3 February 2010

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or "the Company")

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM) the integrated IT Solutions and Managed Services Company announces that Chief Executive Graham Kingsmill and Chief Finance Officer David Memory have each purchased shares in the market as follows:

Graham Kingsmill purchased 12,272 ordinary shares at 81.5p per share on 2 February 2010, representing 0.05% of the ordinary shares of the Company in issue and now holds 60,272 (0.24%) in total.

David Memory purchased 8,588 ordinary shares at 81.5p per share on 2 February 2010, representing 0.03% of the ordinary shares of the Company in issue and now holds 56,588 (0.22%) in total.

Maxima has a total of 25,261,402 shares in issue.

For further information please contact: 

Maxima
Graham Kingsmill, Chief Executive Officer - 01242 211 211 
David Memory, Chief Financial Officer  - 01242 211 211 

Cenkos (Nominated advisor to the Company)
Stephen Keys - 020 7397 8900 

Smithfield
Reg Hoare / Will Henderson - 020 7360 4900 

2 February 2010

Maxima Holdings plc (‘Maxima’ or the ‘Company’)

Maxima Holdings plc (AIM: MXM), the integrated IT solutions and managed services business, is pleased to announce its unaudited half yearly report for the six months ended 30 November 2009.

Financial Highlights

• Revenues for the 6 month period were £26.2m (H1 2009: £28.3 m)
• Adjusted operating profit of  £2.9m* (H1 2009: £4.3m*)
• Adjusted profit before tax £2.6m* (H1 2009: £3.7m*)
• Loss before tax of £0.6m (H1 2009: profit £1.3m) after £1.3m of exceptional items
• Adjusted basic earnings per share  7.0p* (H1 2009: 11.0p*)
• Net cash flow from operating activities was £3.4m (H1 2009: £1.7m)
• The Group had net debt of £13.5m at the end of the period  (H1 2009: £17.5m; 31 May 2009: £15.5m)
• Net interest costs in the period totalled £0.3m, covered 9.7 times by adjusted operating profit*
• Interim Dividend of 1p per share (H1 2009: 2p)
• 60% recurring revenue (H1 2009: 54%)

(*before amortisation of intangibles, share-based payments and exceptional charges)

Operational Highlights:

• 58  new clients won during the period (H1 2009: 40) and strong contract renewal rate
• 4 new Microsoft Dynamics AX migrations
• 7 Microsoft Dynamics AX projects reached a live status
• 110 cross business selling orders signed
• Over £6.5m of multi year Network Infrastructure and Communication Service contracts placed by two customers
• 18 new Virtualisation Contracts won
• More than £1m of Business Intelligence orders placed by major UK banks
• Former QAD customers continue to invest in other Maxima solutions and services

Commenting on the results, Graham Kingsmill, Maxima's Chief Executive, said:
 
“We're progressing with our plan to simplify and focus Maxima's organisational structure in order to deliver greater value for our customers.  Our increasingly focused approach is continuing to attract significant attention and support from the major technology providers, who are eager to gain access to Maxima’s substantial customer base.
 
Although trading in the period was down on the previous year, there are encouraging signs of recovery across many parts of the business.  Enquiries, pipeline and order intake are steadily improving, and contribution from new sales hires is starting to have a positive impact.  Overall, today's results and the outlook are consistent with expectations for the year as a whole." 

Enquiries:

Maxima
Graham Kingsmill, Chief Executive Officer - 01242 211211
David Memory, Chief Finance Officer  - 01242 211211

Cenkos Securities plc
Stephen Keys - 020 7397 8926

Smithfield
Reg Hoare/Will Henderson - 020 7360 4900

Director’s Report - Chairman’s Statement

I am pleased to report that excellent progress has been made in executing the strategy presented in Maxima’s 2009 Annual Report by our CEO, Graham Kingsmill.  The company’s plan is on track:  we have continued to invest in those areas where we have identified strong growth potential, and - in line with our strategy - have cut costs in other areas.

Adjusted revenues and profits reported for the first half-year are in line with expectations for the full year following updated guidance issued in October 2009 at the time of the announcement regarding the ending of Maxima's agreement with QAD.    The fall in revenues and profits principally reflects more challenging trading conditions in the IT sector as well as the cost of the investment we are making in growth opportunities.  An increased level of recurring revenues reflects the high priority we have given to broadening and deepening long-term relationships with our customers.  Net debt at 30 November 2009 was better than previous market expectations at £13.5m (30 November 2008: £17.5m; 31 May 2009: £15.5m), reflecting good cash conversion, and comfortably within our banking facilities and covenants.

Maxima continues its consistent policy of returning a proportion of operating profits to shareholders as a dividend, whilst continuing to pay down our debt and retain the headroom to finance investment and acquisitions.  On 31 March 2010 the company will pay an Interim Dividend of 1p per share (H1 2009: 2p) to shareholders on the register on 26 February 2010. 

Once again I should like to thank all of our staff for their continued loyalty and commitment during a time of significant change, particularly as the company works to align its cost base to meet new business priorities.
In summary, the new management team have settled in well, our new business propositions are already proving successful, and Maxima continues to benefit from a large and loyal client base.  I am confident that the changes we have made to the structure and focus of the business position us well for the future.

Kelvin Harrison
Chairman, 1 February 2010

Director’s Report - Chief Executive’s Review
Introduction:

For the six months ended 30 November 2009, Maxima has made good progress towards delivering on its strategic plan presented in August 2009, focusing particularly on areas of core competence where the company can respond best to the demands of key customers.  Our sales and marketing activity is now driven around three main engagement routes:

• IT life extension and managed migration services
• Industry-specific business solutions, and the up-selling of our infrastructure offering
• Sales, support and enablement services with selected technology partners

We differentiate ourselves from competitors by concentrating on a limited number of industry sectors where Maxima has historic knowledge and experience, and through the provision of both Business Solutions and Infrastructure Enablement Services that allow us to offer customers real choice and solutions that support a variable investment scale.

We have also accelerated our plans to align Maxima with the largest and most influential technology partners, taking advantage of demand from customers for the supply of ‘IT-as-a-Service’, and offering an approved and complementary portfolio of products and services that will make Maxima the preferred partner.  As a result, we have now combined a number of core Maxima specialities and competences to create four clear value creation opportunities:

• Virtualisation Services
• Network Infrastructure and Communications Services
• Business Intelligence professional services in the Financial Services industry
• Microsoft Dynamics AX/CRM  “As a Service” for Construction, Manufacturing and Services Industries

We’re already seeing this approach prove successful, with highlights including:

• Growth in Virtualisation Services, with major Citrix orders in both Ireland and the UK
• Securing two major multi-year communications service contracts valued at over £6.5 million
• Winning a number of contracts from major banks for projects relating to our specialist Business Intelligence industry expertise
• Successfully migrated an additional 7 clients onto Microsoft Dynamics AX, and signed 4 new legacy migration projects

Maxima has also focused on delivering a reliable performance, managing headcount, and taking significant steps to reduce costs.  Adopting a centralised shared services function has made a big contribution, as has renewed focus on credit control – allowing us to invest in key areas such as Marketing and Business Development staff and processes that will drive growth for the future.  We’re also working to unlock additional business opportunities through new initiatives, including leveraging our skills to support Cloud Computing*, and setting up new Maxima Competency Centres to drive sales of our specialist capabilities in four key areas.

Over the last six months we have continued to align Maxima staffing levels with our stated business goals.  This process has seen the recruitment of 47 new employees into the business, bringing new skills and experience to strengthen our defined areas of competence, while overall staff levels have reduced by 44 over the period.  We have also started to make greater use of Maxima’s facilities in India to provide more affordable 24x7 services, which is proving a critical part of delivering our ‘IT-as-a-Service’ proposition.  Maxima serves over 1,400 clients, primarily medium-sized UK-based organisations with a turnover of between £5m and £500m.  Increasingly larger organisations are also now contracting with Maxima, particularly in areas where we have unique skills and competencies.

Customer examples include:  Orange UK, Mars, AG Barr plc, The Murphy Group and Caledonian MacBrayne

*Cloud Computing is an IT delivery approach that provides utility-style, on-demand IT applications and services, hosted on a virtualised infrastructure, and typically delivered across the internet or corporate network on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Market Conditions:

Maxima is addressing challenging market conditions by implementing new opportunity management and qualification processes.  Focusing on better quality opportunities has helped deliver an increase in our win rate, and improved our ability to deliver stronger margins.  More recently, there have been encouraging signs that volumes are increasing, complementing the improved win rate.

There has been some reduction in day rates for consulting services compared to the same period last year, but by concentrating on the higher value specialist services, Maxima has successfully controlled the impact on margins.  Customers are more risk averse, taking longer on technology selection and negotiation for new systems, however Maxima has benefited from having a large installed base with customers who are more comfortable investing with a supplier they already know - rather than taking a risk with new suppliers.

Maxima is also seeing an increasing interest in ‘on-demand’, cloud-based services – a technology area where the company is well positioned to succeed thanks to our deep expertise in cloud infrastructure such as communications, data centres, storage and hosting, applications skills, and our proven Managed Services capability.  We’re particularly well placed to support customers looking to supplement their existing IT operations with cloud initiatives, however, although interest is growing, we will continue in the short term to provide a balance between conventional and ‘IT-as-a-Service’ delivery models.

As previously announced, on the 20thOctober 2009 the company was informed by QAD that they intended to end a long standing distribution partnership with Maxima, indicating that they were going to sell direct to customers rather than through Maxima.  Although this was disappointing news, it is encouraging that many of the customer relationships will be maintained as Maxima has been successful in cross-selling many other products and services unrelated to QAD.  Maxima takes pride in the customer relationships derived through the QAD product, which in many cases have been active for 10 years or more.  As a result of our good service reputation, we believe that many customers will remain loyal to the Maxima brand and will continue to invest in other business solutions and services offered by the company.

Operating Review:
The financial year started with the appointment in June 2009 of a reorganised operational management team reporting into me.  The team is divided into two parts, covering customer-centric sales and delivery teams as well as a central shared services operation.  The delivery teams are in turn divided into two groups, Business Solutions and Support Enablement Services, each accounting for approximately 50% of the business in terms of revenue and staff distribution.  The new team has bedded in well, with momentum picking up in August and performing well through to the end of the first half.  The recipe of new management combined with the entrepreneurial experience of existing management has worked well, supporting an improved level of success in cross selling contracts.  There has also been a greater emphasis placed on growing existing customers, working closely with key partners and winning new business.  Highlights include:

• Continuing to maintain the support of existing Managed Services customers who have renewed and extended services with Maxima – including two multi-year service contracts valued at over £6.5m which were part of a group of existing and new customer wins relating to our specialist Network Infrastructure and Communications capability
• Growth in Maxima’s virtualisation capability, including contracts with Dublin City Council and Towergate  – delivered by our Support Enablement Services team
• Concentrated efforts to drive the partnering relationship with Microsoft has paid dividends with 7 customers migrating to Microsoft’s Dynamics AX technology, and 4 new legacy migration contracts signed with organisations such as nPower
• New contracts placed by major banks wanting to access Maxima’s specialist domain expertise in Business Intelligence technology from SAP and Oracle
• Centralised Maxima shared service functions making a big contribution helping to minimise costs, recruit new skills and generate new opportunities
• Focused efforts in credit control resulting in a very pleasing level of cash collection, enabling net debt to be reduced ahead of expectation to £13.5m
• New investment in partner management has supported greater partner collaboration, resulting in new pipeline opportunities being generated and - very encouragingly - new orders being placed including one contract worth approximately £0.5m from IBM
• Investment in new marketing staff and management, enabling the roll-out of a re-branding programme, simplification of marketing messages and a refresh of all communications media

Maxima continues to have high visibility of future revenues with 60% recurring revenues from support and managed services in the period, high levels of repeat business and a good order book for project work.  We have a broad spread of clients across a number of industry sectors with a good mix of transaction values – all helping to ensure that our risk profile is manageable.  While the current economic climate has driven a small number of customers to either reduce or cancel services, we have had very few customers that have been forced out of business.  Maxima’s business strategy is to provide exemplary levels of customer service around market-leading solutions - leading to high levels of customer retention.  We have also adopted a policy of working closely with any customers who are experiencing trading difficulties, and this has resulted in any potential customer and financial losses being minimised.

Financial Results in Summary:

• Revenues for the 6 month period were £26.2m (H1 2009: £28.3 m)
• Adjusted operating profit of  £2.9m* (H1 2009: £4.3m*)
• Adjusted profit before tax £2.6m* (H1 2009: £3.7m*)
• Loss before tax of £0.6m (H1 2009: profit £1.3m) after £1.3m of exceptional items
• Adjusted basic earnings per share to 7.0p* (H1 2009: 11.0p*)
• Net cash flow from operating activities was £3.4m (H1 2009: £1.7m)
• The Group had net debt of £13.5m at the end of the period  (H1 2009: £17.5m; 31 May 2009: £15.5m)
• Net interest costs in the period totalled £0.3m, covered 9.7 times by adjusted operating profit*
• Interim Dividend of 1p per share (H1 2009: 2p)
• 60% recurring revenue (H1 2009: 54%)

(*before amortisation of intangibles, share-based payments and exceptional items)

Trading results:
Revenues for the half year to 30 November 2009 decreased from £28.2m to £26.2m, notwithstanding the £0.8m impact of 1 extra month of trading from DXI which was acquired on 1 July 2008.  The largest contributor to this is a decline in product revenues, whilst a smaller decline in consulting revenues was partly offset by an increase in recurring revenues.  Consulting and product sales have been lower in most areas, reflecting the general market conditions, though we have seen some improvement in consulting sales relating to Microsoft AX implementations.  Recurring revenues have also been strong, particularly in the Support Enablement Services Division and now account for 60% (H1 2009: 54%) of total revenue.  Gross margins have also declined from 69% to 68%, largely in the product sales, but also as we see some pressure on day rates for consulting compared to a year ago.

Administration expenses reduced by £0.3m to £14.9m.  The underlying reduction after allowing for the DXI acquisition was £0.7m with savings principally in people and property costs.  The reduced gross profit described above, less the effect of the reduction in administration expenses gives rise to a reduced earnings before interest, tax, amortisation, share based payments and redundancy and re-organisation costs of £2.9m compared to £4.3m for the first six months of last year.  Amortisation of intangibles was £1.8m (H1 2009: £2.0m), a reduction that reflects the fact that intangible assets valued on the acquisitions of 3Net and Centric have now been fully amortised.

(Loss)/Earnings per share and dividends
Basic loss per share was 2.2p (H1 2009: earnings 3.9p).  Adjusted earnings per share, before amortisation, share based payments and exceptional redundancy and reorganisation costs, fell to 7.0p (H1 2009: 11.0p). An interim dividend of 1.0p per share will be paid on 31 March 2010, to shareholders on the register at close of business on 26 February 2010.

Cashflow and net debt
In the 6 months, the Group generated £3.4m of cash from operations, against £1.7m last year. This reflects stronger cash collection and net debt consequently reduced to £13.5m, down from £15.5m at 31 May 2009.

The Group finances its operations through a mixture of cash generation and related retained profit, and a mix of medium and long term bank facilities with Barclays Bank plc, to ensure that sufficient liquidity is available to meet its foreseeable funding requirements.  The Group’s facilities are floating rate and it uses interest rate instruments to hedge its interest rate risk on borrowing where appropriate.  The Group had committed borrowing facilities of £18.25m at 30 November 2009, comprising a £3.5m term loan facility, repayable in seven instalments until 31 May 2013, a £13.75m revolving credit facility repayable by 31 May 2013 and a £1.0m overdraft facility.  £15.3m was drawn under these facilities at the year end.  Cash balances at the year end were £1.9m, which allows £4.8m of headroom.  At 31 May 2009, £4.0m of the group’s interest rate risk was hedged for the period to 30 June 2010 and a further £4.0m was hedged for the period to 30 November 2011.

Outlook:
The last period has been one of considerable change for Maxima, as the business adjusts and adapts its operating activities to an evolving business climate.  At the core of Maxima is a loyal and committed customer base, which we’re pleased to say has continued to invest its trust and money in the combined skill, knowledge and experience of Maxima staff, and our vision for the future.

I believe that the work we have done in focussing on our core competences means we have an excellent platform from which we can take advantage of future opportunities and there are encouraging signs of recovery across many parts of the business.  Enquiries, pipeline and order intake are steadily improving, and contribution from new sales hires is starting to have a positive impact.  Overall, progress has been made across Maxima and we are excited by the prospects for the Company. 

Graham Kingsmill
Chief Executive Officer, 1 February 2010

Independent Review Report to Maxima Holdings plc

Introduction
We have been engaged by the company to review the financial information in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30 November 2009 which comprises the consolidated interim income statement, consolidated interim statement of comprehensive income, consolidated interim balance sheet, consolidated interim statement of changes in equity, consolidated interim cash flow statement and notes 1 to 8 to the interim financial statement.  We have read the other information contained in the half-yearly financial report which comprises only the highlights and the Director’s Report and considered whether it contains any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the information in the condensed set of financial statements. 

This report is made solely to the company in accordance with guidance contained in ISRE (UK and Ireland) 2410, 'Review of Interim Financial Information performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity'.  Our review work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company those matters we are required to state to them in a review report and for no other purpose.  To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the company, for our review work, for this report, or for the conclusion we have formed.

Directors' responsibilities
The half-yearly financial report is the responsibility of, and has been approved by, the directors.  The AIM rules of the London Stock Exchange require that the accounting policies and presentation applied to the financial information in the half-yearly financial report are consistent with those which will be adopted in the annual accounts having regard to the accounting standards applicable for such accounts.

As disclosed in Note 1, the annual financial statements of the group are prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union.  The financial information in the half-yearly financial report has been prepared in accordance with the basis of preparation in Note 1.

Our responsibility
Our responsibility is to express to the company a conclusion on the financial information in the half-yearly financial report based on our review. 

Scope of review
We conducted our review in accordance with International Standard on Review Engagements (UK and Ireland) 2410, 'Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity' issued by the Auditing Practices Board for use in the United Kingdom.  A review of interim financial information consists of making enquiries, primarily of persons responsible for financial and accounting matters, and applying analytical and other review procedures.  A review is substantially less in scope than an audit conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) and consequently does not enable us to obtain assurance that we would become aware of all significant matters that might be identified in an audit.  Accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion. 

Conclusion
Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the financial information in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30 November 2009 is not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the basis of preparation described in Note 1. 

GRANT THORNTON UK LLP
CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
GLASGOW
1 February 2010

The maintenance and integrity of the Maxima Holdings plc website is the responsibility of the Directors: the interim review does not involve consideration of these matters and, accordingly, the company's reporting accountants accept no responsibility for any changes that may have occurred to the interim report since it was initially presented on the website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of the interim report differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Click here for full Interim Results for the six months ended 30 November 2009 

15th December 2009

Maxima Holdings plc - Half Year Trading Update - Notice of Results

Maxima Holdings plc (“Maxima” or “the Company”), the IT business systems and managed services company, today announces a trading update for the half year ended 30 November 2009 and its notice of results.

The second quarter has seen improved sales performance including new customer wins such as npower, whose subsidiary SPI Ltd committed to an implementation of Maxima’s Contract Management Application based on the Microsoft Dynamics AX software. In addition, two of Maxima’s largest customers have committed to multi-year contract renewals, together valued in excess of £6.5m.  As well as this, focused activity in relation to Maxima’s virtualisation expert services has resulted in a number of contract wins including a major Citrix project with insurance service provider Towergate.

Dialogue with QAD has continued following the news that the long-standing distribution agreement will not be renewed in January 2010. Priority has been given to the interests of customers who in many cases use Maxima products and services in addition and unrelated to QAD, enabling Maxima to retain and grow ongoing business opportunities. Reductions to our cost base have been made to take account of this change and overall market conditions.

Trading is in line with current market expectations for the financial year as a whole. The Company is pleased to report good cash generation and as a result has reduced net debt to £13.5m as at 30 November 2009 (31 May 2009: £15.5m). 

Maxima will announce its half yearly report for the six months ended 30 November 2009 on 2 February 2010. A further update on current trading will be provided at that time.

Maxima CEO, Graham Kingsmill said: “We continue to make pleasing progress with our plan to simplify and focus the organisational structure of Maxima in order to offer more concentrated value to customers.  We also continue to attract attention from the major technology providers, eager to gain access to Maxima’s substantial customer base.”

For further information please contact: 

Maxima 
Graham Kingsmill, Chief Executive Officer - 01242 211 211
David Memory, Chief Financial Officer  - 01242 211 211

Cenkos (Nominated advisor to the Company)  
Stephen Keys  - 020 7397 8900

Smithfield 
Reg Hoare / Will Henderson  020 7360 4900

30 November 2009

Click here for TR-1: Notification of major interests in shares

26 November 2009

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or "the Company")

Maxima confirms that its Annual Report for the year ended 31 May 2009 has been sent to shareholders and is available on the Company's website at www.maxima.co.uk

In addition, an application has been made for the admission of 2 ordinary shares in the Company to the AIM market, to rectify a previous discrepancy. Admission is expected to take place on 2 December 2009.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
David Memory - 01242 211211

Cenkos - Nominated Advisor to the Company
Stephen Keys / Beth McKiernan - 020 7397 8926
 
Smithfield 
Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900
 

24 November 2009

Click here for TR1 Notification of Major Interest in Shares

20 October 2009

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or "the Company"), the IT business systems and managed services company, has today been advised that its agreement with QAD Europe BV for distribution of QAD Enterprise Software will not be renewed when it expires on 31 January 2010.  Whilst Maxima has been an award winning distributor for QAD and is the only distributor of QAD software in the UK and Ireland, Maxima has been informed that, following a change to QAD's business model, QAD will service its clients directly from 1 February 2010.

Maxima continues to have Distribution Agreements and strong relationships with other leading enterprise software vendors including Microsoft, SAP and Oracle and will be redirecting its resources to mitigate the impact of QAD's decision. As announced on 24 September at the time of its AGM, the Company's focus on further improvement in service and solution delivery continues to win new business and the Directors are pleased with the progress of the Group.

Despite this progress and the mitigating actions to be taken, the Directors expect this decision by QAD to have an adverse effect on revenues and profits for the current financial year. At this time, the Directors estimate the impact on current year adjusted operating profits to be up to £1.3m. A further update on current trading will be issued following Maxima's half year ending 30 November 2009, in mid-December.

For further information please contact: 

Maxima
Graham Kingsmill, Chief Executive Officer - 01242 211 211
David Memory, Chief Financial Officer - 01242 211 211

Cenkos (Nominated advisor to the Company) 
Stephen Keys - 020 7397 8900 
Smithfield - Reg Hoare / Will Henderson - 020 7360 4900

25 September 2009
 
Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company")

The Annual General Meeting of Maxima Holdings plc ('Maxima'), the IT business systems and managed services company, was held yesterday. All the resolutions contained within the Notice of the Meeting were duly passed.

For further information please contact:

Maxima
Graham Kingsmill, Chief Executive Officer - 01242 211211
David Memory, Chief Financial Officer - 01242 211211

Cenkos
Stephen Keys - 020 7397 8900
 
Smithfield
Tania Wild - 020 7360 4900

Embargoed until 0700, 24 September 2009

Maxima Holdings plc, the IT business systems and managed services company.

At the Annual General Meeting of Maxima Holdings plc (AIM: MXM) to be held at the Company's offices at Cotswold Court, Lansdown Road, Cheltenham, GL50 2JA at noon today, the Chairman Kelvin Harrison will update shareholders on current trading as follows:

"I am pleased to report that the new management team has settled in well and our plan to give Maxima greater focus on core areas of strength is already showing promising signs of success. The month of August produced the highest monthly sales bookings so far in 2009 confirming our belief that trading remains consistent with market expectations for the full year. We have increased our efforts in cash collection which is supporting the board's cash flow and net debt expectations for the full year. As part of our plan to simplify Maxima we have sold a small part of our communications service business, which was non-core to our support enablement services practice, while further activity to rationalise non core functions within the business is on-going.

"Contracts with new customers have improved compared with the same period last year with first-time orders for Maxima solutions and services from 31 new customers. Enhancing our annuity revenue, a total of 26 multi-year contracts were completed and there were 49 examples of cross selling where existing customers made purchases from Maxima's wider solution and service enablement portfolio.

"We have continued to drive for improvement in service and solution delivery. Some customers have experienced difficulty as a result of the economic downturn and we do all we can to assist them through the provision of a more cost effective IT service delivery. Other customers are enjoying greater success: AG Barr, the FTSE 250 Scottish based soft drinks manufacturer and distributor, signed a major contract with Maxima in August to migrate their existing MFG/PRO ERP business system to QAD Enterprise Applications 2009. This is designed to equip manufacturing companies with robust financial capabilities, supply chain management, enterprise asset management, and transportation and logistics management. Although we continue to invest heavily in sales and marketing at this time, Maxima will continue to put customer value and quality at the top of our agenda."

A further update on current trading will be issued following Maxima’s half year ending 30 November 2009.

For further information please contact:

Maxima
Graham Kingsmill, Chief Executive Officer 01242 211 211
David Memory, Chief Financial Officer 01242 211 211

Cenkos (Nominated advisor to the Company)
Stephen Keys 020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Tania Wild / Reg Hoare 020 7360 4900

Embargoed until 0700

4 August 2009

Maxima Holdings plc (“Maxima” or the “Group”)

Maxima Holdings plc (AIM: MXM), the IT business systems and managed services company, today announces its preliminary results for the year ended 31 May 2009.

Financial Summary

• Results in line with revised market expectations
• Revenues up 21% to £56.6m (2008: £46.7m)
• Recurring revenues remain strong at 56% (2008: 52%)
• Adjusted* profit before tax £7.1m (2008: £8.9m)
• Loss before tax £9.6m (2008: profit £5.2m) includes the impact of exceptional items
  and goodwill impairment
• Adjusted* earnings per share 21.2p (2008: 26.3p); basic loss per share 36.8p
  (2008: earnings 15.1p).
• Proposed final dividend of 2.5p (2008: 3.6p); total dividend of 4.5p (2008: 5.6p) – in line with policy to pay out a proportion of operating profit to shareholders as dividends
• Net debt at 31 May 2009 of £15.5m (2008: £8.6m) following £8.5m net cash outflow on acquisition of DXI in June 2008
  *before amortisation, impairment, share based payments, exceptional costs and fair value charges.

Operational Summary

• DXI Networks Ltd acquired 2nd July 2008 and subsequently integrated
• 87 new clients won, spread across the business and industry sectors
• Important Board changes in April 2009:
  – Appointment of Graham Kingsmill as Chief Executive
  – Appointment of David Memory as Chief Finance Officer
  – Kelvin Harrison appointed Chairman
• Growth in recurring revenues to 56% (2008: 52%) of total revenue
• Major contract extensions at DVLA, Orange and a major UK bank
• Secured the 2nd largest Citrix Xen Desktop virtualisation implementation in Europe

Kelvin Harrison, Maxima’s Chairman said: “This has been a year of major change for Maxima, against a backdrop of difficult market conditions, however we have continued to deliver strong operating profit margins. I am confident that the changes in business focus, direction and organisation introduced by the new CEO Graham Kingsmill, position us well for sustained organic growth.”

An analyst presentation will be held at 9:30 this morning at the offices of Smithfield Consultants, 10 Aldersgate Street, London EC1A 4HJ

For the full results PDF click here

Investor Presentation - Preliminary results -  August 4th 2009

For further information please contact:

Maxima
Graham Kingsmill, Chief Executive 01242 211211
David Memory, Chief Finance Officer 01242 211211

Cenkos
Nominated Advisor to the Company - Stephen Keys/Adrian Hargrave 020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Tania Wild / Reg Hoare / Will Henderson 020 7360 4900

16 July 2009

Maxima Holdings plc

Maxima Holdings plc ('Maxima' or the “Company”), the IT business systems and managed services company, announces the resignation of Boris Huard, Chief Operations Officer, from the Company and the Board with effect from 31 July 2009. The Company does not intend to recruit to replace this position.

The Board would like to thank Boris for his commitment and the important contributions he has made to Maxima. We wish him well for the future.
For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Graham Kingsmill, Chief Executive - 01242 211211

Cenkos
Stephen Keys / Adrian Hargrave - 020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Reg Hoare / Tania Wild / Will Henderson
020 7903 0641

www.maxima.co.uk

01 June 2009
Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or "the Company")

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM) the integrated IT Solutions and Managed Services Company announces that Chief Executive Graham Kingsmill and Group Finance Director David Memory have each purchased shares in the market as follows:

Graham Kingsmill purchased 23,000 ordinary shares at 84p per share on 29 May 2009, representing 0.09% of the ordinary shares of the Company in issue and now holds 48,000 (0.19%) in total.

David Memory purchased 23,000 ordinary shares at 84p per share on 29 May 2009, representing 0.09% of the ordinary shares of the Company in issue and now holds 48,000 (0.19%) in total.

Maxima has a total of 25,261,402 shares in issue

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison - 01242 211211

Cenkos - Nominated Advisor to the Company
Stephen Keys - 020 7397 8926

Maxima Holdings plc (“Maxima” or “the Company”)

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM) the integrated IT Solutions and Managed Services Company announces that, pursuant to the Company's Dividend Reinvestment Plan, Boris Huard, Chief Operations Officer, increased his shareholding in the Company by 1,256 ordinary 1p shares on 14 October 2008 at a price of 155p per share and by a further 1,333 ordinary 1p shares on 13 May 2009 at a price of 83p per share. Boris Huard now holds 57,485 ordinary 1p shares in the Company (representing 0.23% of the total shares in issue).

(Maxima has a total of 25,261,402 Shares in issue)

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Graham Kingsmill - 01242 211211

Cenkos – Nominated Advisor to the Company
Stephen Keys  - 020 7397 8926

Smithfield
Tania Wild / Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900

29 April 2009

Maxima Holdings plc (“Maxima” or “the Company”)

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM) the integrated IT Solutions and Managed Services Company announces that newly appointed Chief Executive Graham Kingsmill and Group Finance Director David Memory have each purchased shares in the market and been granted LTIP awards as follows:

Graham Kingsmill purchased 25,000 ordinary shares at 58p per share on 28 April 2009, representing 0.10% of the ordinary shares of the Company in issue.

David Memory purchased 25,000 ordinary shares at 58p per share on 28 April 2009, representing 0.10% of the ordinary shares of the Company in issue.

The Remuneration Committee has granted the following conditional nil cost share awards to Directors under the Maxima Holdings PLC Long-Term Incentive Plan (the 'LTIP') approved by shareholders on 19th September 2008.

In accordance with the rules of the LTIP, LTIP awards were granted on 27 April 2009 at a price of 53p per ordinary share (the closing share price on 24 April 2009) as follows:

Name                           Number of Ordinary Shares subject to the LTIP Award

Graham Kingsmill     509,434
David Memory            377,358

The shares subject to the LTIP awards will be released and become exercisable in three years time subject to continued employment and the satisfaction of performance criteria.

(Maxima has a total of 25,261,402 Shares in issue)

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison - 01242 211211

Cenkos
Nominated Advisor to the Company - Stephen Keys  - 020 7397 8926

Smithfield
Tania Wild / Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900

27th April 2009

Maxima Holdings plc (“Maxima” or “the Company”)

Appointment of Chief Executive, Group Finance Director and other board changes

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM) the integrated IT Solutions and Managed Services Company is pleased to announce the following board changes with immediate effect:

• Appointment of Graham Kingsmill, formerly Chief Executive of Netstore plc as Chief Executive;
• Appointment of David Memory, formerly Chief Financial Officer of Netstore plc as Group Finance Director;
• Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive of Maxima since its flotation in 2004 moves to the position of Chairman and will continue to be actively involved in the Company’s development;
• Michael Brooke, Chairman since flotation becomes Senior Independent Director;
• John Taylor as previously announced has resigned as Group Finance Director and will be leaving the Company on 31 May 2009.

Graham Kingsmill (49) was Chief Executive of Netstore plc, then an AIM listed company, from July 2007 until its acquisition by 2e2 Group in October 2008. Netstore provided IT Application Management, Hosting and Security Services.  He was previously Managing Director (UK and Ireland) of SAP, a provider of enterprise management software to many of the worlds largest companies  Prior to that, Graham held senior sales and general management positions with IBM, PTC and Intergraph, primarily in the area of computer aided design tools.  He currently holds no other directorships and holds no shares in Maxima Holdings plc. 

David Memory ACA (49) was Chief Financial Officer of Netstore plc from September 2007 until its acquisition by 2e2 Group.  He was previously Group Finance Director of Tie Rack plc/Ltd from 1995 until 2007.  During that time, he played a leading role in the privatisation of the business and then its subsequent private sale in 2007 and also in adding new fascias to the Tie Rack group, both through an acquisition and partnership with other brands.  David qualified with Deloitte Haskins & Sells (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) and stayed with the firm for 15 years working in audit, internal risk management and on advisory work. He currently holds no other directorships and holds no shares in Maxima Holdings plc. 

Graham and David worked together to achieve a substantial improvement in shareholder value at Netstore plc in the 11 months from September 2007 to the level of the sale in an offer valued at £58m to 2e2 Group.

Kelvin Harrison, Chairman of Maxima said: “I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Graham and David to Maxima and thank Mike for his considerable input at the helm of the Company for the past five years. With Graham and David’s appointments we are both strengthening our senior team and bringing new skills to the Group. We look forward to working together to further develop the Maxima business over the coming months and years.”

For further information, please contact:

Maxima - Kelvin Harrison - 01242 211211

Cenkos – Nominated Advisor to the Company - Stephen Keys - 020 7397 8926

Smithfield - Tania Wild / Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900

Listed below are the names of companies of which Graham Kingsmill has been a director at any time in the past five years. He is no longer a director of any of these companies:

Netstore Limited (formerly Netstore plc)
Netstore Security Ltd
Oakmore Holdings Ltd
GW 1264
System Software Solutions
SAP (UK) Ltd
SAP Ireland Limited

Listed below are the names of companies of which David Memory has been a director at any time in the past five years. He is no longer a director of any of these companies:

Netstore Limited (formerly Netstore plc)
Netstore Group Ltd
Gantock Business Solutions Ltd
Netstore (UK) Ltd
Netconnect (UK) Ltd
Netconnect e-commerce Ltd
Netconnect International Ltd
Netstore Security Ltd
Netstore Systems Ltd
Netconnects Ltd
Renaissance Virtual Software Ltd
Electricmail Ltd
Cassium Technologies Limited
Netstore Managed Services Limited (formerly Netstore Managed Services PLC)
Oakmore Holdings Ltd
GW 1264
System Software Solutions
Frangi Investments Limited
Tie Rack Limited
Tie Rack Trading Limited
Frangi Handbags Limited
Frangi Accessories Limited
Frangi Luggage Limited
Frangi Card Services Limited
Associated Investments Limited
Vitek Limited
Tie Rack Belgium SA
Tie Rack Espana SA
Tie Rack Holland BV
Tie Rack Luxembourg SA
Tie Rack Denmark AS
Tie Rack Japan Co Ltd
Tie Rack Portugal LDA

There are no other details to be disclosed under Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules.

16th April 2009

TR-1: Notifications of Major Interests in Shares

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attached: Maxima Holdings Plc

2. Reason for the notification (please place an X inside the appropriate bracket/s):

An acquisition or disposal of voting rights: (   X  )

An acquisition or disposal of financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached: (     )

An event changing the breakdown of voting rights: (     )

Other (please specify) : (   )

3. Full name of person(s) subject to notification obligation: Liontrust Investment Services Limited

4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3) :

5. Date of transaction (and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached if different): 7/4/2009

6. Date on which issuer notified: 9/4/2009

7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached:5%

8. Notified Details:

A: Voting rights attached to shares

Class/type of shares: if possible use ISIN CODE 
Situation previous to the triggering transaction
Number of shares:1,257,156 
Number of voting rights: 4.98%
Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Class/type of shares if possible use ISIN CODE 

Number of shares:
Number of voting rights % of voting rights:
Direct - Below Reportable Level 
Indirect 
Direct -  Below Reportable Level 
Indirect

B: Financial Instruments:

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Type of Financial instrument 
Expiration date 
Exercise/ Conversion period/date 
No. of voting rights that may be acquired (if the instrumentexercised/ converted) 
% of voting rights

Total (A+B)
Number of voting rights - Below Reportable Level 

% of voting rights - Below Reportable Level

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable :

N/A

Proxy Voting:

10. Name of proxy holder:

11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold:

12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights:

13. Additional information:

14. Contact name:Adrian J McCrory

15. Contact telephone number:020 7412 1730

For notes on how to complete form TR-1 please see the FSA website.

16th April 2009

TR-1: Notifications of Major Interests in Shares

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attached: Maxima Holdings Plc

2. Reason for the notification (please place an X inside the appropriate bracket/s):

An acquisition or disposal of voting rights: (   X  )

An acquisition or disposal of financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached: (     )

An event changing the breakdown of voting rights: (     )

Other (please specify) : (   )

3. Full name of person(s) subject to notification obligation: Herald Investment Management Limited

4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3) : Bank of New York (OCS) Nominees Ltd on behalf of Herald Investment Trust PLC

5. Date of transaction (and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached if different): 9/4/2009

6. Date on which issuer notified: 16/4/2009

7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached: 10%

8. Notified Details:

A: Voting rights attached to shares

Class/type of shares if possible use ISIN CODE 
Situation previous to the triggering transaction
Number of shares 2,337,000 
Number of voting rights: 9.31%

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Class/type of shares if possible use ISIN CODE:GB00B034R743    
Number of shares:
Number of voting rights: Indirect: 2,587,000   
% of voting rights: Indirect : 10.24%

B: Financial Instruments
Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of Financial instrument 
Expiration date 
Exercise/ Conversion period/date 
No. of voting rights that may be acquired (if the instrument exercised/converted) 
% of voting rights

Total (A+B)
Number of voting rights: 2,587,000
% of voting rights: 10.24%

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable : Herald Investment Management Limited, a discretionary investment manager, is the parent undertaking of an investment management business.

Shareholder : Herald Investment Trust (in the name of Bank of New York (OCS Nominees Limited) 2,587,000 / 10.24%

Total for Funds under management of Herald Investment Management Limited 2,587,000 / 10.24%

Proxy Voting:

10. Name of proxy holder:

11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold:

12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights:

13. Additional information:

14. Contact name: Andrew Miller

15. Contact telephone number: 020 7553 6308

For notes on how to complete form TR-1 please see the FSA website.

1st April 2009

Maxima Holdings plc (“Maxima” or the “Company”) 

Maxima Holdings plc has issued 161,708 ordinary 1p shares in the Company under the earn out provisions of the sale and purchase agreement relating to the acquisition of Centric Networks dated 19th July 2007.  Application has been made for the new shares to be admitted to AIM and admission is expected to take place on 7th April 2009. Following admission the Company has an issued share capital of 25,261,402.

 

30 March 2009

Maxima Holdings plc ('Maxima' or the “Company”), the IT solutions and managed services business, announces the resignation of John Taylor, Group Finance Director, with effect from 31 May 2009. He is leaving to join another quoted company as Chief Finance Officer. His duties are being transferred to an interim manager and recruitment of a permanent replacement is in hand.

The Board would like to thank John for the contributions he has made to Maxima since joining last July and wish him well in his new position.

 

23 March 2009 

Maxima Holdings plc

Maxima Holdings plc ('Maxima' or the “Company”), the IT solutions and managed services business, is pleased to announce the appointment of Robin Williams ACA (51) as a Non-executive Director of the Company with immediate effect.  He will also serve as Chairman of the Audit Committee.

Robin obtained an engineering degree from Oxford before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Peat Marwick Mitchell and then moving into corporate finance.  He spent 10 years with County Bank, UBS Philips & Drew and Salomon Brothers before co-founding Britton Group plc.  As CEO of Britton, he grew the business to £250m revenues within six years, before selling to a competitor. He was then an executive Director of Hepworth PLC, with a leading role in the rationalization and subsequent sale of the group. He has subsequently held various public and private company directorships across a range of industries including business services.

Robin is currently Chairman of Killby & Gayford Group Ltd and a non-executive director of Constantine Group plc and London Linen Supply Ltd.  There are no other details to disclose under schedule 2(g) of the AIM rules. He has no interest in any shares in the Company.

Mark Morris and Kim Nicholson have both resigned as Non-executive Directors of the Company.  The Board should like to thank Mark and Kim for the contributions they have made to Maxima during their tenure.

Commenting on the appointment, Mike Brooke, Chairman, said:
“I am delighted to welcome Robin onto Maxima’s board.  His wealth of experience of finance, general management and M&A activities is directly relevant to Maxima.”

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
John Taylor, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000

Cenkos
Stephen Keys/Adrian Hargrave - 020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Reg Hoare / Tania Wild / Will Henderson - 020 7360 4900

18 March 2009
 
Maxima Holdings plc (“Maxima” or the “Company”)

Maxima Holdings plc (AIM:MXM), the integrated IT solutions and managed services provider, today announces a trading update.

In its Interim Report for the half year to 30 November 2008, Maxima reported that the recession was causing difficult trading conditions.  Although trading in the Company’s third quarter has been in line with expectations, our budgets for the fourth quarter, our most significant trading period, now anticipate a slippage in performance.  This reflects an increased level of customer caution in our markets, delays in decision making and down-sizing of new business opportunities.  As a result, the Company now expects that the results for the year to 31 May 2009 will be below market expectations. 

The underlying business continues to perform well, with high levels of renewals of support and managed service contracts.  Costs are being managed in line with revenue expectations in order to maintain good operating margins.  The Company continues to be cash generative and net debt continues to reduce.  We continue to believe that the diversity and spread of our offerings and client base, together with our strong operational management and sales organisation, position us resiliently relative to many of our competitors.

The Directors expect to provide a further update following the year-end.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
John Taylor, Group Finance Director -0141 880 1000

Cenkos
Stephen Keys/Adrian Hargrave - 020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Reg Hoare / Tania Wild / Will Henderson - 020 7360 4900
 

 

17 March 2009

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company") Birmingham Investor Day

On 19 March 2009, Maxima will be presenting at a Growing Companies Investor Day in Birmingham.  This is the first in a series of events being arranged around the country by The London Stock Exchange to bring together senior management of listed and quoted companies with private client stockbrokers, wealth managers and regional pension funds.

On the day, Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive of Maxima will be presenting the Company's strategy and future growth opportunities. No new information will be divulged.

Details of the events can be found by clicking here

For further information, please contact:

Maxima - Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
John Taylor, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000
Cenkos - Stephen Keys/Adrian Hargrave - 020 7397 8900
Smithfield - Reg Hoare / Tania Wild / Will Henderson - 020 7360 4900

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company") 

Maxima Holdings plc announces that it was informed on 10 February 2009 that Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive of the Company, has transferred 1,000,000 shares to his wife on 10 February 2009 at nil consideration.  He remains beneficially interested in the shares and his beneficial interests remain unchanged at 3,690,029 shares representing 14.75% of the issued share capital.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima                                                
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211 211
John Taylor, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000  

Cenkos                            
Stephen Keys / Adrian Hargrave - 020 7397 8900

Smithfield                                            
Reg Hoare / Will Henderson - 020 7360 4900

Maxima Holdings plc (‘Maxima’ or the ‘Company’)

Maxima Holdings plc (AIM: MXM), the integrated IT Solutions and managed services business, is pleased to announce its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 November 2008.

Financial Highlights:

• Revenues up 34% to £28.3 million (H1 2008: £21.1 million), with good like for like organic growth
• Recurring revenues represent 54% of total revenues
• Adjusted operating profit* up 8% to £4.3 million (H1 2008: £4.0 million)
• Profit before tax of £1.3 million (H1 2008: £2.0 million)
• Adjusted* profit before tax of £3.7 million (H1 2008: £3.6 million)
• Adjusted*, fully diluted earnings per share up 7% to 10.9p (H1 2008: 10.2p)
• Dividend of 2p per share (H1 2008: 2p)
• Net debt at 30 November 2008 of £17.3 million (30 November 2007 £9.3 million)
  (there was a £11.2 million net cash outflow on acquisitions between 30 November 2007 and 30 November 2008)

*pre-amortisation of intangibles, share based payments and exceptional charges

Operational Highlights:

• 40 new clients won across our diverse range of sectors during the period (H1 2008: 35) and strong contract renewal rate
• 7 clients now live with Microsoft Dynamics AX solution for the construction and facilities management sector
• Acquisition in July 2008 of DXI Networks Ltd, Infrastructure Managed Services provider
• Opening in October 2008 of a new purpose-built 24x7 integrated network operations and customer support centre in Great Leighs, Essex
• Invested in strengthening management, having cut staff and property costs to realise efficiency savings

Commenting on the results, Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive, said:

“The business has always exhibited seasonality, resulting in a stronger second half; this trend is expected to continue.  We also expect net debt  to fall in the second half. We have experienced an increased level of caution in our markets and given the macro-economic conditions, it is prudent to expect this to continue. 

“We remain confident that the diversity and spread of our offerings and client base, together with our strong operational management and sales organisation, position us resiliently in a difficult market.  Our high levels of recurring revenues and cash conversion give us the robust financial foundations from which to continue to deliver against our goals.”

Enquiries:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
John Taylor, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000
Cenkos Securities plc - Stephen Keys/Max Hartley - 020 7397 8926
Smithfield - Tania Wild/Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900

Notes to editors:

Interim results for the six months ended 30 November 2008

Directors Report - Chairman’s Statement
 
I am pleased to report good interim results.  Maxima responded well as market conditions continued to toughen over the period.  Revenues, adjusted operating profits* and adjusted fully diluted earnings per share* were ahead of the prior year.  Cash collection was good with net debt in line with plans at 30 November 2008; debt is falling and this trend is expected to continue in the second half.  The Company’s principal loans are committed until 2013 and interest cover is strong.

Like-for-like organic growth continues as Maxima realises the benefits of integration of its carefully selected acquisitions.  Early in the period we acquired DXI Networks Ltd, a specialist network managed services provider, which has been integrated with our existing infrastructure managed service business.  We have refocused our value propositions to demonstrate to clients how we can bring a rapid return on investment, reduced operating costs and increased service levels.  Whilst we have invested in strengthening management, we have cut other staff and property costs to realise efficiency savings across the group. 

Maxima has a declared policy of returning a proportion of operating profits to shareholders as a dividend, whilst prudently conserving cash to finance acquisitions and investment.  I am pleased to announce that in line with this policy an interim dividend of 2.0p per share (H1 2008: 2.0p) will be paid on 13 May 2009 to shareholders on the register on 14 April 2009.

The business has always exhibited seasonality, resulting in a stronger second half; this trend is expected to continue.  As announced in the trading update issued on 15 December 2008, we have experienced an increased level of caution in our markets and given the macro-economic conditions, it is prudent to expect this to continue. 

In summary, we remain confident that the diversity and spread of our offerings and client base, together with our strong operational management and sales organisation, position us resiliently in a difficult market.   Our re-focused value propositions meet our clients’ current needs, but also place us well for when conditions begin to recover.  Our high levels of recurring revenues and cash conversion also give us the robust financial foundations from which to continue to deliver against our goals.

* pre amortisation of intangibles, share-based payments and exceptional charges

Michael J Brooke, Chairman, 2 February 2009

Directors Report - Chief Executive’s Review

Introduction
Maxima has continued to drive its strategy of organic and acquisitive growth and despite difficult market conditions has once again delivered good results.  It is more than two years since we completed our portfolio of offerings and we now enjoy the benefits of both breadth and scale.  We offer IT solutions and managed services across the three main sectors of the software industry: Information Management, Business Applications and Systems Infrastructure.  We continue to be alert to the evolving needs of our clients in each of the industry sectors in which we operate:

• Manufacturing & distribution (40%)
• Public sector & utilities (19%)
• Service industries/other (16%)
• Financial services & insurance (15%)
• Construction & facilities management (10%)

We now have almost 500 staff operating from eight offices across the UK, plus one in Ireland and one in India.  We serve well over 1,000 clients, primarily medium-sized UK-based organisations with turnover of between £5m and £500m, with whom we have a cultural affinity. Critically, our support services are provided on a fully staffed 24x7 basis supporting client sites around the clock and around the globe, principally from our new purpose-built network operations and support centre in Great Leighs, Essex. 

I am particularly pleased that senior appointments made over the course of the last two years have facilitated process improvements and tightened integration of our businesses across the sales, delivery and administrative functions. All the above factors, together with the benefits of scale that we now enjoy, have positioned us well to cope with the current recession.

Market Conditions
Surprisingly given that the UK economy has now entered a recession, industry analysts Ovum continue to forecast growth in the UK Software and IT Services markets in the UK in 2009.  They are predicting a softening of growth in the £8 billion UK IT project services market in 2009 to 2.9% (2008: 3.8%) and in the £5.4 billion UK software market to 4% (2008: 4.9%).  Within the software market, Information Management is predicted to grow at 5.5%, Business Applications at 3.5% and Systems Infrastructure at 4%.  We believe that these forecasts may prove to be optimistic, as were their forecasts for 2008.   (Source: Ovum Market Trends January 2009). 

Merger and acquisition activity in the technology sector fell steeply in the final quarter of 2008.  Valuations fell throughout 2008 reflecting stock market trends.  2009 activity levels are expected to be considerably lower than 2008 and characterised by increasing numbers of divestments by larger corporates. (Source: Regent Associates Annual Review of European Technology Acquisitions: January 2009).

Maxima’s estimated market share remains at less than 1%, whilst financially weaker competitors are being undermined by the onset of recession, both of which factors provide a significant opportunity for us. Our total new client opportunities and gross pipeline value has increased substantially during the period but macro-economic conditions are leading to lengthening sales cycles, notably with some delays in decision making on some of the larger opportunities. Inevitably price competition has also heightened.   We therefore remain wary about the negative impact of market conditions on our business.

Operating Review
Our objective is to foresee and direct our resources to match these market conditions.  This being in terms of:
a) R & D investment: core development of an enterprise software solution for the construction and facilities management sector based upon Microsoft’s flagship Dynamics AX technology was completed during the period and Microsoft accreditation was achieved.  The solution was formally launched in June 2008 and seven clients are now running the system live, with excellent user feedback.   In Information Management we continue to invest in and build our Microsoft Sharepoint business and have launched a Compliance Portal which combines Sharepoint technology with some of our established proprietary document management products; two sales of this solution have so far been achieved.
b) Marketing and Sales: we operate with a single fully integrated marketing and sales team.  Efforts during the period have concentrated on focusing our value propositions on today’s business issues which has resulted in increased cross-sales of our solutions and services into our large and diverse client base. 
c) Efficiency of Delivery: we continue to build our skills base by a combination of cross-training and specialist recruitment.  In particular we have been investing in extending our skills in enterprise resource planning (Microsoft Dynamics AX), collaboration and content management (Microsoft SharePoint) and virtualisation (VMware and Citrix Xen).  At the same time we have proactively reduced costs by consolidating several of our smaller offices and managing out under-performing staff.
d) M & A: the number of acquisition opportunities available at realistic prices has begun to dwindle in recent months.  However, we anticipate an increasing flow of divestments and distressed sales in the coming months and will engage where we find opportunities to create significant shareholder value with low levels of risk.

Maxima continues to have high visibility of future revenues with 54% recurring revenues from support and managed services in the period, high levels of repeat business and a good order book for project work.  We have a broad spread of clients by both sector and scale of revenues, ensuring our risk profile is manageable with no significant individual exposures.  We have a low dependence on hardware and software license revenues (18% of amounts invoiced in the period).  Also, as a result of cross-training we are able to flex our labour force in response to evolving market opportunities in order to keep up utilisation levels and hence profitability.

Our two operating divisions, Maxima Solutions and Maxima Managed Services, have both grown organically on a like-for-like basis, winning significant new clients.  They operate common processes, share central support functions and cooperate closely with each other in delivery.  Our ability to offer integrated solutions and services across the technology spectrum is attractive to our clients as it reduces the burden on their in-house IT teams, who are often over-stretched.

Maxima Solutions embraces our Information Management and Business Solutions practices and won 14 new clients during the period:
In Information Management we have strengthened our partnership with Business Objects, the leading Business Intelligence software vendor now owned by SAP.   We have had successful projects in both the public and private sectors, notably an information warehouse and dashboard project delivered to The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration providing visibility on youth offending in support of initiatives by the Scottish Government to reduce youth crime and re-offending.
In Business Solutions we supply solutions based upon technology from leading vendors such as QAD, SAP and Microsoft.   We were once again honoured as QAD’s “Partner of the Year” in recognition of having the highest sales of their software and have recently had major new implementations and upgrades with clients such as Ryvita/Jordans Cereals, Michell Instruments and Acheson Industries.  We also continue to achieve substantial repeat business from the many clients who run their businesses using our “own brand” enterprise software products.

Maxima Managed Services won 26 new clients during the period across the private and public sectors in the UK and Ireland, as well as high levels of contract renewals, including some multi-year contracts.  The Business Applications support team has had continued success with both Oracle and IBM mainframe technologies.  The Systems Infrastructure project and support teams benefitted from the integration of the skilled staff and facilities of DXI Networks Ltd, which was acquired in July 2008.  Major new projects include a 3-year contract to integrate and support the E-commerce trading platform of Towergate Insurance Ltd.  We continue to augment our Software as a Service (SaaS) capabilities and a major supplier of alternative energy systems has extended the scope of their SaaS contract with Maxima.

Fundamental to Maxima’s business strategy is to provide exemplary levels of customer service around market-leading solutions, leading to high customer retention.  In both operating divisions, rates of client attrition continue to be very low and comparable with previous years.  It is the skills, experience and flexibility of our staff that drive this and once again, we should like to thank them for their hard work and commitment.

Financial Results in Summary
The Group has continued to trade well, with revenues, profits and earnings per share all up on the first half of the prior year.   Seasonality has historically resulted in a stronger second half-year and this trend is expected to continue.

• Revenues for the 6 month period have risen 34% to £28.3m (H1 2008: £21.1 m), with good like for like organic growth.
• Gross profit increased 27% to £19.6m (H1 2008: £15.4m) (This is driven by the mix of business)
• Adjusted operating profit increased by 8% to £4.3m* (H1 2008: £4.0m*).  (The reduction in operating margin is attributable to three factors: the investment in senior management, the reduced margins historically achieved in the former DXI and the general tightening of margins caused by the recession)
• Utilisation amongst fee-earning staff remained strong at 81% (H1 2008: 76%). 
• Profit before tax of £1.3m (H1 2008: £2.0m)
• Adjusted fully diluted earnings per share increased by 7% to 10.9p* (H1 2008: 10.2p*)
• Operating cash flow was £2.4m** (H1 2008: £2.1m)
• Operating cash conversion of 56% (H1 2008: 53%)
• The Group had net debt of £17.3m at the end of the period, having spent £8.4m net to finance the acquisition of DXI Networks Ltd in July 2008
• Net interest costs in the period totalled £0.6m, covered 6.7 times by operating profit*

(*before amortisation of intangibles, share-based payments and exceptional charges)
(** net cash flow from operating activities before tax, after capital expenditure)

Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive Officer , 2 February 2009
 
Independent Review Report to Maxima Holdings plc

Introduction
We have been engaged by the company to review the financial information in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30 November 2008 which comprises the consolidated interim income statement, consolidated interim statement of recognised income and expenditure, consolidated interim balance sheet, consolidated interim cash flow statement and notes 1 to 8 to the interim financial statement.  We have read the other information contained in the half-yearly financial report which comprises only the highlights and the Directors Report and considered whether it contains any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the information in the condensed set of financial statements. 

This report is made solely to the company in accordance with guidance contained in ISRE (UK and Ireland) 2410, 'Review of Interim Financial Information performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity'.  Our review work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company those matters we are required to state to them in a review report and for no other purpose.  To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the company, for our review work, for this report, or for the conclusion we have formed.

Directors' responsibilities
The half-yearly financial report is the responsibility of, and has been approved by, the directors.  The AIM rules of the London Stock Exchange require that the accounting policies and presentation applied to the financial information in the half-yearly financial report are consistent with those which will be adopted in the annual accounts having regard to the accounting standards applicable for such accounts.

As disclosed in Note 1, the annual financial statements of the group are prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union.  The financial information in the half-yearly financial report has been prepared in accordance with the basis of preparation in Note 1.

Our responsibility
Our responsibility is to express to the company a conclusion on the financial information in the half-yearly financial report based on our review. 

Scope of review
We conducted our review in accordance with International ISRE (UK and Ireland) 2410, 'Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity' issued by the Auditing Practices Board for use in the United Kingdom.  A review of interim financial information consists of making enquiries, primarily of persons responsible for financial and accounting matters, and applying analytical and other review procedures.  A review is substantially less in scope than an audit conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) and consequently does not enable us to obtain assurance that we would become aware of all significant matters that might be identified in an audit.  Accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion. 

Conclusion
Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the financial information in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30 November 2008 is not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the basis of preparation described in Note 1. 

GRANT THORNTON UK LLP, CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS, GLASGOW, 2 February 2009

The maintenance and integrity of the Maxima Holdings plc website is the responsibility of the Directors: the interim review does not involve consideration of these matters and, accordingly, the company's reporting accountants accept no responsibility for any changes that may have occurred to the interim report since it was initially presented on the website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of the interim report differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Click here for full report

15 December 2008
Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company")   

Maxima Holdings plc (AIM:MXM), the integrated IT solutions and managed services provider, today announces a trading update for the six months ended 30 November 2008. Maxima intends to announce its interim results for the period on 3 February 2009.  

The Board is pleased to confirm that trading across the group remains steady and expects operating profits* for the first half to be slightly higher than last year.  Cash collection was good in the period; net debt was in line with plans at 30 November 2008 and is expected to fall in the second half. Maxima has a stable financial position and the Company continues to have the full support of its bankers, Barclays.  

Maxima continues to derive more than half its revenues from recurring managed service and support contracts and has achieved high levels of contract renewals. The Company also continues to win and bid for significant new business with a total of 40 new clients having been won during the first half (H1 2008: 35).  Macro-economic conditions are leading to some delays in decision making on some of the larger opportunities and we are therefore cautious about the future impact of this.  

The business of DXI Networks Ltd acquired 2 July 2008 has been integrated with Maxima's existing infrastructure managed service business. Cost efficiencies have been achieved and it is performing well.   

*pre amortisation of intangibles, share-based payments and exceptional charges  

Kelvin Harrison, Maxima's Chief Executive said: 

"Macro-economic conditions are challenging. However, Maxima has had a steady first half and has a resilient business model and stable financial position.     "We continue to place a strong emphasis on cost control and will only pursue further acquisition opportunities where there is a substantial opportunity to create shareholder value with low levels of risk."

For further information, please contact:

Maxima Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive John Taylor, Group Finance Director	01242 211211 0141 880 1000
Cenkos Stephen Keys/Adrian Hargrave	020 7397 8900
Smithfield Reg Hoare / Katie Hunt / Will Henderson	020 7360 4900

 

Maxima Holdings plc (the "Company") 

Annual Report and Accounts 

The Company has published its Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 May 2008 and has distributed these to shareholders. The document can be viewed on the Company's website: www.maxima.co.uk

25 November 2008

TR-1: Notifications of Major Interests in Shares

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attached: Maxima Holdings Plc

2. Reason for the notification (please place an X inside the appropriate bracket/s):

An acquisition or disposal of voting rights: (   X  )

An acquisition or disposal of financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached: (    )

An event changing the breakdown of voting rights: (     )

Other (please specify) : (   )

3. Full name of person(s) subject to notification obligation: Octopus Investments Nominees Limited

4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3) :

5. Date of transaction (and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached if different): 20/11/2008

6. Date on which issuer notified: 24/11/2008

7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached:7%

8. Notified Details: Nominee holdings

A: Voting rights attached to shares 

Class/type of shares if possible use ISIN CODE	Situation previous to the triggering transaction
	Number of shares 1,749,240	Number of voting rights 6.97%

	Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Class/type of shares if possible use ISIN CODE	Number of shares	Number of voting rights		% of voting rights
		Direct	Indirect	Direct	Indirect
GB00B034R743		1,773,840		7.07%

B: Finanial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction 

Type of Financial instrument	Expiration date	Exercise/ Conversion period/date	No. of voting rights that may be acquired (if the instrument exercised/ converted)	% of voting rights

Total (A+B)

Number of voting rights	% of voting rights
1,773,840	7.07%

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable : /A

Proxy Voting:

10. Name of proxy holder:

11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold:

12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights:

13. Additional information:

14. Contact name:Stephen Henderson

15. Contact telephone number:020 7776 8664

For notes on how to complete form TR-1 please see the FSA website.

23rd October 2008

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company")

Maxima Holdings plc has issued 90,000 ordinary 1p shares in the Company under the Company's approved EMI Share Option Scheme.  Application has been made for the new shares to be admitted to AIM and admission is expected to take place on 31^st October 2008. Following admission the Company has an issued share capital of 25,099,694.

 

23 October 2008

TR-1: Notifications of Major Interests in Shares

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attached:
Maxima Holdings Plc

2. Reason for the notification (please place an X inside the appropriate bracket/s):

An acquisition or disposal of voting rights: (   X  )

An acquisition or disposal of financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached: (    )

An event changing the breakdown of voting rights: (     )

Other (please specify) : (   )

3. Full name of person(s) subject to notification obligation: Octopus Investments Nominees Limited

4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3) :

5. Date of transaction (and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached if different): 03/09/2008

6. Date on which issuer notified: 23/10/2008

7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached:6%

8. Notified Details:

Nominee holdings

A: Voting rights attached to shares

Class/type of shares if possible use ISIN CODE	Situation previous to the triggering transaction
	Number of shares 1,498,840	Number of voting rights 5.99%

 

	Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Class/type of shares if possible use ISIN CODE	Number of shares	Number of voting rights		% of voting rights
		Direct	Indirect	Direct	Indirect
GB00B034R743		1,508,840		6.03%

B: Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of Financial instrument	Expiration date	Exercise/ Conversion period/date	No. of voting rights that may be acquired (if the instrument exercised/ converted)	% of voting rights

Total (A+B)

Number of voting rights	% of voting rights
1,508,840	6.03%

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable :N/A

Proxy Voting:

10. Name of proxy holder:

11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold:

12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights:

13. Additional information:

14. Contact name: Stephen Henderson

15. Contact telephone number: 020 7776 8664

For notes on how to complete form TR-1 please see the FSA website.

19 September 2008

Maxima Holdings plc (the "Company")

Maxima Holdings plc announces that on 19th September 2008 the Remuneration Committee has granted the following conditional nil cost share awards to Directors under the Maxima Holdings PLC Long-Term Incentive Plan (the "LTIP") approved by shareholders on 19th September 2008.

In accordance with the rules of the LTIP, LTIP awards were granted on 19th September 2008 at a price of £1.84 per ordinary share (the closing share price on 18th September 2008) as follows:

Name - Number of Ordinary Shares subject to the LTIP Award

Kelvin Harrison - 108,695
John Taylor - 76,086
Boris Huard - 130,434

Pursuant to the LTIP award to Boris Huard the 310,000 options granted to him on 8th November 2007 at an exercise price of £3.035 have been cancelled.

The shares subject to the LTIP awards will be released and become exercisable in three years time subject to continued employment and the satisfaction of performance criteria.

50% of an LTIP Award will be subject to Comparative Total Shareholder Return ("TSR") against a Comparator Group of Companies, with 30% of the shares released if the Company's TSR performance is at the median of the Comparator Group and 100% of the shares released if the Company's TSR performance is in the upper quartile.

The other 50% of an LTIP Award will be subject to the Company's average annual growth in Earnings per Share ("EPS"), with 30% of the shares released if the average annual EPS growth is above RPI +10% and 100% of the shares are released if the average annual EPS growth is RPI +16%.

 

19 September 2008

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company")

The Annual General Meeting of Maxima Holdings plc ('Maxima'), the AIM listed  provider of software and IT solutions, was held today. All the resolutions contained within the Notice of the Meeting were duly passed. 

For further information please contact: 

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211 211
John Taylor, Group Finance Director - 0142 880 1000

Cenkos
Stephen Keys - 020 7397 8926

Smithfield
Reg Hoare / Katie Hunt - 020 7903 0603

19 September 2008

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company")

At the Annual General Meeting of Maxima Holdings plc to be held at the Company's offices at 24 Chiswell Street, London EC1Y 4TY at 9AM this morning, the Chairman Mike Brooke will update shareholders on trading saying that:

"Trading remains robust, with order intake more than 50% up on the same period last financial year, and consistent with market forecasts for the full year.  Maxima's financial position also remains robust with good cash flows and net debt reducing in line with the Board's expectations.

"Integration of DXI Communication Ltd (which was purchased in July 2008) with our existing infrastructure managed service businesses is progressing well.  

"I am also pleased to report that our enterprise software solution for the construction and facilities management sector, based upon Microsoft's flagship Dynamics AX technology, which was formerly launched in July has now passed independent accreditation tests for Microsoft certification.  Maxima intends to issue a trading update for its half year ending 30 November 2008 in December and will issue its interim results in February 2009."

For further information please contact: 

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211 211
John Taylor, Group Finance Director - 0142 880 1000

Cenkos
Stephen Keys - 020 7397 8926

Smithfield
Reg Hoare / Katie Hunt - 020 7903 0603

11 September 2008

TR-1: Notifications of Major Interests in Shares

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attached: Maxima Holdings Plc

2. Reason for the notification (please place an X inside the appropriate bracket/s):
An acquisition or disposal of voting rights: (   X  )
An acquisition or disposal of financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached: (    )
An event changing the breakdown of voting rights: (     )
Other (please specify) : (   )

3. Full name of person(s) subject to notification obligation: Octopus Investments Nominees Limited

4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3) :

5. Date of transaction (and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached if different): 02/09/2008

6. Date on which issuer notified: 10/09/2008

7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached: 5%

8. Notified Details:

Nominee holdings

A: Voting rights attached to shares

Class/type of shares if possible use ISIN CODE	Situation previous to the triggering transaction
	Number of shares 1,158,700	Number of voting rights 4.63%

 

	Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Class/type of shares if possible use ISIN CODE	Number of shares	Number of voting rights		% of voting rights
		Direct	Indirect	Direct	Indirect
GB00B034R743		1,452,940		5.81%

B: Financial Instruments
Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of Financial instrument	Expiration date	Exercise/ Conversion period/date	No. of voting rights that may be acquired (if the instrument exercised/ converted)	% of voting rights

Total (A+B)

Number of voting rights	% of voting rights
1,452,940	5.81%

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable : N/A

Proxy Voting:

10. Name of proxy holder:

11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold:

12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights:

13. Additional information:

14. Contact name: Stephen Henderson

15. Contact telephone number: 020 7776 8664

For notes on how to complete form TR-1 please see the FSA website.

Towergate strengthens their e-commerce trading platform with a 3 year £500,000 E-commerce, Hosting and Server Management contract from Maxima. 

Towergate Partnership Ltd has further strengthened its e-commerce trading platform and position as a market leader with a new 3 year contract for E-commerce Hosting and Server Management services from Maxima.

Centralising all e-commerce activities into one scalable platform allows Towergate to provide a quick and efficient trading experience for clients whilst allowing for sustained organic growth without loss of performance. It continues Towergate's strategy of driving innovation within the UK insurance marketplace.

Towergate and Maxima have developed a trusted partner relationship over the last 5 years, supported by 24x7 service level agreements and guarantees.

Fraser Fisher, Managed Services Director of Maxima said: "We are delighted to have won this contract with Towergate, strengthening the relationship between our organisations. The recent acquisition of DXI Networks has added breadth and depth to our hosting and server management offering, supporting our position as a key player in the marketplace."

Mike Newman, Towergate's IT Director added: "Our investment in the e-commerce trading environment strongly underpins Towergate's innovation and versatility in high performance e-commerce trading within the Insurance sector. Maxima has proven their capability and experience and I look forward to our continued working relationship."

Editor's Notes
About Towergate Partnership

Towergate Partnership is Europe's largest independently owned insurance intermediary controlling more than £1.5bn of gross written premium (latest accounts).

Towergate was established in 1997 to provide insurance in niche markets ranging from holiday homes to cherished cars. Having expanded and broadened their products range to over 200 - the widest range of specialist and traditional products in the UK market.

With over 3,500 committed staff operating out of 100 UK offices. Towergate's reputation for innovation, progression and dynamism is backed up by recognition from the Sunday Times as a Profit Track 100 company.  In 2008 Towergate was voted Private Company of the Year by ACQ Magazine and Management Team of the Year by the Sunday Times Fast Track.

12 August 2008

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company")

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM.L) the AIM listed provider of integrated IT solutions and managed services, today announces its preliminary results for the year ended 31 May 2008.

Financial Highlights

• Revenues up 47% to £46.7m (2007: £31.8m)
• Operating profit* up 54% to £9.7m (2007: £6.3m), giving an operating margin of 20.7% (2007: 19.7%)
• Profit before tax up 24% to £5.2m (2007: £4.2m)
• Net debt at 31 May 2008 of £8.5m, after net cash outflows on acquisitions of £6.1m
• Adjusted earnings per share* of 26.3p (2007: 25.9p)
• Final dividend of 3.6p per share proposed, making a total of 5.6p for the year (2007: 5.2p), up 8% * before exceptional items, share based payments and amortisation of intangibles

Operational Highlights

• Acquisitions of:
  - Centric Networks Ltd (Infrastructure Managed Services)
  - Eclectic Group (Business Intelligence and Corporate Performance Management)
  - After year end, DXI Networks Ltd, a very similar business to Centric
• 76 new clients won, spread broadly across the business and by industry sector
• 40 sales achieved of a new Microsoft Dynamics AX based solution for the construction and facilities management sector
• Senior management team strengthened:
  - Appointment in October 2007 of Boris Huard as Chief Operations Officer
  - After the year end, in July 2008 John Taylor was appointed as Group Finance Director

Chief Executive, Kelvin Harrison commented
"Trading continues to be robust with the early months of the current financial year being ahead of the same period last year, despite the slowing economy. We continue to be confident that our high levels of recurring revenues from our large, diverse and stable client base, predominantly in the mid-market, will provide a foundation for continued growth and that we will accrue the expected benefits from recent acquisitions during the year.We continue to find good value opportunities for further acquisitions; we will pursue these selectively and would expect to finance them through a combination of operating cash flows and prudent use of bank facilities."

Click here for full press release PDF - 126Kb

An analyst presentation will be held at 9:30 this morning at the offices of Smithfield Consultants, 10 Aldersgate Street, London EC1A 4HJ.

Images in high and low resolution of Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive, Maxima Holdings plc are available at www.fovea.tv or call 020 7089 2627.

For further information please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
John Taylor, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000

Cenkos
Stephen Keys - 020 7397 8926

Smithfield
Reg Hoare / Katie Hunt / Will Henderson - 020 7360 490

23 July 2008 

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company")

The Company announces that on 13 May 2008 Boris Huard, Chief Operations Officer, increased his shareholding by 296 to 54,896 ordinary 1p shares (representing 0.22% of shares in issue), consisting of shares allocated as part of the Company's Dividend Reinvestment Plan, at a price of 133p.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211 211
John Taylor, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000

Cenkos
Stephen Keys/Adrian Hargrave - 020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Reg Hoare / Will Henderson - 020 7360 4900

3rd July 2008

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company") 

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM), the integrated IT solutions and managed services company, today confirms it has completed the acquisition of DXI Networks Ltd, which was announced on 30 June 2008. This included finalisation and signature of legal documentation to increase Maxima's existing bank facilities.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
John Taylor, Chief Financial Officer - 0141 880 1000

Cenkos
Stephen Keys/Adrian Hargrave - 020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Katie Hunt/Reg Hoare -  020 7360 4900

30th June 2008

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company") 
Acquisition of DXI Networks Ltd ("DXI") 

Maxima Holdings plc (AIM:MXM), the integrated IT solutions and managed services provider, is pleased to announce that it has agreed to acquire DXI Networks Ltd. 

Highlights:

• Acquisition of DXI for a net consideration of not more than £8.5m, payable in cash on completion, which is expected to be in early July.  The acquisition will be financed from a proposed increase of existing facilities with Barclays Bank plc.
• The acquisition fits well with Maxima's existing infrastructure managed services business and will add breadth and scale, as well as creating cost synergies.
• The Board anticipates that the acquisition will be earnings enhancing in the company's financial year ending 31 May 2009 (see note 1).
• The acquisition is in line with Maxima's consolidation strategy within the fragmented IT services sector.

DXI is a provider of converged Information and Communications Technology (ICT) services to business customers in the UK.  DXI provides 24x7 fully managed IT infrastructure and communications solutions, including the design, deployment and management of complex converged networks, server hosting, internet, network security, VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) and other telecommunications services.  DXI is based in London where it has some 50 staff and its own data-centre.  In addition it has some 30 staff in Hyderabad, India, providing technical and administrative support. Its customers include Berkeley Group plc, Inchcape Retail Ltd, Transport for London and the FA Premier League.

In the financial year ended 31 March 2008 DXI generated revenues of £14.1m, EBITA of £1.25m and profit before tax of £0.8m.  As at 31 March 2008 DXI had net assets of £1.3m. The gross consideration payable is £9.1m and at completion DXI is expected to have cash balances of at least £0.65m.  DXI is a very similar business to Centric Networks Ltd, which has performed strongly since its acquisition by Maxima in July 2007.  Integration with Maxima's existing infrastructure managed service business is expected to yield significant cost savings.

Completion is subject to satisfaction of customary conditions precedent and to finalisation and signature of legal documentation to  increase Maxima's existing bank facilities.  Of the net consideration of £8.5m, £2.3m will be used to repay DXI's bank loans and £0.85m will be held in an escrow account for 2 years, and will be available in the first resort for settlement of any warranty or indemnity claims.

The acquisition of DXI continues Maxima's successful strategy of building a focused IT solutions and managed services group through value enhancing acquisitions and organic growth.  Maxima's acquisitions underpin the group's business model of generating high margins from recurring revenues with strong cash generation.  As Maxima builds scale in the fragmented IT markets in which it operates, acquired businesses will increasingly generate synergies and cross-selling opportunities for the Maxima group.

Note 1: The statement that the acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in the year ending May 2009 relates to future actions and circumstances, which, by their nature, involve risks, uncertainties and other factors.  This statement does not constitute a profit forecast and should not be interpreted to mean that earnings for any future period would necessarily match or be greater or less than those for any preceding financial period. Earnings in this context represent net after tax earnings [on an IFRS basis], excluding the amortisation of intangible assets and any exceptional items.

Kelvin Harrison, Maxima's Chief Executive said:
"I am delighted to welcome the DXI team into the Maxima Group.  Their deep skills will reinforce our end-to-end ICT (Information and Communications Technology) managed service capabilities.  In addition their long term customer relationships and high levels of recurring revenues will reinforce Maxima's financial strength."

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive Officer - 01242 211 211

Cenkos
Stephen Keys/Adrian Hargrave - 020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Katie Hunt/Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900

25th June 2008

Maxima Holdings plc (AIM:MXM), the integrated IT solutions and managed services provider, is pleased to announce that John Taylor will join the board as Group Finance Director on 1 July 2008.  This appointment reflects our succession planning for Linda Andrews, who will be resigning from the board on health grounds on the same date. Linda will remain with the business as Corporate Finance Director on a part-time basis.  

John (47) was previously Finance Director of Alfred McAlpine Business Services, the support services business of Alfred McAlpine PLC ("McAlpine"). This business provided outsourced facilities management, IT consultancy and managed services, consultancy and asset management services to a range of blue chip clients. It was the largest contributor to the group results reporting strong revenue and profits growth in the in the three years prior to McAlpine's acquisition by Carillion plc.

John is a Scottish Chartered Accountant who qualified with Deloitte and then worked for 7 years for Bank of Scotland in structured finance, leading numerous private equity transactions for the bank. He then moved into industry and held CFO positions in the UK and the USA, one of which was a communications services business, before returning to join Alfred McAlpine. John has experience of leading several major enterprise software implementation projects. He also has a degree in Law.

Kelvin Harrison, Maxima's Chief Executive said: 

"Maxima aspires to be a £100million+ enterprise and I very much look forward to working with John, who brings first-hand relevant experience of operational and corporate finance at that level.

On behalf of the Board, I would also like to thank Linda for her support and tremendous contribution to the development of the business in its formative years. We are delighted that she will be remaining with us as Corporate Finance Director."

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211

Cenkos
Stephen Keys/Adrian Hargrave - 020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Katie Hunt/Will Henderson/Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900

18 June 2007

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company") 

Maxima Holdings plc (AIM:MXM), the integrated IT solutions and managed services provider, is pleased to give an update on trading for its financial year ended 31 May 2008. 

The Board is pleased to confirm that trading remains robust and expects profit before tax, amortisation of intangibles, exceptional items and share based payments to be in line with market expectations.   Net debt at 31 May 2008 was £8.5m.  Operating margin is expected to show a further improvement upon the prior year.

In total 76 new customers were won during the year, spread broadly across the business.

Our Microsoft Dynamics AX enterprise software solution for the construction and facilities management sector, first announced last year, has now achieved more than 40 orders.  We will continue this investment in the new financial year, further developing our offerings and skills in Microsoft Dynamics AX, SharePoint and infrastructure.

In April we negotiated a three year extension to one of our largest Application Management contracts with a major food manufacturer worth some £2.0m p.a. 

In line with its declared strategy the Company made two acquisitions during the year. Centric Networks Ltd, a provider of infrastructure software managed services was acquired in July 2007. The trade and assets of Eclectic Group Ltd which provides software, support, consultancy and training in the areas of Corporate Performance Management and Business Intelligence was acquired in January 2008. Both businesses have been integrated and have performed well, benefiting from cross-selling opportunities within the Maxima group.

Maxima will announce Preliminary Results for the full year, together with details of the proposed final dividend, on 12 August 2008.

Kelvin Harrison, Maxima's Chief Executive said: 

"Maxima continues to be highly profitable with strong operating margins, despite a more challenging trading environment.  As well as continuing to strengthen the business with well-fitting acquisitions, we continue to invest in management and sales personnel in order to reinforce organic growth."

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000

Cenkos
Stephen Keys/Adrian Hargrave - 020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Katie Hunt/Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900

06 June 2008

TR-1: Notifications of Major Interests in Shares

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attached: Maxima Holdings Plc

2. Reason for the notification (please place an X inside the appropriate bracket/s):

An acquisition or disposal of voting rights: (   X  )
An acquisition or disposal of financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached: (    )
An event changing the breakdown of voting rights: (     )
Other (please specify) : (   )
Initial notification after acquisition of Resolution PLC by Pearl Group

3. Full name of person(s) subject to notification obligation: Octopus Investments Nominees Limited

4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3) :

5. Date of transaction (and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached if different): 04/06/2008

6. Date on which issuer notified: 05/06/2008

7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached: 4%

8. Notified Details: Nominee holdings

A: Voting rights attached to shares

Class/type of shares if possible use ISIN CODE	Situation previous to the triggering transaction
	Number of shares	Number of voting rights

 

 

	Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Class/type of shares if possible use ISIN CODE	Number of shares	Number of voting rights		% of voting rights
		Direct	Indirect	Direct	Indirect
GB00B034R743			1,158,700		4.63%

B: Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of Financial instrument	Expiration date	Exercise/ Conversion period/date	No. of voting rights that may be acquired (if theinstrument exercised/converted)	% ofvoting rights

Total (A+B)

Number of voting rights	% of voting rights
1,158,700	4.63%

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable :

Pearl Group Limited
Impala Holdings Limited
Resolution PLC
Resolution Asset Management Limited
Resolution Investment Services Limited (indirect)
Vidacos Nominees Ltd (1,158,700 4.63%)

Proxy Voting:

10. Name of proxy holder:

11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold:

12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights:

13. Additional information: Percentage calculation based on Issued Share Capital of 25,010,000

14. Contact name: Deborah A. Wagner

15. Contact telephone number: 0141 222 8000

20 May 2008

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attached:

Maxima Holdings Plc

2. Reason for the notification 

(please place an X inside the appropriate bracket/s):

An acquisition or disposal of voting rights: (   X  )

An acquisition or disposal of financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached: (    )

An event changing the breakdown of voting rights: (     )

Other (please specify) : (   )

3. Full name of person(s) subject to notification obligation: Octopus Asset Management Nominees Limited

4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3) :

5. Date of transaction (and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached if different): 28/04/2008

6. Date on which issuer notified: 20/05/2008

7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached: 3%

8. Notified Details:

Nominee holdings

A: Voting rights attached to shares

Class/type of shares if possible use ISIN CODE	Situation previous to the triggering transaction
	Number of shares	Number of voting rights
GB00B034R743	736,600	736,600

 

	Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Class/type of shares if possible use ISIN CODE	Number of shares	Number of voting rights		% of voting rights
		Direct	Indirect	Direct	Indirect
GB00B034R743		786,600		3.15%

B: Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of Financial instrument	Expiration date	Exercise/ Conversion  period/date	No. of voting rights that may be acquired (if the instrument exercised/ converted)	% of voting rights

Total (A+B)

Number of voting rights	% of voting rights
786,600	3.15%

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable : n/a

Proxy Voting:

10. Name of proxy holder: n/a

11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold: n/a

12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights: n/a

13. Additional information:

14. Contact name: Stephen Henderson 

15. Contact telephone number: 020 7776 8664

For notes on how to complete form TR-1 please see the FSA website.

07 April 2008

Maxima Holdings PLC ("Maxima" or the "Company")

"The board of Maxima Holdings plc (AIM: MXM.L) announces that on 4 April 2008 Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive,  exercised options over 90,000 ordinary 1p shares in the Company at an exercise price of £1.10 under the Company's approved EMI Share Option Scheme.  This exercise was carried out for tax purposes and Mr Harrison does not plan to sell  the shares.  The transaction has no impact on Mr Harrison's beneficial ownership of the shares.  Application has been  made for the new shares to be admitted to AIM and admission is expected to take place on 11 April 2008.  Following  admission the Company will have an issued share capital of 25,009,695 ordinary 1p shares. Following the exercise Mr Harrison holds 3,690,029 ordinary shares in the Company representing 14.75% of the issued share capital and 325,000 unapproved options which have an exercise price of £1.10."

25 March 2008

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company")

Maxima Holdings plc has issued 1,666 shares as a result of the exercise of options under the SAYE scheme. Application has been made for the new shares to be admitted to AIM and admission is expected to take place on 31 March 2008. Following admission the Company has an issued share capital of 24,919,695.

Maxima Holdings PLC
15 February 2008

TR-1: notification of major interests in shares

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying                Maxima Holdings Plc
issuer of existing shares to which voting rights
are attached:

2. Reason for the notification (please tick the appropriate box or boxes)                                                                 

An acquisition or disposal of voting rights                                 X
                          
An acquisition or disposal of financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached

An event changing the breakdown of voting rights
                           
Other (please specify):___________________________________________
                           
3. Full name of person(s) subject to the  notification obligation: Herald Investment Management Limited

4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3.): Bank of New York (OCS) Nominees Ltd on behalf of Herald Investment Trust Plc
                                 
5. Date of the transaction (and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached if  different): 13 February 2008
         
6. Date on which issuer notified: 15 February 2008

7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached: 5%

8. Notified details:

A: Voting rights attached to shares

Class/type of  Situation previous to   Resulting situation after the triggering
shares           the Triggering             transaction
                     transaction
if possible
using the ISIN No. of       No. of      No. of    No. of voting   % of voting
CODE             Shares      Voting      shares   rights             rights
                                    Rights      Indirect  Direct Indirect  Direct   Indirect
                                            
GB00B034R743   1,112,000   1,112,000   1,612,000         1,612,000    6.47%
                             (4.46%)                     (6.47%)
                  
B: Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Type of      Expiration Exercise/      Number of voting rights that may  % of
financial    date       Conversion     be acquired if the instrument is    voting
instrument              Period/ Date   exercised/ converted.                  rights
                      
None                                                                                             Nil

Total (A+B)

Number of voting rights                      % of voting rights

1,612,000                                    6.47%


9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable:

Herald Investment Management Limited, a discretionary investment manager, is the parent undertaking of an investment management business.

Shareholder: Herald Investment Trust
(in the name of Bank of New York (OCS    1,612,000                         6.47%
Nominees Limited))
                                                  
                 

Total for funds under management of
Herald Investment Management Limited     1,612,000                         6.47%
                 
Proxy Voting:

10. Name of the proxy holder:                                                      N/A

11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold:              N/A

12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights:          N/A

13. Additional information:

14. Contact name: Andrew Miller

15. Contact telephone number: 020 7553 6308

Annex Notification Of Major Interests In Shares

A: Identity of the person or legal entity subject to the notification obligation

Full name (including legal form for legal entities)  
Herald Investment Management Limited

                                                     
Contact address (registered office for legal entities):
10/11 Charterhouse Square London EC1M 6EE

                                                                                                 
Phone number - 020 7553 6308
Other useful information (at least legal representative for legal persons) - Andrew Miller


B: Identity of the notifier, if applicable

Full name - See Above

Contact address

Phone number

Other useful information (e.g. functional relationship with the person or legal entity subject to the notification obligation)

C: Additional information

In accordance with the FSA's LIST Issue 14 Paragraph 3.13 we have used the company's last notification of the total number of voting rights in issue (24,918,029) made on 23 Oct 07 through RNS number 1824G to calculate the percentage of voting rights after the triggering transaction.

5th February 2008
Maxima Holdings Plc ("Maxima" or the "Company")

The Company has been informed that certain Directors have today purchased ordinary shares in the Company as follows:

Director	No. of Shares	Price	No. of shares held following the transaction (% ISC)
Mike Brooke	10,000	144.5p	32,703 (0.13%)
Kelvin Harrison	34,600	144.5p	3,600,029 (14.45%)
Boris Huard	34,600	144.5p	54,600 (0.22%)
Linda Andrews	3,460	144.5p	593,864 (2.38%)
Mark Morris	6,920	144.5p	15,585 (0.06%)

Tuesday 5 February 2008
Maxima Holdings plc (‘Maxima' or the ‘Company')

Maxima Holdings plc (AIM:MXM), the acquisitive IT solutions and managed services group, is pleased to announce its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 November 2007.

Financial Highlights:

• Revenue up 62% to £21.1 million (H1 2007: £13.0 million)
• Recurring revenues represent 56% of total revenues
• Operating profit* up 74% to £4.0million (H1 2007 £2.3million)
• Profit before tax up 43% to £2.0 million (H1 2007 £1.4 million)
• Adjusted*, fully diluted earnings per share up 16% to 10.2p (H1 2007: 8.8p)
• Dividend of 2.0p per share (H1 2007: 1.8p) - in line with progressive dividend policy

*pre-amortisation of intangibles, share based payments and exceptional charges

Operational Highlights:

• Appointment of Chief Operations Officer, Boris Huard
• 35 new clients won during the period, across all business areas
• Good progress on our Microsoft Dynamics AX solution for the construction and facilities management sector with 8 sales to date
• Acquisition in July 2007 of Centric Networks Ltd, Infrastructure Managed Services provider for £6.4million (gross maximum)

Commenting on the results, Mike Brooke, Chairman, said: "The business has always exhibited seasonality, resulting in a stronger second half. This trend continues and our second half will also benefit from contributions from the acquisitions made in July and December 2007. As announced in the trading update issued on 28 January 2008, we have experienced an increased level of caution in our markets, however we continue to win new business across the group. We are confident that the diversity and spread of our offerings and client base, together with our strong operational management and sales organisation, position us well. Our high level of cash conversion and recurring revenues also give us the robust financial foundations from which to achieve our objectives for the future."

Click Here to download the Interim Results

Enquiries:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000

Cenkos Securities plc
Stephen Keys - 020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Tania Wild/Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900

28 January 2008
Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company") 

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM), the integrated IT solutions and managed services company, today confirms that it will publish Interim Results for the first half year ending 30 November 2007 on Tuesday 5 February 2008.

Trading in the first half year was solid and results are expected to be well ahead of the first half of the prior year, in terms of revenues, profits and earnings per share. Towards the end of the period, however, several major work packages with a large client were terminated prematurely as a result of a vendor consolidation exercise. This resulted in the work transferring to a tier 1 Global IT Services player. Various actions were taken to mitigate this loss of business and which were expected to minimise the impact on Maxima's full year result. Certain business, however, expected to be won during the second half year as a result of these actions, and in some other areas of the business, is experiencing client delays, not helped by broader current market uncertainties. As a consequence, Maxima now expects results for the full year to be below market expectations, although still showing growth in revenues, profits and earnings per share.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Tania Wild / Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900

07 January 2008

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company")

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM), the integrated IT solutions and managed services company, today confirms it has completed the acquisition of the trade and assets of Eclectic Group Limited, a subsidiary of Glen Group plc (AIM: GLN), which was announced on 19 December 2007.

The acquisition is in line with Maxima's consolidation strategy within the fragmented IT services sector and is anticipated to be earnings enhancing in the year ending 31 May 2009.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Tania Wild / Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900

19th December 2007  

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM), the integrated IT solutions and managed services company, is pleased to announce the proposed acquisition of the trade and assets of Eclectic Group Limited ("Eclectic") a subsidiary of Glen Group plc. (AIM: GLN)

Acquisition Highlights:

• Total consideration of up to £3.0m payable in cash, expected to be financed from Maxima's operational cash flows and existing facilities with Barclays Bank plc.
• The transaction is subject to approval of shareholders of Glen Group plc in a general meeting to be held on 4 January 2008.
• The acquisition is in line with Maxima's consolidation strategy within the fragmented IT services sector.
• The Board anticipates that it will be earnings enhancing in the Company's financial year ending 31 May 2009.

Eclectic supplies software, consultancy, support and training in the areas of Business Intelligence and Corporate Performance Management (CPM). It has three practices, operating in partnership with Business Objects (Platinum Partner), Oracle (Certified Advantage Partner) and Microsoft (Gold Partner). CPM systems help organisations improve performance through effective information reporting and analysis. By providing accurate and consistent views of performance relating to employees, products, services and customers, these systems empower people to make better and more informed decisions about their business. Eclectic has a broad client base including, Scottish Power, Costa Coffee, First Milk, Herbert Smith, National Australia Group, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and University College, London.

Eclectic has some 60 staff that will transfer to Maxima with the trade and assets under TUPE legislation.  All the senior management team of Eclectic are committed to join Maxima. Eclectic is based in Glasgow with a subsidiary office in Reading; it is proposed that these will be largely consolidated into Maxima's existing offices.

In the 14 month period ended 30 September 2006, Eclectic generated revenues of £5.03 million and reported an operating profit adjusted for intra-group charges of £0.35 million.  In August 2007 Eclectic acquired and has subsequently integrated I G Software Ltd which traded as inGroup; in the 12 month period ended 31 December 2006 inGroup generated revenues of £1.45 million and made an operating loss of £0.1 million.

The consideration of up to £3.0 million will be satisfied by a cash payment of £2.25 million at completion.  A second payment of not more than £0.75 million will be made on 17 March 2008, having made adjustments for deferred income, pre-payments and costs accrued prior to transfer of the trade and assets.

Commenting on the acquisition, Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive said:

"I very much look forward to the Eclectic team joining Maxima.  Maxima has for many years had a business intelligence capability.  This acquisition will transform us into leaders in the field of Corporate Performance Management, greatly increasing the strength of our offering to our enterprise software clients."

John Nicoll, Managing Director of Eclectic, added:

"There is a strong cultural fit between Eclectic and Maxima.  Joining the Maxima group provides us with greater momentum in targeting larger business opportunities and the ability to offer our specialist Corporate Performance Management skills and services to Maxima's substantial client base."

For further information please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Tania Wild / Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900

16 November 2007

The Company has been notified that on 15 November 2007 the following transactions occurred:

i)  Boris Huard, Chief Operations Officer purchased 20,000 ordinary 1p shares at 288.5p per share.

ii) Mark Morris, Non-executive Director purchased 8,665 ordinary 1p shares at 288.5p per share.

iii)Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive sold 20,000 ordinary 1p shares at 288.5p per share.

iv) Linda Andrews, Finance Director sold 8,665 ordinary 1p shares at 288.5p per share.

Following these transactions, these director's holdings are as follows:

Director      Interest in Ordinary Shares       Total Holding as a percentage of issued share capital
                                        

Boris Huard                 20,000                        0.08%
Mark Morris                   8,665                        0.03%
Kelvin Harrison       3,565,429                        14.31%
Linda Andrews          590,404                         2.37%


The total number of shares (4,207,201) held by members of the board remains unchanged as a result of these transactions, representing 16.88% of the issued shared capital.

For further information please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000

Cenkos - Nominated Advisor to the Company
Stephen Keys - 020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Tania Wild / Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900

12 November 2007

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company")

Maxima, the integrated IT Solutions and Managed Services company, announces the grant of options over 310,000 ordinary 1p shares to Boris Huard who recently joined as Chief Operations Officer. The options may normally be exercised between 3 and 10 years after grant, providing that certain performance criteria have been met. The exercise price is 303.5p, the closing mid-market price on the day of grant. This award falls within ABI guidance for share-based incentive schemes.

For further information please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000

Cenkos - Nominated Advisor to the Company
Stephen Keys - 020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Tania Wild / Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900

07 November 2007

Maxima Holdings plc (the "Company")

The Company has published its Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 May 2007 and has distributed these to shareholders.  The document can be viewed on the Company's website: http://www.maxima.co.uk/

19 October 2007

Maxima is today hosting a site visit for investors and analysts at their offices in Cheltenham. Case studies will be presented of the activities in both the Maxima Solutions and the Managed Services divisions, as well as an illustration of Maxima's approach to the integration of acquisitions. No material new information will be disclosed in the presentations. At the same time, Maxima today announces the following update on current trading:

Maxima is pleased to report that since the start of its financial year on 1 June 2007 it has won a total of 39 new clients broadly spread across the different business areas. Cross-selling is steadily increasing as the acquisitions become fully integrated within Maxima. Further to this, significant additional business and substantial numbers of managed service and support contracts have been renewed from Maxima's existing client base.  This includes the sale of four of its new IT solutions for the construction sector based upon Microsoft Dynamics AX which was announced in April this year.

The Company is also pleased to announce the successful completion of two important projects.  Firstly, the go-live after a four month accelerated implementation and full validation of the manufacturing solution for a leading pharmaceutical company, based upon QAD applications software.  Secondly, the successful upgrade to Oracle R12 of the systems of a major insurance company, one of the first such upgrades to be carried out in the UK.

Overall trading remains in line with expectations.

Kelvin Harrison, Maxima's Chief Executive said: "It has been a good start to the year for Maxima as we continue to extend our existing client relationships and grow the pool of new customers in our core sectors.  We are now able to offer our clients full end-to-end applications and infrastructure software solutions and managed services which we continue to develop. We will report our interim results for the six months ending 30 November 2007 in early February 2008."

For further information please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000

Cenkos - Nominated Advisor to the Company                 
Stephen Keys - 020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Tania Wild / Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900

18 October 2007

Maxima Holdings plc (AIM:MXM), the acquisitive IT Solutions and Managed Service Company, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a £3.5 million, three year managed services contract from Towergate Partnership Ltd. The contract is to provide Incident, Infrastructure and Problem Management services to over 100 offices and 3,500 staff within Towergate, the largest independently owned insurance intermediary in Europe. Towergate became a client of Maxima following the acquisition of Centric Networks in July 2007.

Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive of Maxima said: "We are delighted to have extended the contract with Towergate, proving the value in our managed service offering, as well further strengthening the relationship between our two businesses. Revenues from this contract will help to underpin expectations for the current and next two financial years."

Mike Newman, Towergate's IT Director added: "It is an absolute must-have for insurance brokers to work with a first rate IT provider. I am very pleased with the service we have already received from Maxima. Their proven experience and capabilities with both Microsoft and Citrix made the decision to extend the contract easy for us and I look forward to our continued working relationship."

For further information please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000

Cenkos - Nominated Advisor to the Company
Stephen Keys - 020 7397 8926

Smithfield
Tania Wild / Reg Hoare - 020 7360 4900

10 October 2007  

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM) the acquisitive IT Solutions and Managed Services Company is pleased to announce that Boris Huard (35) will join the Board of Maxima as Chief Operations Officer on 29 October 2007. 

Boris was previously Sector Director (Banking) with LogicaCMG, joining the group following its acquisition of Unilog s.a. in 2006.  Boris started at Unilog in 1998, and moved to the UK in 2001 upon Unilog's acquisition of the Technology Division of MarchFirst from the receivers. As Business Development Director and then Business Unit Director he restored the business to profitablity and grew it by acquisition and organic development.  At the time of the acquisition by Logica, the business unit he was managing was achieving 30% profit before tax. Unilog specialised in enterprise software integration, partnering with Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and Business Objects.

Boris has a Master's Degree from the Ecole Centrale de Marseille in Aerodynamics.  His career has included research, software engineering and system implementation, before moving into sales and general management.

Mr Huard holds no other directorships and holds no shares in Maxima Holdings plc.  There are no other details to be disclosed under Schedule 2(g) of the AIM rules.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Tania Wild - 020 7360 4900

Cenkos - Nominated Advisor to the Company
Stephen Keys - 020 7397 8926

27 September 2007

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima")

Jeremy Prescott has retired from his position as Non-Executive Director of Maxima and Chairman of the audit committee. The board would like to thank Mr Prescott for his advice over the 3 years he has been a Non-Executive. Mark Morris will become Chairman of the Audit Committee.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Tania Wild - 020 7360 4900

27 September 2007

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima")

The Annual General Meeting of Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima"), the AIM listed provider of software and IT solutions, was held today. All the resolutions contained within the Notice of the Meeting were duly passed.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive - 01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director - 0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Tania Wild - 020 7360 4900


                     

18 September 2007
Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company")

Maxima Holdings plc has issued 1,064 shares as a result of the exercise of options under the SAYE scheme. Application has been made for the new shares to be admitted to AIM and admission is expected to take place on 24 September 2007. Following admission the Company has an issued share capital of 24,916,869.

14 August 2007

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company")

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM.L) the AIM listed provider of IT solutions and managed services, today announces its preliminary results for the year to 31 May 2007 which have come in slightly ahead of market expectations.

Financial Highlights

• Revenues up 66% to £31.8m (2006: £19.1m)
• Recurring revenues remain at 56% of turnover
• Operating profit* up 85% to £6.3m (2006: £3.4m), an operating margin of 19.7% (2006: 17.5%)
• Profit before tax* up 76% to £5.8m (2006: £3.3m)
• Statutory profit before tax up 62% to £4.2m (2006: £2.6m)
• Net debt at 31 May 2007 of £6.6m (2006: £3.1m), after net cash outflows on acquisitions of £15.2m. A placing of shares in May 2007 raised £11.5m net.
• Adjusted earnings per share* up 46% to 25.9p (2006: 17.8p)
• Final dividend up 36% to 3.4p (2006: 2.5p) per share proposed, making a total dividend of 5.2p for year (2006: 4.0p)

* before exceptional items, amortisation of intangibles and share based payments

Operational Highlights

• Four acquisitions made and successfully integrated
• Benefits of scale and cross selling now becoming evident
• Investment in developing a Microsoft Dynamics AX based solution for the construction sector
• Commencement of fully staffed 24x7 support and managed service operations
• Market conditions favourable and organic growth increasing

Chief Executive, Kelvin Harrison commented "Maxima has had an excellent year during which our corebusinesses have performed well whilst we made four further acquisitions. We now have a complete offering of application and infrastructure software solutions and managed services and provide our clients with a onestop - shop for all their IT needs.

The new financial year has got off to a good start with some important contract renewals and key new business wins including our first major Microsoft Dynamics AX project, as well as the acquisition of Centric Networks Ltd. Maxima is in an exciting phase of its development as we now build greater scale within our chosen markets."

Click here for full press release PDF - 90Kb

For further information please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive Tel: 01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director Tel: 0141 880 1000

Cenkos
Stephen Keys Tel: 020 7397 8926

Smithfield
Tania Wild / Reg Hoare Tel: 020 7360 4900

07 August 2007

Maxima Holdings plc ("the Company")

Please be advised that the information relating to the Company which is required to be disclosed pursuant to AIM Rule 26 is available on http://www.maxima.co.uk./

 

20 July 2007

Acquisition of Centric Networks Ltd

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM), the acquisitive IT solutions and managed services company, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Centric Networks Limited ("Centric") for a total consideration of up to £6.4m payable in cash and shares.

Centric provides managed services for infrastructure software to a broad range of clients in the mid-market.  The acquisition is in line with Maxima's consolidation strategy within the fragmented IT services sector.  The Board anticipates that it will be earnings enhancing in the current financial year ending 31 May 2008.

Click here for full press release PDF - 116Kb

2 July 2007

Maxima Holdings plc ('Maxima' or the "Company"), the IT systems integration and managed services group, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Morris FCA (47) as a Non Executive Director of the Company with immediate effect.

Mark is a Chartered Accountant who worked in audit, business advisory and corporate finance with Price Waterhouse before joining Sytner Group, the UK's largest retailer of prestige cars operating from over 100 dealerships across the UK, as Finance Director in 1995. The Group grew rapidly, both organically and through acquisition, and was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1997. Mark was subsequently appointed Managing Director and when he left in 2005 the Group had grown to EBITDA of £46 million on revenues of £1.6 billion (from c.£50 million in 1995).

Mark is currently a non-executive director of Christian Salvesen plc, LSL Property Services plc, and a number of private companies. There are no other details to disclose under schedule 2(g) of the AIM rules. Mr Morris has no interest in any shares in the Company.

Commenting on the appointment, Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive said: "I am delighted to welcome Mark onto Maxima's board. His wealth of experience of finance, general management and M&A activities in high growth service businesses is directly relevant to Maxima."

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive                         01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director              0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Tania Wild / Reg Hoare                                      020 7360 4900

13 June 2007

Maxima Holdings plc
("Maxima" or the "Company")

Maxima Holdings plc (AIM:MXM), the acquisitive IT solutions and managed services provider, announces an update on trading for its financial year ended 31 May 2007.

The Board is pleased to confirm that trading across both operating businesses of the Company (Solutions and Managed Services) has been solid and that it therefore expects revenues, profits and earnings per share to be in line with market expectations. Net debt at 31 May 2007 was £6.5 million.

In line with its declared strategy, Maxima successfully completed four acquisitions during the year. Two of these, Cognition Solutions Ltd and SevenThree Ltd are enterprise software solutions businesses with a focus on the construction sector. The other two, IIL (Intertech Solutions Ireland) Ltd and 3net Ltd are managed services businesses specialising in infrastructure software. These acquisitions have now been fully integrated, both at the front office in terms of integrated solutions and managed services to our clients and at the back office in terms of business processes and internal information systems.

In total seventy one new customers were won during the year, spread broadly across the different areas of the business. In particular Solutions won eleven new customers for SAP Business One and two for QAD Applications in the Healthcare and Automotive sectors where we have a strong track record; we also won the first contract for our newly launched construction industry software solution based upon Microsoft Dynamics AX. In Managed Services significant new business has been won, particularly as a result of our strong skills in Citrix and Oracle technologies.

Within our existing customer base, levels of contract renewals have been high and we are benefiting increasingly from cross-selling of the additional skills and services now available as a result of our acquisition strategy. For example, using the skills of SevenThree Limited acquired in March 2007, we have recently won a major contract for Microsoft CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software from a long-standing industrial client who uses QAD Applications ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software.

Notice of Results

Maxima will announce Preliminary Results for the full year, together with details of the proposed final dividend payment, on 14 August 2007.

Kelvin Harrison, Maxima's Chief Executive said: "It has been an exciting year for Maxima as we have acquired and carefully integrated four more excellent businesses. We are now able to offer our clients full end-to-end applications and infrastructure software solutions and managed services. It is also gratifying that the benefits of Maxima's acquisition strategy are now clearly visible in terms of consistent growth and improved profitability.

We have started the new financial year with a strong order book and continue to source attractive acquisition opportunities."

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive                         01242 211 211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director                    0141 880 1000

Cenkos
Stephen Keys/Adrian Hargrave                             020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Tania Wild/Reg Hoare                                     020 7360 4900

29 May 2007

Maxima Holdings plc
("Maxima" or the "Company")

Maxima Holdings plc (AIM:MXM) was today informed that Liontrust Investment Services Limited ("Liontrust") has an interest in 1,846,550 ordinary shares in the Company which represents approximately 7.56% of the issued share capital of Maxima. 

 

Maxima Holdings PLC
24 May 2007

("Maxima" or the "Company")

Maxima Holdings plc (AIM:MXM) was today informed that Herald Investment Management Limited ("Herald") has an interest in 1,112,000 ordinary shares in the Company which represents approximately 4.55% of the issued share capital of 24,430,682 Maxima shares.

24 May 2007

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company")

Completion of Acquisition of 3net Limited ("3net")

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM), the acquisitive IT solutions and managed services company, is pleased to announce that the acquisition of 3net Limited, conditionally announced on 1 May 2007 successfully completed today. 

Click here for full press release PDF - 97Kb

23 May 2007

Maxima Holdings plc ("Maxima" or the "Company")

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM), the acquisitive IT solutions and managed services company, is pleased to announce that at the EGM today all the proposed resolutions were passed. 

For further information, please contact:

Maxima Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director	01242 211211 0141 880 1000
Cenkos Stephen Keys/Adrian Hargrave	020 7397 8900
Smithfield Tania Wild/Reg Hoare	020 7360 4900

04 May 2007

Maxima Holdings plc (the "Company")

The Company was informed today that Hargreave Hale Limited has an interest in 973,859 ordinary shares in the Company which represents approximately 5.25% of the issued share capital of the Company.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima Holdings plc

Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive 01242 211 211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director 0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Reg Hoare / Sam Botterill 020 7360 4900

 

1 May 2007

Proposed Acquisition of 3net Limited, Placing of new ordinary shares to raise £11.5 million, Notice of EGM.

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM), the acquisitive IT solutions and managed services company, is pleased to announce that it has conditionally agreed to acquire the entire share capital of 3net Limited ("3net").

Click here for full press release PDF - 111Kb

16 April 2007

Maxima Holdings Plc ("Maxima" or "the Company)

Maxima Holdings Plc (AIM:MXM), the acquisitive AIM listed IT systems integrator and managed services provider, today announces that it has signed an agreement with Microsoft to become a partner for Microsoft Dynamics AX (formerly Microsoft Axapta).

The agreement builds upon its existing partnership agreement for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, its recent acquisition of leading Microsoft CRM partner, SevenThree Limited, as well its status as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.

Microsoft will be working closely with Maxima in this new initiative to build a substantial business around Microsoft Dynamics AX - focusing initially on the Construction Industry.

Maxima has already enjoyed considerable success in this industry with its existing construction accounting and service management solution, Intellect, used by over 300 customers in the UK. Maxima will be extending the capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics AX with specific industry modules for the Construction Industry.

"Today's customers demand complete solutions that meet their organisation's unique needs," said Paul White, UK General Manager for Microsoft Business Solutions. "We're addressing that demand by combining vertical applications developed by companies such as Maxima with the core functionality and deep customisation options offered in Microsoft Dynamics AX."

Paul White continues, "Expanding the industry-specific functionality of all our business management products is key element of our competitive sales strategy worldwide. As one of the first partners in the UK to take this approach with Microsoft Dynamics AX, we will be supporting Maxima every step of the way."

Kelvin Harrison, Maxima's CEO said, "We are delighted to have signed this agreement with Microsoft. Microsoft Dynamics AX will complement our current solution offering and enable us to offer both existing customers and new prospects a complete business management solution. Its also further strengthens our Microsoft relationship."

For further information, please contact:

Maxima

Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive                                01242 211 211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director                     0141  880 1000

Cenkos
Stephen Keys/Max Hartley                                       020 7397 8900

Smithfield
Reg Hoare/Sam Botterill                                           020 7903 4900

 

20 March 2007

Maxima Holdings plc ('Maxima')

In conformity with the Transparency Directive's transitional provision 6, Maxima Holdings plc, the IT solutions and managed services group, would like to notify the market of the following:

As at 20 March 2007, the issued share capital and voting rights of Maxima are as follows:

Maxima's share capital consists of 18,536,475 ordinary 1p shares with voting rights attached (one vote per ordinary share). Therefore the total number of voting rights in Maxima is 18,536,475.

The above total voting rights figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine whether they are required to notify their interests in, or a change to their interest in, Maxima under the FSA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.


For further information, please contact:

Maxima Holdings plc
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive 01242 211 211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director 0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Reg Hoare / Sam Botterill 020 7360 4900

7 March 2007 

Maxima Holdings plc, (AIM: MXM), the acquisitive IT solutions and managed services company, is pleased to announce the acquisition of SevenThree Limited ("SevenThree") for a total consideration of £1.1m.

Click here for full press release PDF - 132Kb

19th February 2007

The Company was informed today that Amvescap plc has an interest in 1,031,975 ordinary shares in the Company which represents approximately 5.62% of the issued share capital of the Company.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive 01242 211 211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director 0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Sara Musgrave/Tania Wild 020 7360 4900

25 January 2007

Maxima Holdings plc ('Maxima' or the "Company"), the IT systems integration and managed services group, is pleased to announce the appointment of Kim Annette Nicholson (46) as a non executive director of the Company with immediate effect.

Ms Nicholson was previously a partner with Olswang, solicitors, specialising in corporate transactions in the technology, media and telecoms sector. She was also previously a director of Mood Media Group SA.

There are no other details to disclose under schedule 2(g) of the AIM rules. Ms Nicholson has no interest in any shares in the Company.

Commenting on the appointment, Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive said "As Maxima continues to grow, the Board will be strengthened by Kim's extensive corporate finance experience in the information technology sector, where she is regarded as a leader in her field. We warmly welcome her onto the Board."

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive 01242 211 211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director 0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Sara Musgrave/Tania Wild 020 7360 4900

18 January 2007

In conformity with the Transparency Directive's transitional provision 6, Maxima Holdings plc, the IT solutions and managed services group, would like to notify the market of the following:

As at 18 January 2007, the issued share capital and voting rights of Maxima are as follows:

Maxima's share capital consists of 18,361,360 ordinary 1p shares with voting rights attached (one vote per ordinary share). Therefore the total number of voting rights in Maxima is 18,361,360.

The above total voting rights figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine whether they are required to notify their interests in, or a change to their interest in, Maxima under the FSA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive 01242 211 211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director 0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Sara Musgrave/Tania Wild 020 7360 4900

9 January 2007

Maxima has issued 250,000 ordinary 1p shares pursuant to the exercise of share options at 110p by Geoff Bicknell, former Finance Director of the Company.

Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the new ordinary shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Dealing is expected to commence in these shares on 12 January 2007.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive                              01242 211 211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director                   0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Sara Musgrave/Tania Wild                                      020 7360 4900

21 December 2006 

In conformity with the Transparency Directive's transitional provision 6, Maxima Holdings plc, the IT solutions and managed services group, would like to notify the market of the following:

As at 21 December 2006, the issued share capital and voting rights of Maxima are as follows:

Maxima's share capital consists of 18,111,360 ordinary 1p shares with voting rights attached (one vote per ordinary share). Therefore the total number of voting rights in Maxima is 18,111,360.

The above total voting rights figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine whether they are required to notify their interests in, or a change to their interest in, Maxima  under the FSA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive                              01242 211 211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director                   0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Sara Musgrave/Tania Wild                                      020 7360 4900

18 December 2006

Transition to International Financial Reporting Standards

Maxima Holdings plc ('Maxima' or the 'Group'), the IT systems integration and managed services group, is adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the financial year ended 31 May 2007, ahead of the required timeframe for AIM quoted companies. Previously the Group has applied United Kingdom generally accepted accounting principles (UK GAAP).

Maxima's first published financial statements under IFRS will be in respect of the six months ended 30 November 2006, with the first Annual Report and Accounts prepared on this basis being in respect of the year ending 31 May 2007 ("2007").

This document explains the impact of the adoption of IFRS on the Group's results and quantifies the expected impact on 2006 financial information which will be used for comparison purposes, including the May 2005 balance sheet, previously prepared under UK GAAP.

Adoption of IFRS will have no effect on the Group's strategy, operations of its business or its trading cash flows. Distributable reserves in Maxima are also unaffected.

Click here for full press release PDF - 518Kb

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive                              01242 211 211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director                   0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Sara Musgrave/Tania Wild                                      020 7360 4900

13 December 2006

The Board of Maxima Holdings plc is pleased to announce the appointment of Cenkos Securities plc as its Corporate Broker and Nominated Adviser with immediate effect.

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive                              01242 211 211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director                   0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Sara Musgrave/Tania Wild                                      020 7360 4900

12 December 2006

Section 198 Companies Act 1985 ('the Act')

("Maxima" or "the Company")

The Company was notified on 8 December 2006 that following the purchase of 70,000 Maxima shares on 4 December 2006,  Liontrust Asset Management had an interest in 1,828,786 Ordinary Shares of 0.01p each in Maxima, representing 10.10% of  the total issued share capital of the Company.

Maxima Holdings plc, the IT solutions and managed services group, announces an update on trading for the six months ended 30 November 2006. The business continues to successfully pursue its acquisitive and organic growth strategy, and will report expected revenues and profits significantly up year on year.

Maxima operates through two trading businesses, Maxima Solutions and Maxima Managed Services. A strong characteristic of both businesses continues to be their success at long-term customer relationships, leading to high levels of recurring revenues, with good operating profit margins. It is also pleasing to see the benefits of strong cooperation between the operating units both in sales and delivery.

Maxima Solutions has grown organically, winning eight new clients during the period, and its business has been strengthened with the acquisition of Cognition Solutions Ltd in October 2006. Cognition has a customer base of almost 300 organisations.

Maxima Managed Services has also grown organically, winning eight new clients during the period, and acquired IIL (Intertech Solutions Ireland) Ltd in November 2006. Intertech has a customer base of some 100 organisations with whom it has managed support service agreements.

Maxima will announce its interim results on 27 February 2007, together with details of the interim dividend payment. The results will be reported under IFRS for the first time. In a separate statement, due to be released later this month, the impact of IFRS will be explained along with a historical half-year and full-year restatement of results for comparison purposes.

Kelvin Harrison, Maxima's Chief Executive said:

"Maxima has more than doubled in size since floating on AIM two years ago. In 2007 we will continue to grow the business both organically and by acquisition. Major new product releases from Microsoft, such as the Vista operating system, Dynamics, Office 2007 and Sharepoint 2007 strongly position the Group for organic growth. In addition, our pipeline of acquisition opportunities continues to be strong and we expect to make further announcements in due course."

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive                              01242 211 211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director                   0141 880 1000

Seymour Pierce
Mark Percy/John Depasquale                                 0207 107 8000

Smithfield
Sara Musgrave/Tania Wild                                      020 7360 4900

Maxima (AIM: MXM.L), the IT solutions and managed services company, is pleased to announce that its recently acquired subsidiary, IIL (Intertech Solutions Ireland) Ltd ("Intertech") has been awarded a contract worth £2.9 million over a four year period for the provision and operation of a large Citrix based IT infrastructure platform.

The contract is for the set up and application management of a global work-share facility on behalf of a multinational petrochemical corporation. The systems will be hosted within a major European data centre. The facility will allow globally dispersed engineers working collaboratively on a major design project to access Intergraph's SmartPlant software via Citrix on a single instance of an Oracle database. The project is innovative in the bringing together of all elements of the latest Citrix Access solution, along with key Microsoft and Citrix third party utilities. The contract also includes the provision of a true 24x7 Managed Services facility for users based all over the world. This solves an age-old IT problem of bringing various databases together at the end of an engineering design project.

Kelvin Harrison, Maxima's Chief Executive said:

"This news confirms the benefit to Intertech of becoming part of the AIM-listed Maxima group, with its deep Oracle and Microsoft skills. Whilst the client saw greater security in dealing with the larger group, Maxima was also able to assist Intertech in the negotiation of improved contract terms. We are nowstrongly positioned to bid for other similar specialist projects in the future and this contract win helpsunderpin the existing expectations for the Company's 2007 financial year"

Maxima (AIM:MXM.L), the IT solutions and managed services company, is pleased to announce the acquisition of IIL (Intertech Solutions Ireland) Limited ("Intertech") for a total consideration of €6.1million (£4.1million). Intertech provides IT infrastructure solutions and managed services based upon Citrix technologies. Intertech operates principally in Ireland where it is the largest reseller and only platinum partner of Citrix in the Republic of Ireland. The acquisition is in line with Maxima's consolidation strategy within the fragmented IT services market. The Board anticipates that it will be earnings enhancing in the current financial year ending 31 May 2007.

Intertech has a customer base of some 100 organisations with whom it has managed service support agreements, principally for the Citrix software solutions; these are in the three same market segments in which Maxima already operates, namely manufacturing, public sector and financial services. Citrix Systems Inc provides a suite of application delivery infrastructure software products which provide high speed, secure access to any application software from any location over any network. Citrix has numerous partners in Ireland and the UK, however Intertech has attained a pre-eminent position in the Irish market. It has been partner of the year for the last 3 years and in 2006 won 4 of Citrix's 6 partner awards for Ireland.

Click here for full press release PDF - 105Kb

Maxima (AIM: MXM.L), the IT solutions and managed services company, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Cognition Solutions Limited ("Cognition") for a total consideration of £7.4m. Cognition supplies ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software solutions and services to the construction and facilities management sector, and will fit well with Maxima's existing solutions business. The acquisition is in line with Maxima's consolidation strategy within the fragmented IT services market. The Board anticipates that it will be earnings enhancing in the current financial year ending 31 May 2007.

Cognition has a customer base of almost 300 organisations which have bought solutions based on the "Intellect" product developed, owned and exclusively sold and supported by Cognition. These clients range from major organisations such as Alfred McAlpine Business Services Ltd, The Murphy Group and Accord plc to smaller construction companies and local authorities. 19 new customers have been won in the last year. Functionality has been continually enhanced to meet the evolving needs of the client base; for example, Intellect recently became the first product to be approved by HMRC for use with its new CIS (Construction Industry Scheme) reforms. Features include accounts, costing, payroll and management information systems, as well as specialist modules for plant hire, maintenance management, property management and mobile data solutions.

Click here for full press release PDF - 41Kb

Maxima Holdings plc (AIM: MXM), the AIM listed provider of IT solutions and managed services, has today granted performance related Options in accordance with the Rules of the Unapproved Share Option Scheme over 160,000 Ordinary Shares of 1p each ('Ordinary Shares') to Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director.

The exercise price of these options is 155p.

These Options may be exercised from 28th September 2009 until 28th September 2016 if the Company's EPS taken over the Performance Period is equal to or exceeds the cumulative increase in the RPI plus 3% per annum at the end of such Performance Period. For this purpose, the EPS for the Base Year shall be taken to be 18.1 pence per share.

In addition to the options granted today, Linda Andrews currently has Options over 90,000 shares at an exercise price of 110p which will conditionally be exercisable in November 2007 in accordance with the Rules of the EMI Scheme.

Other than the Options described above, Linda Andrews holds 599,069 Ordinary Shares representing approximately 3.7% of the issued share capital of the Company.

For further information, please contact:

Maxima Holdings plc
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive                           01242 211 211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director                0141 880 1000

Smithfield
Sara Musgrave / Tania Wild                                 020 7360 4900

The Company has been informed that on 30 August 2006 Linda Andrews, the Company's Finance Director, acquired the beneficial ownership of 774 shares in the Company at a price of #1.59 per share. Linda Andrews now holds 599,069 ordinary shares representing approximately 3.7% of the issued share capital of the Company.

The results and financial statements of Maxima Holdings plc, 2006, are available for download from our Investor Relations pages.

Click here to download the report

Maxima Holdings plc (AIM:MXM), the acquisitive, AIM-listed IT systems integrator and managed services provider, announces an update on trading for the year to 31 May 2006.

The Board is pleased to confirm that it expects revenues and operating profit to be in line with market expectations and ahead of 2005 results.

In line with its strategy stated at the time of the IPO, Maxima has successfully completed four acquisitions during the financial year just ended. All acquisitions have been fully integrated and are performing well. Cost savings and positive synergies from cross-selling and cross-resourcing have been delivered on time and in line with expectations.

As a result of these acquisitions, Maxima has structured the Group to operate as two trading businesses, Maxima Solutions and Maxima Managed Services.

Maxima Solutions delivers and supports enterprise and document management software solutions based upon its own IPR and leading products from vendors such as SAP, QAD and Microsoft. 29 new clients have been won during the year and recurring revenues from the client base continue to be strong.

Maxima Managed Services has been formed by the merger of Hanston Technology Partners, acquired in September 2005 and QED Business Systems acquired in May 2006. Both businesses have secured substantial new orders from their existing client base since being acquired by Maxima, while Hanston has won an additional nine new customer accounts. Cash generation has been strong. There were net cash outflows of £12.1m on acquisitions. A placing of shares in September 2005 raised £4.8m net and at year end net debt was £3.1m.

Maxima will announce preliminary results for the full year, together with details of the proposed final dividend payment, on 17 August 2006.

Kelvin Harrison, Maxima's Chief Executive said:

"Flotation on AIM in November 2004 has enabled Maxima to successfully pursue its ambitions as a consolidator in the IT services sector. Since floating our headcount has more than doubled to over 200 and we are reaping the benefits of scale, which are showing through in increased operating margins. We continue to uncover a healthy supply of acquisition opportunities of IT service companies that fit our stated criteria and expect further announcements in the coming months."

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive              01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director   0141 880 1000

Seymour Pierce
Mark Percy/John Depasquale                  0207 107 8000

Smithfield
Sara Musgrave/Tania Wild                       020 7903 0676

 

The Company has been informed that on 19 May 2006 Linda Andrews, the Company's Finance Director, acquired the beneficial ownership of 726 shares in the Company at a price of £1.62 per share. Linda Andrews now holds 598,295 ordinary shares representing approximately 3.7% of the issued share capital of the Company.

Maxima Holdings plc , the acquisitive IT services company delivering enterprise solutions and managed services, today announces that it has won a contract worth up to £4m over a two year period to supply Oracle e-Business suite expertise to a major UK transport infrastructure business.

Maxima will support the client as it removes legacy systems and adds new functionality to its Oracle E business suite as this becomes its core business tool. Applications included are Human Resources, CRM, Supply Chain and Finance along with their processes, all working on one single computer system. Such functionality will improve the flow and control of enterprise data across the business, whilst also delivering new services to both internal and external users for quicker and more consistent decision- making. The client is an existing customer of Hanston, a business acquired by Maxima in September 2005. The agreeme nt demonstrates Maxima's ability to maintain and deepen relationships following its successful integration of the Hanston acquisition.

Kelvin Harrison, Maxima's Chief Executive said:

"I am delighted that Maxima has been successful in further developing client relationships since integrating the business of Hanston. The contract, which is currently one of the largest projects of its kind in the UK, underpins group forecasts for the current year and demonstrates Maxima's continued ability to provide a comprehensive managed service for the technically complex Oracle e-business suite."

Click here for full press release PDF - 250Kb 

Maxima Holdings plc, (“Maxima” or the “Company”), the acquisitive AIM-listed IT software & services consolidator, is pleased to announce its interim results for the six months ended 30 November 2005.

Financial Highlights:

• Revenue up 31% to £8.1million (H1 2004: £6.2million*)
• Gross profit up 33% to £6.1million (H1 2004: £4.6million*)
• Operating profit up 55% to £1.2million** (H1 2004 £0.8million*)
• Adjusted, fully diluted earnings per share up 51% to 7.12p** (H1 2004: 4.7p*)
• Dividend of 1.5p per share (H1 2004: nil) - in line with progressive dividend policy

* all figures stated on a pro forma basis
** pre-amortisation of goodwill and exceptional charges

Operational Highlights:

• New clients won and new technical initiatives taken in all business units
• Two acquisitions made during the half year both making substantial contribution to revenue and profit
• Document & content management solutions provider, Ringwood Group Ltd, in August 2005
• Oracle managed services provider, Hanston Technology Partners Ltd, in September 2005
• Strong pipeline of future acquisition opportunities

Commenting on the results, Mike Brooke, Chairman, said: “Maxima’s foundations of strong recurring revenues and a product and service portfolio which can generate new business, together with our proven ability to source and successfully integrate acquisitions gives me confidence in the Company’s ability to continue to enhance shareholder value.”

Maxima Holdings plc, the acquisitive AIM-listed provider of software and IT solutions to the mid-market, announces an update on trading for the first half year to 30 November 2005.

Maxima expects revenues and operating profit from continuing operations to be ahead of the comparable period in the previous year. The Azur for SAP division has won seven new clients, most notably a major SAP Business One development and implementation project for Otto Bock Healthcare Ltd, a leading manufacturer of prosthetics and orthotics. Azur Business Solutions and Minerva Industrial Systems continue to focus on servicing their substantial existing client bases.

The document management software company acquired in August 2005 has been fully integrated with Azur Business Solutions, Maxima's "own-brand" software business. It has been restored to profitability and is winning new clients again in Financial Services, Healthcare and Local Government. Hanston, the Oracle managed services business we acquired in September 2005, continues to expand in-line with pre-acquisition budgets and has only been integrated at back-office level; it will continue to operate as a stand-alone business. Cross-selling opportunities have been identified across the client bases of the existing and new businesses.

Operating profits and cash flow for the full year are expected to be in line with expectations, although turnover may fall below forecasts as a result of greater proportion of services work.

Maxima continues to consider early adoption of IFRS and will announce results for the first half year, together with details of the interim dividend payment, on 27 February 2006.

Kelvin Harrison, Maxima's Chief Executive said:

"Whilst market conditions continue to be tough, Maxima is holding its own and driving value from carefully targeted acquisitions. We are very pleased with the integration of the two businesses acquired during the period and the opportunities for cross-selling these present. The software and IT services market continues to consolidate and we have a healthy pipeline of further acquisition opportunities."

For further information, please contact:

For further information, please contact:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive              01242 211211
Linda Andrews, Group Finance Director   0141 880 1000

Seymour Pierce
Mark Percy/John Depasquale                  0207 107 8000

Smithfield
Sara Musgrave/Tania Wild                       020 7903 0676

Maxima Holdings plc, the AIM listed provider of software and IT solutions, today announces its preliminary results for the period from flotation to 31 May 2005, and the pro forma results for the 12 months to 31 May 2005.

Highlights

SUCCESSFUL FLOTATION ON AIM ON 24 NOVEMBER 2004 AS AN IT CONSOLIDATOR

FIRST ACQUISITION, AZUR HOLDINGS LIMITED, BEAT EXPECTATIONS IN TERMS OF
growth and profit

PRO FORMA TWELVE MONTHS ENDED 31 MAY 2005*

Revenue up 13.7% to £14.1 million (2004: £12.4 million)

Operating profit up 50% to £2.2 million (2004: £1.5million)

Operating profit margin up to 15.5% (2004: 11.8%)

Growth achieved across all business divisions

SECOND ACQUISITION, RINGWOOD GROUP PLC, FOR TOTAL CONSIDERATION OF
£2.9million

STATUTORY RESULTS FOR THE PERIOD FROM FLOTATION TO 31 MAY 2005

Revenues of £8.1million

Profit after tax and goodwill amortisation £1.1million

Cash of £2.9million at 31 May 2005

Maiden dividend of 1.5p per share - in line with progressive dividend
policy

PRO FORMA INFORMATION FOR THE GROUP AS IF IT HAD BEEN TRADING IN ITS CURRENT form for the full twelve months to 31 May 2005 (excluding amortisation), and in the prior period. Commenting on the results, Mike Brooke, Chairman, said:

"Maxima has enjoyed a successful debut as a public company, with Azur, its first trading business, exceeding the expectations set at the IPO in November 2004. We remain focused on our strategy of growing the business by acquisition. The Board believes that there are considerable opportunities to create shareholder value through consolidation opportunities within the IT industry and looks to the future with confidence."

Enquiries:

Maxima
Kelvin Harrison, Chief Executive 07801 380 616

Geoff Bicknell, Group Finance Director Seymour Pierce
Mark Percy/John Depasquale 0207 107 8000

Smithfield
Sara Musgrave/Sarah Richardson 020 7903 0676