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VOCALIS GROUP PLC ("Vocalis" or the "Group") INTERIM RESULTSFOR THE SIX MONTHS TO 30 SEPTEMBER 1997 Vocalis, the speech technology and call processing company, announces today its interim results for the six months to 30 September 1997. Highlights of the results include:
Commenting on the results and future prospects: "The directors are pleased with the progress made by the Group so far, particularly the strong order book which reflects the acceptance of our speech recognition technology in the marketplace." Roy Cotterill, Chairman
Chairmans Statement Interim report for the six months to 30 September 1997 Progress in the period In the half year to 30 September 1997 sales rose to £1,005,000, a 60 per cent increase on the 1996 comparable figure of £629,000. The operating loss was £1,560,000 (1996 loss £914,000) and the loss before tax was £1,490,000 (1996 loss £853,000). The loss per share was 4.64p. Cash balances at the end of the period were £1.6 million. As indicated in the Annual Report for the year ending 31 March 1997 a concentrated recruitment drive was completed last year. As a result, we now have in place a talented and enthusiastic workforce with the necessary skills to win increasing sales, deliver the sales to our customers and maintain our leading position in the speech recognition industry. The cost of this increase in headcount is evident in the half-year figures and is as intended and budgeted. Our confidence in this policy is borne out by the fact that orders at the end of the period were £5,663,000, including three major orders for SPEECHtel for national telephone operating companies. Work has started on these and the majority of our order book is scheduled for delivery and conversion to revenue in the second half of this year. As a result of our OEM agreement with Ericsson Telecom AB, enquiries for SPEECHtel from all continents have accelerated. We now have a healthy list of prospects. Product review The SPEECHtel product is an "Intelligent Peripheral" for telecommunications systems comprising a hardware platform upon which a diverse family of Vocalis software applications can be provided. This enables telephone operating companies to offer their subscribers a range of innovative applications including such facilities as automatic collect call, universal personal telephone number service, enhanced directory enquiries and call intercept. New applications are being developed including network based voice messaging and call centre services. The attractions to the telephone network operator of being able to offer customers these enhanced services are evident.In addition the technology enables network operators to reduce costs at the same time as offering this improved range of facilities. So far SPEECHtel sales have been to operators of terrestrial telephone networks. However, in July we announced certification of our SPEECHtel voice dialling product by Ericsson Mobile Radio Systems. This new relationship has now been cemented by signing an OEM agreement to supply the product to their world-wide mobile network operators market. We see many opportunities for our SPEECHtel products as telecommunications companies seek to provide new services which differentiate their offer while reducing costs in order to improve profitability. Operetta, the operators assistant for the business user, continues to be marketed both directly in the UK and indirectly in the US and South East Asia. Operetta product trials are being held with voicemail system vendors in the US, co-ordinated from our Boston office, to combine Operettas call routing capability with established voicemail systems. During the first half we delivered new orders from existing customers for the Business Application Platform, which offers customised solutions to automate routine call centre activities. Abbey National has extended its telephone banking service and CSC Computer Sciences added to their call handling system that is in operation for a utility company. We have improved the design of the speech recogniser used in all our systems to offer faster and larger processing capability to our customers whilst reducing the cost to Vocalis. Further, we have improved the interfacing capability of our products, making them easier to connect to telephone networks globally. Such product enhancement maintains our technology at the forefront of the market. Prospects To summarise, SPEECHtel is expected to generate significant and increasing revenues as fixed line and mobile network operators respond to the challenges posed by deregulation and increasing competition. Operetta is beginning to gain market acceptance and the concept is expected in time to become a mass market technology. The directors are pleased with the progress made by the Group so far, particularly the strong order book which reflects the acceptance of our speech recognition technology in the marketplace. As I said at the AGM, our next stage of growth will be led by a new Chief Executive. I hope to be able to make a further announcement soon. Roy Cotterill Chairman 20 November 1997 Consolidated Profit and Loss Account For the six months to 30 September 1997
The accompanying notes form an integral part of this consolidated financial information.
Consolidated Balance Sheet as at 30 September 1997
The accompanying notes form an integral part of this consolidated financial information. Consolidated Cash Flow Statement for the six months to 30 September 1997
There are no recognised gains or losses other than the loss for each period. The accompanying notes form an integral part of this consolidated financial information.
1. Basis of preparation
2. Basic loss per share
3. Circulation to shareholders
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