RNS Number:5066U
Marlborough Stirling PLC
22 January 2004


For immediate release                                         22nd January 2004

Marlborough Stirling plc

Business update


Marlborough Stirling today provides an update on

*         trading for the year ended 31st December 2003

*         the outlook for the year ending 31st December 2004


Trading for the year ended 31st December 2003



The group expects to report total turnover (including the group's share of
turnover from joint ventures) and pre-tax profits (before goodwill amortisation,
reorganisation costs and certain non-operating credits) for the year ended 31st
December 2003 in line with expectations.



In the second half of 2003, the group continued its recent strong track record
of cash generation and ended 2003 with higher net cash than at 30th June 2003, a
stronger working capital performance than previously anticipated. In addition,
Marlborough Stirling anticipates being able to reinstate dividend payments by
recommending a final dividend for the year ended 31st December 2003.





Outlook for the year ending 31st December 2004



The group enters 2004 with visibility for the year, in terms of contracted and
recurring turnover, currently standing at over #70m. Notable recent increases in
visibility include expansion in the range of services to be provided to Sun Life
Financial of Canada (SLFoC) during 2004 in addition to the core outsourcing
contract and a contract to deliver additional components to an existing UK Omiga
implementation related particularly to achieving compliance with impending
regulation.



The current year has started with encouraging levels of activity across the
business. In particular, the group is in exclusive negotiations in relation to a
number of contracts that it is confident will be secured in the near future.
Assuming successful conclusion of these negotiations, 2004 turnover visibility
would increase by around #10m.



Beyond these immediate prospects, the group anticipates securing further life
and pensions outsourcing business in the coming months and there continues to be
strong evidence in our pipeline of demand for our newer straight through
processing (STP) solutions. In addition, the group's mortgage business expects
increased activity in 2004 driven partly by strong demand for systems
enhancement to achieve compliance with UK mortgage industry regulation being
introduced in October 2004.



We also expect strong operational progress by the group's portal services
business this year as the range of new services supporting Exweb's
transformation into a full electronic trading platform are rolled out. Given the
nature of these new services it will not be until 2005 that significant growth
in turnover will be apparent.



Overall, progress in the above areas will offset the fact that certain existing
contracts are approaching maturity, meaning that, at this early stage in the
year, overall turnover for 2004 is expected to be similar to 2003.



Given the significant emerging demand for our STP solutions, we have decided to
invest additional research and development in these areas this year, such that
total research and development spend will be around #2m higher than 2003. We
expect the investment to be recouped through sales of these solutions over the
next two to three years.



Our projected run rate of costs for 2004 is similar to the average run rate for
2003, excluding the impact of securing any new outsourcing contracts that
involve the group in assuming personnel and/or infrastructure costs. This
primarily reflects cost savings made last year and further planned cost
reductions in relation to the SLFoC outsourcing contract, offset by increased
research and development expenditure, a planned increase in marketing spend in
support of in particular The Exchange and STP solutions and the impact of
inflation.





The group expects to announce its audited preliminary results for the year ended
31st December 2003 on Wednesday 3rd March 2004.





Further information

Marlborough Stirling                                      01242 547000
Huw Evans, Chairman & Chief Executive
Bob Beveridge, Finance Director


Citigate Dewe Rogerson                                    020 7638 9571
Toby Mountford
Alex Brown




                      This information is provided by RNS
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