 

 

(311)

 

 

(862)

 

 

(1,097)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Income tax

7

65

 

(5)

 

(10)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loss for the year

 

(246)

 

(867)

 

(1,107)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basic and diluted loss per share

8

(0.01p)

 

(0.03p)

 

(0.46p)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
as at 30 SEPTEMBER 2007

 

 

 

 

 

As at
30 September
2007
(unaudited)

 

As at
30 September 2006 (unaudited)

 

 

As at

31 March 2007
(audited)

 

Note

 

£'000

 

£'000

 

£'000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assets

Non-current assets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodwill

 

 

6,343

 

1,862

 

1,862

Intangible assets

 

 

2,285

 

1,295

 

1,347

Property, plant and equipment

 

 

937

 

1,175

 

1,005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Non-current assets

 

 

9,565

 

4,332

 

4,214

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current assets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trade and other receivables

 

 

2,460

 

997

 

1,637

Cash and cash equivalents

 

 

1,878

 

1,271

 

1,016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4,338

 

2,268

 

2,653

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total assets

 

13,903

 

6,600

 

6,867

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liabilities

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trade and other payables

 

(4,353)

 

(2,272)

 

(2,856)

Current tax liabilities

 

 

-

 

(4)

 

(2)

Obligations under finance leases

 

 

(233)

 

(223)

 

(248)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(4,586)

 

 

(2,499)

 

(3,106)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net current liabilities

 

 

(248)

 

(231)

 

(453)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total assets less current liabilities

 

 

 

 

9,317

 

 

4,101

 

 

3,761

Non-current liabilities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obligations under finance leases

 

 

(55)

 

(251)

 

(107)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net assets

 

 

9,262

 

3,850

 

3,654

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capital and reserves

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Called up share capital

10

 

3,702

 

2,893

 

2,897

Share premium account

 

 

31,095

 

26,543

 

26,561

Other reserves

 

 

235

 

235

 

235

Share-based payment reserve

 

 

89

 

15

 

Merger reserve

 

 

890

 

890

 

890

Translation reserve

 

 

(28)

 

(11)

 

(9)

Profit and loss account

 

 

(27,201)

 

(26,715)

 

(26,955)

Shares to be issued

 

 

480

 

-

 

-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Equity shareholders' funds

 

 

9,262

 

3,850

 

3,654

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY

 

Share
Capita
£'000

Share
Premiu
Accoun
£'000

Other
Reserves
£'000

Shared
Based
Paymen
Reserve
£'000

Merger
Reserv
£'000

Translatio
Reserve
£'000

Retained
Earnings
£'000

Deferre
Earnings
£'000

Total
£'000

For the six months ended 30

September 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 1 April 2007

2,897

26,561

235

35

890

(9)

(26,955)

-

3,654

Exchange differences on translating

foreign operations

 

-

 

-

 

-

 

-

 

-

 

(19)

 

-

 

-

 

(19)

Loss for the year

-

-

-

-

-

0

(246)

-

(246)

Share compensation expense

-

-

-

54

-

-

-

-

54

Share issues

805

4,534

-

-

-

-

-

480

5,819

At 30 September 2007

 

3,702

 

31,095

 

235

 

89

 

890

 

(28)

 

(27,201)

 

480

 

9,262

For the six months ended

30 September 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 1 April 2006

2,427

25,706

235

13

890

(11)

(25,848)

-

3,412

Loss for the year

-

-

-

-

-

-

(867)

-

(867)

Share compensation expense

-

-

-

2

-

-

-

-

2

Share issues

466

837

-

-

-

-

-

-

1,303

At 30 September 2006

 

2,893

 

26,543

 

235

 

15

 

890

 

(11)

 

(26,715)

 

-

 

3,850

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Changes in equity for the year

ended 31 March 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 1 April 2006

2,427

25,706

235

13

890

(11)

(25,848)

-

3,412

Exchange differences on translating

foreign operations

 

-

 

-

 

-

 

-

 

-

 

2

 

-

 

-

 

2

Loss for the year

-

-

-

-

-

-

(1,107)

-

(1,107)

Share compensation expense

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Share issues

470

855

-

22

-

-

-

-

1,347

At 31 March 2007

 

2,897

 

26,561

 

235

 

35

 

890

 

(9)

 

(26,955)

 

-

 

3,654


CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT
for the period ended 30 SEPTEMBER 2007  

 

Notes

Six months ended

30 September 2007

(unaudited)

 

Six months ended

30 September
2006

(unaudited)

 

 

Year ended 31 March 2007

(audited)

 

 

£'000

 

£'000

 

£'000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash flows from operating activities

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash flows from operations

 

463

 

(730)

 

(372)

Interest received

 

22

 

9

 

25

Interest paid

 

(12)

 

(22)

 

(39)

Tax paid

 

65

 

(5)

 

(9)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net cash flows from operating activities

 

538

 

(748)

 

(395)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash from investing activities

 

 

 

 

 

 

Acquisition of Subsidiary

 

(4,210)

 

-

 

-

Purchase of intangible assets

 

(387)

 

(299)

 

(664)

Purchase of property, plant & equipment

 

(212)

 

(100)

 

(245)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net cash flows used in investing activity

 

(4,809)

 

(399)

 

(909)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash flows from financial activities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net proceeds from issue of ordinary share capital

 

5,200

 

1,303

 

1,325

Sale and leaseback

Finance lease principal payments

 

-

(67)

 

 

-

(115)

 

 

-

(325)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net cash inflow from financing activities

 

5,133

 

1,188

 

1,090

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net change in cash and cash equivalents

B

862

 

41

 

(214)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year

 

1,016

 

1,230

 

1,230

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year

 

1,878

 

1,271

 

1,016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


NOTES TO THE CASH FLOW STATEMENT

•  Reconciliation of net loss to net cash flow from operating activities

 

 

 

Six months ended

30 September 2007

(unaudited)

 

 

Six months ended

30 September 2006

(unaudited)

 

 

 

Year ended

31 March 2007

(audited)

 

 

£'000