Kewill plc
Interim Management Statement
Kewill plc ("Kewill" or the "Group"), the provider of software and solutions that simplify global trade and logistics, today issues the following Interim Management Statement:
The Board is pleased to announce that as a result of new business closed, the high contribution of recurring revenues and prudent cost controls initiated at the start of the second half of its financial year ended 31st March 2009, the Group expects to meet current consensus expectations for the full year.
Although licence sales have reduced significantly in all geographies during the year in line with our expectations, this was mitigated by some sizeable new contracts closing during the fourth quarter. These significant financial commitments from new and existing customers confirm the strong return on investment that they are able to realise from the use of our products and services, even during the toughest global economy in our lifetimes and declining world trade volumes. In particular, we saw new projects being initiated for our global freight forwarding solution with A.P. Moller-Maersk and NYK Logistics and these contracts should generate strong revenues during FY 09/10 and beyond. We have also seen significant increases in our Software as a Service business, fuelled by customers needing to comply with mandatory legislation such as the "10+2" security initiative in the US and the new Export Control System in Europe.
Going into the new financial year, Kewill's position looks robust. We will see a full year's benefit from these new contracts and would expect more customers to sign up for these services as deadlines are passed and government fines for non-compliance are introduced. In addition, we have new products being launched early in the first half such as Kewill CustomsXchange and Kewill Export and these will add to the already strong pipelines of new business across the Group. This combination of high recurring revenue streams, the backlog of work from orders recently placed and the continuation of tight cost control gives Kewill confidence for the current year.
Kewill is also pleased to report excellent cash generation from operations during the second half and this resulted in a final net cash balance as at 31st March 2009 for the Group of £4 million.
Full year results will be released to the market on June 22nd 2009.
For further information please contact:
Kewill plc
Tel: 01483 406080
Paul Nichols, Chief Executive
Guy Millward, Group Finance Director
Financial Dynamics
Tel: 020 7831 3113
Juliet Clarke / Edward Bridges / Nicola Biles