blur Group is a technology company reinventing how businesses do commerce at blurgroup.com. Its Global Services Exchange delivers services differently: a new way to buy, manage and pay for core services. As of July 2013, more than 30,000 businesses in 141 countries have adopted this s-commerce platform and changed the way they work. 100 projects per month from companies like Broadridge, Coral, Exceed, HCA, Momentive, Red Commerce, the Financial Times, Berlitz, Butlins, GE Healthcare and Tyco are received. Over the same time, average brief value has grown from around US$1,500 in 2010 to US$10,800 in the first quarter of 2013. By mid-2013, more than 2,200 projects had been submitted with a combined value of over US$35 million. These have come from the US, UK, Europe, Africa and Asia with over 28,000 expert service providers on eight exchanges responding to them


http://blurgroup.com/

The Easter eggs will not taste quite the same for entrepreneur Philip Letts after he saw a cool £26million wiped off the value of his 47.6 per cent stake in blur, the AIM-listed global technology group he founded.


The shares crashed 41 per cent before closing 172.5p down at 280p, after publication of its full-year results for 2013 were delayed until May 20, rather than in early April as analysts had expected.


That was accompanied by worrying news that the board has changed guidance on revenues and revenue recognition.





Shares: Philip Letts saw a cool £26million wiped off the value of his 47.6 per cent stake in blur.



Letts sold 900,000 shares at £4 a pop in October, trousering £3.6million. He must wish he had sold more.

Gross revenues for 2013 are now indicated at up to £3.3million, against analysts’ forecasts of around £6million.


Full-year revenue expectations have had to be lowered because of delayed revenue recognition on several project bookings in 2013, which will now be recognised in the current financial year and beyond.






Analyst Robin Speakman at Shore Capital says his core concern is that revenue recognition has not matched cash flows.


He has pulled his forecasts and recommendation from consensus for blur and expects to make major changes in due course, possibly further deferring the timing of the inflection point of profitability and cash generation to a material degree.


He believes blur still has an interesting and potentially attractive business model that may yet dominate the services procurement space.


But the hyperbole of market penetration announcements must be matched by delivery to clients and investors alike.


With technology stocks both at home and in the US in a neurotic state, blur could not have chosen a worse time to put serious doubts in analysts’ and investors’ minds.




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-2607225/MARKET-REPORT-Philip-Letts-faces-bleak-Easter-shares-Blur-Group-tumble-delayed-release-revenue.html

Continues to fall.

blur Group building foundation for future revenue, says Liberum

By Giles Gwinnett

April 22 2014, 11:10am
Following last week's trading update, the broker has cut its full year 2013 revenue forecast by 42% to $5.4mln but keeps its 2014 revenues unchanged at $24.4mln



The increasing size and value of project's being managed on blur Group's (LON:BLUR) global exchange changes how the firm's revenues are recognised, notes broker Liberum, which rates the shares a 'buy'.

Following last week's trading update, the broker has cut its full year 2013 revenue forecast by 42% to $5.4mln but keeps its 2014 revenues unchanged at $24.4mln.

Since the second half of last year, multi-million dollar, longer time frame projects have started on the exchange, resulting in extended periods between project submission, kick-off and completion.

"Whilst earlier projects were small and would typically complete within a few months, the exchange has recently seen numerous projects in the $1m to $16m range which in some cases are expected to take over two years to complete," highlights analyst Janardan Menon.

The smaller projects required a 50% cash payment upfront but these initial payments are smaller for larger projects and further payments are milestone based, said the analyst.

As an example, blur in 2013 saw total bookings of projects starting valued at $22.2mln. But only about $5.4mln will be actually recognised as revenue in 2013 due to the delayed recognition of the rest of the revenue.

The remaining $16.8mln is expected to be recognised in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The change in revenue recognition policy is a result of the growing complexity and duration ( greater than 2 yrs) of the very large projects being submitted.

"It suppresses near term revenue growth but builds a foundation of revenue for future years. The underlying growth rate remains solid and usage by major corporates is increasing," says Liberum, which also cuts the price target to 600p from 700p based on a lower multiple of six times for enterprise value -to - sales ratio.

Shares dipped today 8.93% to stand at 255p each.

A mini recovery on the way, a couple of good rises in the last few days.

Nice to see DC, especially as the Seller's catching up with the Buy's, and the Price held well still, hopefully a good sign! Slowly and surely better than that rush to the Stars we saw earlier this year!!

Off 25% get out now.

Not in.....what do they do ?...it's an online yellow pages...we put you in touch with people who do the work for you....on a global scale...might be alright if you live in remote parts of the world.....trouble is...no profit probably for years and years for this company....

read the trading update ...... basically the company stinks for all sorts of reasons

Boy...do I regret not shorting it...might be too late to do so...

it's got a 15p spread and MM only
MM's only offering tranches of 2,000

sorry wrong thread what I just put...job to short Blur now...

Check out Earthport (EPO)...now that is promising....

50p would still be expensive imo.

Full-year results are due next, 20 May , so may take another bashing ? And a not to distant cash call on the horizon, dilution not good.

never had them don't want them,saw through the fog

Let it settle....and it might do what Blinkx is doing and rebound...might take a few weeks ....and the spread is quite wide...

100p looming.

818.50 its high.

Proposed Placing and Open Offer

RNS


RNS Number : 8756H

Blur Group PLC

23 May 2014



blur Group Plc

("blur Group" or the "Company")



Proposed Placing and Open Offer

and

Notice of General Meeting



blur Group plc (BLUR), a business services marketplace in the cloud at blurgroup.com, is pleased to announce that it has conditionally raised approximately $20.0 million (£11.9 million) (before expenses) through the issue of 15,873,015 New Ordinary Shares by way of a Placing at 75 pence per New Ordinary Share and up to a further $2.0 million (£1.2 million) through the issue of up to 1,587,314 New Ordinary Shares by way of an Open Offer at 75 pence per New Ordinary Share. N+1 Singer is acting as nominated adviser and broker to the Company in connection with the Issue.



The net proceeds of the Placing will be used to accelerate growth through investment in sales, technology, marketing and customer services and for working capital purposes to strengthen the balance sheet. It is the intention that any proceeds received by way of the Open Offer will be used for general working capital purposes.



The Placing Shares will represent approximately 37 per cent. of the enlarged issued share capital of the Company. The Placing Price represents a discount of 28.9 per cent. to the Closing Price of 105.5 pence per Ordinary Share as at 22 May 2014 (being the latest practicable date prior to the date of this announcement).



Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the New Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on LSE AIM. On the assumption that, inter alia, the Resolutions are passed, it is expected that admission of the New Ordinary Shares will become effective on or around 11 June 2014.



The Placing is conditional on, inter alia, the passing of the Resolutions at the General Meeting, including a special resolution which will give the Directors the required authority to disapply statutory pre-emption rights in respect of the allotment of the Placing Shares.



A General Meeting of the Company will be held at 12.00 p.m. on 10 June 2014 at the offices of blur Group plc, Eagle House, 1 Babbage Way, Exeter Science Park, Clyst Honiton, Exeter, Devon EX5 2FN.



Philip Letts, blur Group CEO, said:



"The support of our shareholders and new investors provides us with the funds to invest in areas which we believe will be the key drivers for future profitability, being sales, technology, marketing and customer services. The continued increase in bookings in 2013 and into 2014 illustrates our first mover advantage in the emerging services-commerce market, and underpins a stronger financial position in the long term. With 45,000 businesses on our Global Services Exchange, from 145 countries worldwide, we believe we have the foundation from which to build a world leading global technology company, addressing a significant market opportunity. We look to the future with confidence."



Copies of the circular, which will be posted to shareholders later today, will shortly be available on the Company's website (www.blurgroup.com) and will also be available at the Company's office at Eagle House, 1 Babbage Way, Exeter Science Park, Clyst Honiton, Exeter, Devon EX5 2FN.

Capitalised terms used in this announcement have the meanings given to them in the circular.

Final Results

RNS


RNS Number : 8764H

Blur Group PLC

23 May 2014






May 23, 2014

blur Group plc

("blur," the "Group" or the "Company")



Final Results



blur Group plc (BLUR), a business services marketplace in the cloud at blurgroup.com, is pleased to announce audited final results for the year ended 31 December 2013.



Operational Highlights



● Creation of global HQ in Exeter, UK supported by regional sales offices in US and London, UK

● Launch of blur 3.0 - multiple enhancements made to trading platforms including the re-architecture of the platform to support high volumes of briefs, projects, partners, experts and customers

● Project bands on the Global Services Exchange increased to receive projects of over $1m in Q1, rising again to $5m in Q3 2013

● In 2013, 2,086 new briefs were submitted, 169% up on 2012

● Successful share placing conducted in June 2013, raising $11.97m (£7.62m) before expenses



Financial Highlights



● Total project booking intake1 increased by $19.8m to $22.2m (2012 $2.4m)

● Revenue increased by 70.1% to $4.78m (2012 $2.81m)

● Gross profit increased by 58.9% to $1.16m (2012 $0.73m)

● LBITDA2 increased to $6.37m (2012 $1.81m)

● Cash balance as at 31 December 2013 of $9.56m (2012 $4.45m)



1The total bookings intake represents the project values (excluding listing fees) as agreed and confirmed by the customer in the year. It is used to measure the total expected revenue to be recognized over the life cycle of these projects and can include a proportion that is contingent, with revenues being recognized in the current and future periods, either over timelines or upon milestones being achieved. This booking value may change over time due to the scale, contingent elements and complexity of projects.



2 LBITDA is loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization.



Post Year End Highlights

● Proposed capital raising to raise approximately $20 million by way of a placing, and up to an additional $2 million through an open offer, to continue growth through investment in sales, technology, marketing and customer services, strengthen the Balance Sheet and take the Company through to profitability





Philip Letts, blur Group CEO, said:



"Our goal in 2014 is to firmly establish blur Group in the enterprise space, delivering consistently on a higher volume of projects. We will continue to attract and deliver for the small business at scale and increasingly cost effectively. Developments in our technology platform, embedded in our blur 4.0 launch, will deliver true enterprise levels of scalability and automation. We believe this move will provide organizations with the confidence to use what we call 'services-commerce' to source every aspect of the long-tail of their services procurement.


"We made good progress in 2013, but I strongly believe that we have only scratched the surface. We are confident that we are at the cusp of major, profitable growth as the benefits of s-commerce are experienced and understood by our markets. I look forward with confidence into 2014 and beyond."