Educational specialist RM has issued an update on trading for
the first half of the year revealing it is on track to meet its
expectations as the public sector continues to keep spending.
Last month the company issued an interim management statement
which revealed that its public sector customers had not curtailed
spending and this latest investor's update said that continues to
be the case.
It added that the second half of the year was usually strong
because of school spending.
"RM is a seasonal business, reflecting buying patterns in the
schools market: the majority of revenues and an even greater
proportion of profit occur in the second half of the group's
financial year," it stated.
Terry Sweeney, chief executive of RM, said that its long-term
contracts, particularly Building Schools for the Future deals, were
important to the company.
"We anticipate strong revenue growth in the first half of 2009,
reflecting previous investment in BSF bidding," he said.
The supplier also revealed that it had taken a £400,000 hit
because of its decision to restructure its software business into
Lightbox Education, which landed a two-year contract with the
Department for Children, Families and Schools earlier this
month.
This story originally appeared on
Microscope.
