EG : Interim Results for the six months ended 31 July 2017

eg solutions plc (AIM: EGS), the back office optimisation software company, announces its interim results for the six months ended 31 July 2017 ('H1 2018').

Financial highlights

• Revenues for H1 2018 up 105% to £5.13m (H1 2017: £2.50m)
• Adjusted EBITDA* for H1 2018 of £0.92m (H1 2017: loss of £0.89m)
• Adjusted Profit* Before Tax for H1 2018 of £0.4m (H1 2017: loss of £1.33m)
• Cash generated from operations in H1 2018 of £0.86m (H1 2017: deficit of £0.78m)
• Cash as at 31 July 2017 of £2.35m (H1 2017: £1.66m)
• Earnings per share of 2 pence (H1 2017: loss of 5.2p)

*adjusted for Share Option Charges and non-recurring legal fees in current year and Share Option charges non-recurring legal fees and redundancy costs in prior year.

Operational highlights:

• Strong trading in line with target sales growth strategy
• Significant contracts secured during the period include:
  - Contract win through partnership with GCI to distribute egoperational intelligence® software within the public sector
  - $2.7m contract with a leading global bank demonstrating ability to scale and service multi-national companies
• Five year Master Service Agreement signed post period end with existing customer adding a minimum of £1.4m incremental revenue
• Contract wins with new and existing customers supporting order book growth to £21.4m (H1 2017: £16.20m)

Post-period end

• Recommended cash offer (the 'Offer') made for the Company by Verint WS Holdings Limited ('Verint'), a c.$2.3Bn US analytics company listed on NASDAQ
• Under the terms of the Offer, each eg shareholder will be entitled to receive 112.5 pence in cash for each eg share held
• The Offer values the entire issued and to be issued share capital of eg at approximately £26.30m

Chairman statement

I am pleased to report eg solutions' results for the first half of FY 2018.

During the period under review, we have delivered robust trading in line with our targeted growth strategy implementing direct sales and distribution via our in-house resources and global partners and thereby better positioning the Company for profitable growth. Revenues for the period increased 105% to £5.13m, which underpins the strong period we have had. We maintained the strong momentum gathered in the second half of the previous year, securing multiple major contracts with global firms for our best in class back office optimisation software. New contract wins and existing customer orders have seen our order book of recurring revenue grow to £21.4m.

Post-the period end in September 2017, Verint, a indirectly owned subsidiary of Verint Systems Inc, a c.$2.3Bn US analytics company listed on NASDAQ, announced a recommended a cash offer to acquire all of the issued and to be issued share capital of the Company.

In the period since 11 August 2017, the Company's mid-market closing share price has been in excess of the price per share offered by Verint under the Offer. The Board believe however, that the increase in the share price prior to the announcement of the Offer of 5 September 2017 was entirely driven by small volumes of retail purchases, causing the share price to rise as a result of the limited liquidity of the Company's shares. In particular, we believe that the mid-market price prior to 5 September 2017 was not reflective of a price at which any significant volume of the Company shares could be bought or sold in the market. The Board consider that the Company has long suffered from an illiquid shareholder register which can give rise to volatility in its share price. Moreover, we understand that, so far as we are aware, prior to 5 September 2017 the last institutional price at which the Company's shares traded, was on 23 May 2017 at a price of 71.7 pence, some 40.8 pence (35%) below the Offer price. Between 23 May 2017 and 5 September 2017, the Board do not believe that there were any institutional trades and the median trade size was only 2,000 shares, with all purchases and sales since that date being driven by small volume trades. Other than in the period since late July 2017 and before 5 September 2017, so far as we are aware, there were no trades in the Company shares at a level at or above the Offer price in the last decade.

Importantly, the Board believe that the level of the Offer represents an attractive exit price when viewed against the fundamentals of the business, against the way comparable small technology companies are currently valued by the market and against the most recent higher-volume share trades. It also represents an attractive premium of 53% and 4.1% against the volume weighted average price of the Company's shares over the six and three month periods respectively prior to 5 September 2017.

If the acquisition is approved this will see the Company's market-leading back office optimisation solution marketed to a much wider global audience. With larger distribution and economies of scale that Verint can offer, this should see the Company's software global footprint extended to become a much larger dominant force within the back office optimisation industry across multiple new markets and sectors.

For full details of the proposed acquisition please see https://www.investegate.co.uk/verint-ws-holdings/rns/recommended-cash-offer-for-eg-solutions-plc/201709050700047948P/.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow Board members, employees and our shareholders for their continued support over the period and look forward to updating the market on the progress of our proposed acquisition by Verint at the appropriate time.

Nigel Payne
Chairman

Financial review

The Board is pleased with the strong performance in H1 2018. The Company continues to underpin revenue with a strong order book which has increased by 32.1% over the last 12 months. Gross margin has returned to previous levels with the six months ended 31 July 2017 delivering 68.7%, an increase of 15.1% on the same period last year.

The Company has generated £0.86m cash from operations which has supported the continued investment in product development with R&D capitalisation of (£0.84m) (H1 2017: (£0.73m). Cash remains at a strong level at £2.35m, an increase of £0.69m from H1 2017. This is supported by a positive working capital movement as a direct result of higher revenues. Trade and other receivables were £2.83m (H1 2017: £1.26m) predominantly driven by higher accrued revenue. Trade and other payables were £2.85m (H1 2017: £2.01m) driven by higher deferred income.

The Company has continued to benefit from the Research and Development tax relief with a recognised tax credit of (£0.13m) (H1 2017: (£0.13m)) and an effective tax rate of (43%) (H1 2017: (520%)) in the reporting period.

The non-recurring expenditure in the current year relates to legal costs relating to the proposed acquisition.

The Company continues to expect minimal impact on revenues as a result of Brexit and has the relevant polices in place to control any foreign exchange risk as it arises. However, the Company continues to believe that increased economic uncertainty will put pressure on businesses to reduce costs and the Company remains well positioned to optimise the opportunity this affords.

For full release and final results read the PDF

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About eg solutions plc

eg solutions is a back office workforce optimisation software Group. eg pioneered this new market space and developed the most complete, purpose built workforce optimisation software for back offices - the only solution that manages work, people and end-to-end processes wherever they are undertaken, anywhere in the world.

eg solutions' software is now used by leading UK, international and global companies in multiple industry sectors including financial services, healthcare and utilities. Using its forecasting, scheduling, real-time work management and operational analytics capabilities, eg delivers measureable improvements in service, quality, productivity and regulatory compliance. When supported by eg's implementation and training services eg guarantee a return on investment in short timescales.

The Group is listed on AIM, the London Stock Exchange's international market for smaller growing companies (EGS).