Figured and LIC Announce Partnership

Figured and LIC Announce Partnership

Strategic partnership to deliver integrated technology solution to farmers

AUCKLAND, NZ. - November 25, 2014 – Figured, (www.figured.com), New Zealand’s innovative farm financial management software provider, and farmer-owned co-operative LIC (NZX:LIC) today announced a new strategic partnership combining LIC’s leading position in the herd improvement industry with Figured’s expertise in cloud-based farm accounting. LIC has also invested in Figured to secure a cornerstone shareholding, with an 18.8% equity stake, and an LIC director will also sit on the board.

“The partnership with LIC is an important endorsement of our vision of improving the business of farming. Our proven innovation in farm accounting and early market traction provides a compelling proposition for LIC,” said Paul Reid, Chief Executive of Figured. “By offering farm accounting in a cloud-based platform we enable the whole farming team to work together to monitor, re-plan and review financial performance and improve farm profit in real-time from any location.”

Launched in February 2014, Figured’s flagship product Figured on Farm is a complete cloud-based livestock reporting and cash-flow forecasting tool that integrates with Xero to allow livestock transactions, income and expenses to flow easily between both systems in real time. Xero’s farming software partner Figured has been instrumental in delivering farming specific tools to the Xero platform.

LIC Partnership to Provide Enhanced Information for Farmers

The partnership will provide enhanced information for farmers, accelerating the integration of the Figured on Farm accounting solution with LIC’s farm management software, MINDA.

“We’ve been really impressed by Figured’s technology innovation, team and relationship with Xero. The partnership aligns strongly with our strategy to improve the prosperity and productivity of our farmers,” said Wayne McNee, Chief Executive of LIC.

“MINDA is already used by a large number of New Zealand dairy farmers. As part of its future development we are committed to providing more information in real-time and are looking at ways we can work with others in the sector for better integration between systems. The partnership with Figured provides an opportunity for two way integration between our systems, allowing financial data to link seamlessly with the operational herd and farm information.”

Farming in the Cloud

Xero’s Rural Strategy Lead, Ben Richmond said, “We’ve been working closely with Figured this year to deliver on our ‘Farming in the Cloud’ solution, which brings real-time, single ledger reporting to the farming market for the first time. We’re right behind this partnership between Figured and LIC as it truly validates the ‘Farming in the Cloud’ solution and the work Figured is doing.”

Figured’s origins can be traced back to 2011 when two farmers and accountants, both employees of farm investment and management company MyFarm, saw a gap in the market for farm accounting software. “Simply there was no farm accounting package that met their requirements to give investors an accurate and up to date picture of their farms’ financial performance,” said Mr Reid. “MyFarm invested with them and a number of private investors to create a better solution which developed into Figured on Farm.”

Reid adds, “We’re very pleased to be working with LIC to expand our current product and develop new solutions for our customers. We’re also actively engaged with other key players in the rural ecosystem to look at opportunities to integrate information. We’re passionate about improving the business of farming.”

For more information, visit www.figured.com

ENDS

About Figured
Figured, (www.figured.com), New Zealand’s innovative farm financial management software provider, is the complete cloud-based livestock reporting and budgeting tool that works hand-in-hand with Xero to help farmers improve farm performance and profits. Figured, a Xero Farming Partner uses the power of the cloud to provide one set of real time financial information to the whole farming team - the farmer, the accountant, the banker and the farm consultant. Figured and Xero bring real time stock reconciliation, cash flow, forecast profit and loss, balance sheet movements, formal accounts and tax statements together on the same platform.

For more information visit http://www.figured.com

About LIC

LIC, (www.lic.co.nz), is a co-operative that provides a range of services and solutions to improve the productivity and prosperity of farmers. With origins dating back to 1909, LIC has a long history of providing genetics, herd testing and technology solutions. Today, the Waikato-based co-op employs more than 800 permanent staff nationwide, swelling to almost 2000 staff during its peak dairy mating season. LIC has offices and depots across New Zealand, and also in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and Brasil. With revenue in excess of $200 million per annum, all LIC profit is returned to its farmer owners/shareholders in products, research and development or dividends.

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