3rd May 2006 07:01
Spirent PLC03 May 2006 SPIRENT PLC AGM STATEMENT TRADING UPDATE London, UK - 3 May 2006: Spirent plc (LSE: SPT; NYSE: SPM), a leadingcommunications technology company, is holding its Annual General Meeting latertoday. Highlights •First quarter revenues ahead of expectations in a very competitive market. •Additional £3 million investment in product development and sales and marketing. •Profit expectations unchanged for the year as a whole. •Share buy back of up to £50 million to commence shortly, subject to approval today. •Name change to Spirent Communications plc, subject to approval today. At the meeting, John Weston, Chairman of Spirent will make the following remarksto shareholders on current trading and other matters: Current Trading "As initially indicated at the time of the Company's 2005 preliminary resultsissued on 23 February 2006, trading during the first quarter of the currentfinancial year was characterised by continuing variable market conditions,albeit the quarter is typically Spirent's quietest. However, I am pleased to report that first quarter revenues were ahead of ourexpectations as at the time of our preliminary results in what remains a verycompetitive market place. Divisional performance was as follows: •Performance Analysis Broadband ("PAB") saw solid revenue growth driven by concerted development and sales and marketing activity. This additional investment will reduce PAB's expected first half trading profit by £3 million, however we do not expect this expenditure to be repeated in the second half. During the quarter there was also some competitive positioning on price with a consequent impact on margins. •Performance Analysis Wireless continued to show strong growth and good profitability. •We are pleased with the initial performance of the two businesses acquired at the start of the year, SwissQual and QuadTex, and integration is proceeding to plan. We anticipate them contributing positively to earnings as the year progresses. •Service Assurance showed growth in revenue over the corresponding period last year, trading close to breakeven. •Systems continued to perform profitably and in line with expectations. As we indicated in February, 2006 is a year of product transition as theincreased capability of our new products and solutions will enable us to gainmarket share. To date we have been encouraged by the performance of these newproducts, such as the Spirent TestCenterTM, and by the response of ourcustomers. Overall, our profit expectations for the year as a whole are unchanged. Wecontinue to anticipate that the Group's performance will show recovery over lastyear, although with a pronounced seasonal bias to the second half as benefitsprogressively accrue from our investment in the business and our recentacquisitions. Spirent will issue its interim results on 10 August 2006. Conclusion Over the last eighteen months, we have transformed Spirent into a focusedcommunications business with a significantly strengthened financial position.The recent acquisitions of SwissQual and QuadTex and the successful disposal ofHellermannTyton were key events in this transformation. The decision to focus on communications reflects our view that the sector offersSpirent the best top and bottom line growth opportunities in the mid and longterm, leveraging our leading market positions in our key product segments. To reflect the transformation of the Group, a proposal is being voted upon todayto rename Spirent plc as Spirent Communications plc. In addition, we are in theprocess of establishing our operational headquarters in Sunnyvale, California,in the centre of Silicon Valley where we have the highest concentration ofcustomers. Our corporate headquarters will remain in the UK. Spirent has a broad portfolio of market-leading products addressing some of thefastest growing segments in the broadband and wireless markets. As a result weremain confident that Spirent is well positioned to take advantage of the manyopportunities in its market place." - ends - Enquiries Anders Gustafsson, Chief Executive Spirent plc +44 (0)1293 767676Eric Hutchinson, Finance Director Reg Hoare/Katie Hunt Smithfield +44 (0) 20 7360 4900 About Spirent Spirent is a leading communications technology company focused on deliveringinnovative systems and services to meet the needs of customers worldwide. We area global provider of performance analysis and service assurance solutions thatenable the development and deployment of next-generation networking technologiessuch as broadband services, Internet telephony, 3G wireless and web applicationsand security testing. The Systems group develops power control systems forspecialist electrical vehicles in the mobility and industrial markets. Furtherinformation about Spirent plc can be found at www.spirent.com Spirent Ordinary shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: SPT)and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: SPM; CUSIP number: 84856M209) in theform of American Depositary Shares (ADS), represented by American DepositaryReceipts, with one ADS representing four Ordinary shares. Spirent and the Spirent logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Spirentplc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned herein are held bytheir respective companies. All rights reserved. This press release may contain forward-looking statements (as that term isdefined in the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995)based on current expectations or beliefs, as well as assumptions about futureevents. You can sometimes, but not always, identify these statements by the useof a date in the future or such words as "will", "anticipate", "estimate","expect", "project", "intend", "plan", "should", "may", "assume" and othersimilar words. By their nature, forward-looking statements are inherentlypredictive and speculative and involve risk and uncertainty because they relateto events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. You shouldnot place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are not aguarantee of future performance and are subject to factors that could cause ouractual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by thesestatements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: the extent to whichcustomers continue to invest in next-generation technology and deploy advancedIP-based services; our ability to successfully expand our customer base;continuing variable market conditions; pace of economic recovery; our ability toimprove efficiency, achieve the benefits of our cost reduction goals and adaptto economic changes and other changes in demand or market conditions; ourability to develop and commercialise new products and services, extend ourexisting capabilities in IP services and expand our product offeringinternationally; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; theeffects of competition on our business; fluctuations in exchange rates and heavyexposure to a weak US dollar; changes in the business, financial condition orprospects of one or more of our major customers; risks of doing businessinternationally; risks relating to the acquisition or sale of businesses and oursubsequent ability to integrate businesses; our reliance on proprietarytechnology; our exposure to liabilities for product defects; our reliance onthird party manufacturers and suppliers; and other risks described from time totime in Spirent plc's Securities and Exchange Commission periodic reports andfilings. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-lookingstatements contained in this press release, whether as a result of newinformation, future events or otherwise. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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