SIR Secure Income Reit Plc

RNS Number:5474R
Sirius Financial Solutions PLC
15 February 2002

Sirius Financial Solutions Plc

Trading Statement

Although 2001 was a difficult year for the software sector, Sirius experienced
encouraging levels of activity in its markets in the final months of the year as
the strength of its contemporary component based products impacted on the
insurance market.

In particular, in December 2001, Sirius secured and signed a contract for a
non-exclusive licence for an insurance portal, the development of which was
completed in 2001.  Certain conditions were included in this contract at the
request of the customer to enable it to meet obligations to third parties. These
conditions fell away on 6 February 2002 when the contract became unconditional.
During the early stages of the 2001 audit, the Directors have, in consultation
with Sirius' auditors, concluded that, in view of these conditions, it is
appropriate to recognise the licence revenue and the profit attributable to the
contract in 2002.  The effect of this will be that the Group will report a
material shortfall in pre tax profits for 2001 compared to current market
expectations.  The Group continued to generate positive operating cash flows in
2001. The Board currently anticipates that any deferral of revenues from 2001
will significantly enhance prospects for 2002 and taking both years together,
the aggregated market expectations for the two years remain realistic. The
accounts for 2001 have yet to be finalised and remain subject to audit.

The Group has made an excellent start to the year, which has resulted in a
record order book as at the end of January 2002. This order book includes
licence sales of £3.0m and mantime revenues of £4.5m, all of which are scheduled
for delivery during the year. The comparable total figure at this time last year
was only £2.0m. If the current order book is combined with our recurring
revenues then we have strong visibility of £14.5m of revenues for 2002 which
represents approximately two thirds of the market consensus forecast revenues
for the year. In recognition of this and as an expression of their confidence,
the Board anticipates that the dividend will be maintained at the level declared
in 2000.

2001 saw continued sales of both Sirius' broking and underwriting products.  As
a result of orders taken in the last 12 months another 4,000 insurance
professionals will be using Sirius products. In contrast with much of the
industry the Board believes the Group will experience strong organic growth in
2002 and initiated a recruitment campaign in January.

The Board expects to make the preliminary announcement of the results for 2001
in the final week of March.

For further information contact:

Stephen Verrall, CEO
Richard Bowser, Finance Director
Telephone: 0121 355 3567



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