11th Apr 2005 07:00
Clarity Commerce Solutions PLC11 April 2005 Clarity Commerce Solutions plc Trading statement and news update Clarity Commerce Solutions plc, a leading supplier of software managementsolutions for the entertainment, ticketing, hospitality and leisure sectors, ispublishing today a trading statement followed by a detailed update on theGroup's operations for the year ended 31 March 2005. Trading update The Group's overall trading performance for the recently completed financialyear has been in line with both the Board's and market expectations. Cross-selling opportunities arising from recently acquired software divisionsare being realised, and the interest in the Groups' range of products remainsstrong. There continues to be strong demand by multi-site organisations forintegrated software products, together with a growing focus on centralisedsolutions for the management of larger chains. The Group's investment in providing a broad platform of software spanning anumber of market sectors and disciplines continues to appeal to existing and newclients, as demonstrated in the news update below. The migration of the Group'score software products to the .Net software platform is already underway, withinstallations of .Net thin client versions taking place in the Group's Ticketingand Hospitality divisions over the coming months. Both the Business Intelligence and Services divisions continue to grow ascomplimentary operations to Clarity's software division, but with a widercustomer focus. In geographical terms, Clarity is beginning to exploit its reach into newcountries, particularly North America and Europe. The Group expects to report preliminary figures for the year to 31 March 2005 inlate June. 11 April 2005 Enquiries: Clarity Commerce Solutions Graham York, Chief Executive Officer 01932 778000 College Hill Adrian Duffield/Clare Warren 020 7457 2020 CLARITY NEWS UPDATE SOFTWARE DIVISION Leisure UK and Ireland Clarity has continued to grow market penetration with the installation ofsystems for Bolton Metropolitan Council, Manchester Leisure Trust (15 sites),North Country Leisure, Luton Borough Council (6 sites) and Medway Council (7sites). Bolton Metropolitan Council's leisure centres (managed by Serco plc) areusing the system to provide a smart card solution for a government sponsoredpilot scheme. The Internet Bookings software module has secured orders from 6 localauthorities in the period. The incorporation of Cognos software from the Group'sBusiness Intelligence division into leisure solutions has raised interest fromexisting customers, with Serco Plc installing this solution across 55 sites. Following the acquisition of Baron, the golf and spa software provider, a numberof new orders have been awarded. Spa contracts have been secured with The Valeof Glamorgan Hotel and Knockranny House, whilst in the golf sector, The Prince'sGolf Club are now using Clarity software, joining illustrious sites such as StAndrews Links and Royal Troon. Further online booking software orders includeCarton House Golf Club and Druids Glen Golf Club. The Reebok Sports Club at Canary Wharf is due to go live with a thin clientdeployment of Clarity's leisure software. The Group is installing a suite ofmanagement applications to manage membership, leisure and spa facilities. Europe Clarity reseller BlueNine has secured orders to implement membership, bookingand point of sale applications to 8 Spanish golf clubs. The launch of golfmanagement applications in Spanish has resulted in 2 further orders. Sheraton La Caleta is the latest Starwood Group site to adopt Clarity solutions. Asia/Middle East Clarity spa software has been installed at the luxury Amaatra Spa in India(installation undertaken by Clarity reseller Prologic). The Taj Hotel Group hasalso placed an order. These sites add to Clarity's local presence along withSahara Estates' luxury golf resort Amby Valley. In the Middle East, the Clarity software implementation at the Tower Links Clubin Dubai is complete. A further order has been received from the Jumeirah BeachGroup. North America Clarity reseller LeisureTek Inc continue to rollout spa software across theOrient Express hotel chain. An order has also been placed by The Galt HouseHotel in Kentucky with implementation underway. Ticketing UK and Ireland National Amusements (Showcase Cinemas in the UK) has placed a new hardware andsoftware upgrade order, and a new handheld solution is being installed atselected sites. The merging of UGC and Cineworld in the UK has seen major ticketing andconcessions integration projects commence across the 97 location estate. Thisprocess will drive software and some hardware upgrades across the Cineworldcircuit. Europe The EuroPalaces contract (see separate statement issued April 11 2005)strengthens the Group's European reach. Clarity also has an order from FilmfestMunchen for the Group's ticketing and reservation systems. Filmfest Munchen isGermany's leading film festival, with a combined audience of an estimated 65,000cinemagoers, 600 press members, and over 1000 film-related professionals. North America Paramount Parks, a division of Viacom, Inc., operates some of the most populartheme parks in North America, it has placed an order for the installation ofClarity's new .NET-based POS application. Installations commenced in March 2005and continue through April. ZyaCorp, the owner of stadium-style theatres under the Cinemagic brand hasplaced an order for a New Hampshire theatre to serve as the initial installationsite of Clarity's new .NET-based cinema ticketing solution, Clarity Venue. Thesystem is scheduled to go live in April 2005. National Amusements Inc., owner and operator of more than 1,390 cinema screensin the US, UK and Latin America has ordered further software to be installed ina new Ohio theatre opening in May 2005, in addition to an Argentinean site dueto open in June 2005. Calway Park, located near Calgary, Alberta, has ordered additional hardware andsoftware to support expanding park operations. Installation is scheduled for May2005. Hospitality UK and Ireland The rollout of Clarity software continues at Hall & Woodhouse brewery withorders for site installations over the next three months. The installation at Greene King of the Clarity Central product to manage the 410pubs purchased from the Laurel Pub Company was completed one month ahead ofschedule. YO! Sushi installed Clarity's EPOS and Cash control system across their UKestate complete with further sites scheduled to receive installations in early2005. Chip and PIN credit card handling was installed in a pilot site andClarity's new .Net based stock management software is due for rollout to Yo!Sushi by the summer 2005. Ongoing installations of systems for; Strada pizza restaurant chain; Bacchuswine bar/restaurant group; Paulo Gianni's restaurant group; Welsh business LaBrasseria; pub and bar operator Pleisure Group; and the Real Pubs Group. BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE DIVISION Clarity's Business Intelligence Division, Romulus Enterprises, continues to makegood progress and is developing new independent revenue streams. Romulus is now accredited to sell and implement the Cognos Enterprise Planningsuite, and has secured an order from Robert Wiseman Dairies plc. The number andtype of training courses run in partnership with Cognos have also been extended,with strong client attendances for new courses in the last quarter. Recent new customer orders include Caledonian Brewery, Trelleborg, J&J Haslett,Bowie Castlebank and Sparrows. Sales to existing clients continue to grow,whilst sales to Raytheon have grown particularly strongly. Romulus now offers standardised business intelligence solutions for accounting,ERP and HR systems. This is seen as a significant growth area, and the Group isin the late stages of signing a new joint marketing partner. SERVICES DIVISION Cyntergy is Clarity's helpdesk and training services division, providing supportto clients across the Retail and Hospitality markets. This division hasprogressed well since acquisition. Helpdesk A 1-year rolling contract to provide 1st level helpdesk services to Warnaco fortheir 25 European Calvin Klein and Speedo retail outlets was won, support willbe provided in English and French. A new support contract was signed in February 2005 by ATM Technology Management,a leading IT services company, where helpdesk support will be provided to ATM'sclient Jarvis Hotels (65 hotel estate). A further contract supporting 600 network connections for TFM's clientsincluding Travelodge, Officers Club, Co-op, Uniqlo and H&M, was also secured. Helpdesk services continue to be provided to BT Expedite clients includingMothercare, Bewise and Phase 8 covering 450 stores. The number of stores willrise to over 1000 by September 2005. Contracts with Wincor Nixdorf supporting 97 NAAFI retail and hospitality sitesand 140 British Consulates worldwide were extended. A contract with Datavantage supporting 33 European stores was extended inJanuary 2005 for an additional 12 months. Training A six month Foreign Office contract for the implementation and training ofsoftware designed to process VISA fees at UK Visa was won. This involvedon-site training in 140 VISA offices, worldwide. The division also managed the training for a hotel software rollout to over 300sites for Travelodge. Specsavers awarded Clarity with a contract to provide off-site classroom styletraining for approx 500 stores in the UK, with the introduction of new customerbooking software. Training resources are being provided to a number of hotel groups includingDevere, Intercontinental Hotels and Hilton Hotels. www.claritycommerce.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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