• About the Group
• Corporate Benefits
• Financial Planning
• Insurance Brokers
• Investment Management
• Mortgages
• Pensions

News

Cambridge Index Update 3rd February 2006

Cambridge Index steady at 1393.

The Cambridge Index fell 0.1% last week, in a week that saw falls of 1.5%in the Standard & Poor’s and 1.8%in the NASDAQ indices. The UK indices moved higher earlier in the week but ended slightly down, with the FTActuaries Allshare down 0.3% and the TechMARK 1.8% down. Amongst the Cambridge constituents there was only one that rose by as much as 10%- Cyan Holdings, up 13%, whilst there were three that fell by that amount- Cambridge Display Technology, down 15.5%, and both CeNeS Pharmaceuticals and Tadpole down 11%.

ARM Holdings reported pre-tax profits of £40.5m on revenues of £232.4m for the year 2005 after a record final quarter to the year. Licence revenue in the final quarter was £25.7m, slightly below some analysts’ expectations but ARM indicated that it expects the licence revenue from both its original and Artisan’s business to increase in the next two quarters. ARM now has over 170 licensees of whom 68 are currently shipping products to a volume of 499m in the last quarter. Shares in ARM rose 2p over the week.

Amino Technologies announced a pre-tax profit of £0.6m for the year ended last November, compared to a £0.2m profit for the 11 month period to November 2004. The key business metrics on customer deployments are maintaining a strong upwards momentum with a 170% increase over the past year. The strong year-end order backlog provides a firm foundation for a further increase in turnover in the year to November 2006 which will include material licence revenues. Amino has an excellent suite of products and technologies together with a staff committed to delivering a further year of rapid growth. As the business grows and the IPTV market develops, the Board anticipates an improving visibility for future revenues and a successful outcome to the year.

CybIT has launched a new Job Management capability for its Internet-based Fleetstar-Online fleet and asset management solution. Job Management is available as an extension to the Fleetstar-Online telematics system and combines core telematics data, real-time traffic updates via GPRS, and scheduling information to provide fleet operators with a dynamic fleet management capability and far greater visibility of their mobile resources. The new module is aimed at service and delivery organisations needing to know where their resources are in relation to their jobs and how the business is performing against planned schedules. Job Management aims to enable fleet managers and schedulers to create new jobs and import them into Fleetstar-Online, view those jobs on screen, and then report either in summary or in detail against performance.

Celsis International said that its Laboratory Group had won new contracts with both URL Mutual Pharmaceutical Company and Procter & Gamble for the provision of contract testing services. The agreement with URL Mutual Pharmaceutical Company to supply contract testing services is in support of product release for Mutual's extensive list of generic products. The Laboratory Group will provide Mutual with analytical chemistry and stability services for revenue of more than $1.5m per annum. The Procter & Gamble Company (Consumer Health Division) has also contracted Celsis to supply full release testing for a new product launch, worth $0.5m later this spring.

Cambridge Antibody Technology said that under International Financial Reporting Standards, the $255m received from Abbott and paid out to CAT's licensors in October 2005 would not be included in its 2005 revenues and direct costs. The financial statements for the 2006 financial year will be prepared under IFRS, and will include recognition of revenue and a direct cost in respect of these payments. This is, of course, an accounting convention and has no implications for the company’s cash flow or operating loss.

Following the floatation of InterCytex Group on the AIM market by Piper Jaffray at 105p last week we intend to add this company to the Cambridge Index. The shares ended the week at 120p, the initial level for its introduction to the Index. The ticker symbol is ICX.L for those interested.