2002 ASX Announcements

Objective Corporation Final Results FY2002

Objective Corporation Ltd (ASX: OCL), a leader in knowledge and process management software solutions for Government and Top 1000 Corporations, today announced its final results for the financial year ending 30 June 2002.

Objective reported full year revenues of $13 million, a 56 per cent increase over the previous year. It also reported a profit after tax of $1.7 million, a $3 million improvement over last year's loss of $1.3 million.

The company also announced it will pay a fully franked dividend of 0.2 cents per share.

Objective's cash position at 30 June 2002 remained sound, with cash of $3.8 million, no debt and receivables of $4 million.

Tony Walls, Joint CEO of Objective Corporation said, "We are pleased that these solid results were achieved entirely through organic growth."

Objective attributes its strong performance to a focus on three areas of strategic significance: a resolute commitment to delivering valuable business outcomes to customers; a continued investment in research and development (R&D); and the expansion of its international footprint.

"Only two years into our international expansion, we now boast customer installations in three geographic regions and six countries including Australia, England, Northern Ireland, Sweden, the US and New Zealand," said Mr Walls.

Objective's Asia Pacific operations continued its solid performance, contributing sales revenues of $10.6 million and a profit of $2.3 million after fully expensing R&D costs. It continued to work on successful customer implementations, adding new business in all regions.

During the financial year, Objective's European operations contributed $2.2 million in sales revenue to the full year result and added several new government and private sector customers.

Whilst recording a loss for the full year, Objective's European operations improved substantially in the second half of the financial year, recording a profit of $0.5 million for the period.

"During a period of unprecedented upheaval in the ICT industry, we continued to invest heavily in Objective's future," said Mr Walls. "It is extremely important to maintain an appropriate balance between profitability and investment in future growth."

Objective invested $2 million in R&D during the year, representing a 19 per cent increase over last year and 15 per cent of total revenues. This amount was fully expensed as incurred. The company intends to increase its R&D investment again in FY2003.

"During the year, we continued to recruit the industry's best and brightest talent, making a significant commitment to delivering best practise in customer support and project delivery," said Mr Walls. "These capabilities are critical to ensuring the highest quality outcomes for our customers."

For FY2003 Objective Corporation anticipates further substantial organic growth in both revenue and profitability.

"As governments worldwide accelerate the move to online service delivery and electronic recordkeeping, Objective is in an ideal position to take advantage of an increasing number of business opportunities."

Delivering on its aim to become an Australian domiciled multinational, Objective will continue implementing its proven and trusted operational model in new international business centres.

"We have entered the current financial year in a solid position, with strong recurrent revenue, a significant number of new projects in hand and growing demand for our products and services," said Mr Walls.

The Board of Objective Corporation would like to thank our valued customers and talented staff for the contribution that they have made to the Company's successes during FY2002 and looks forward to sharing our prosperous future with all our stakeholders.