Plasmon: Fiscal Year Financial Results

(in £ millions)	1H07	2H08	FY07	FY08
Revenues	17.2	14.6	35.9	29.4
*Growth*		-15%		*-18%*
Net income (loss)	(4.8)	(4.8)	(14.6)	(12.2)

Plasmon Plc announces its results for the year ended 31 March 2008.

Highlights:

Group revenues fell 13% at constant exchange rates to £29.4 million (2007: £35.9 million) following further decline in legacy products.
Revenue declined in the first half and flattened out in the second, as newer archive solution product growth (45% year on year in constant currencies) compensated for a continuing fall in legacy sales.
Operating losses before rationalisation costs reduced by £1.2 million to £9.6 million (2007: £10.8 million).
£8 million gross capital raised in May 2007 to complete and launch a new range of enterprise archive solutions.
£10 million gross capital raised in April 2008 to fund a new sales strategy and enhancement of the archive management software layer.
New CEO appointed with proven data storage and turnaround track record.
Sales re-organisation substantially completed, 18 new sales staff now recruited.
Expecting to extend our industry partnerships in the near term.
Expecting to reach positive cash flow during second half of current year.

Steven Murphy, Chief Executive of Plasmon, commented: “The data archiving market is growing strongly. Plasmon has always had great technology; but we now have a business model that can sell and deliver superior archiving solutions for enterprise customer needs. This is a turning point for the Company, and it is beginning to deliver results.”

Rod Powell, Chairman of Plasmon, commented: “Our transformation of Plasmon aims to create a profitable and fast-growing solutions business. The Board and I are delighted with the progress Steven Murphy and his team have already made in executing the new sales strategy, and we expect to reach the key milestone of positive cash flow in the second half.”

Outlook
The overall archive storage market is forecast to grow rapidly from $9 billion in 2007 to $23 billion by 2010. Our Archive Appliance solution sales grew 45% in constant currency terms compared to the comparable period last year, despite the disruptions of major organisational change. We now have all of our sales ‘enablers’ in place, and are actively focused on a series of specific market segments where our archive solutions are either most compelling for new customers or where we have the best opportunity to “refresh” Plasmon legacy products. Additionally, we hope to expand our market opportunities by extending our industry partnerships in the near term. The Board believes that the new solution sales and marketing strategy should lead to significant revenue growth and anticipates a return to positive cash flow in the second half of the current financial year to 31 March 2009.