iSoft warns of 'significant' NPfIT delays
30 Jan 2006 Click to see the

British healthcare software developer iSOFT has warned that delays in delivering software to the UK National Health Service would slash its previous revenue and profit forecasts.

In a trading statement this morning the company said that total full-year revenue generated from the programme is expected to be around 30m, about 55m pounds below previous expectations, with operating profit seen reduced by about 45m.

According to the trading update the Manchester-based company says that as a result of delays it no longer expects to see any revenue in the second half of the year from delivery of software to the NHS National Programme for IT.

"As has been widely reported, the National Programme for IT in the NHS in England has been experiencing a significant degree of rescheduling. The process to revise delivery plans and timescales within the programme is on-going. As a result it is now clear that delivery of iSoft application solutions to NHS trusts will occur, in general, later than previously expected by the company," the firm said.

The iSoft statement added: "The impact of the rescheduling process is likely to be that the phasing of revenues will be less concentrated in the earlier years of the programme than previously anticipated."

The warning had an immediate effect on the company's share price which at one point had plummeted to a three year low.

iSoft's warning follows a analyst briefing given by health IT services company System C on 25 January, at which the company warned that revenues were down due to delays caused by a "shortage of third party product to implement". Although it did not mention iSoft, System C is active in the three northern clusters using iSoft software.

Industry sources indicate that the delays and rescheduling are related to delays in the availability of the strategic Lorenzo software solution iSoft is contracted to provide for three of the five regions of NPfIT - North West and West Midlands, Eastern and North Eastern.

The delayed system is the second phase of the integrated strategic solution to be provided to NHS trusts under NPfIT [known as P1R2] incorporating functionality such as results and order communications, clinical noting and departmentals such as maternity, theatres and A&E.

Although almost 50 trusts have been provided with a version of iSoft's iPM patient administration system under NPfIT, with a few exceptions these have been community and mental health trusts with a pressing need for a PAS.

But with significant delays in the availability of the strategic P1R2 clinical solution, there is currently little new to offer more complex acute trusts and a growing gap has opened up in the implementation schedule once current implementation work has been completed.

In a statement CfH said: "Some LSP system deployment activity is being re-scheduled. It is because suppliers and their subcontractors, including iSoft, have taken longer than anticipated to deliver effective software solutions that interface with national applications such as the Spine and Choose and Book."

The statement added that in the context of a ten year programme the impact of the rescheduling was "not significant", and said suppliers did not get paid until they deliver. "Completion risk lies with suppliers. We continue to look to our prime contractors who are responsible for managing their software suppliers performance."

In its own statement LSP for the North West and West Midlands, CSC Alliance, told EHI: "Since the start of the National Programme for IT the CSC Alliance has, we believe, deployed more Patient Administration Systems across the North West and West Midlands cluster than the other LSPs working across the Programme. All of the CSC Alliance implementations have used the iSoft solution."

http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/item.cfm?ID=1670

I've never owned this dog! (no offence meant) I went short a couple of years ago but was a bit early. missed the boat on the short side in fact. I was considering buying in today for a short term bounce but I don't like the look of the balance sheet so have held off for time being. Might even go short next week, depends on funds etc.

btw, have you ever considered using stop losses Janet. Could save you a bundle. Not an easy habit to get into, but well worth it.

I don't own any GOO which is a pity as they seem to be the next VOG. good luck with it, I'll do some research on it and see if I can make a case for jumping on the bandwagon.

I do not understand stop losses. If you would like to give me some examples then i would aprreciate that. I think isoft could be rife to be taken over by a private equity firm. I did read a little white ago, that some of these firms were looking at isoft, but they were waiting for their results to come out. Now that this has happened today, I think that this now could be quite possible, allowing for todays news. Need to monitor this on a daily basis. need to think what sort of a view the private equitys firm may be taking over the fsa enquiry.

most takeover stories are ramps to allow city insiders to sell out into an active market. I wouldn't get your hopes up. The company is worth -120m approx according to Evil Knievel, so no one is likely to buy it. Goodwill is generally worthless when push comes to shove.

A stop loss is merely a predetermined price level at which you will sell your investment to prevent further losses. e.g. Buy at 100p, stoploss 90p. Sell if breaks through 90p. simple. If a share rises, you can raise the stop to your buy point for a break even trade if shares retrace and onwards to lock in profits.

Oh if only life were that easy. Market makers know people have stoplosses so they tend to shake the tree and manipulate prices hoping to trigger stops. You sell out only to find the shares soar a few days, hours or minutes later.

Some people use guaranteed stoplosses with brokers but these aren't always a good idea because of the above manipulation by MMs.

Still, in principle they are a very good idea. I'd read some investment books to find out more, starting with The Naked Trader by Robbie Burns.

Good luck!

thankyou bonfield I will try and get hold of this book.

bonfield, have a look at front page of saturdays financial times - isoft eyes bidders. headlines. it said several potential private equity and trade buyers are understood to have approached isoft to buy all or part of its business. What do you make of the news.

news just come out - Isoft attracting possible bidders citing bt group and us computer services corp.

wow, some bid story..... Like I said, you can ignore that piffle. If someone makes a bid I'll eat my hat....

bonfield I have still got my shares, I thought about selling today at 60 pence, but I did not. I really should have sold on friday when they went to .69pence. It is hard to know when to sell any shares. You can guarantee one thing and that is when I sell some shares that they always go up afterwards. I hope you are doing well with your holdings. especially if you have goo. I have a feeling about them that they are going to go up fast on good news. I am still clawing back losses that I made in may. Have you heard of the web sit www.britishbulls.com and the candles that tell you if the shares are bullish or bearish. if you have do you think this is good method to go by? I t would be nice to know when to sell, and when to buy. Good luck.

Janet, Candles may well be useful, British Bulls isn't - it is a very short term look at the charts, one day it could be a buy, the next a sell, and you probably wouldn't have been able to make any money on the share due to the spread and dealing costs. I am not a chartist, but some on this site are, and I'm sure one of them would be able to recommend a good book on the subject if you're interested in going that route - a much better starting place than British bulls in my opinion.

frampton thankyou for your comments on the candles. good luck

Janet, it's not really a comment on candles - which may well be useful if you understand them - but a critisism of British Bulls, which I can't believe can be useful to anyone! Good luck with finding a way to time your trading better.

whats occurring?

news just come out , to do with escaping fines. I have just offloaded 50,000 at 49.5p. I have 70,000 left now. I should have got up a bit earlier this morning, I slept in unusual for me. Pity I did not catch them at .53p. Have you still got yours bonfield? I keep hanging on there hoping someone may try to takeover the company, unfortunatly this does not seem to be happening at the moment. Good luck to those still holding.

I never had any, but I'm glad I wasn't short!

American computer company, Computer Sciences Corporation(CSC) said Thursday it had been awarded a nine-year contract by Britain's National Health Service valued at up to $3.73 billion.

good luck to them!!

they may have been, but clearly IOT has not!

35.5p today...lowest ever...but it will go lower cos anything associated with NHS is doomed.

hyle they did drop down to .30p at one stage last week. They need a takeover bid to get out of trouble. There has been a lot of talk over the past few months that they have been in talks with different companies, but it apears that these talks have not come to anything. Without positive news I think the shares are probably worth what they are at the moment. It was only a few weeks ago when you could have sold at .58p. Thinking back this was around three weeks ago. I do hold some myself.

Hyle have you still got your isoft shares? They seem to be on the way up again, after their big fall. They have been up to .44 today then they have dropped back down to the .40p mark at close. I was watching bloomberg tv the other morning and isoft was mentioned, the reporter said that they shold make good progress over the next two years. The day I was watching bloomberg tv, the shares were .34p per share and since then they have been up to the highest level off .4425p. good luck with this one. They were 1.17 in april this year.