7th May 2008 07:01
Spice PLC07 May 2008 7 May 2008 Spice plc Pre-close trading update The Board of Spice plc ("Spice" or "the Group"), the provider of Total UtilitySupport Services, is pleased to announce that the Group's trading for the yearended 30 April 2008 is in line with the Board's expectations. Our utility and energy markets continue to offer very significant growthopportunities, whilst at the same time having defensive qualities. In the secondhalf of the year, the Group has continued to enjoy: - Good levels of organic growth from existing operations; and - Strong conversion of operating profits into cash. Performance within our Electricity Services business has been particularlystrong. We have continued to see strong order flows from EDF Energy and haverecently received our largest ever project order for the refurbishment of majorelectricity substations in London. Following successful mobilisation of our AT&Tcontract, the scope of this contract has been expanded and is now expected to beworth around £15 million per annum. The integration of Billing Services (created via the acquisition of RevenueAssurance Services) into the Group has gone well and to plan. During the lastsix months several new clients have been secured and we estimate that our marketshare (measured by number of client sites) has risen from 40% to approximately89% in Gas and from 8% to approximately 35 % in Electricity. Whilst this doesnot immediately translate into earnings, it does mean that we have madesignificant progress in developing and securing our acquired markets. Crossselling has played a significant part in this progress as we have introducedBilling Services to the "top table" of existing Spice relationships such asTotal and EdF Energy. The recent escalation, and continued volatility, of energy prices creates astrong growth platform for Energy Services and Matalan is an example of a recentmajor contract win. Inenco is now recognised by Datamonitor as the largest thirdparty energy procurement intermediary in the UK. We have maintained momentum within our other divisions and contract winsinclude: - Three Valleys Water - Three year contract (with an option to extend for two years) for water meter installation and replacement services; - Michigan 3 Alliance - Telecoms infrastructure renewal project using multi-site Xfin technology; - Siemens - Framework agreement for 50,000 gas meter replacements; and - Gondola Group - Three year framework agreement for multi-site facilities management and property maintenance services. The UK Listing Authority has conditionally confirmed Spice's eligibility to moveto the Official List and we are continuing preparations for the transition andalso drafting of the related prospectus. We expect to update on this and set outour intended timetable for moving to the Official List at the time of theannouncement of our full year results. The Board believes that Spice is well positioned for growth and that the marketsin which we operate continue to offer significant opportunities for furthergrowth going into the new financial year. Spice continues to look to the futurewith confidence. Spice's results for the year ended 30 April 2008 are expected to be announced onMonday 7 July and the Group will hold a briefing for analysts at 9.30am on thatmorning at the offices of KBC Peel Hunt. Further details of this briefing willbe announced nearer the time. - Ends - Enquiries: Spice plc - Tel: 0113 384 3838Simon Rigby, Chief Executive OfficerOliver Lightowlers, Group Finance DirectorAndy Catchpole, Group Strategy and Development Director Financial Dynamics - Tel: 020 7831 3113Billy CleggCaroline Stewart KBC Peel Hunt - Tel: 020 7418 8900Julian Blunt NOTES TO EDITORS Spice plc Spice is a total utility infrastructure support services business. The Group'soperations were founded in 1996 and have their origins in the electricityindustry, though the range of activities has since been expanded into the watersector, niche telecommunications services, statutory gas inspections, energymanagement and facilities management. Spice's businesses have a common theme ofdelivering and co-ordinating infrastructure services to customers, and thetechnological element within the product mix has been built up significantlyover the course of the last three years. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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