This announcement replaces RNS number 5456Y released at 07:00 today.  The contact details in the Enquiries section are corrected. All other text remains the same. 

 

2 March 2012

 

Sarantel Group PLC

 

Preliminary results for the year to 30 September 2011

 

Sarantel Group PLC, (AIM: SLG, "Sarantel" or "the Group"), a leading manufacturer of high-performance, miniature antennas for mobile and wireless devices, announces preliminary results for the year ended 30 September 2011.

 

Highlights:

 

·      Group revenues improved during the second half of 2011 to £1.2m (H1: £1.0m)

·      Non-recurring engineering revenues for product development grew by 141% for the year (2010: 46%)

·      Operating costs reduced by 12% as a result of outsourcing efficiencies and cost reductions

·      Several significant supply agreements secured during the year, with the largest order received to date from a leading military radio manufacturer

 

Geoff Shingles, Chairman, said:

 

"2011 was a challenging year for Sarantel, owing to the impact of issues faced by some of our customers. Nevertheless, we were able to secure a number of significant supply agreements throughout the year and more recently secured our largest ever order which will have a substantial impact on the Group's revenues and cashflow for 2012 and beyond."

 

"The increasing use of location and navigation applications in everyday life means that our market opportunities continue to grow. We remain confident that Sarantel's innovative technology has a bright future as users demand ever-higher performance from navigation and mobile devices. 

 

"As announced yesterday, Sarantel has agreed a £2m secured loan facility to provide additional working capital with support from a major customer and the Group's Bank, with this now in place the outlook for Sarantel is increasingly positive."  

 

Enquiries

 

Sarantel Group PLC	01933 670 560
David Wither, Chief Executive Officer
Nicola Malyon, Chief Financial Officer
Seymour Pierce	020 7107 8000
Freddy Crossley/Sarah Jacobs, Nominated Adviser David Banks/Paul Jewell, Corporate Broking
College Hill	020 7457 2020
Kay Larsen/Rozi Morris

 

About Sarantel www.sarantel.com

 

Sarantel is a leader in the design of high-performance miniature antennas for portable wireless applications. Sarantel's revolutionary ceramic filtering antennas offer dramatically improved performance over existing antenna designs, resulting in a clearer signal, better range and a 90 per cent reduction in the amount of signal radiation absorbed by the body. Because of their smaller size and higher capabilities, Sarantel's antennas enable manufacturers to create innovative wireless products for the GPS,  Satellite Radio and Satellite phone markets.

 

 

Chairman's Statement

 

Overall, 2011 was a challenging year for Sarantel, owing to the impact of issues faced by some of the Group's major customers. Nevertheless, the Group was able to secure a number of significant supply agreements throughout the year and these are expected to bear fruit during 2012 and beyond.

 

Sarantel experienced a significant set-back during the first half of the year when its largest customer failed to place orders due to a technical problem unrelated to Sarantel's technology. A major defence customer then delayed production orders for a different custom antenna product. This resulted in a contraction in revenues to £2.2m (2010: £2.9m). At this stage in the Group's development it relies heavily on revenues from a relatively small number of customers which makes it vulnerable to these types of events. Because it is very difficult to predict the exact timing and quantum of future revenues the Group, as a matter of policy, does not currently provide specific market guidance on prospective annual financial results.

 

Despite these set-backs the Group's technology continued to build momentum in the military market with a number of major new contracts. Customer funded product development revenues, an indication of future revenues, increased significantly by 141%.

 

Operating loss before depreciation and amortisation increased by 23% to £2.27m (2010: £1.85m). Net cash outflow before financing was £2.3m (2010: £2.2m). 

 

On 8 February 2012, Sarantel announced the receipt of a very substantial order from a leading military radio manufacturer for a range of different Sarantel antenna products, which forms part of a multi-year supply contract.  This is the largest order received to date and will have a significant impact on the Group's revenues and cashflow for 2012. To enable Sarantel to service this order and give the Group sufficient working capital facilities for the immediate future Sarantel has agreed a £2m secured loan facility with HSBC Bank plc.

 

Sarantel also secured a number of very significant deals in the military market during 2011. Each of these deals is the result of years of effort and they will make a significant contribution to the Group's revenues in 2012 and beyond. Momentum in the military market is continuing to build as the Group develops relationships with an increasing number of customers.

 

During the year the Group received development funding from a major US defence contractor and from the US Government to develop high performance GPS antennas as well as compact, high performance antennas for the Globalstar network. This has helped Sarantel expand the reach of its technology and establish key partnerships which it intends to leverage to increase future sales.

 

Trends in the consumer GPS markets continue to indicate that improved GPS performance will be needed across a wide range of applications that will require a higher degree of reliability and accuracy than is possible with conventional antenna technologies. In consumer products, the GPS antenna is a critical component in determining the device performance and user experience.

 

The backdrop of growing markets, driven by an increasing use of location and navigation in everyday life, is accelerating. These market trends mean that Sarantel's opportunities will continue to increase. The Board remains confident that Sarantel's innovative technology has a bright future as users demand ever-higher performance from navigation and other mobile devices.

 

 

Chief Executive's Statement

 

Financial Review

Whilst 2011 was challenging for Sarantel, the Group secured a number of significant supply contracts throughout the year and recently announced the receipt of its largest ever order from a leading military radio manufacturer. With support from a major customer and the Group's Bank, Sarantel has been able to obtain a low rate, interest only £2m secured loan facility to provide additional working capital.

 

The set-back in sales for 2011 was due to very specific customer related issues and is not indicative of a loss of sales traction in the market. These issues were contained to the first half of the year and during the second half the business recovered.

 

During the year Sarantel also developed a number of new antennas after receiving funding from customers. These developments include a high performance GPS antenna which was funded by the US Military and two different compact, high performance Globalstar antennas, which were funded by major US defence contractors, increasing development revenues by 141%.

 

Total operating costs reduced by 12% as a result of efficiencies and cost reductions related to the outsourcing of part of the manufacturing process. Research and development costs increased by 0.8% as new antennas are developed for the military markets. Sales and distribution costs rose by 19% as the sales and marketing efforts in Japan were strengthened.

 

The operating loss before depreciation and amortisation increased to £2.27m (2010: £1.85m), due to the fall in revenues and gross margins.

 

The Group's loss per share reduced to 0.6p (2010: 1.0p).

 

Cash utilisation

Net cash outflow from operating activities increased by 8.7% to £1.9m (2010: £1.8m). This number has remained relatively flat despite the contraction in sales, due to the cost reductions achieved by outsourcing a significant part of the production process.

 

Net cash outflow before financing was £2.3m (2010: £2.2m). On 30 December 2010 Sarantel successfully closed a placing to raise £1.375m before expenses and on 1 July 2011 a further placing was closed, raising £2.148m before expenses. The proceeds of both placings were used to fund working capital needs, product design and innovation in line with the increasing pace of activity in the Group's core GPS markets.

 

Sarantel sales are in US dollars whilst most of the costs are in Sterling. The dollar fluctuated favourably during the year and resulted in a net currency gain of £0.008m to Group revenue.

 

Review of operations and markets

The broader GPS market remains very dynamic and continues to grow at a rapid pace as GPS technology is incorporated into an ever increasing number of applications. This broader market trend creates a number of new opportunities for Sarantel as more of these applications require small, high performance antenna solutions. Sarantel, through its distribution partners, continues to track a large number of active sales opportunities across a wide variety of applications. During the year Sarantel sold its GPS antenna products to more than 400 different customers.

 

Military market

Despite headlines about cuts in defence spending, the market for military electronics, which includes communications equipment, is projected to grow. The US Military is beginning a major roll out of new radio technologies to help soldiers communicate more effectively in conflict situations. This trend is also occurring in Europe and across the world.

 

Sarantel's GPS antenna technology has a very significant share of this market with leading military radio manufacturers relying on Sarantel's technology. This is a great endorsement of Sarantel's technology and the series of production orders announced recently and throughout 2011 will have a substantial impact on revenues in 2012 and beyond.

 

During the year, Sarantel developed a number of new antennas for this market. These antennas were funded by customers and will help Sarantel to maintain sales momentum and continue developing the necessary relationships and products to support this exciting market.

 

Mobile Satellite Services ("MSS")

The Mobile Satellite Services market remains an important part of Sarantel's diversification strategy. In satellite telephony or satellite tracking, antenna quality is the key determinant to quality of service and therefore customer satisfaction.

 

During the year, sales of Sarantel's second-generation Iridium antenna to NAL Research Corporation (NAL) accelerated while it added a number of new customers for this innovative product. Additionally, Sarantel received funding from two different US defence contractors for two different variants of a Globalstar antenna. In all cases Sarantel is free to sell these products to the broader market and anticipates that these products will help to further expand its customer base and future revenues.

 

Consumer GPS

Sarantel continues to believe that there is an enormous opportunity for its technology in a number of high volume consumer markets. During the year the Group invested a significant amount of sales and engineering resources into the Japanese camera market. Every major camera manufacturer is integrating GPS into cameras for 'geotagging' applications. The market trend to geotag photographs and share them on social networking sites such as Facebook is accelerating.

 

In October 2011 Sarantel was able to demonstrate the superiority of its technology to a major camera manufacturer in a series of field trials conducted in Tokyo. In these trials, Sarantel demonstrated clear advantages in a number of key performance metrics. This was a key milestone in developing a high volume consumer market for Sarantel's technology. If a demand for significant volumes is generated, this would enable the Group to dramatically reduce the cost of its technology, thus opening up much broader market opportunities in the future.

 

Research and development

Sarantel continues to develop its antenna technology by investing in research and development. During the year, research and development spend increased by 0.8% and a number of new patents were filed. A key focus is on developing multi-band variants of the Group's technology as well as reducing the cost and complexity of the antenna assembly process. These developments will help Sarantel to maintain its market leading advantage.

 

Manufacturing

The successful transfer of 'back-end' assembly processes has helped the Group to realise significant cost savings whilst dramatically simplifying the complexity of its operations. The Group's partnership with Elcoteq Tallinn has continued as normal despite the disruption encountered by Elcoteq's parent company following the announcement it had filed for bankruptcy. Since that announcement Elcoteq Tallinn has been acquired by Eolane, a French sub-contractor, as a going concern.

 

Sarantel maintained its core development engineering team which is now focused on improving the internal manufacturing process.  A next generation assembly process is also being developed which promises to reduce further the cost and complexity of producing the technology in the future as well as reducing the complexity of integrating the Group's technology. 

 

Summary and Outlook

Sarantel's technology has gained significant traction in the military market place and the Group is confident that it will maintain that momentum in this rapidly growing market as it develops new products and key customer relationships.  There are also a large number of encouraging new opportunities in the broader GPS market and, having secured the £2m secured loan facility to provide additional working capital with support from a major customer and the Group's Bank, the outlook for Sarantel's technology remains very positive.

 

 

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income
for the year ended 30 September 2011

 

	Note	2011		2010
		£'000		£'000
Revenue	4	2,195		2,889
Cost of sales		1,704		1,840
Gross profit		491		1,049
Research and development costs		1,268		1,258
Selling and distribution costs		625		527
Administration costs		1,592		2,163
Total operating costs		3,485		3,948
Operating loss	3	(2,994)		(2,899)
Operating loss before depreciation and amortisation		(2,273)		(1,854)
Depreciation and amortisation		(721)		(1,045)
Finance and other income		5		12
Finance and other costs		(24)		(78)
Loss before tax		(3,013)		(2,965)
Tax		160		227
Loss for the year		(2,853)		(2,738)
Other comprehensive income		-		-
Total comprehensive loss for the period		(2,853)		(2,738)
Basic and diluted loss per share	5	(0.6)p		(1.0)p

 

 

All the activities of the Group are classed as continuing.

 

 

Consolidated Balance Sheet

as at 30 September 2011

 

	Note	2011		2010
		£'000		£'000
Assets
Non-current
Intangible assets		1,623		1,601
Property, plant and equipment	6	288		677
Total non-current assets		1,911		2,278
Current
Inventories	7	346		308
Trade and other receivables		684		821
Current tax		154		160
Cash and cash equivalents	8	1,197		629
Total current assets		2,381		1,918
Total assets		4,292		4,196
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables		832		831
Amounts due under finance leases and HP agreements		13		211
Amounts due under invoice financing facility		253		299
Total current liabilities		1,098		1,341
Non-current liabilities
Amounts due under finance lease and HP agreements		-		134
Other payables		3		-
Total liabilities		1,101		1,475
Equity
Share capital		11,318		9,789
Share premium		18,969		17,234
Share scheme reserve		728		669
Warrant reserve		76		76
Merger reserve		13,390		13,390
Retained loss		(41,290)		(38,437)
Total equity		3,191		2,721
Total liabilities and equity		4,292		4,196

 

 

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

for the year ended 30 September 2011

 

	Share capital	Share premium	Share scheme reserve	Warrant reserve	Merger reserve	Retained loss	Total  equity
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
At 1 October 2009	8,789	16,165	500	76	13,390	(35,699)	3,221
Loss after tax	-	-	-	-	-	(2,738)	(2,738)
Total comprehensive income for year	-	-	-	-	-	(2,738)	(2,738)
Share based payments	-	-	169	-	-	-	169
Share issued	1,000	1,250	-	-	-	-	2,250
Cost of share issue	-	(181)	-	-	-	-	(181)
Transactions with owners	1,000	1,069	169	-	-	-	2,238
At 30 September 2010	9,789	17,234	669	76	13,390	(38,437)	2,721

 

At 1 October 2010	9,789	17,234	669	76	13,390	(38,437)	2,721
Loss after tax	-	-	-	-	-	(2,853)	(2,853)
Total comprehensive income for year	-	-	-	-	-	(2,853)	(2,853)
Share based payments	-	-	59	-	-	-	59
Share issued	1,529	1,993	-	-	-	-	3,522
Cost of share issue	-	(258)	-	-	-	-	(258)
Transactions with owners	1,529	1,735	59	-	-	-	3,323
At 30 September 2011	11,318	18,969	728	76	13,390	(41,290)	3,191

 

 

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

for the year ended 30 September 2011

 

	Note	2011		2010
		£'000		£'000
Operating activities
Loss before tax		(3,013)		(2,965)
Adjustments for non-cash items:
Depreciation and amortisation		644		970
Depreciation absorbed to cost of sales		77		75
Investment revenue		(5)		(12)
Finance lease interest		32		54
Share based payment		59		169
(Increase) in inventories		(39)		(83)
Decrease/increase in trade and other receivables		138		(365)
(Decrease)/increase in trade and other payables		(2)		108
Taxation received		166		262
Net cash outflow from operating activities		(1,943)		(1,787)
Investing activities
Interest received and similar income		5		12
Payments to acquire intangible assets		(253)		(339)
Payments to acquire property, plant and equipment		(101)		(125)
Net cash used in investing activities		(349)		(452)
Cash outflow before financing		(2,292)		(2,239)
Financing activities
Finance lease interest paid		(32)		(54)
Loans received		7		-
Issue of shares		3,522		2,250
Expenses paid in connection with issue of shares		(258)		(181)
Capital element of finance lease rentals		(333)		(185)
Net cash inflow from financing activities		2,906		1,830
Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents		614		(409)
Cash and cash equivalents at start of period		330		739
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period	19	944		330

 

 

Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2011

 

1.    Basis of information in this announcement

 

The financial information in this announcement does not constitute the Company's statutory accounts for the years ended 30 September 2011 or 30 September 2010 but is derived from those accounts.

 

Statutory Accounts for 2010 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and those for 2011 will be delivered following the Company's annual general meeting.  The auditor has reported on those accounts; their reports were (i) unqualified, (ii) did not include a reference to any matters to which the auditor drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying their report and (iii) did not contain any statement under section 498 (2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006.

 

This announcement has been prepared on the basis of the Group's accounting policies.  These are set out in its Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 30 September 2010 which is available on the Group's website (www.sarantel.com).  As of 1 October 2010 various new standards and interpretations apply to financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS.  The directors anticipate that the adoption of these Standards and Interpretations in future periods will have no material impact on the financial statements of the Group.

 

2.    Going concern

 

The directors have prepared a business plan which forms the basis on which they are satisfied that the Group has adequate financial resources to continue to operate at least for the next twelve months from the date of approval of these financial statements. The business plan assumes a certain level of sales and includes the recently announced order from a leading military radio manufacturer, which the directors believe to be the best estimate of the Group's future activities.  Whilst the achievement of sales has been a key uncertainty as sales to date have been slower than expected, the directors are confident that together with this order performance over the remainder of the financial year will be in line with forecasts. The directors believe their forecasts are prudent and show sufficient headroom for twelve months. However, further funding is required to fulfil this substantial order and the Group has secured a loan facility for this purpose. The directors consider it appropriate that these financial statements should be prepared on a going concern basis.

 

 

3.    Operating loss

Operating loss is stated after charging:

 

	2011		2010
	£'000		£'000
Amortisation of intangible assets	231		215
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment	490		830
-  of which, depreciation included in cost of sales	77		75

 

 

4.    Revenue

 

	2011		2010
	£'000		£'000
Sales of antennas	1,702		2,739
Sale of consumables	107		-
Sale of Non-Recurring Engineering services (NRE)	386		150
Total revenue	2,195		2,889

 

 

5.   Loss per share

 

The calculation of basic loss per share is based on the loss attributable to ordinary shareholders divided by the weighted average number of shares in issue during the year.

 

	2011		2010
	£'000		£'000
Loss for the financial year	(2,853)		(2,738)
Weighted average number of shares	483,558,852		273,676,057
Basic and diluted loss per share*	(0.6)p		(1.0)p

* The effect of options and warrants are anti-dilutive.

 

 

6.   Property, plant and equipment

 

The Group

 

	Leasehold improvements £'000		Plant and equipment £'000		Total £'000
Cost
At 1 October 2009	197		9,640		9,837
Additions	-		125		125
Disposals	-		(3)		(3)
At 1 October 2010	197		9,762		9,959
Additions	-		101		101
Disposals	-		(6)		(6)
At 30 September 2011	197		9,857		10,054
Depreciation
At 1 October 2009	146		8,309		8,455
Charge for the year	19		811		830
Disposals	-		(3)		(3)
At 1 October 2010	165		9,117		9,282
Charge for the year	20		470		490
Disposals	-		(6)		(6)
At 30 September 2011	185		9,581		9,766
Carrying amount
At 30 September 2011	12		276		288
At 30 September 2010	32		645		677

 

 

7.   Inventories

	Group
	2011		2010
	£'000		£'000
Raw materials	205		237
Work in progress	23		29
Finished goods	118		42
	346		308

 

 

8.     Cash and cash equivalents

					Group
					2011		2010
					£'000		£'000
Cash and cash equivalents					1,197		629

 

Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash and short-term bank deposits with an original maturity of three months or less. The Directors consider that the carrying amount of these assets approximates to their fair value. There is no collateral on the above amounts.

 

 

Cash, cash equivalents and bank overdrafts include the following for the purposes of the cash flow statement:

 

					Group
					2011		2010
					£'000		£'000
Cash and cash equivalents					1,197		629
Amounts due under invoice financing facility					(253)		(299)
					944		330