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Interim Results for the Six Months to 30 June 2007

Regulatory News Service from the London Stock Exchange Royal Tunbridge Wells, September 10, 2007. - Synchronica plc, the mobile synchronization and device management company, announces its interim results for the six months to 30 June 2007.

Highlights:

  • OEM contracts with SmartTrust and Sun Microsystems validate the business model
  • Successful fundraising of GBP 3.5 million
  • Increased revenue by 22 percent to GBP 0.8 million (2006: GBP 0.6 million)
  • Decreased loss by 25 percent to GBP 1.5 million (2006: GBP 2 million)
  • Mobile Gateway 3.0 wins mobile service award at the eco Internet awards 2007

Commenting on the progress in 2007, Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of Synchronica, said: "The hard work of the last 18 months, in which Synchronica has been transformed from top to bottom, has now begun to pay off. Our improved financial performance, as well as the major licensing deals we recently signed with Sun Microsystems and SmartTrust, are further evidence that our products are well respected and our strategy is correct. The Company is making significant progress, and we are confident that this will continue in the second half and beyond."

Synchronica is in the early stages of negotiating further OEM contracts with significant and well known device manufacturers that would, should they come to fruition, have a material positive impact on the prospects of the Company.

Chairman's Statement

During the first six months of 2007, Synchronica began to see the hard work of the past 18 months, in which the Company has been transformed into a wireless software products provider, bear fruit.

In March, Synchronica successfully completed the placing of 43.5 million new shares, raising GBP 3.5 million before expenses for use in accelerating the growth of our software business.

Review of Operations

Commercial interest in the Company's two products, Synchronica Mobile Gateway, which offers push email and synchronization for the mass market based on industry standards, and Synchronica Mobile Manager, a device management suite featuring over-the-air configuration, update, and security, has never been higher.

New business leads from device manufacturers, network operators, and other corporate customers have increased significantly as the commercial viability and strength of our offering has been recognized by the industry.

Contract Success

Evidence of this progress came, both in the period under review and soon after, with the announcement of two major OEM agreements.

In the period, SmartTrust, a leader in mobile device management solutions licensed a key component of our Mobile Manager Suite for a license fee of EUR 800,000 and entered a professional services contract with a value of up to EUR 200,000 per annum.

In August, Sun Microsystems, one of the largest infrastructure suppliers to the telecoms industry, licensed key elements of our Mobile Gateway product and intends to integrate our technology into multiple products. Synchronica will receive an initial license fee of USD 1.8 million upon acceptance of the first major version plus basic and per-incident support fees.

Potentially even more valuable, Sun can purchase additional per-user licenses of up to USD 2.40 per user per annum. The Sun Java System Communications Suite, one of the products which is scheduled to use our technology, provides over 240 million mailboxes to leading service providers and large enterprises worldwide. Sun claims to be the market leader in the service provider segment with 36 percent revenue share and 14 percent installed base share.

These two deals are the largest and highest profile in the short history of Synchronica as a software products company. Aside from their financial impact, these deals are a ringing endorsement of our technology and validate the positive competitive positioning of our products in the market.

Outstanding Product: Mobile Gateway

Synchronica is gaining traction in two particular areas with its Mobile Gateway software: OEM agreements with both service providers and device manufacturers and with network operators, particularly in emerging markets.

In both of these areas, potential customers are attracted to Synchronica by its unique combination of SyncML (OMA DS), which allows the synchronization of contacts and calendars, and the Push IMAP functionality which facilitates mobile email.

This combination of industry standards enables Mobile Gateway to support email and synchronization on a wide range of devices that extends beyond smartphones to mass market feature phones. Synchronica's competitive advantage is that, as we use open industry standards and do not require the installation of software on the device, we are not limited to the relatively small smartphone section of the market, but can address the whole market including mass market feature phones.

Emerging Markets Prospects

Support for mass market feature phones, however, is a particularly important driver of business prospects in emerging markets where Synchronica believes it is now well positioned for success. Typically these markets are characterized by a lack of wireline infrastructure to consumers and the low penetration of PCs. Synchronica offers a mobile, and cost-effective (from both the users' and operators' perspectives) alternative to accessing email in internet cafes.

Particularly in emerging countries, mobile phone penetration tends to be higher than PC penetration and is growing quickly; Synchronica is attracting increasing interest from network operators who recognize the value to their subscribers, and the additional revenue they can generate for themselves by offering subscribers access to their emails on their mobile phones, removing the need to go to an internet cafe. We have received a substantial number of requests both for information (RFI) and for quotations (RFQ) from emerging market operators during the period, and this continues.

Mobile Gateway Trial

We now offer a free 60-day trail of our Mobile Gateway at www.trymobilegateway.com. The level of take-up has been higher than we expected, and we have received many favourable comments from users, particularly from users of the much publicized Apple iPhone. This trial is an important element of our marketing and PR strategy and has raised the visibility of the company in the general media.

Changes to the Board

This is my first statement as Chairman; it was a pleasure to join the Board of Synchronica in April and to be elected Chairman in August 2007. My appointment followed the resignation of John Gunn, a longstanding member of the Board and former Chairman. My election as Chairman followed David Wickham's resignation as chairman. Both resignations resulted from the pressure of other business commitments, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank both for their contribution to Synchronica. The involvement of both John and David with Synchronica continues; John and his family remain significant shareholders in Synchronica, and David continues as a Non-Executive Director.

Financial Review

These interim results are Synchronica's first results based on international accounting standards (IFRS). The Company will make its first full disclosure under IFRS when it reports its results to 31st December 2007. Previously, we reported in accordance with UK GAAP. The impact of this change, which is small, is explained in the notes to the financial statements

I am pleased to say that revenue has increased by 22 percent compared with the same period in 2006, and this coupled with our reduced cost base has allowed us to narrow our losses by 25 percent, again when compared with the same period in 2006.

Our cash position was much improved by the fundraising in March 2007, and our rate of cash burn has declined.

Outlook

The recent licensing deals the Company has signed with SmartTrust and Sun Microsystems offer significant validation of the strength of our products and that our strategy for growth is correct. The upturn in interest in our products from network operators, service providers, and device manufacturers that we experienced in the first half acts as further evidence of this, and we are optimistic that this interest in our products can be converted into further contract wins and that the Company will meet market expectations for the full year.


David Mason
Chairman

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About Synchronica

Synchronica plc develops and markets synchronization and device management solutions for mobile operators, device manufacturers, and enterprises. Its product portfolio ranges from data synchronization (DS) to device management (DM), and firmware updates over the air (FOTA). Products include the mobile device management product set Mobile Manager Suite and the push email and synchronization solution Mobile Gateway. Headquartered in the U.K., with a development center in Germany and presences in the USA, Hong Kong, and Dubai. Synchronica plc is a public company traded on the AIM list of the London Stock Exchange (SYNC.LN). More information is available at www.synchronica.com

For more information, please contact:

Nicole Meissner
Chief Marketing Officer
Tel.: +44 1892 552 780
Mobile: +44 7977 256 412
Fax: +44 1892 552 721
nicole.meissner@synchronica.com




Press Contact

  • Nicole Meissner
    Chief Marketing Officer

    Tel.: +44 1892 552 780
    Mobile U.K.: +44 7977 256 412
    Mobile D: +49 173 6069 160

    Fax: +44 1892 552 721
    nicole.meissner@synchronica.com

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