INVESTOR RELATIONS

STM Group PLC (AIM:STM), the cross border financial services provider, announces its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2009.

Financial highlights

• Revenue for the period of £4.13 million (30 June 2008: £4.26 million)
• Profit before tax of £0.18 million (30 June 2008: £1.43 million)
• Strong balance sheet with cash of £3.91 million (30 June 2008: £4.94 million)
• Interim dividend per share proposed of 0.2 pence payable on 30 October 2009 (2008: 0.2 pence)

Operational highlights

• Core CTS business trading in line with expectations, despite difficult market conditions and restructuring costs
• Loss of significant treasury management fees now largely being replaced with new higher margin client wins
• Integration and restructuring of STM Fiduciaire in Jersey now largely complete
• Continued widening of geographic footprint:
  • STM Swiss in Zurich established; and
  • Acquisition of Citadel Group in Luxembourg, subject to regulatory approval
• Strengthening of executive management team with appointment of Colin Porter as COO
• New business and marketing initiatives increased, including senior hires

Commenting on the summary and outlook, Tim Revill, CEO said :

"The first half of 2009 has been one of consolidation, cost cutting and restructuring for the Group, which has resulted in an efficient and scalable platform upon which to grow. The Group's core business as a CTS provider remains robust, despite the wider global economic pressures. Whilst we are disappointed that the Jersey office and STM's insurance division are currently trading below our original expectations, new product offerings such as STM Life and new offices such as STM Swiss should begin to make contributions to the Group towards the end of the year, albeit at a slower rate than our revised expectations. The Group's cash position remains strong at just under £4.0 million enabling STM to continue to seek out suitable strategic and earnings enhancing bolt-on acquisitions to bring our smaller offices up to critical mass.

We suspected in late 2008 that this year would be challenging, but the depth of the economic slowdown has been more challenging than our industry anticipated. A direct consequence was that a number of our clients put off making investment decisions in the first half of this year and this translated into a lower level of activity and delayed take-up of new products and services for STM. In recent weeks we have witnessed signs that normal activity is slowly resuming, however we remain cautious about an immediate return to previous levels of growth."

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