Australian Contract Win and Appointment of Head of Australian Operations

Apr 04, 2013

RNS Number : 5276B
@UK PLC
04 April 2013

Embargoed for 7:00am release 4 April 2013


@UK PLC
("@UK" or the "Company")

Australian Contract Win and Appointment of Head of Australian Operations

@UK PLC (AIM:ATUK.L), the cloud ecommerce marketplace, is delighted to announce that it has signed contracts with an Australian Government shared service organisation for electronic marketplace research and spend analysis.  This follows considerable market entry work undertaken over the course of the last 12 months, which has created a pipeline of approximately AUD $2.4m per annum in opportunities across the Australian public and private sectors.  The Company has, together with Visa and its member banks, presented to the majority of Australia's Governments as well as a number of Australia's largest companies. Response to the integrated offering of ecommerce marketplace and embedded payment has been very encouraging.

To support this work and progress the proposals through to implementation the Company has recruited Matthew Clyne to head up its Australian operation. Matthew, who formerly worked for Visa's SpendVision platform, brings with him a deep knowledge of client needs and systems as well as a detailed understanding of electronic payment processes.  Matthew was strongly recommended by Visa and has global experience.  He was part of the team that rolled out the SpendVision platform across the USA, Europe, SE Asia and Australasia. The Company believes that this experience will be very valuable as it continues to expand its business internationally.  Many of the corporate clients that @UK has engaged with operate globally and this focus will help to increase uptake across different geographies.

Matthew Clyne, Head of Australian Operations @UK commented "I am really excited by this opportunity and having spent 2 weeks with the @UK team in Australia presenting at a procurement conference and visiting prospective customers it's clear that there is real enthusiasm for the solution."

Ronald Duncan, Chairman of @UK commented "I am very pleased with progress in Australia which we still expect to be larger than the UK, and am delighted that Matthew has joined us at this critical time where prospects are turning into clients."

Ends


Enquiries:

@UK PLC
Ronald Duncan, Chairman Tel: 0118 963 7000

Westhouse Securities Limited
Tom Griffiths/ Richard Johnson Tel: 020 7601 6100

Newgate Threadneedle
Caroline Evans-Jones/ Alex White Tel: 020 7653 9850

                                                                                 

@UK PLC

@UK is Europe's leading Cloud Platform with over 1 million users, which is used for Universities' and Colleges' procurement along with Local Authority, Schools and other Government and Private sector procurement.

The GeM marketplace for Universities on Colleges is the only card based national marketplace in the world and was successfully delivered for the 800 Universities and Colleges and the 680 National Suppliers, proving that Cloud Ecommerce delivers large complex projects for Government on time and budget.

Richard Benyon MP Minster for the Natural Environment, launched the @UK Green Ecommerce Marketplace back in October 2010, and it is now the largest repository of product carbon footprints in the World.

@UK was used by the National Audit Office to identify over £500 million in savings for 25% of NHS spend.  The ground breaking SpendInsight system used to identify the savings resulted in the award of 2 PhD's in artificial intelligence.

@UK delivers key government commitments of Savings Sustainability, and SME Inclusion along with support for start-ups.  @UK PLC has now created over 200,000 start up businesses and recently launched a new Cloud-Start-Up.com service to provide a complete suite of cloud business software to start-ups along with the essentials of Limited Company, Bank Account, Domain Name, Email, Ecommerce, Accounting system and membership of the @UK business club.

This has been followed by the announcement of the 2012StartUp.com campaign, which is supported by the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, the Forum of Private Business, and Software Industry Association BASDA.  The campaign aims for a 27% growth of 100,000 start up companies and growth for existing businesses.  It is a practical campaign that will result in companies being formed and growing through @UK's technology.

@UK has 6 key competitive advantages

  • SpendInsight uses unique artificial intelligence to automatically identify savings and is available on a national framework contract
  • Ecommerce Marketplace realises the savings through correct pricing vs catalogue marketplaces which are unable to support carriage, or complex pricing
  • GreenInsight provides unique sustainability analysis and
  • Hybrid Carbon Footprints enabling universal carbon footprints at a price break through of £4 per item
  • High performance cloud technology underpinning the system
  • Start up service allowing start ups to immediately start trading

These services are all immediately available to public sector bodies via the G-Cloud framework where @UK is a provider of services in all 4 lots (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and other services).

@UK is included in the Software and Computer Services Sector (9530). 

For further information please visit the @UK PLC websites
Investor Site http://www.uk-plc.net/invest
Main Site http://www.uk-plc.net
SpendInsight Site http://www.spendinsight.com
GreenInsight Site http://www.green-insight.com
Hybrid Carbon Footprint Site http://www.hybridcarbonfootprint.com
Cloud-Start-Up.com http://cstartup.com
2012StartUp.com http://www.2012Startup.com

 

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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