25th Jul 2005 07:01
DAT Group PLC25 July 2005 Embargoed until 0702h25 July 2005 DAT Group plc ("DAT" or the "Group") Trading Update London, 25 July 2005 - This announcement is the clarification of the Group'srecent trading update which was released on 21 July 2005. It provides furtherinformation regarding DAT's financial position, future trading prospects andexpected financial performance for the full year to 31 December 2005. The Board expects that the Group's sales for the financial year ending 31December 2005 will be in a range between £3 million and £4.5 million, comparedto what the Board believes to be current market estimates of approximately £7million. The Board does not expect DAT to be profitable in 2005. The Board isconfident that the Group's financial resources are sufficient for its presentrequirements. Despite a strong portfolio of leading technology, a robust client base and goodcustomer references, the Group has so far failed to convert a materialproportion of its sales pipeline into confirmed and invoiced orders. The Boardbelieves that this limited success is due to the following key factors: •The Group's product range is currently too broad, which has resulted in a lack of sales focus; •The Group has launched services in the market without ensuring that there are sufficient reseller channels in place to sell effectively to end-consumers; and •The Group has put in place inadequate mechanisms for monitoring sales cycles and evaluating sales performance. However, the Directors are confident that Group's growing, blue chip customerbase demonstrates the robustness and resilience of DAT's product offerings whichfocus on device management and data synchronization. The Board has commissioned a major internal review of DAT's product portfolioand sales operations which is already underway. The Board believes that, as aresult of the review, the Group may elect to reduce the range of productscurrently being offered to customers in order to enable DAT's sales andmarketing teams to focus on those products which the Group believes have thegreatest potential. In addition, the Group will also re-examine its existingproduct development processes. Going forward, the services, technologies and products of Synchronica Software,acquired in April 2005, will significantly strengthen the Group's productoffering. Together, DAT and Synchronica offer a complete solution for devicemanagement and data synchronization with a valuable IP portfolio in placeresulting from many man-years of development. The technologies allow DAT toprovide both device management solutions and synchronization products inresponse to the growing demand for personal information management (PIM) ande-mail synchronization and advanced mobile device management as the market shareof smartphones and SyncML-enabled phones continues to rise. The Group expects to announce its interim results for the period ending 30 June2005 towards the end of September, when it will provide a further update as tothe progress of the operational review and the selection of a new chiefexecutive officer. Enquiries: Nicole Meissner, CMO Simon Hudson / Christian Taylor-WilkinsonDAT Group PLC Tavistock CommunicationsOffice: +49 30 616 75 650 Tel: +44 20 7920 3150Mobile: +49 173 606 91 60 About DAT Group plc DAT Group plc focuses on management solutions for mobile operators, devicemanufacturers, retailers and corporations. The company offers a varied productportfolio ranging from data synchronization (DS) to device management (DM),firmware updates over-the-air (FOTA) and mobile device management (EnterpriseAssistant). DAT has unique expertise in smart devices across all platforms basedon its market-leading over-the-air (OTA) delivery platform. Based in the UK, thecompany also has offices in Germany and the U.S. DAT is a public company listedon the London Stock Exchange. More information about DAT is available atwww.datgroup.com About Synchronica Synchronica focuses on SyncML synchronization and device management solutionsfor mobile operators, device manufacturers, and corporations. The company offersa complete SyncML product portfolio ranging from data synchronization (DS) todevice management (DM) and firmware update over-the-air (FOTA). Synchronica hasa strong track record in the SyncML space, including the launch of the world'sfirst SyncML DM FOTA server with a leading European device manufacturer. TheSynchronica SyncML Gateway provides over-the-air synchronization ofSyncML-enabled mobile phones with corporate Microsoft Exchange servers. Moreinformation is available at www.synchronica.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Syncona