Finzsoft on Track for Return to Black

For Immediate Release

15 August, 2008

Finzsoft on Track for Return to Black

NZX listed financial software provider Finzsoft is on track for a return to profit after the company confirmed a small loss for the 2007/2008 year to its shareholders at today’s (Friday) AGM.

Company chairman Don Hattaway predicted a small profit for the coming year despite the difficulties being faced by key Finzsoft customers in the finance sector.

He said much of the $329,000 loss for the 2007/2008 year could be attributed to one-off costs associated with the transition of a major new shareholder, ICT Investments, into the business.

``Those costs were around $300,000 while the partial takeover by ICT was part of a year of change for Finzsoft in 2008,’’ said Mr Hattaway. ``We saw the retirement of company founder and former Managing Director Barrie Shannon, after making a massive contribution to Finzsoft, we welcomed our new shareholder, opened our first Sydney office and appointed Keith McLaughlin to the Managing Director role.

``I think we are already seeing some of the benefits of those changes with a small profit likely for the coming year and exciting plans for further growth and expansion that should lead to a stronger performance from the company in future years.

Mr McLaughlin, the former CEO of Baycorp – a strong sharemarket performer throughout the 1990’s – who joined the company late last year after an extended period out of New Zealand said he was pleased with the progress made at Finzsoft in the past nine months or so.

``We’ve brought on more staff, further evolved the software capabilities of the base product and altered revenue streams to focus on sustainability rather than one-off fees for installing the software.

``While we are already the leading supplier of financial management software to the finance sector and market leader in motor vehicle financing I see significant opportunities for Finzsoft in New Zealand and offshore.’’

Mr McLaughlin said that although the current difficulties in the New Zealand finance sector have had some impact on the short-term performance on Finzsoft those clients retained the need for Finzsoft’s software to continue to manage their operations.

``We’d like to see new businesses coming in to fill the void in the sector in the medium to longer term and I’m aware of several large organisations which are currently looking at the gaps in the finance market as an opportunity. We will be talking to them about using our software.’’

Mr McLaughlin said over the next few months Finzsoft was concentrating on looking for new opportunities among the Building Societies and larger credit unions in New Zealand.

``We’ have a product that has been under continuous development since 1990 which offers a number of outstanding features. For example our software is unique in being able to provide full audit capability as well as managing and tracking all transactions and payment schedules.

``We’re also looking at diversifying the business into outsourcing, hosting and maintaining the hardware required and looking at international opportunities for our products. We are already making our presence felt in Australia with St George Bank and our recent RACV contract and I see further opportunities for us in Australia and beyond into Asia.

``There is no other product like our New Zealand developed software available in Australia and our software is backed by a track record of reliability and integrity. We also see opportunities for growth in our hosting capability and the use of our software in Australia as well as in Asia.

ENDS

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