AGM and Interim Management Statement
Revenue for the first 4 months of 2014 is significantly down on the same period last year. The principal reason for the decline in revenue is a reduction in demand for examination marking services, as stated in the 2013 Annual Report, resulting from the structural change to academic qualifications in the UK secondary education market.
At the time of the 2013 Annual Report we expected that some of the anticipated volume decline in the January and March UK examination series would be offset by increased volumes in the summer series, the revenue for which is recognised in the second half of the year. Now that the summer series has commenced it is apparent from the registration data that the volumes are materially lower than expected with full year volume likely to be 15% lower than last year.
In addition it is now understood that a prospective large international census client will undertake their count manually. This means that there are currently no large scale census or election revenue opportunities in the current year.
In the light of these developments appropriate cost reduction measures are being implemented to reduce the cost base of the business but the reduced level of revenue is likely to result in pre-tax profits being significantly below current market expectations.