Preliminary Results

25 May 2011

AVEVA GROUP PLC

PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2011

AVEVA Group plc ('AVEVA'; stock code : AVV), one of the world's leading providers of engineering data and design IT systems, today announces its audited results for the year ended 31 March 2011.

* Adjusted profit before tax and adjusted basic earnings per share are calculated before amortisation of intangible assets (excluding other software), share-based payments, gain/loss on fair value of forward foreign exchange contracts and exceptional items. In addition, adjusted basic earnings per share also include the tax effects of these adjustments.

Commenting on the outlook, Chairman Nick Prest said:

"2010/11 has seen good growth for AVEVA with a particularly strong performance in the emerging markets, mainly driven by Oil and Gas and Power. We have seen an improvement in business conditions in the last quarter of the year and we remain cautiously optimistic that this will continue into 2011/12. We increasingly expect to see Enterprise Solutions, of which AVEVA NET is part, emerging as a significant business stream alongside our established Engineering and Design Systems business.

With our leading technology, global presence, long-term customer relationships, key skills and domain knowledge, AVEVA is well placed to continue to exploit the structural growth opportunities in emerging economies as well as capitalise on the improving economic conditions in mature markets."

Enquiries:

An analysts' briefing will be held at Haberdasher's Hall, 18 West Smithfield Street, London EC1A 9HQ at 9.30 am on 25 May 2011. For further information please contact Anna Domin on 020 7796 4133 or on [email protected]

Chairman's statement

I am pleased to report strong growth for AVEVA in the year ended 31 March 2011, resulting in a record level of revenue for the Group, and good progress against all of our strategic objectives.

Key financials

Revenue grew organically by 14% to £168.4 million and acquisitions contributed £5.6 million, resulting in total revenue increasing 17% to £174 million. The Oil and Gas sector was the main driver behind our growth, now accounting for approximately 45% of total revenue. Our business model continued to remain robust with recurring revenue representing 67% of total revenue (2010 - 69%).

Adjusted* profit before tax increased by 8% to £54.7 million (2010 - £50.7 million). The profit margin on this basis was 31% (2010 - 34%) after the dilutive effect of the acquisitions and the previously announced additional investment in AVEVA NET. Adjusted* basic earnings per share amounted to 56.08 pence, an increase of 10% (2010 - 50.92 pence). Profit before tax amounted to £49.8 million (2010 - £49.6 million) and basic earnings per share was 50.85 pence (2010 - 49.36 pence).

The main regional contributor to the overall growth was Asia Pacific, where revenue increased by 31% to £66.3 million (2010 - £50.5 million). There was no effect on the business from the recent tragic events in Japan, but we continue to monitor carefully any impact on both the local and global Nuclear industry. Regardless of any short-term effect on the industry, we believe that the fundamental drivers behind the global demand for increased power capacity have not changed and Power remains an attractive medium to long-term global opportunity for AVEVA.

Latin America performed well, driven by Brazil, offsetting a flat performance in North America. Overall revenue in the Americas grew by 14% to £30.8 million (2010 - £26.9 million). Latin America now accounts for approximately 50% of the total Americas business.

In EMEA the performance was mixed with total revenue growing by 8% to £76.9 million (2010 - £70.9 million). We saw good growth in Russia, Eastern Europe and the UK, mainly in the Oil and Gas sector offsetting the performance in Central Europe for the Power and Chemical industries which experienced challenging conditions for most of the year.

Operations and technology

We continue to make progress with AVEVA NET and have invested in our solution delivery capability as planned. Enterprise Solutions, of which AVEVA NET is part, is dedicated to managing digital engineering information through the life of the asset for our clients and is an area of major potential for AVEVA. We have introduced a revised management organisation to intensify our focus on this area. We plan to make further investments in 2011/12 in business development and marketing in order to promote Enterprise Solutions into key end user markets. We believe that our Enterprise Solutions offering has a competitive advantage in our end user markets and are optimistic about the opportunity that it brings to AVEVA.

Maintaining our technology leadership position is a key strategic objective and during 2010/11 we continued to innovate, develop and expand our software products. Our Research and Development spend was £28.1 million in 2010/11, an increase of 34% on the prior year. The investment was focused on developing and enhancing our core 3D software tools as well as developing the functionality of the Enterprise Solutions suite.

Cash and dividend

AVEVA's balance sheet remains strong with net cash of £153.2 million at 31 March 2011 (2010 - £149.7 million). The business remains highly cash generative with cash generated from operations before tax in the year of £44.7 million (2010 - £47.7 million). Cash generated from operations after tax was £30.8 million (2010 - £25.6 million). Acquisitions consumed £14.9 million and the increased dividend payments, £11.7 million.

The Board is recommending a final dividend of 14.89 pence (2010 - 13.9 pence), which is an increase of 7% on 2009/10, reflecting the improved performance. Combined with the interim dividend of 3.36 pence (2010 - 3.0 pence) this gives a full year dividend of 18.25 pence, an increase of 8% (2010 - 16.9 pence). Subject to approval at the Annual General Meeting, the final dividend will be paid on 29 July 2011 to shareholders on the register on 24 June 2011.

Acquisitions

In the first half we completed the acquisitions of the MARS business of Logimatic and the oil and gas related assets of ADB, both in Scandinavia. These further strengthened our product portfolio and solution delivery capabilities in Enterprise Solutions. The integration of both the people and technology has gone to plan and we have recently seen increasing levels of interest from the Marine and Plant markets.

We continue to search actively for further 'bolt-on' opportunities to broaden our product portfolio and service capability.

People

Our people remain the principal foundation of our success and this continues to be one of our market differentiators. Our staff are highly skilled and dedicated to keeping the AVEVA brand synonymous with innovation, quality and delivery. The strong performance in 2010/11 could not have been achieved without their hard work, professionalism and teamwork. On behalf of the Board I would like to thank all our staff for their contribution and commitment.

During the year, Paul Taylor stepped down from the Board and resigned from AVEVA in order to pursue a different career and personal path. Paul spent over twenty years at AVEVA, the last ten as Finance Director, and made an immense contribution to the business and we are very grateful to him. Internal succession planning has enabled us to appoint James Kidd, formerly Head of Finance, as Chief Financial Officer, following a review of external candidates. James has over ten years of operational and financial knowledge of the Group, which has eased his transition to the role.

Outlook

2010/11 has seen good growth for AVEVA with a particularly strong performance in the emerging markets mainly driven by Oil and Gas and Power. We have seen an improvement in business conditions in the last quarter of the year and we remain cautiously optimistic that this will continue into 2011/12. We increasingly expect to see Enterprise Solutions emerging as a significant business stream alongside our established Engineering and Design Systems business. With our leading technology, global presence, long-term customer relationships, key skills and domain knowledge, AVEVA is well placed to continue to exploit the structural growth opportunities in emerging economies as well as capitalise on the improving economic conditions in mature markets.

Nick Prest

Chairman

25 May 2011

Chief Executive's review

Overview

·; Strong growth across many of our markets

·; Sustained investment in technology

·; Delivered significant growth from BRIC economies

·; Deepening customer relationships

·; Step change in AVEVA NET investment

·; Acquisitions completed and now integrated

AVEVA performed well over the year delivering strong revenue and profit growth. This reflected improving market conditions, our global leadership in engineering design, construction and lifecycle support technology and the continuing execution of our proven development strategy.

Having prepared to meet the challenges of the global downturn in 2009/2010, we have been in a strong position throughout the year to deliver growth in the majority of our end user markets around the world. We continued to invest in both our technology base and delivery capability for Enterprise Solutions (which includes AVEVA NET) and in our direct sales office network, most significantly in the growth territories of China and Latin America, where we continue to increase our presence in Brazil. As a result overall revenue was up 17% to £174 million (2010 - £148.3 million).

We completed two acquisitions in the first half, both in Scandinavia. The acquisition of the Oil and Gas related business from ADB is a natural extension of the AVEVA Enterprise Solutions offering and adds the 'Workmate' product which provides plant owner operators with maintenance management and other functionality which, when combined with AVEVA NET, creates a superb Operational Integrity Solution. The acquisition of the MARS business of Logimatic further strengthens our ability to automate material control and resource planning for shipbuilders with its MARS application. MARS is widely used by European shipyards but as part of the AVEVA portfolio will be marketed globally and will also be combined with AVEVA NET to provide a more comprehensive solution to shipbuilders and our plant customers.

We have implemented a significant reorganisation across the Group to place greater emphasis and focus on AVEVA NET and associated products. From 1 April 2011, AVEVA NET, ADB's Workmate and Logimatic's MARS have come together to form Enterprise Solutions. Our design specific solutions are now part of the Engineering Design Systems organisation (EDS).

Strong growth across many of our markets

AVEVA's main end user markets are Oil and Gas, which represents approximately 45% of revenue, with Power at 15%, Marine at 25% and Other at 15%.

During 2010/11 we have seen a strong recovery in Oil and Gas related activity. AVEVA provides the system of choice for the design of complex Oil and Gas projects to many of the world's leading Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) companies. As a result AVEVA is very well positioned to exploit the necessity for ever more complex oil recovery, including deep water exploration and production. Population and GDP growth are the drivers for energy demand and as the highly populated Asian countries grow, their demand for energy will increase substantially. China spent $40 billion on energy assets in 2010 with demand set to surge by 75% by 2035.

The Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico had a very minimal impact on business overall but it did cause some Gulf projects to slow down or be delayed. We anticipate that in the longer term there will be an increased demand for a greater level of engineering design to ensure improved safety and systems redundancy similar to that which has been a part of North Sea design for many years.

As expected, recovery in the Marine business has been slow. We have noted a rise in the number of Oil and Gas related projects in many of our Marine customers. Most of the larger Asian shipbuilders still have significant order backlog and have been supplementing this with new Navy and Oil and Gas orders. The complexity of naval and offshore projects drives a higher engineering content and greater use of our design products.

In the Power sector we have seen a mixed performance across the geographies but with new opportunities opening up in the renewable energy sector. The bulk of AVEVA's revenue in Power is from the fossil fuel power station builders around the globe. During the year we also installed our design tools at Iberese for use on a solar thermal energy plant in Spain. Nuclear makes up approximately 5% of total revenue and we see this increasing in the longer term as it remains the one sustainable source that can meet global energy demand for the foreseeable future. However, recent events in Japan have caused disruption to the markets and will lead to a diversification in energy generation in the short term to meet demand. AVEVA expects to benefit from all conventional forms of electricity generation based on our broad spread across the industry globally.

Sustained investment in technology

AVEVA creates and supplies one of the most powerful technologies available for the design, construction and lifecycle support of assets in our target market verticals. Our long-standing mantra of 'Continual Progression' has been a thread in many of the innovations that have come to market during the last year. Research and Development spend in 2010/2011 has increased by 34%. As a result we have developed many new product enhancements which are easy to upgrade for existing customers but also offer the latest technology that will attract new customers.

There have been major new releases of the Plant and Marine products with a number of new features and greatly improved ease of use. Marine customers in particular are now taking advantage of the enhanced functionality and performance which the AVEVA proprietary database technology brings. Customers upgrading to AVEVA Marine have found the transition straightforward and the new functionality, such as global work sharing, a major advantage.

There have been new products released to enable customers to make the best use of new technologies such as laser scanning including new features which enable customers to work with the wide variety of scanning systems already on the market. As the price point for laser data capture hardware continues to fall we expect software sales in this area to increase.

Two years ago AVEVA purchased a small software business in Australia which added the ability to design instrumentation systems and store these in the 3D database. This technology has now been considerably enhanced and market feedback suggests this is now a class leading product with increased revenue demonstrating its strong potential.

This year we will again show that 'Continual Progression' can be coupled with the ability to introduce market leading technology. Through our customer workshops and user meetings we have trialled new innovations and concepts such as AVEVA NET on tablet computers and novel 3D holograms to enable us to assess how customers want their data delivered on new technology platforms.

Delivering significant growth from BRIC economies

We have developed a very successful network of sales and customer service offices globally with over 37 offices in 24 countries. As well as providing sales and support we have increasingly globalised our Research and Development resources to maximise the access to talented staff and provide solutions specifically suited to regional demands. In addition we operate Centres of Excellence for specific industry segments to work closely with customers in providing customised products and services.

We have developed a strong presence in most of the BRIC countries. In China we have three offices and are looking to expand these further in the coming year. China offers a tremendous opportunity in all of our major end user markets and we already have a very strong presence in Marine and Power. With the relationships we have built with CNOOC and CNPC we are expanding our footprint in the Chinese Oil and Gas market. This is particularly important as Chinese companies are starting to expand their engineering operations overseas.

Russia has been a steadily growing business for AVEVA with a strong emphasis on Oil and Gas. We have an excellent team in Russia with strong and determined leadership. Our excellent customer relationships with leading companies and universities will help us expand our Oil and Gas business further and extend our presence in the Power and Marine markets.

An important success has been our rapid development in Latin America, particularly Brazil where we have built a strong and highly effective organisation. With close links to Petrobras and the engineering community working on the pre-salt discovery we are securing a significant share of the new projects for AVEVA design tools. We are using our growing organisation in Brazil as our hub for further expansion in Latin America and have now opened an office in Bogota, Colombia which will focus primarily on the Oil and Gas sector. We have plans for additional expansion this year in Brazil, Colombia and a new office in Peru.

We have an extensive customer base across India as many engineering companies locate their high value engineering centres in the country. We also have a very large developer contingent working within our outsource partners. India has significant engineering resources and the end user market is strong in Oil and Gas, Power and Marine. Our investment plan will see us strengthen our presence in India during 2011/12 as we invest in sales and customer service resource.

Deepening customer relationships

AVEVA has very strong and enduring relationships with its customers which have been built on the foundation of providing best in class products. By delivering these products with first-class product support local to the customer, we have developed strong technical links and long-term commercial relationships with many of the world leaders in all of our end markets. Through our ongoing support programmes, worldwide user meetings and senior level customer meetings, we maintain a dialogue with the leading owner operators and EPC firms globally. Recurring revenue grew by 14% in the year to £117.2 million, now representing 67% of total revenue and we have seen this strengthen continuously even during the difficult years. During 2010/11 we were pleased to bring on board over 100 new customers and continue to expand our relationships with existing customers.

AVEVA has benefited from strong customer relationships in co-developing technology with customers such as AREVA, EDF, Hyundai, DSME, Shell, BP, Mitsubishi and many more.

Step change in AVEVA NET investment

The newly formed Enterprise Solutions team, comprising AVEVA NET, ADB's Workmate and Logimatic's MARS, will be responsible for all aspects of product development, marketing, strategy as well as delivery and implementation of our information management products. AVEVA NET is a key growth driver for the Group that takes our offering beyond the design and construction phase of an asset's lifecycle into operations and beyond. AVEVA NET is an enterprise-level software application with unique and powerful information management capabilities that addresses this growing need in our key end user markets.

The full effect of a focused team working on Enterprise Solutions is expected to bring about accelerated growth in the coming year. Last year we increased our pipeline across the board and are working on many important prospects and projects, including all five independent Oil and Gas super majors, and many National Oil Companies and independent operators, as well as the top tier chemical and mining companies. As well as adding asset projects with existing customers, we also sold AVEVA NET to several new customers last year, which we expect to significantly grow in future. Part of the success of the AVEVA NET solution is the very open and flexible structure of the product and the fact that it can be quickly implemented with customers' existing applications. Many of the sales we have made are to customers wishing to integrate data which does not involve any of AVEVA's design tools. We have also enjoyed considerable success in brownfield projects where data is old and requires a degree of cleansing as part of our implementation service. We estimate there are over 4,000 major plants globally which could benefit from having AVEVA NET's solutions. After the period end we have signed a strategic alliance agreement with Logica to assist us with services delivery on AVEVA NET engagements globally.

Typical Enterprise Solutions engagements have a larger initial service content and therefore attract a lower margin which will slightly dampen overall profit margin growth through the implementation phase as we grow these complex, high-value and long-term engagements at a faster rate than our design products. In the medium term there will be a positive impact on our recurring revenue stream as Enterprise Solutions projects have a much greater longevity than the traditional three to five year cycle for design products.

During the year ahead we expect to be making further investment in Enterprise Solutions, primarily around business development, service delivery and project management.

Organisation and people

During the year we hired over 90 people across the Group with the largest number of new hires in Asia. This was in addition to the 89 staff that joined as part of the acquisition of ADB (23) and Logimatic (66). Across the group our Human Resources team has worked hard to make AVEVA an attractive employer in a very competitive employment marketplace. We also enjoy a very low staff turnover of 8.9%, much lower than the average for our industry.

In the last quarter we have effected a significant reorganisation across the Group to place greater emphasis and focus on AVEVA NET and associated products. From 1 April 2011, AVEVA NET, ADB's Workmate and Logimatic's MARS will all come together to form Enterprise Solutions. This new group will be led by Derek Middlemas, our COO. Our design-specific solutions are now part of the Engineering Design Systems Group (EDS). This group still makes up the largest proportion of revenue and contains our highest margin product lines. The EDS group will be led by David Wheeldon, our CTO.

The Chairman has already commented on the dedication of our staff and I would like to echo that and I would also like to pay a special tribute to all the AVEVA staff in Japan who have been very supportive of our customers in their time of need following the earthquake on 11 March 2011. Our office in Yokohama was undamaged and our staff there not only maintained a full support service to the customers but also delivered a very good full year result even closing business during the last few weeks of the year. AVEVA has worked closely with its Japanese customers over many years and we hold them in high regard. We have made a donation to the earthquake relief effort and are confident that the Japanese market will respond very positively with its rebuilding efforts.

Outlook

The strengths of AVEVA are its long-established position as a trusted supplier to many of the world's leading companies in the Oil and Gas, Power and Marine industries, its exposure to high growth markets, good visibility of future revenue and healthy financial position. Our prudent management approach has positioned us well to take advantage of improving market dynamics by leveraging the continued investment we have been making in technology, coupled with ongoing expansion of our sales channel and delivery capability. We are entering 2011/12 with confidence that the momentum which has been building in the latter part of 2010/11 will continue and that our organisational improvements will help deliver strong organic revenue growth in the coming year.

Our plans to expand further this year into Latin America, China and India are on track along with the roll-out of further enhancements to our current product portfolio and new products later in the year. AVEVA's financial strength and strong management team give us the capability and structure to seek further acquisitions, both bolt-on and strategic, to extend and strengthen our product lines and market presence as well as investing in our existing business to enhance our organic growth.

Richard Longdon

Chief Executive Officer

25 May 2011

Chief Financial Officer's review

Business model

At the core of AVEVA's business is the intellectual property generated in its software products. The Group sells its proprietary software products by licensing rights to use the software directly to customers through our network of global sales offices rather than through resellers or distributors. This strategy provides customers with local sales and support and helps AVEVA to work closely with the leading companies principally in the Oil and Gas, Power and Marine markets.

We operate a 'right to use' licensing model for both Enterprise Solutions software and Engineering and Design products. Customers license our software for a specified number of users by paying an initial licence fee followed by an obligatory annual fee or by paying a rental fee over a fixed period of time. In both cases, the customer has to continue to pay a fee in order to use the software. This model continues to provide a strong recurring revenue base for AVEVA which allows us to invest in the future roadmap of our products. Our Enterprise Solutions software involves a higher degree of services compared to our Engineering and Design tools. These services consist of implementation and customisation of these solutions and are provided either on a time and materials basis or under fixed price contracts.

Key performance indicators

The Group's key financial and non-financial performance indicators are total revenue, recurring revenue, adjusted* profit before tax, headcount and adjusted* earnings per share. The financial results for the year ended 31 March 2011 are summarised below. These are discussed as part of the review below:

*Adjusted profit before tax and adjusted earnings per share are calculated before amortisation of intangible assets (excluding other software), share-based payments, gain/loss on fair value of forward foreign exchange contracts and exceptional items in the relevant year. In addition, adjusted earnings per share also include the tax effects of these adjustments.

Revenue

In 2010/11, AVEVA saw strong growth with total revenue of £174.0 million, a record level for the Group. Total revenue consisted of £168.4 million (2010 - £148.3 million) of organic revenue and revenue from the two acquisitions made during the year of £5.6 million. Organic revenue increased by £20.1 million or 14%.

The main driver behind this strong performance was Asia Pacific with organic revenue growing 30% year on year to £65.8 million, driven by the Oil and Gas and Power sectors. There were also signs of improvement in Marine from Offshore Oil and Gas projects, particularly an important deal signed with Hyundai Heavy Industries in Korea to expand the usage of our 3D products. There has to date been no impact on the business from the events in Japan but we remain watchful as to how this may affect our customers' investment plans. In Asia Pacific, we did see a trend away from initial licence fees to rental fees during the year mainly in Japan, Korea and South East Asian countries as customers opted for the more flexible model.

In EMEA, Central Europe was impacted by the slower economic recovery across the region in the year which resulted in lower overall growth rates. Despite this, organic revenue increased by 4% to £73.7 million (2010 - £70.9 million) and the region had a much stronger second half to the year.

In the Americas, North American sales were affected by the economic conditions and the competitive environment. Latin America has continued to grow strongly, contributing approximately 50% of the Americas revenue, mainly driven by opportunities in the Oil and Gas market in Brazil. In total, organic revenue in the Americas grew by 7% to £28.9 million.

Revenue from the acquisitions of Logimatic Software A/S (Logimatic) and ADB Oil and Gas business (ADB) in the year amounted to £5.6 million and was split £3.2 million for EMEA, £1.9 million for Americas and £0.5 million for Asia Pacific. Revenue mainly consisted of services from ongoing projects and annual fees earned since the acquisition date.

The revenue of the Group is predominantly in foreign currency, with approximately 40% in US Dollar and 25% in Euro. Revenue was impacted by exchange rate movements in these and other foreign currencies during the year with organic revenue on a constant currency basis increasing approximately 11% to £164.2 million (reported £168.4 million) compared to £148.3 million in 2009/10.

Revenue from our end user markets was in line with previous years with Oil and Gas approximately accounting for 45%, Marine 25%, Power 15% and Other consisting of Mining, Petrochemical, Chemical, Pharmaceutical, and Paper and Pulp, 15%.

Recurring revenue grew by 14% to £117.2 million (2010 - £102.7 million), reflecting the continued renewal of annual fees and rental fees from our established customer base. In particular, we saw strong demand for rental licences providing evidence that some new customers prefer the greater flexibility of a rental arrangement. Rental revenue increased 17% to £71.3 million in 2010/11 (2010 - £61.2 million), most notably in Asia Pacific which grew 64%.

Services revenue grew 51% during 2010/11 to £15.8 million (2010 - £10.5 million), but continues to be a relatively small part of the business, representing only 9% of total revenue (2010 - 7%). This strong growth in services was driven by Enterprise Solutions with the new acquisitions in the year and AVEVA NET as more projects were executed.

Enterprise Solutions

During the year, we have seen some encouraging customer wins for Enterprise Solutions, which includes AVEVA NET, and the pipeline continues to grow. As a result of the investment of £5.0 million that was planned and delivered in the Enterprise Solutions business during the year we are now better placed to exploit opportunities in the growing lifecycle management market which AVEVA NET serves. We will need to continue to invest in business development skills, project management and solution delivery in 2011/12 as the Enterprise Solutions business continues to grow.

We further increased our Enterprise Solutions offerings through the acquisitions of Logimatic, a Danish company which provides material control and production planning software to the Marine industry, and the trade and assets of ADB Systemer AS, a Norwegian business which specialises in information integrity solutions to owner-operators in the Oil and Gas industry. We suffered slightly higher losses than we initially anticipated (£0.9 million for the year), but by the year end both business were successfully integrated and a strong pipeline of projects and opportunities exists.

Whilst AVEVA NET revenue remains under 10% of AVEVA's total revenue, we enter the new financial year with an impressive customer list and opportunity pipeline and feel there remains strong opportunity for growth.

Cost of sales and operating expenses

Cost of sales consists of direct cost of selling (third-party royalties, consultancy costs and agent's commission) as well as Research and Development costs and associated Information Technology costs. Total cost of sales for the year was £39.2 million (2010 - £30.4 million). Research and Development costs were £28.1 million (2010 - £20.9 million), an increase of 34% which includes £2.9 million relating to the acquisitions and £25.2 million to organic investment. Research and Development costs represented 16% of total revenue (2010 - 14%) reflecting our continued investment in developing our portfolio of products. The focus in Research and Development has been to target our investment in key product areas such as AVEVA NET and to continue to develop our traditional 3D products.

Operating expenses were £85.7 million (2010 - £68.7 million) for the year, an increase of 25% on the prior year. On an adjusted* basis, operating expenses increased by 18.2%. Of the total operating expenses selling and distribution costs were £71.7 million (2010 - £60.0 million) and administrative expenses were £14.0 million (2010 - £8.7 million).

During 2010/11, we continued to invest in both our delivery capability for Enterprise Solutions (which includes AVEVA NET) and in our direct sales office network, most significantly in the growth territories of China, India and Latin America, where we continue to increase our presence in Brazil and have now incorporated a subsidiary in Columbia. As a result, on an adjusted* basis, selling and distribution costs increased by £11.7 million or 20%.

Administrative expenses include in 2009/10 and 2010/11 a number of one-off items including in 2009/10 a gain on the fair value of forward foreign exchange contracts of £3.6 million. On an adjusted* basis, excluding these amounts, administrative expenses increased by 6.4%.

The adjusted* operating margin in 2010/11 was 31% (2010 - 34%) or 28% (2010 - 33%) on a statutory basis. The slight reduction in operating margin was driven by the planned investment in the AVEVA NET opportunity and the dilutive impact of the initial losses incurred by the two businesses acquired during the year.

Headcount

Total headcount at 31 March 2011 amounted to 972 (2010 - 843), a net increase of 129 staff (including 89 employees from the acquisitions of Logimatic and ADB). The average headcount during the year was 902 (2010 - 815) of which 248 were in Research, Development and product support (2010 - 228), 475 in sales, marketing and customer support (2010 - 417) and 179 in administration (2010 - 170).

The increase in the average headcount in sales, marketing and customer support was due to the continued investment in our direct sales offices, particularly in South America and China.

Total staff costs for the year were £72.5 million compared with £58.8 million in 2010, an increase of 23% due to the increased headcount.

Finance revenue and finance costs

Finance revenue represents bank interest receivable on cash and cash equivalents of £1.2 million (2010 - £1.1 million) and the expected return on the UK defined benefit pension plan of £2.4 million (2010 - £1.7 million). Finance costs principally relate to the interest charge on the pension scheme liabilities of £2.9 million (2010 - £2.5 million).

Adjusted* profit before tax

On the face of the Income statement, we present adjusted profit before tax which is a performance measure that is not defined by GAAP but which the Directors believe provides a reliable and consistent measure of the Group's underlying performance.

Adjusted profit before tax is stated before amortisation of intangibles (excluding other software), share-based payments, gains or losses on the fair value of forward foreign exchange contracts and exceptional items.

The exclusion of these items resulted in adjusted profit before tax for the year of £54.7 million (2010 - £50.7 million). Reported profit before tax for the year was £49.8 million compared to £49.6 million in 2009/10.

Similarly, in presenting an adjusted measure of earnings per share we exclude the same items together with their related tax effects.

Taxation

The Group's effective tax rate for the year was 30.7% compared to 32.5% in 2009/10. The main reasons for the effective rate being higher than the UK standard rate of tax applicable during the 2010/11 year were irrecoverable withholding tax suffered in Asia and expenses not deductible for tax purposes.

The Group has tax losses of £2.2 million (2010 - £5.1 million) which relate to overseas subsidiaries for which no deferred tax asset has been recognised. The losses can be carried forward indefinitely.

The UK Government has substantively enacted a 2% reduction in the main rate of corporation tax from 28% to 26% effective from 1 April 2011 and has further proposed reducing the UK rate by a further 1% per annum to 23% by 1 April 2014. These changes had no material impact on the tax charge of 2010/11 but the Group expects to benefit from these reductions in future periods as future UK profits are earned and subject to the lower rates of corporation tax.

Earnings per share and dividends

Basic earnings per share were 50.85 pence (2010 - 49.36 pence) and diluted earnings per share were 50.56 pence (2010 - 49.08 pence).

Adjusted* basic earnings per share increased 10% to 56.08 pence (2010 - 50.92 pence). Diluted adjusted* earnings per share on the same basis increased 10% to 55.76 pence (2010 - 50.62 pence). The Directors believe that adjusted* earnings per share provides a more representative presentation of the underlying performance of the business.

The Board of Directors recommends payment of a final dividend of 14.89 pence (2010 - 13.9 pence) which, together with the interim dividend of 3.36 pence (2010 - 3.0 pence), gives a total dividend for 2010/11 of 18.25 pence (2010 - 16.9 pence), an 8% increase over 2009/10. Subject to approval at the Annual General Meeting, the final dividend will be paid on 29 July 2011 to shareholders on the register on 24 June 2011.

Balance sheet and cash flows

AVEVA's balance sheet continued to strengthen during the year and at 31 March 2011 net assets were £202.4 million compared to net assets of £169.2 million at 31 March 2010.

Cash generated from operating activities before tax in the period amounted to £44.7 million (2010 - £47.7 million). Cash conversion, measured by cash generated from operating activities before tax as a percentage of profit from operations, was 91% compared to 97% in 2009/10 which continues to reflect the robust quality of earnings. However, following a strong trading performance in the final quarter of the financial year, trade receivables were £68.4 million compared with £40.9 million at 31 March 2010 and consequently this did reduce the rate of cash conversion. As these receivables are collected from customers, we expect to be able to report significant cash conversion in the first half of 2011/12.

In total, cash and cash equivalents and treasury deposits increased by £3.5 million to £153.2 million. Whilst this increase is lower than the increase reported in 2010 of £23.5 million, the 2011 increase is reported after the impact of the acquisitions of Logimatic and ADB (£14.9 million), the effect of increased equity dividends (£5.3 million) and a one-off contribution to the UK defined benefit scheme of £2.5 million.

AVEVA continues to be cash generative and the Group has continued to focus closely on cash management during the year particularly on the collection of customer receivables and repatriation of cash to the UK from overseas subsidiaries. Total cash and deposits held in the UK at 31 March 2011 represented 86% of the total cash and deposits balance (2010 - 85%). The Group has no debt.

The acquisitions of Logimatic and ADB created additional intangible assets of £17.2 million, comprising goodwill of £7.6 million, developed technology of £7.0 million and customer relationships of £2.6 million.

Current assets increased to £227.4 million from £195.6 million principally due to the increase in trade receivables. Current liabilities totalled £69.5 million at 31 March 2011 (2010 - £48.9 million) which included deferred revenue of £36.4 million (2010 - £26.9 million), and trade payables and accruals of £33.1 million (2010 - £22.0 million).

Non-current liabilities include retirement benefit obligations of £3.0 million (2010 - £13.1 million). This mainly relates to the UK defined benefit pension scheme which had a deficit under IAS 19 of £1.4 million at 31 March 2011 (2010 - £11.7 million). The reduction in the total obligation was caused primarily by actuarial gains of £8.2 million coupled with contributions by AVEVA of £3.8 million, including a special one-off contribution agreed with the trustees of the UK defined benefit scheme of £2.5 million.

Capital structure

The issued share capital at 31 March 2011 was 67.97 million (2010 - 67.93 million) ordinary shares of 3.33 pence each. During the year the AVEVA Group Employee Benefit Trust 2008 purchased 36,423 ordinary shares in the Company in the open market at an average price of £11.82 per share for total consideration of £430,000 in order to satisfy awards made under the AVEVA Group Management Bonus Deferred Share Scheme 2008. At 31 March 2011, the Trust owned 127,947 ordinary shares in the Company.

Treasury policy

The Group treasury policy aims to ensure that the capital held is not put at risk and the treasury function is managed under policies and procedures approved by the Board. These policies are designed to reduce the financial risk arising from the Group's normal trading activities, which primarily relate to credit, interest, liquidity and currency risk. The Group is, and expects to continue to be, cash positive and currently holds net deposits. The treasury policy includes strict counterparty limits.

The Group has a net funding requirement in Sterling due to the majority of Research and Development costs being incurred in the UK and funds are held centrally in the UK in order to fund these costs. The overseas entities incur costs in their local functional currency, which acts as a partial net hedge. Any cash flows which cannot be offset against each other result in a net currency exposure and where possible these exposures are hedged. These hedges aim to mitigate the risk of exchange rate movements causing earnings volatility.

James Kidd

Chief Financial Officer

25 May 2011

Review of principal risks and uncertainties

AVEVA has continued to be successful during the year, but as with any organisation there are a number of potential risks and uncertainties which could have a material impact on the Group's long term performance. The principal risks and uncertainties faced by the Group are as follows:

Intellectual property

The Group's success has been built upon the development of its substantial intellectual property rights and the future growth of the business requires the continual progression of these tools. The Group makes substantial investments in Research and Development in enhancing existing products and introducing new products and must effectively appraise its investment decisions and ensure that we continue to provide class-leading solutions that meet the needs of our markets.

There are many risks in software development. Our software products are complex and may contain undetected errors, failures, performance problems or defects. Furthermore if new products or enhancements are introduced which do not meet customer requirements or competitors introduce a rival product which better meets the requirements of the market, this may have a material impact on the long term revenue and profit. The business continually reviews the alignment of the activities of our Research & Development teams to ensure that they remain focused on areas that will meet the demands of our customers and deliver appropriate financial returns. This process is managed by developing a product roadmap that identifies the schedule for new products and the enhancements that will be made to successive versions of existing products.

The protection of the Group's proprietary software products remains critical and this is achieved by licensing rights to use the application, rather than selling or licensing the computer source code. Infringement of the Group's intellectual property rights by third parties or its failure to defend infringement claims from third parties could cause damage to the business. The Group uses third party technology to encrypt, protect and restrict access to its products. Access limitations and rights are also defined within the terms of the software licence agreement and the Group seeks to ensure that its intellectual property rights are appropriately protected by law wherever possible.

International operations

The Group operates in Continental Europe, the Middle East, the United States, South America and Asia Pacific and must determine how best to utilise its resources across these diverse markets. Where necessary the business must adapt its market approach to best capitalise on local market opportunities, particularly in the strategically key developing economies.

In addition, the Group is required to comply with the local laws, regulations and tax legislation in each of these jurisdictions. Significant changes in these laws and regulations or failure to comply with them could lead to additional liabilities and penalties. The Group manages its overseas operations by employing locally qualified personnel who are able to provide expertise in the appropriate language and an understanding of local culture, custom and practice. Dependence on local management can increase the risks of Group policy not being correctly applied, especially where diverse languages and cultures exist. The Group endeavours to mitigate these risks through oversight by regional management in each of the three major zones of the Group, Asia Pacific, EMEA and the Americas, as well as through the use of local professional advisers.

Enterprise Solutions

The continued investment in and development of the Group's Enterprise Solutions offerings is seen as important to continuing the Group's growth. This is a relatively new market with different characteristics compared to our traditional Engineering and Design business. This brings different challenges and opportunities for the Group which although we believe we are well positioned to manage and exploit there remains a risk that our investment in this area does not produce the financial returns expected.

Competition

AVEVA operates in highly competitive markets that serve the Oil & Gas, Power and Marine markets. If we do not respond effectively we may lose market share and the business could suffer. We believe that there are a relatively small number of significant competitors serving our markets. However, some of these competitors could, in the future, pose a greater competitive threat, particularly if they consolidate or form strategic or commercial relationships among themselves or with larger, well capitalised companies. 

Dependency on key markets

AVEVA generates a substantial amount of its income from customers whose main business is derived from capital projects driven predominantly by growth in the Oil and Gas, Power and Marine markets. World economic conditions may adversely affect our financial performance. Funding constraints may cause the delay of major new projects and customers who operate in the Oil and Gas, Marine and Power industries may reduce capital expenditure budgets further. Future success is dependent on growth and continued demand from within these markets. These industries are cyclical and subject to fluctuations in the price of oil and general economic conditions. Such downturns, pricing pressures and restructurings may cause delays and reductions in expenditure by many of these companies and reduced demand for our products and services. A recurrence of these industry patterns, as well as general domestic and foreign economic conditions and other factors that reduce spending by companies in these industries, could harm our operating results in the future.

 Identification and successful integration of acquisitions

During the year, the Group successfully completed the acquisitions of Logimatic Software A/S and the trade and assets of ADB Systemer AS and expects to continue to review acquisition targets as part of its strategy. The integration of acquisitions involves a number of unique risks, including diversion of management's attention, failure to retain key personnel of the acquired business, failure to realise the benefits anticipated to result from the acquisition and successful integration of the acquired intellectual property.

Recruitment and retention of employees

AVEVA's success has been built on the quality and reputation of its products and services, which rely almost entirely on the quality of the people developing and delivering them. Managing this pool of highly skilled and motivated individuals across all disciplines and geographies remains key to our ongoing success. The Group endeavours to ensure that employees are motivated by their work and there are regular appraisals, with staff encouraged to develop their skills.

Foreign exchange risk

Exposure to foreign currency gains and losses can be material to the Group, with approximately 80% of the Group's revenue denominated in a foreign currency, of which our two largest are US Dollar and Euro. The Group enters into forward foreign currency contracts to manage the currency risk where material. The overseas subsidiaries trade in their own currencies, which also acts as a natural hedge against currency movements.

Consolidated income statement

For the year ended 31 March 2011

All activities relate to continuing activities.

Consolidated statement of comprehensive income

For the year ended 31 March 2011

Consolidated balance sheet

31 March 2011

Consolidated statement of changes in shareholders' equity

31 March 2011

Consolidated cash flow statement

For the year ended 31 March 2011

1. Basis of preparation

The Group is required to prepare its Consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the European Union. For the purposes of this document the term IFRS includes International Accounting Standards.

The preliminary announcement covers the period 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011 and was approved by the Board on 25 May 2011.

The financial information contained in this preliminary announcement of audited results does not constitute the Group's statutory accounts for the years ended 31 March 2011 or 31 March 2010. The accounts for the year ended 31 March 2010 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The statutory accounts for the years ended 31 March 2011 and 2010 have been reported on by the Company's auditors; the reports on these accounts were unqualified, did not draw attention to any matters by way of emphasis and did not contain any statement under section 498(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006 or equivalent preceding legislation.

The statutory accounts for the year ended 31 March 2011 are expected to be posted to shareholders in due course and will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies after they have been laid before the shareholders in a general meeting on 7 July 2011. Copies will be available from the registered office of the Company, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HB and can be accessed on the AVEVA website, www.aveva.com. The registered number of AVEVA Group plc is 2937296.

The Group presents a non-GAAP performance measure on the face of the Consolidated income statement. The Directors believe that this alternative measure of profit provides a reliable and consistent measure of the Group's underlying performance. The face of the Consolidated income statement presents adjusted profit before tax and reconciles this to profit before tax as required to be presented under the applicable accounting standards. Adjusted earnings per share is calculated having adjusted profit after tax for the same items and their tax effect. The term adjusted profit is not defined under IFRS and may not be comparable with similarly titled profit measures reported by other companies. It is not intended to be a substitute for, or superior to, GAAP measures of profit.

2. Accounting policies

The preliminary statement has been prepared on a consistent basis with the accounting policies set out in the last published financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2010 except for the adoption of the following new and amended IFRS and IFRIC interpretations during the year. The other pronouncements which came into force during the year were not relevant to the Group.

Amendment to IFRS 2 Group Cash-settled Share-based Payment Arrangements

The amendment clarifies the accounting for group cash-settled share-based payment transactions, where a subsidiary receives goods or services from employees or suppliers but the parent or another entity in the group pays for those goods or services. This amendment did not have a significant impact on the financial position or performance of the Group.

Improvements to IFRS (issued 2009)

In April 2009 the Board issued its second omnibus of amendments to its standards, primarily with a view to removing inconsistencies and clarifying wording. There are separate transitional provisions for each amendment. The adoption of the amendments resulted in changes to accounting policies but did not have any impact on the financial position or performance of the Group.

3. Revenue

An analysis of the Group's revenue is as follows:

Services consist of consultancy, implementation services and training fees.

The acquired businesses of Logimatic and ADB in total contributed £1,409,000 of recurring revenue, £376,000 of initial licence fees and £3,864,000 of services revenue.

4. Segment information

For management purposes the Group is organised into three geographical segments known as Sales divisions: Asia Pacific; Americas; and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Each segment is determined by the location of the Group's operations and is organised and managed separately due to the differing local requirements in each market. Sales divisions are granted distribution rights to license the Group's software to customers in their respective territories.

Sales division performance is evaluated based on adjusted profit before tax using the same accounting policies as adopted for the Group's financial statements. There is no inter-segment revenue. Support functions such as product development and head office departments are controlled and monitored centrally.

Information concerning the Group's segments is set out below:

Total revenue includes £501,000, £3,206,000 and £1,942,000 for Asia Pacific, EMEA and Americas respectively, relating to the acquisitions of ADB and Logimatic.

Other segmental disclosures

The Company's country of domicile is the UK. Revenue attributed to the UK and all foreign countries amounted to £14,661,000 and £159,327,000 (2010 - £11,951,000 and £136,383,000) respectively. No individual country accounted for 10% or more of the Group's total revenue. Revenue is allocated to countries on the basis of the location of the customer.

Non-current assets (excluding deferred tax assets) held in the UK and all foreign countries amounted to £13,622,000 and £41,096,000 (2010 - £7,878,000 and £29,173,000) respectively. There are no material non-current assets located in an individual country outside of the UK.

No single external customer accounted for 10% or more of the Group's total revenue (2010 - none).

Further information concerning revenue by type of product and service is disclosed in note 3.

5. Exceptional items

Exceptional items comprise:

In 2010/11 costs totalling £1,535,000 were incurred in completing and integrating the acquisitions of Logimatic Software A/S and of the trade and assets from ADB Systemer AS. These costs included due diligence and professional fees and other integration costs.

Restructuring costs incurred in 2009/10 amounted to £1,872,000 and arose from the programme to reduce headcount following the merger of CES Europe and WEMEA Sales divisions and the restructuring of operations in Research and Development. These costs mainly comprised redundancy costs and related expenditure.

6. Income tax expense

a) Tax on profit

The major components of income tax expense for the years ended 31 March 2011 and 2010 are as follows:

b) Reconciliation of the total tax charge

The differences between the total tax charge shown above and the amount calculated by applying the standard rate of UK corporation tax to the profit before tax are as follows:

At the balance sheet date the UK government had substantively enacted a 2% reduction in the main rate of UK corporation tax from 28% to 26% effective from 1 April 2011. The government has also proposed reducing the UK corporation tax rate by a further 1% per annum to 23% by 1 April 2014. However, these further rate changes had not been substantively enacted at the balance sheet date and their effects are not, therefore, included in these financial statements. We do not expect that the enactment of these changes will have a material impact on the deferred tax balance of the Group.

7. Dividends paid and proposed on equity shares

The proposed final dividend is subject to approval by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting on 7 July 2011 and has not been included as a liability in these financial statements. If approved at the Annual General Meeting the final dividend will be paid on 29 July 2011 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 24 June 2011.

8. Earnings per share

The calculations of basic and diluted earnings per share are based on the net profit attributable to equity holders of the parent for the year of £34,492,000 (2010 - £33,440,000). Basic earnings per share amounts are calculated by dividing the net profit attributable to equity holders of the parent by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the year. Diluted earnings per share amounts are calculated by dividing the net profit attributable to equity holders of the parent by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the year plus the weighted average number of ordinary shares that would be issued on the conversion of all the potentially dilutive share options into ordinary shares.

Details of the calculation of adjusted earnings per share are set out below:

The denominators used are the same as those detailed above for both basic and diluted earnings per share.

The adjustment made to profit after tax in calculating adjusted basic and diluted earnings per share has been adjusted for the tax effects of the items adjusted.

The Directors believe that adjusted earnings per share is a more representative presentation of the underlying performance of the business.

9. Business combinations

During the year, the Group completed the acquisition of Logimatic Software A/S and acquired the trade and assets from ADB Systemer AS. Acquisition costs (including due diligence and professional fees) and integration costs have been included in the Consolidated income statement. Goodwill for both acquisitions represents the value of the assembled workforce and the future synergy benefits of integrating both businesses in the AVEVA Group. The assembled workforce brings product development skills and expertise, service delivery skills and domain knowledge of the respective end user markets to the Group.

Logimatic Software A/S

On 30 June 2010, the Group acquired 100% of the share capital of Logimatic Software A/S, a Danish company which provides material control and production planning software to the Marine industry. The total cash consideration paid (net of cash and cash equivalents acquired) was £9,301,000.

Details of the provisional fair values of the net assets acquired and goodwill is set out below, which includes purchased intangibles consisting of developed technology and customer relationships:

From the date of acquisition to 31 March 2011, the business contributed £3.2 million to revenue and incurred a loss before tax of £0.5 million. If the company had been acquired from the start of the period, it would have contributed £4.3 million in revenue and a loss before tax of £0.6 million.

Acquisition of trade and assets from ADB Systemer AS (ADB)

On 30 June 2010, the Group acquired the trade and certain assets of ADB's Oil and Gas business, including intellectual property, from a Norwegian company, ADB Systemer AS. The acquisition provides software products and service delivery capability to deliver information integrity solutions to owner-operators in the Oil and Gas industry. The total cash consideration paid was £4,089,000.

The fair value of the assets acquired consisted mainly of developed technology of £2,125,000 and goodwill of £2,010,000.

From the date of acquisition to 31 March 2011, the business contributed £2.4 million to revenue and incurred a loss before tax of £0.4 million. It is not practical to determine the effect of the acquisition from the start of the period because the trade and assets were part of a larger business and not separately analysed.

10. Trade and other receivables

As at 31 March 2011 the provision for impairment of receivables was £3,643,000 (2010 - £6,629,000) and an analysis of the movements during the year was as follows:

As at 31 March, the ageing analysis of trade receivables (net of provision for impairment) was as follows:

11. Cash and cash equivalents and treasury deposits

Treasury deposits represent bank deposits with an original maturity of over three months.

Short-term deposits are made for varying periods of between one day and three months, depending on the immediate cash requirements of the Group, and earn interest at the respective short-term deposit rates.

12. Trade and other payables

13. Retirement benefit obligations

The movement on the provision for retirement benefit obligations was as follows:

14. Directors

Nick Prest CBE

Chairman

Philip Dayer

Non-Executive Director and Senior Independent Director

Jonathan Brooks

Non-Executive Director

Hervé Couturier

Non-Executive Director

Richard Longdon

Chief Executive

James Kidd

Chief Financial Officer

15. Responsibility statement pursuant to FSA's Disclosure and Transparency Rule 4 (DTR 4)

Each Director of the Company (whose names and functions appear in note 14) confirms that (solely for the purpose of DTR 4) to the best of his knowledge:

·; the financial statements in this document, prepared in accordance with the applicable UK law and applicable accounting standards, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit of the Company and of the Group taken as a whole; and

·; the Chairman's statement, Chief Executive's review and Chief Financial Officer's review include a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the Company and Group taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.

On behalf of the Board

25 May 2011