AGM Statement
August 27 2003 - 10:00AM
UK Regulatory
RNS Number:0703P
Eckoh Technologies PLC
27 August 2003
27 August 2003
Eckoh Technologies PLC
AGM Statement
David Best, the Chairman of Eckoh Technologies PLC ("Eckoh"), commented at the
AGM today:
"The past year has been a period of considerable achievement, during which the
Group generated #55.1m of turnover and recorded an operating loss of #7.5m,
significantly less than the previous year. In addition, the Group successfully
completed its restructuring and entered into significant new contracts and
alliances most notably an exclusive alliance with BT to provide speech
recognition services.
The past year has also seen changes to our Board, with the retirement of Ian
Martin as Chairman in October 2002 and my subsequent appointment to that role,
and the appointments of Brian McArthur Muscroft as Group Finance Director and
Craig Niven as a Non-executive Director.
The proposed resolutions to be considered at today's AGM include those relating
to the final stages of the Group's restructuring and which will enable the Group
to reduce corporate costs to a level more appropriate for a company of Eckoh's
size.
On 27 June 2003 Eckoh transferred from the Official List to AIM, allowing the
Company to increase its ability and give greater flexibility to the pursuit of
strategic opportunities such as partnerships, joint ventures and acquisitions.
Our offer to acquire the AIM listed Intelliplus group, as announced on 4 August
2003, is the first step towards the realisation of this strategy. The Eckoh
board believes there is a compelling strategic, commercial and financial logic
in combining the operations of Eckoh and Intelliplus, as detailed in the copy of
the Offer document mailed out to Eckoh's shareholders, and look forward to
receiving the necessary approvals at Eckoh's EGM on 3 September 2003.
The Board believes that the Enlarged Group will be well capitalised with current
combined cash balances of approximately #12 million, enabling it to take
advantage of appropriate sector consolidation as well as of strategic
opportunities as and when they might arise.
Finally, in what has been a year of many changes to the business, I would like
to thank Eckoh's managers and staff for their loyalty, commitment and energy -
their dedication, as always, is very much appreciated."
For further enquiries, please contact:
Eckoh Technologies plc Tel: 08701 100 700
Martin Turner, Chief Executive Officer
Brian McArthur Muscroft, Group Finance Director
Buchanan Communications Tel: 020 7466 5000
Mark Edwards
Evolution Beeson Gregory Tel: 020 7488 4040
Mike Brennan/Matt Wood
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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