| Research and
development |
|
| The Group has a continuing commitment to a significant level
of application development investment. |
|
| During the year, development investment totalled £7.9m
(2002: £5.3m), representing 8.6% of turnover (2002: 8.8%).
All research and development expenditure is charged to the profit
and loss account as incurred. |
|
| This expenditure ensures that the application portfolio benefits
from the latest technologies and continues to address the current
and emerging customer business needs, thus protecting the market
position of the application offering and the potential for future
revenue generation. The Board’s commitment to development
is demonstrated by an average of 233 employees having been dedicated
to this area in 2003 (2002: 150) out of a total employee base
of 580 (2002: 430). |
|
|
| Payments to creditors
|
|
| Whilst the Group does not follow any specific external code
or standard on payment practice, the policy for all suppliers
is to fix terms of payment when agreeing the terms of each business
transaction and to ensure that the supplier is aware of those
terms. The Group seeks to abide by those terms whenever it is
satisfied that the supplier has met the contractual obligations.
At 30 April 2003 the number of days of trade creditors for the
Group, calculated by reference to the total amounts invoiced by
suppliers, was 46 days (2002: 67 days). |
|
|
| Share capital
|
|
| Full details of changes in share capital in the year are shown
in Note 21 to the financial
statements. |
|
| In the year, the Company issued 5,886,240 ordinary shares which
were purchased by General
Atlantic Partners at a price of 215p. In addition, 211,417
ordinary shares were issued as part of the consideration for the
purchase of Revive
Group Limited in November 2002. |
|
| Other than the directors, the Company has been notified of
the following interests in more than 3% of the issued share capital
of the Company at the date of this report: |
|
| _ General
Atlantic Partners L.P. – 12.8% |
|
| _ Fidelity International Limited and FMR Corporation –
11.1% |
|
|
| Annual General
Meeting |
|
| The Annual General Meeting will be held at the iSOFT offices
in Faraday Wharf, Aston Science Park, Birmingham B7 4BB starting
at 3.00pm on Wednesday 23 July 2003. The resolutions to be proposed
at the Annual General Meeting, together with explanatory notes,
appear in the separate Notice of Annual General Meeting sent to
all shareholders. The proxy card for registered shareholders is
distributed with the Annual Report and Accounts. |
|
| Auditors
|
|
| On 3 May 2003, RSM Robson Rhodes, the Group’s auditors,
transferred substantially the whole of their business to RSM Robson
Rhodes LLP, a limited liability partnership incorporated under
the British Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000. The directors
have appointed RSM Robson Rhodes LLP to fill the casual vacancy
arising and propose a resolution to re-appoint RSM Robson Rhodes
LLP as auditors to the Group at the forthcoming Annual General
Meeting. |
|
| Approval
|
|
| The Report of the Directors was approved by the Board on 26
June 2003 and signed on its behalf by: |
|
|
Tim
Whiston
Company Secretary
|
|
