LogicaCMG: RFID on the Threshold of European Breakthrough
LONDON, April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The key findings of an international study undertaken by LogicaCMG (LSE: LOG.L - news - msgs) ADVERTISEMENT


reveal that Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) is high on the agenda for European retailers, food manufacturers and logistic service providers. A majority of the companies interviewed in the Netherlands, UK, Ireland, Germany, France and Belgium, gave RFID top priority in terms of planned IT investment.

RFID is seen as the successor to barcoding. By using RFID it is possible to electronically identify and track objects, such as supermarket goods, without time delays or the need for human intervention. As a result, supply chain logistics are more streamlined and efficient and this ultimately leads to lower costs and higher revenues.

The study shows that half of the 50 companies interviewed in Europe have or are planning to deploy RFID pilot projects throughout 2004, with the vast majority planning to start implementing the technology within the next three years. A number of major retailers, such as Tesco (LSE: TSCO.L - news - msgs) (UK) and Metro (Germany) will initiate large-scale rollout of RFID. Whilst these projects will be finalised by 2007, the research indicates that companies will not begin to tag consumer products until 2008 when prices of tags will have naturally lowered. The focus for the moment is on Returnable Transport Items (RTIs), such as crates and pallets. The tagging of these RTIs will be standard as of 2005. The research highlights when and how RFID will be used on a large scale for RTIs within European retail supply chains. Due to the large variety of RTIs in retail supply chains, the management, recording and administration is both complex and labour intensive. RFID is set to eliminate these concerns.

Since RFID will have great impact on the processes and IT systems of companies, it is necessary that they thoroughly prepare themselves. The use of RFID with RTIs will only take place if the financial benefits are greater than the cost of implementation. The cost/benefit analysis part of the research showed that based on a tag price of 50 eurocents the handling cost per pallet could decrease by 8.5%. This leads to a payback period of between two and three years.

A majority of companies that have trailed RFID prefer the EPC (Electronic Product Code) network as standard for information exchange and UHF (Ultra High Frequency) as frequency. In the short term there are a number of issues that should be solved before RFID can be broadly adopted. First, the EPC network has not been finalised yet. Second, limitations in European legislation mean that the use of UHF technology is currently restricted. Finally, the software to integrate RFID in the existing IT infrastructure is not mature yet. LogicaCMG anticipates that by the end of 2004, the main issues will be resolved. As volume deployments will increase in the next few years, the cost of RFID tags will be naturally lower.

Paul Stam de Jonge, Director Sales and Marketing of LogicaCMG: 'The research shows that we are on the threshold of a breakthrough of RFID technology in the European market. The quick introduction of the EPC network is key for the broad acceptance and implementation of RFID. For this reason we, together with many organisations within the sector, have put a lot of effort in the definition of the EPC network."

Since the whole supply chain is involved, the RFID implementations of the large retailers in 2005 will have a great impact on the food manufacturers, logistic service providers and retailers. According to Paul Stam de Jonge 'the RFID implementations will lead to an irreversible process in the retail market. In the short term, it is therefore of the up most importance for companies to gain knowledge and experience with RFID'.

About RFID technology

RFID technology is based on a relatively simple concept. It consists of two elements that communicate through radio transmission - a tag and a reader. The tag contains a small chip and an antenna and can be placed on any object. The information on the tag, such as an identification number, can be transmitted to an RFID reader over a distance of a few meters. The readers are placed in various locations throughout the supply chain. RFID allows objects to be electronically identified and followed throughout the complete distribution chain.

There are two main reasons for the application of RFID technology in RTIs. On the one hand it allows RTI pool organisers and logistic service providers to electronically follow the RTIs. On the other hand it allows manufacturers and retailers to follow and identify products. Both reasons result in a higher cost-effectiveness.

The dominant position of the retailers in the supply chain means that they have a leading role in the uptake of RFID. The study shows that retailers are particularly interested in tracking at an individual product level. Tagging at pallet level is not as crucial as they are often only used to transport the goods to the distribution centre, as opposed to throughout the entire supply chain.

NOTES TO EDITORS
About the research
- The research is an initiative of LogicaCMG in close co-operation with
EAN Netherlands and ECR D-A-CH and is sponsored by Checkpoint Systems (NYSE: CKP - news) ,
Euro Pool System, Intermec, Omron, Zetes, SAS and Container
Centralen A/S
- The geographies researched were the Netherlands, UK, Ireland, Belgium,
France and Germany
- The study consisted of 50 in-depth interviews with potential users of
RFID technology (retailers, manufacturers, logistics service providers
and RTI pool organisers) as well as extensive desk research
- As it is expected that Returnable Transport Items (RTIs) will be fitted
with RFID relatively quickly, the study focused on the application of
RFIDs in pallets, crates and containers within the supply chain

About LogicaCMG

LogicaCMG is a major international force in IT services and wireless telecoms. It provides management and IT consultancy, systems integration and outsourcing services to clients across diverse markets including public sector, telecoms, financial services, energy and utilities, industry, distribution and transport. Formed in December 2002, through the merger of Logica and CMG, the company employs around 20,000 staff in offices across 34 countries and has nearly 40 years of experience in IT services. Headquartered in Europe, LogicaCMG is listed on both the London and Amsterdam stock exchanges (LSE: LOG; Euronext: LOG). More information is available from www.logicacmg.com.

About EAN Netherlands

EAN Netherlands plays an active and leading role in the promotion and implementation of the global, open EAN-UCC standards for automatic identification and electronic communication in the Netherlands. EAN Netherlands is a non profit organisation, with 5.800 member companies from 30 industry sectors, and is a member organisation of EAN International www.ean.nl.

About ECR D-A-CH

Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) is a joint initiative by manufacturers, retailers and other partners in the supply chain. ECR aims to improve processes and provide consumers with optimum quality, service and variety of products at the best price www.ecr.de.

LogicaCMG announced today that Celcom

Malaysia) Berhad, the premier
mobile telecommunications company in Malaysia, has gone live with a new
LogicaCMG prepaid solution giving 3 million subscribers access to the full
range of Next Generation messaging services.

EDS-led consortium finalises UK MOD information infrastructure contract
AFX


LONDON (AFX) - The UK Ministry of Defence said it has signed a contract with the Atlas Consortium, led by Electronic Data Systems Corp and Fujitsu Services, for the Defence Information Infrastructure Future project, the first stage of which is worth 2.3 bln stg over 10 years.

The whole contract is estimated to be worth some 4 bln stg.

The consortium was named preferred bidder for the contract earlier this month.

Key subcontractors on the project are General Dynamics Corp, EADSDefence and Security Systems and LogicaCMG PLC.

The project is aimed at replacing numerous information systems at the MOD with a single, more efficient infrastructure.

'It is intended to enable better communication between 340,000 military personnel and civil service staff and will connect and support 150,000 desktop PCs, laptops and other devices,' the MOD said in a statement.

newsdesk@afxnews.com

cw

LONDON, March 31

- LogicaCMG Software Processes Weather Images for East Asia

The first image from Japan's new weather satellite, MTSAT-1R, has now
been successfully received and processed. The image was uploaded by the NEC
Toshiba Space Systems, Ltd. (NTSpace) and LogicaCMG ground facilities at the
Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)'s Hatoyama centre, 100km north of Tokyo.

http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/20050331092000nu264.html

Tuesday April 12, 09:01 AM
LogicaCMG Locks Down GBP 31 Million Deal With the Metropolitan Police Authority

http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/050412/250/fg55q.html

UBS have increased their stake and now hold 12.12%

LogicaCMG today announced it has won a contract with DiGi
Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (DiGi), a prepaid mobile market leader in
Malaysia, to deploy Next Generation video streaming services in partnership
with Nextreaming and Inphosoft.


http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/20050419080000n7685.html

LogicaCMG today announced that it has been selected by the State of
Queensland as its whole-of-government software supplier for Electronic
Document and Records Management System (eDRMS), ....

http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/20050420090000nc481.html

LogicaCMG today announced that it has successfully implemented
a new billing system for SmarTone, Hong Kong's leading mobile operator in
multimedia services. The system was delivered in partnership with Convergys,
LogicaCMG's solution partner and the global leader in integrated billing,
employee care and customer care services.....

http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/20050421080000ng631.html

LONDON, May 3

LogicaCMG today announced that it has reached an agreement with T-Mobile
International to build and operate the next-generation portal for t-zones.
t-zones is a mobile internet service that connects mobile subscribers to more
than 1000 external applications and a rich array of content across several
countries.

http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/20050503080000ni036.html

Azhar, looks like ur on ur own here. must admit it is looking very good for 200 as Deutch have upgraded this to 190+ recently.

First Q order bookings up 37% over last year

18 May 2005

LogicaCMG Annual General Meeting: Update on Current Trading

Ahead of its Annual General Meeting for shareholders this afternoon in London,
LogicaCMG has issued the following trading update:

Results for 2005 will be presented under International Financial Reporting
Standards (IFRS). The comparable numbers for 2004, both full year and interim,
were released on 17 May, the impact of which was broadly similar to the
guidance given in March with our preliminary results.

Order bookings in the first quarter were very strong, up 37% over last year,
and we are currently in negotiation for several large contracts. The excellent
progress on orders reflects the benefits of the size and scale of the merged
company and our strategy of focusing on value propositions. Together with
completion of the Edinfor transaction at the end of April, this gives good
visibility of first half revenue and an increased order backlog.

Organic revenue growth, excluding Edinfor, is likely to be in the range of 4-5%
for the year as a whole, with the UK and Netherlands businesses performing
well. On a comparable basis, performance for the year is expected to show a
significant improvement over 2004. This will be weighted to the second half
when the benefits of restructuring in France and Germany should deliver
improved performance and the contracts won in the first quarter and with
Energias de Portugal (EDP) come fully on stream.

The UK business has achieved very good order intake in the first quarter. The
business continues to deliver strong margins, but shorter term time and
materials assignments have been subject to some rate pressure. We have also
grown strongly in the Netherlands where we have continued to win significant
opportunities. While we are still using a relatively high number of contractors
to meet short-term demand, we expect this to reduce through the year as we make
greater use of our offshore resources and recruit key skills.

We continue to make progress in improving the operating performance in Germany
and, while that market remains difficult, we expect a significant improvement
compared to 2004 as the year progresses. Our French business is performing in
line with the second half of last year as we continue to progress our
restructuring. As indicated in March, the first half of the current financial
year will also carry the estimated associated costs of ?2 million at the
operating profit level. We should begin to see the benefit of these actions in
the second half.

We have continued to recruit at our lower cost centres around the world and our
blended delivery model is proving increasingly attractive to customers wishing
to reduce cost and mitigate risk.

Wireless Networks trading to date has been consistent with our projection of a
more stable revenue stream backed by reduced operating costs and tight control
of discretionary spending. Good first half order intake increases our
confidence that revenue for the year will be slightly ahead of last year and
that in consequence profitability will be significantly improved.

At the Group level, therefore, we expect first half profit to be in line with
our expectations with the slightly lower contribution from IT services,
compensated by a better performance in Wireless networks.

In accordance with normal practice, the company will give a further trading
update in July before entering the closed period ahead of its interim results
which will be announced on 31 August 2005

Strong forward orders at LogicaCMG
MoneyAM
LogicaCMG said it expects results for the first half to be in line with its expectations.

It sees a slightly lower contribution from IT services but a better performance in Wireless networks.

The Anglo-Dutch software and IT services said order bookings were strong in the first quarter, up 37% on the same period last year.

It said visibility for first-half revenue is good.

The company also added that it was currently negotiating several large contracts without giving any further details.

It said that organic revenue growth, excluding Edinfor, is likely to be in the range of 4%-5% for the year, with the UK and Netherlands businesses performing well.

On a comparable basis, performance for the year, it said, is expected to show a significant improvement over 2004, which will be seen in the second half of the year after the completion of restructuring in its France and Germany operations, and should deliver improved performance.

The company also said it expected to reduce its relatively high number of contractors in the Netherlands

LogicaCMG wins 5-yr outsourcing contract from Aviva's Dutch unit Ohra
AFX


AMSTERDAM (AFX) - LogicaCMG PLC said it won a five-year outsourcing contract with an option for extension from Ohra, a unit of Aviva PLC's Dutch insurer Delta Lloyd.

No financial details were disclosed.

LogicaCMG will provide IT outsourcing services for all backoffice insurance systems. Nineteen Ohra employees will transfer to LogicaCMG.

amsterdam@afxnews.com

SINGAPORE, June 13 /PRNewswire/ -- LogicaCMG today announced that it has
been chosen as a solutions and
systems integration partner for Bridge Mobile, an alliance encompassing eight
leading Asia Pacific mobile operators, to go live with its inaugural regional
mobile services offering.



Bridge Mobile alliance, serving a combined subscriber base of
64 million, aims to facilitate a regional mobile infrastructure and a common
service platform. This platform will enable the creation and seamless
delivery of regional mobile services across all geographies and enhance the
quality of service to roaming subscribers of the member operators. The eight
operators in the alliance are SingTel Mobile (Singapore), SingTel Optus
(Australia), Airtel (India), Maxis (Malaysia), Telkomsel (Indonesia), Globe
Telecom (Philippines), Taiwan Mobile (Taiwan) and CSL (Hong Kong).

http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/20050613121500NV545.html

LONDON, June 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Comptel Corporation, a leading convergent
mediation, charging and
provisioning software vendor, and LogicaCMG, a leading global solutions and
IT services provider, today announced a formal outsourcing co-operation. The
arrangement will ensure high quality and cost-efficient operations for
Comptel, as well as flexible use of resources in order to respond to growing
market demand, mainly in the Middle East, Europe and growing markets in Asia
Pacific. As a result, Comptel expects to achieve enhanced operational
efficiency and cost savings from mid 2005 onwards.



Comptel will use LogicaCMG's global services delivery capability for
customer services and implementation. This agreement, which commenced in the
first quarter 2005, will re-inforce the existing long-term relationship
between the companies.

http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/20050615080000n8375.html

LONDON, June 20
LogicaCMG today announced that MTS (Mobile TeleSystems), Russia's largest
mobile operator, has awarded LogicaCMG a EUR5.9 million order - confirming
LogicaCMG as its preferred supplier of Next Generation Messaging solutions.
The new order is part of the framework agreement signed with MTS in September
last year. This new order builds on the first phase contract valued at EUR4.6
million, which saw LogicaCMG upgrading MTS' existing LogicaCMG Short Message
Service Centre (SMSC), and the deployment of LogicaCMG Wireless Service
Brokers (WSBs) and Multimedia Messaging Service Centres (MMSCs) in February
this year.

http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/20050620080000nc848.html

AMSTERDAM (AFX) - LogicaCMG PLC said it has won a six-year IT outsourcing order from Metronet Rail worth 18 mln stg.

LogicaCMG said the contract is to support and transform Metronet's IT network and desktop applications for its 5,000 employees.

As part of the deal, LogicaCMG will provide Metronet Rail with an enhanced IT service to support the out-of-hours work by engineers and other IT users.

Metronet Rail is a consortium of five companies, and is responsible for upgrading, replacing and maintaining two-thirds of London Underground's infrastructure, under a 30-year-old Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract which came into operation in April 2003.

amsterdam@afxnews.com

mrk/jfr

AMSTERDAM (AFX) - LogicaCMG PLC said it won a seven-year contract worth 22
mln stg to provide Thames Water PLC with billing services in Wales.
LogicaCMG will deliver IT services for Thames Water from its outsourcing
centre in Waterton near Bridgend, Wales. Other customers already being serviced
from the new Waterton offices include Welsh Water, Britannia Airways, Ofcom and
the British Council.
LogicaCMG will provide applications management, development and support,
mainframe and server hosting, data and voice network management services and
call centre infrastructure support to Thames Water in Wales.
The deal is expected to result in cost savings for Thames Water, starting
with a reduction and upgrade in the number of servers.

Recovery at LogicaCMG

LogicaCMG said it expects to see a significant improvement in its full year performance.

Operating profits came in line with market expectations in the first half.

In a trading update for the six months ended June 30th 2005, the group said its IT Services showed a continuing gradual recovery in the first half with very strong order taking. Wireless Networks produced a solid performance underpinned by resilience of the SMS market, it added

Group order intake was very strong in the first half, up 50% over last year.

It added that, as in previous years, cash flow was seasonally weaker in the first half from the effect of annual insurance premium payments with some additional impact due to the acceleration in revenue growth.

The UK performed well with the Industry, Distribution & Transport sector in particular showing a marked recovery from the last year and the Public Sector

continuing its strong trend. The group said some pricing pressure was felt in short term, time and materials assignments, notably in the Telecoms sector.

The Netherlands continued to achieve good revenue growth with Financial Services performing very strongly. The board said that while the group is still using a relatively high number of contractors to meet short-term demand, it expects this to reduce through the year as it makes greater use of offshore resources.

In Germany, the board said the market remains difficult, but it said it expects a significant improvement in the operating performance compared to 2004 as the year progresses. 'We are making good progress in Outsourcing and Financial Services but the Industry, Distribution and Transport market remains very difficult, slowing the return to profitability of the business.'

In France, the group carried through some reductions in the overhead structure in the first half as planned and focused attention on targeting pre-sales effort more effectively. The board expects to see the benefit of these actions progressively through the second half.

LogicaCMG also said it has continued to recruit aggressively in Bangalore where it expects to exceed 2,000 staff by year end and it is now commencing the next phase of campus development. The group has also outsourced a significant proportion of its own back office systems and processes to its offshore facility.

In Wireless Networks, revenues from the traditional text messaging (SMS) market are holding up better than originally expected as developing countries install capacity to meet demand and existing customers add IP-based functionality.

The group said revenues on a like for like basis were similar to the same period last year and, with the benefit of its reduced cost base, the group's business was marginally profitable. Good first half order intake increases confidence that revenue for the year will be slightly ahead of last year and that in consequence profitability will be significantly improved, it added.

Organic revenue growth for the group, excluding Edinfor, is likely to be at the top end of the previously indicated range of 4%-5% for the year as a whole, driven by higher start-up revenue on several outsourcing contracts in the first half, LogicaCMG said

The Times says "buy" LogicaCMG -

SHARES in LogicaCMG, the computer services group, have traded at an average price of about 175p over the past year. Stock has changed hands at the same average price over the past three years. Yesterday, as the firm posted a first-half trading update, the share price moved up from 187p to 187p. But while the shares sit at a value only barely above these averages, the company appears to be in a stronger position than at any time since the enthusiasm for all things IT imploded five years ago.

LogicaCMG is strengthening thanks to a combination of reasons. IT spending in general improved as economic activity picked up and the investment overhang created by the spending ahead of the millennium date change dissipated. LogicaCMG has helped itself by tapping into the popularity of outsourcing. All sorts of customers are understandably keen to reduce running costs, and outsourcing is a favoured route. It is only relatively recently that the company has begun to earn the full benefits of the merger of Logica and CMG. The deal was signed nearly three years ago. Integration issues occupied lots of time in the early days, but the winning of big contracts with the likes of Energias de Portugal, which the company doubts would have been possible pre-merger, is evidence that the benefits were worth waiting for.

LogicaCMGs strengthening prospects are not immediately evident in the sales numbers reported yesterday. Sales, the company said, grew at 11 per cent in the first half. But it also said that full-year sales would be up in the range of 4-5 per cent. The relatively rapid rebound in sales in the middle part of 2004 represents important context, however. The fact that LogicaCMG told investors that the total value of its order book rose by 50 per cent in the first half of this year adds to the good news. This also sends encouraging signals about the quality of earnings moving forward. It has increasing amounts of work slated in for several forthcoming years. Profits from mobile phone text-messaging software, meanwhile, are proving more resilient than was previously anticipated. Buy.