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Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc.

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FY2014 Annual Report · Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc.
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First Derivatives plc 

Directors’ report and consolidated 
financial statements 
Registered number: NI 30731 
28 February 2014 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Contents 

Chairman’s statement 

Chief Executive’s statement 

Directors and advisers 

Directors’ report 

Strategic report 

Report of the Remuneration Committee 

Corporate governance 

Statement of Directors’ responsibilities in respect of the Strategic report, the 
 Directors’ report and the financial statements 

Independent auditor’s report to the members of First Derivatives plc 

Consolidated statement of comprehensive income 

Consolidated balance sheet 

Company balance sheet 

Consolidated statement of changes in equity 

Company statement of changes in equity 

Consolidated cash flow statement 

Company cash flow statement 

Notes forming part of the financial statements 

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First Derivatives plc 

Chairman’s statement  

The  fiscal  year  to  28  February  2014  has  seen  the  Group  grow  its  operations  across  all  regions  and 
divisions  in  a  market  which  continues  to  improve.  The  ongoing  investment  in  the  Group’s  technology 
platform ensures we are in a strong position to meet clients’ needs and to deliver further strong growth.  

Revenue for the year ended 28 February 2014 increased by 23.8% to £69.9 million from £56.5 million in 
the previous year.  Pre-tax profits grew 29.0% to £7.9 million compared to £6.2 million in 2013.  

The programme of disposals of our property portfolio has continued over the year with the sale of eleven 
individual properties generating a profit on sale of £0.9 million. We also raised £4.7m in a share placing at 
£5.64 per share in July 2013 leading to net debt of £11.2m at the year-end in comparison to £22.2m last 
year.   

The  Group  continues  to  generate  positive  operating  cash  flows  and  this  has  allowed  the  Board  to 
recommend payment of a final dividend of 9.00p per share which, together with the interim dividend of 
3.20p per share paid on 5 December 2013, gives a total dividend for the year of 12.20p.   

The final dividend, if approved at the AGM, will be paid on 25 July 2014 to those shareholders on the 
register on 20 June 2014.   

Software 

Growth in software sales to £19.3 million (2013: £15.0 million) represented an increase of 28.8% arising 
from our continued focus on three markets segments for the Delta software suite.  

The announcement of our win to provide surveillance software to the Australian Securities and Investment 
Commission at the end of the last financial year initiated numerous discussions with exchanges, brokers 
and regulators on a global basis. We expect to gain further market share in the area of market surveillance 
and monitoring in the coming months.    

Announcements  like  those  made  with  NYSE  Technologies  (“NYSET”)  and  Thomson  Reuters 
demonstrates  we  have  software  which  is  the  epitome  of  big  data  software  solutions  for  volume  and 
velocity.  

Our focus on the Foreign Exchange Trading market remains.  During the year we successfully launched 
Delta Flow in our Tokyo Data Centre linking local bank pricing engines to allow Asian brokers to source 
FX liquidity from a potential pool of 40 banks.  We see this as a major boost as it improves our ability to 
gain market share of the largest segment (Japanese retail FX trading) of the  largest market in the world 
(FX  Market).  We  continue  to  invest  in  Delta  Flow  and  anticipate  increasing  our  share  of  the  market 
further this year. 

Consulting 

Consulting revenues grew strongly rising by 22.0% to £50.6 million from £41.5 million in the previous 
year.   This impressive  performance  demonstrates  the strength  of our  offering  in  meeting  the  regulation, 
remediation and realignment needs of our customers.  The market is improving and investment continues 
to  be  needed  by  institutions  to  meet  regulation  driven  requirements.   This,  along  with  continuing 
remediation  of  existing  systems  to  meet  new  requirements  while  realigning  back  and  middle  office  to 
support new institution strategies to meet them efficiently, generates continuing demand for services.   

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First Derivatives plc 

Chairman’s statement (continued) 

We continue to be successful in cross selling to existing customers, whilst also adding new institutions.  
Confidence in our ability to do so allows us to invest in enhancing the capabilities as demonstrated by the 
acquisitions  of  Redshift  Horizons  Limited  and  Cowrie  Financial  Limited  last  year  and  our  continued 
investment in recruitment and training of our staff.  We are confident we are well positioned to continue 
our  growth  trajectory  as  we  enhance  and  adapt  our  services,  building  upon  our  existing  stable  revenue 
arising from our focus on mission critical applications. 

Board changes 

At  the  Annual  General  Meeting  on  18  July  2013  David  Anderson  stepped  down  as  Non-executive 
Chairman  following  12  years  of  unfaltering  service,  and  David  remains  a  Non-executive  Director.   I 
would  like,  on  behalf  of  the  Board,  to  thank  David  for  his  substantial  contribution  to  Group  over  this 
period.   I  also  thank  Michael  O’Neil  who  resigned  from  the  board  during  the  year  after  many  years  of 
dedicated service to First Derivatives.  

During the year we established an Executive Committee as we strengthened our senior management team. 
Two  executive  directors,  Adrian  Toner  and  Kevin  Cunningham,  resigned  from  the  main  board  as  they 
joined the Executive Committee and continue to be key members of the senior management team.  

Outlook 

The 2013/14 year has seen strong growth across the Group’s activities with total revenues up over 23.8%. 
The current fiscal year is set to be a pivotal year for the Group as we gain traction in our target markets for 
our software.  We have a strong business in consulting with an expansive capability and have confidence 
in our ability to grow this as we have done in previous years.  The pipeline across the business is strong 
and as the year progresses we expect to demonstrate  progress in the areas we are addressing.  We have 
invested to ensure the Group is in a strong position to capture market share in software and consulting and 
consequently expect to report further progress in the year to 28 February 2015. 

I  would  like  to  thank  the  staff  of  First  Derivatives  and  my  board  colleagues  for  their  hard  work  for 
achieving another successful year of growth for the Group. 

Seamus Keating 
Chairman 

 19 May 2014 

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First Derivatives plc 

Chief Executive’s statement  

The outlook for the capital markets has improved in 2014 with major economies emerging from recession 
and  the  Eurozone  crisis  having  abated  for  the  moment.  For  the  first  time  in  a  number  of  years  our 
customers  are  looking  to  invest  to  exploit  new  opportunities,  in  addition  to  dealing  with  ever  more 
complex  regulations  and  shoring  up  their  capital  bases  by  seeking  to  reduce  costs.    Amidst  this  I  am 
pleased to report that First Derivatives has had another successful year. As well as growing our revenues 
and  increasing  profits,  we have  made  a  number  of significant investments  in research  and  development 
and our sales capacity which we believe will generate further growth in the coming years. 

Review of activities 

First  Derivatives  sells  software  products  to  the  capital  markets  and  provides  a  range  of  associated 
consulting services. Our growing customer base  currently consists mainly of investment banks, brokers, 
exchanges, regulators and hedge funds. Whilst the majority of our customer assignments are undertaken in 
major financial centres such as New York, London, Toronto, Chicago, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and 
Sydney, we also have engagements underway in locations such as Bahrain, Mumbai, Milan and Mexico 
City. 

There  are  potentially  thousands  of  customers  for  our  products  and  services,  many  of  whom  spend 
hundreds  of  millions  of  pounds  annually  on  technology  and  associated  services.    We  differentiate 
ourselves from other vendors by providing a combination of domain knowledge and technical expertise.  
This is relatively unique in the industry, which has no dominant player and is extremely fragmented.  First 
Derivatives has strong brand recognition and is rapidly becoming one of the industry’s leading players. 
We are focused on building recurring revenue from our software assets and in our consulting business we 
target assignments that last for many years to establish a visible revenue stream.  

We  made  a  major  investment  in  our  sales  capacity  this  year.    We  have  established  a  regional  hub  in 
Singapore  with  supporting  satellite  offices  in  Hong  Kong  and  Japan.  In  addition,we  signed  new 
partnerships  with  NYSE  Technologies,  Pivotal  in  California  and  are  about  to  sign  up  a  new  partner  in 
China  and  Taiwan.  This  expansion  in  direct  and  indirect  sales  channels  has  been  accompanied  by  a 
significant increase in front line personnel and is indicative of our confidence in the quality of our product 
and consulting offerings. 

Delta Software 

Our singular focus in developing our software since we made the strategic decision to develop our own 
product has been data – the capture, enrichment and analysis of vast amounts of  high frequency data in 
real-time.  We have been working with Big Data, long before the term came into vogue, and are one of the 
few  companies  to  have  built  and  deployed  Big  Data  products.    We  used  our  capital  markets  domain 
knowledge to the benefit of our customers and created disruptive applications in a number of niche areas, 
branded under the Delta umbrella.  Furthermore, we have invested significantly in building ecosystems in 
the cloud to deploy Delta applications – not only does it allow our customers to share data and liquidity 
but it also saves them significant infrastructure, support and development costs. We secured prestigious 
anchor  tenants  for  these  deployments  who  are  happy  to  act  as  reference  clients.  This  multi-tenanted, 
hosted model is expensive to establish as it entails significant upfront development and infrastructure cost. 
However the acquisition of new cost customers is low as are ongoing incremental support costs.  In the 
past year we have had success in a number of areas: 

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First Derivatives plc 

Chief Executive’s statement (continued) 

Delta Software (continued) 

Delta Stream (Surveillance) – This has been an exciting year for us as we have travelled the world to 
meet Exchanges, Regulators and Brokers in each continent. The catalyst for this increased interest in our 
Delta  Stream  product  has  been  the  successful  deployment  of  a  surveillance  system  for  the  Australian 
market  –  a  deal  we  announced  in  December  2012.  This  system  is  being  publicly  heralded  by  the 
Australian  Regulator  as  a  key  weapon  in  their  mandate  to  discourage  insider  trading  and  to  reduce 
systemic  risk.  Delta  Stream  analyses  trades  and  quotes  in  real-time  and  applies  algorithms  to  identify 
patterns of activity indicating insider trading, fat finger trades and other forms of market dysfunction and 
to take remedial action where necessary. One topical form of market dysfunction that Delta Surveillance 
is designed to prevent is the type of flash crash which sent the Dow Jones crashing by over 1,000 points in 
10 minutes in May 2010. We have recently signed a deal in this area and we expect to be in a position to 
provide further news in the coming months. 

Delta Flow (Foreign Exchange) - Our Delta Flow product is now a relatively mature product and is in 
use by circa 30 banks and brokers to help them source FX liquidity from a pool of 40 banks co-located in 
data centres in New Jersey and Tokyo. We successfully deployed Delta Flow in Tokyo late last year and 
live trading started in February 2014. This initiative, which was backed by one of Japan’s largest banks, 
gives us a springboard for increasing our market share in the country, the world’s largest retail FX market 
and in Asia in general. Our customers trade billions of dollars of spot FX per day and we now also support 
FX forwards and swaps following the latest release of our product in March 2014. We will continue to 
invest heavily in Delta Flow and have a number of exciting initiatives underway (including extension of 
our mobile offering) in our bid to become a leading player in the world’s largest market, estimated to be 
worth $3 billion per annum in revenue. 

Delta DAAS (Data As A Service) – Our Data As A Service (DAAS) offering launched in mid 2013 has 
generated interest from a number of leading data providers and exchanges. DAAS is a hosted and fully 
managed  solution  targeted  at  consumers  of  data,  including  market  and  reference  data,  who  spend  vast 
sums building the internal global support teams and physical infrastructure (e.g., primary and secondary 
data centres, disk storage, hardware) required to collect and store data. The acquisition of this data  does 
not generate any competitive advantage per se – this derives from how the data is mined and used. Our 
intention  is  to  work  with  partners  to  make  this  data  a  shared  utility  in  the  same  manner  as  water  or 
electricity.  DAAS is an example of Big Data in action – on the North American financial markets alone 
there are c20 million price updates a second or 113 billion per day on average, which rolls up to almost 
100  trillion  (  1014  )  in  5  years,  needing  c21  petabytes  of  storage.  In  September  2013  we  announced  a 
partnership with NYSE Technologies to bring a revolutionary Tick As A Service (TAAS) offering to the 
market.    This  initiative  is  on  hold  pending  reshuffles  following  the  ICE  takeover  of  NYSE  but  is  a 
validation  of  our  offering  and  we  are  working  on  a  number  of  similar initiatives  with  data  vendors  and 
exchanges. 

Big Data - Our platform is designed to meet the challenges of Big Data and recent product wins allied 
with  our  data  pedigree  has  brought  us  to  the  attention  of  some  of  the  major  players  in  the  technology 
arena. Traditionally we have focussed on the “volume” and “velocity” challenges of Big Data but we have 
initiated a development stream to encompass a “veracity” dimension.  This involves tagging and indexing 
events such as tweets, emails, documents and voice records. Work is still at a relatively early stage but 
will potentially open up a new frontier for us as we seek to “own the timestamp” for both structured and 
unstructured data in the capital markets.  We are working on a number of partnerships with some leading 
Big Data players and our hope is that these partnerships will help bring our technology to a wider arena 
beyond finance. 

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First Derivatives plc 

Chief Executive’s statement (continued) 

Delta Software (continued) 

I am pleased to report that our recurring software revenue increased by 11% this year and the growth trend 
has continued into the new financial year.  Commitment to establishing this annual recurring/transactional 
model is key to building a sustainable and profitable software business.  

Our partner company Kx Systems has had another successful year. As a 20% shareholder and with a seat 
on the Board we will continue to benefit from their success and their continuing commitment to pushing 
the  boundaries  of  database  technology.    Their  product,  kdb+,  is  used  by  many  of  the  world’s  largest 
financial  institutions  and  Kx  Systems  lists  organisations  such  as  Deutsche  Bank,  JP  Morgan,  Zurich 
Financial  Group,  Morgan  Stanley,  Unicredit  and  Total  Gas  &  Power  as  customers.  An  exciting 
development this year has been the expansion into the pharmaceutical and utilities sector with the signing 
of Purdue Pharma and the Canadian electricity regulator, IESO. 

Consulting 

First Derivatives has established itself as one of the leading niche capital markets consulting companies in 
the world. We have ongoing contracts with many of the leading global banks, supporting their activities 
across  a  range  of  asset  classes  including  credit,  interest  rate,  foreign  exchange,  equity,  cash  and 
derivatives markets. The Group has been working in this area for eighteen years and our areas of expertise 
continue  to  broaden  and  deepen.  We  are  bidding  for  large  transformation  and  outsourced  work  against 
(and  indeed  sometimes  jointly  bidding  with)  titans  such  as  IBM,  Fujitsu  and  Accenture.    The  potential 
lifetime value of these innovative initiatives is measured in tens of millions of pounds. 

In  our  consulting  division,  our  underlying  philosophy  remains  unchanged.  We  provide  people  who 
understand  the  capital  markets  and  who  understand  technology.  This  differentiates  us  from  our 
competitors as does our flexible operating model. Our consulting engagements allow us to keep abreast of, 
and  respond  to  trends  in  the  market.  This  year,  utilising  our  platform  we  have  developed  a  number  of 
products  in  areas  such  as  application  monitoring  (Delta  Monitoring),  reconciliations  (Delta  Rec)  and 
testing (Delta Tools for Calypso) which further differentiate us from competitors in the consulting arena. 
Our  consultants,  whilst  on  the  bench,  are  deployed  to  work  closely  with  our  development  team  by 
providing market intelligence and competitor analysis. They can also assist the product team with business 
analyst work and testing.   It is important to note that this pool of available resources will allow us to scale 
our software business. 

We have developed and refined a number of consulting offerings which are designed to allow us to bid for 
larger projects, to lock-in recurring revenue and to cross sell products. These include a Nearshore offering 
and  Multi-Vendor  application  support.  Our  Nearshore  model  is  an  alternative  to  the  popular  but  only 
partially  successful  outsourcing  model.  It  is  a  hybrid  model  which  involves  deploying  a  team  of 
consultants in situ at multiple customer sites supported by a team with similar expertise at a lower cost in 
our headquarters. This model is designed to address many of the shortcomings of outsourcing  – cultural 
issues,  domain  expertise,  timezone  issues  and  supply  and  sustainability.  Our  Multi-Vendor  application 
support offering (often used in conjunction with the Nearshore model) involves providing a single team to 
support a range of third party applications such as Calypso, Murex and Summit as well as legacy in-house 
systems.  This  multi-disciplined  team  is  also  responsible  for  upgrades,  testing,  customisation  and 
development of interfaces.  The advantage to the bank is that rather than managing multiple siloed teams 
they  have  one  point of  contact  and  cumulative  savings  around  training,  recruitment  fees,  duplication  of 
effort and management overhead.  

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First Derivatives plc 

Chief Executive’s statement (continued) 

Consulting (continued) 

The Group has had a number of notable successes this year worth highlighting: 

  We  have  been  appointed  as  the  lead  consultant  in  a  multi-year  transformation  project  for  the 

European arm of a Japanese bank. Delta Rec is used as part of this engagement; 

  We  were  chosen  to  provide  outsourced  application  management  services  across  a  range  of  
applications  to  a  German  bank.  This  is  a  seven  year  agreement.  This  also  involves  the  sale  of 
Delta Monitoring; and 

  A European bank has chosen First Derivatives to assist them in the disposal of non-core assets in 

a program expected to last five years. 

Management and Personnel  

The Group now employs over 900 people and increased recognition of the First Derivatives brand allows 
us  to  attract talented  people  in  our  locations  around the  world.  Our renowned  graduate recruitment  and 
training  programme,  the  Options  programme,  is  now  six  years  old  and  with  our  high  retention  rate  the 
experience profile of our consultants continues to increase. Once again I would like to pay tribute to all 
First Derivatives employees who are hardworking, talented, flexible and dedicated.   

Financial Review  

Post-tax  profit  for  the  year  was  £6.4  million  (2013:  £5.1  million)  on  turnover  of  £69.9  million  (2013: 
£56.5  million).  Our  balance  sheet  is  strong  with  equity  attributable  to  shareholders  up  to  £52.1  million 
(2013:  £39.4  million),  an  increase  of  32%.  This,  and  our  confidence in  the  Group’s  ability  to  generate 
cash, enables the Board to recommend a final dividend of 9.00p per share (2013: 8.40p) which means that 
we will have paid a total dividend of 12.20p (2013: 11.50p) per share for the full year.   

Outlook 

The increasing maturity of our products, the investment in additional sales capacity and the health of our 
current  pipeline  gives  us  confidence  in  anticipating  further  growth  in  the  year to  28  February  2015.  As 
well  as  organic  growth  the  Board  will  continue  to  pursue  acquisition  opportunities  where  we  see  a 
strategic fit. We believe that we have positioned ourselves to benefit from global trends in technology and 
consulting and that with our recurring revenue model and continued reinvestment in the business we will 
deliver further significant benefits in the years ahead. 

Brian Conlon 
Chief Executive Officer 

19 May 2014 

7 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Directors and advisers 

Directors 

Secretary 

Registered Office 

Auditors 

Solicitors 

Bankers 

–  Non-executive Chairman+ 
–  Chief Executive Officer 
–  Chief Financial Officer 
–  Non-executive Director*+ 
–  Non-executive Director* 
–  Non-executive Director*+  

S Keating 
B G Conlon 
R G Ferguson 
P Brazel 
K MacDonald 
R D Anderson 

JJ Kearns 

3 Canal Quay 
Newry 
Co Down 
BT35 6BP 

KPMG 
Chartered Accountants 
Stokes House 
17/25 College Square East 
Belfast 
BT1 6DH 

Mills Selig 
21 Arthur Street 
Belfast 
BT1 4GA 

Bank of Ireland 
Corporate Headquarters 
Donegall Place 
Belfast 
BT1 5LU 

Nominated Advisor/EMI Advisor and 
Joint Brokers 

Charles Stanley Securities 
131 Finsbury Pavement 
London 
EC2A 1NT 

Goodbody Corporate Finance 
Ballsbridge Park 
Ballsbridge 
Dublin 4 

Company registration number 

NI 30731 

Registrar and Transfer Office 

* Members of the audit committee  
+ Members of the remuneration committee 

Neville Registrars Limited 
Neville House 
18 Laurel Lane 
Halesowen 
West Midlands 
B63 3DA 

8 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Directors’ report 

The Directors have pleasure in submitting to the shareholders their annual report and the audited financial 
statements of the Group and Company for the year ended 28 February 2014.   

Results and dividend 

The  Group’s  profit  after  taxation  attributable  to  the  shareholders  for  the  year  to  28  February  2014  was 
£6,401k (2013: £5,145k).  

The Directors propose the payment of a final dividend of 9.00 pence per share (previous year: 8.40 pence) 
which, together with the interim dividend of 3.20 pence per share (2013: 3.10 pence), totals 12.20 pence 
per  share  (2013:  11.50  pence).    The  final  dividend  has  not  been  included  in  payables  as  it  was  not 
approved before the year end. 

Dividends paid during the year comprised of a final dividend of 8.40 pence per share for the year ended 
28 February 2013 and an interim dividend of 3.2 pence per share for the year ended 28 February 2014. 

Directors  

The Directors who held office during the year were as follows: 

R D Anderson 
B G Conlon 
R G Ferguson 
A Toner (resigned 09 May 2013) 
K Cunningham (resigned 09 May 2013) 
M G O’Neill (resigned 09 May 2013) 
P Brazel   
K MacDonald  
S Keating 

Directors and their interests 

The  interests  of  the  Directors  in  shares  during  the  year  are  set  out  on  page  15  in  the  report  of  the 
Remuneration Committee. 

Substantial shareholdings 

At 19 May 2014, the Group had received no notification of any interests in 3% or more of the ordinary 
share  capital,  other  than  those  disclosed  by  B  G  Conlon  (39.7%),  Standard  Life  Investments  Limited 
(8.4%), Legal & General Group plc (4.00%) and Investec Asset Management (3.3%).  

Research and development 

The Group’s policy is to invest in product innovation and engage in research and development activities 
geared toward the development of products primarily for the use of the financial services industry.  During 
the year costs of £5,987k (2013: £5,608k) were capitalised in respect of activities which were deemed to 
be development activities in accordance with the Group’s accounting policies. Research and development 
costs of £1,497k (2013: £1,428k) were expensed during the year. 

9 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Directors’ report (continued) 

Employees 

It is the Group’s policy to ensure that equal opportunity is given for the employment, training and career 
development  of  disabled  persons,  including  persons  who  become  disabled  whilst  in  the  Group’s 
employment. 

The Group is committed to keeping employees as fully informed as possible, on matters which affect them 
as employees. The Group’s policy on employees remains to adopt a very open management style, keeping 
employees  informed  of  all  matters  affecting  them  as  employees  including  key  financial  and  economic 
factors affecting the Group’s performance. This is achieved through meetings and informal consultation at 
all levels. 

Financial instruments 

The Group’s financial risk management objective is broadly to seek to make neither a profit nor loss from 
exposure to currency or interest rate risk.  The policy is to finance working capital and the acquisitions of 
property,  plant  and  equipment  through  retained  earnings  and  through  borrowings  at  prevailing  market 
interest rates. 

The Group does not use derivatives to manage its financial risk investment.  The Group’s main cash flow, 
credit  and  liquidity  risks  are  those  associated  with  selling  on  credit.    This  is  managed  through  credit 
control  procedures.    The  Group  is  also  exposed  to  the  impact  of  fluctuations  in  exchange  rates  as  it 
generates income and incurs expenses in currencies other than Sterling (GBP).  The Group has exposure 
to the US Dollar (USD), Euro (EUR), Australian Dollar (AUD) and Canadian Dollar (CAD). 

In addition, the Group has financial risk exposure as a result of mortgage financing apartment purchases, 
trade receivables and activities carried on by subsidiary undertakings.  The  Group’s financial position is 
structured  to  take  advantage  of  a  natural  foreign  currency  hedge  using  excess  cash  generated  from 
operations to repay the associated capital and interest on US Dollar borrowings.  In addition, by funding 
the  acquisitions  of  Market  Resource  Partners  LLC  (MRP),  Reference  Data  Factory  Inc  (RDF)  and  the 
investment  in  Kx  Systems  in  US  Dollars,  the  Group  can  achieve  a  net  investment  hedge  against  a 
significant portion of its translation exposure on the net assets of its foreign operations. 

Political donations 

The Group and Company made no political donations during the year (2013: £Nil). 

Future developments 

As highlighted in the Chairman’s Report and the report of the Chief Executive, the Group focuses on the 
sale of software and consulting services to the capital markets industry.  This remains the key strategy of 
the Group to increase its share in its target market segments.  The Delta software suite is asset class 
agnostic and can be applied to other asset classes and markets.  The Group’s focus will remain on the 
capital markets, though exploitation of the software assets of the Group will be pursued. 

Events after the reporting date 

No significant events have occurred between 28 February 2014 and the date of authorisation of these 
financial statements. 

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First Derivatives plc 

Directors’ report (continued) 

Disclosure of information to auditors 

The Directors who held office at the date of approval of this Directors’ Report confirm that, so far as they 
are  each  aware,  there is no  relevant  audit  information  of  which the  Company’s auditor  is  unaware;  and 
each Director has taken all the steps that he ought to have taken as a Director to make himself aware of 
any relevant audit information and to establish that the Company’s auditor is aware of that information.  

Auditors 

In accordance with Section 489 of the Companies Act 2006, a resolution for the re-appointment of KPMG 
as auditors of the Company is to be proposed at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.  

By order of the board 

JJ Kearns    
Secretary 

19 May 2014 

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First Derivatives plc 

Strategic report 

Strategy and business objectives 

The  principal  business  of  First  Derivatives  plc  is  the  provision  of  a  range  of  software  and  consulting 
services  to  the  investment  banking  market,  the  derivatives  technology  industry,  the  foreign  exchange 
market and the provision of technology sales services to the IT sector.   

First Derivatives objective is to increase shareholder value by increasing the Group’s sales revenue and 
profit before tax.  Its strategy to achieve this is focused upon organic growth supported by investment in 
the  Group’s  infrastructure  or  selective  acquisitions  providing  these  can  be  demonstrated  to  enhance 
shareholder value.   

The  Group  offers  a  range  of  services  to  various  clients  across  the  world.  These  services  interlink  and 
complement each other, which enables the Group to be managed on an overall basis.  Organic growth is 
driven by providing innovative services or products to its client base focused on meeting their needs and 
objectives.    This  has  seen  a  growing  demand  for  software  and  consulting  services  as  clients  look  to 
improve business efficiencies within their operating environment while meeting the increasing regulation 
needs.  The business model focuses servicing or providing mission critical applications for the client base.  
This  assists  in  the  retention  of  revenue  streams  while  allowing  cross  selling  in  the  future.    In  addition 
several new clients are sought to be won each year which combined with ongoing revenue retention and 
cross selling ensures the continued progression of the Group. 

In  recent  periods  a  number  of  investments  have  been  made  to  establish  subsidiary  entities.    First 
Derivatives will continue to try to identify acquisitions or investments to expand its range of services and 
offerings available to its various clients.  The focus of these acquisitions or investments remains to be that 
the  new  services  or  offerings  interlink  and  complement  each  other,  which  enables  the  Group  to  be 
managed on a unified basis. 

Development and performance 

The  Group  performed  in  the  year  with  sales  increasing  by  £13.4  million  (23.8%).    Growth  arose  from 
further  penetration  in  the  two  key  business  areas  with  consultancy  sales  increasing  by  £9.1  million 
(22.0%) and software sales  by £4.3  million (28.8%).  The profit before tax for the year of £7.9 million 
(2013: £6.2 million) represented a growth of 29.0%. 

Position at year end 
The Group’s cash from operating activities increased by 153.0% to £8.1 million which resulted in a cash 
and cash equivalent balance of £1.5 million (2013: (£0.3 million)).  Net assets at 28 February 2014 were 
£52.1 million compared to £39.4 million at 28 February 2014. 

12 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Strategic report (continued) 

Key performance indicators 

A review of the Group’s activities in the current year is detailed in the Chief Executive’s Statement with 
progress against the stated objectives shown in the below table: 

Annual Revenue 
Profit Before Tax 

Principal risks and uncertainties 

2014 
£’000 
69,902 
7,947 

2013 
£’000 
56,469 
6,160 

The Group operates in a changing economic and technological environment and is exposed to a number of 
risks and uncertainties in the undertaking of its day to day activities.  Risks are formally reviewed by the 
board and appropriate processes put in place to monitor and mitigate them.  If more than one event occurs, 
it  is  possible  that  the  overall  effect  of  such  events  would compound  the possible  adverse effects on the 
Group. 

Personnel 
As a software and services provider, the Group is a people based business and its growth depends largely 
on  growing  staff numbers and  training  staff to  meet the  diverse requirements  of  its  customer  base. The 
Group continues to refine its recruitment process to ensure a constant intake of suitable new staff and the 
internal training programme for each Company is constantly evolving.  Staff retention remains a key focus 
with initiatives such as mentoring programmes being employed, in addition to incentives schemes which 
include share options that are geared towards rewarding and motivating staff. 

Market risk 
The  Group operates in a competitive and often cyclical market environment.  It addresses these risks by 
focusing sales campaigns on generating assignments with long-term visibility, continuing to increase the 
human capital of its consultants and diversifying its software and services portfolio offerings.    

Technological changes 
Technology in the software industry can change rapidly.  It is important that the Group’s products remain 
up to date and that its development plans are flexible.  Significant ongoing investment is made in research 
and  development  to  allow  the  identification  and  adaptation  to  any  technological  changes  that  do  occur, 
thereby ensuring that its products continue to meet the demands of its customers. 

Key relationships with partners and customers 
First  Derivatives  maintains  successful  relationships  with  Kx  Systems,  a  key  partner,  and  several  key 
customers.  Its relationship with Kx Systems is governed by a  perpetual OEM agreement for the use of 
this database within the First Derivatives product suite.  A small number of customers are important to the 
success of the Group, though its continued expansion continues to reduce the reliance. 

Growth management 
The Group’s ability to manage its growth effectively will require it to continue to improve its operations, 
financial and management controls, reporting systems and procedures, and to train, motivate and manage 
its  employees.    Investment  is  made  in  each  of  these  areas  each  year  to  improve  and  add  to  existing 
functions to continue to manage the Group’s growth. 

13 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Strategic report (continued) 

Principal risks and uncertainties (continued) 

Other information 
The other information required to be disclosed in respect of the review of the Group’s business as required 
under Section 417 of the Companies Act 2006 is given in the Chairman’s Statement on pages 2 to 3 and 
the  Chief  Executive’s  Statement  under  the  heading  ‘Financial  Review’  on  page  7  as  well  as  further 
consideration of the key business risks highlighted above. 

The Directors do not consider any other risks attaching to the use of financial instruments to be material to 
an assessment of its financial position or profit.  Further information is set out in note 38. 

On behalf of the board 

JJ Kearns 
Secretary 

14 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Report of the Remuneration Committee 

Remuneration Committee 

The Remuneration Committee operates within defined terms of reference. The Remuneration Committee 
comprises the Chairman and two Non-Executive Directors. It is chaired by Patrick Brazel. 

Remuneration policy 

The policy of the Group is to set levels of remuneration to attract, retain and motivate Executive Directors 
and key staff. The packages are designed to be competitive in value to those offered to the Directors of 
similar sized public companies in related sectors. It is the Board’s policy to align the interests of managers 
with those of our shareholders in the grant of options and other equity rewards which underlying securities 
grantees are very much encouraged to retain over the longer term. 

The components of the Executive Directors’ remuneration packages are currently a basic salary, bonus, 
money  purchase  pension  contributions  and  benefits  in  kind.  The  bonus  elements  are  dependent  on  the 
Executive Directors achieving performance criteria set out by the Remuneration Committee. The criteria 
include targets for revenue, profits and earnings per share. In addition, the  Group operates share option 
schemes  for the  Executive  Directors.  Details  of the Director’s  remuneration  is set out  in  note  12  of  the 
financial statements. 

Non-Executive Directors 

The Board, based on a recommendation by the Chairman of the Remuneration Committee or, in the case 
of  the  Chairman,  the  remainder  of  the  Board,  determines  the  remuneration  of  the  Non-Executive 
Directors. The Non-Executive Directors are not eligible to join the pension scheme.  

Service contracts 

The Executive Directors have entered into service contracts with the Group that are terminable by either 
party on not less than three months prior notice.  

Directors’ interests in shares 

The interests held in shares of the Company by the Directors who held office at the end of the financial 
year, all of which are beneficial holdings, were as follows: 

R D Anderson 
B G Conlon 
R G Ferguson 
P Brazel 
K MacDonald 
S Keating 

Ordinary shares of 
£0.005 each 
2014 
number 

Ordinary shares of 
£0.005 each 
2013 
number 

130,000 
7,853,953 
117,467 
- 
10,000 
8,643 

140,000 
7,853,953 
117,647 
- 
10,000 
- 

15 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Report of the Remuneration Committee 

Share options  

The Directors believe it is important to incentivise key management and employees.  

Share options granted to the Directors over ordinary £0.005 shares in the Company are set out in note 12. 
The mid-market price of the Company’s shares at close of business on 28 February 2014 was £12.65 and 
the high and low share prices during the year were £15.83 and £5.55 respectively. 

The  Company  recognised  total  expenses  of  £667k  (2013:  £576k)  related  to  equity-settled  share-based 
payment transactions during the year. Expenses of £161k (2013: £257k) related to share options granted to 
the Directors. 70,000 share options were exercised by the Directors during the current year (2013: Nil). 

Transactions with Directors 

The Directors interests in the contracts with the Company are disclosed in note 37. 

16 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Corporate governance 

As  an  AIM-quoted  Company,  the  Group  is  not  required  to  comply  with  the  requirements  of  the  UK 
Corporate Governance Code and the Group has not elected to voluntarily comply with the Code. 

The Group has however, put in place corporate governance arrangements which reflects the Group’s size 
and structure.  The main features of the Group’s corporate governance arrangements are: 

  The Board meets on a regular basis and brings independent judgement to bear.  It approves budgets, 
long term plans and significant contracts.  There is a formal schedule of matters reserved for decision 
by the Board in place. 

  The Board has three Non-Executive Directors; they all take an active role in board matters. 

  The Group has an Audit Committee and a Remuneration Committee.  These committees consist of the 

non-executive Directors.  They have written constitutions and terms of reference. 

  The  Audit  Committee  meets  twice  each  year,  prior  to  the  publication  of  the  half-yearly  and  final 
results.  The auditors attend the Audit Committee meeting prior to the publication of the final results. 

  The Remuneration Committee meets annually to determine the remuneration of the senior executives.  
Levels  of  remuneration  are  set  in  order  to  attract and  retain the senior  executives  needed  to  run the 
Company without paying more than is necessary for this purpose. 

  The Board of Directors recognises its overall responsibility for the Group’s system of internal control 
and for monitoring its effectiveness.  All activity is organised within a defined structure with formal 
lines  of  responsibility  and  delegation  of  authority.    The  Group  produces  information  packs  on  a 
weekly and monthly basis.  These packs, together with annual budgets, enable the Board to monitor 
operational performance and cash position each month and allocate the Group’s resources. 

  Share  options  have  been  granted  to  certain  Non-Executive  Directors  (see  note  12  to  the  financial 

statements). 

17 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Statement of Directors’ responsibilities in respect of the Strategic report, the 
Directors’ report and the financial statements 

The  Directors  are  responsible  for  preparing  the  Strategic  report,  the  Directors'  report and  the  financial 
statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations. 

Company law requires the Directors to prepare consolidated and Company financial statements for each 
financial year. As required by the AIM Rules of the London Stock Exchange they are required to prepare 
the Group financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as 
adopted by the EU and applicable law and have elected to prepare the Company financial statements on 
the same basis. 

Under Company law the Directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that 
they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Group and Company and of the profit or loss of 
the Group for that period. In preparing each of the consolidated and  Company  financial statements, the 
Directors are required to: 

 

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; 

  make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; 

 

state whether they have been prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the EU; and 

  prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that 

the Group and the Company will continue in business. 

The  Directors  are  responsible  for  keeping  adequate  accounting  records  that  are  sufficient  to  show  and 
explain  the  Company's  transactions  and  disclose  with  reasonable  accuracy  at  any  time  the  financial 
position  of  the  Company  and  enable  them  to  ensure  that  its  financial  statements  comply  with  the 
Companies  Act  2006.  They  have  general  responsibility  for  taking  such  steps  as  are  reasonably  open  to 
them to safeguard the assets of the Group and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities. 

The Directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information 
included on the Company's website. Legislation in the UK governing the preparation and dissemination of 
financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions. 

On behalf of the board 

JJ Kearns    
Secretary 

19 May 2014 

18 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Independent auditor’s report to the members of First Derivatives plc 

We  have  audited  the  financial  statements  of  First  Derivatives  plc  for  the  year  ended  28  February  2014 
which  comprise  the  consolidated  statement  of  comprehensive  income,  the  consolidated  and  Company 
balance  sheets,  the  consolidated  and  Company  statements  of  changes  in  equity,  the  consolidated  and 
Company  cash  flow  statements  and  the  related  notes.  The  financial  reporting  framework  that  has  been 
applied in their preparation is applicable law and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as 
adopted by the EU and, as regards the  Company financial statements, as applied in accordance with the 
provisions of the Companies Act 2006. 

This report is made solely to the Company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 
of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Company's 
members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors' 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 and the Company's members, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions 
we have formed. 

Respective responsibilities of Directors and auditors 
As explained more fully in the Directors' Responsibilities Statement set out on page 18, the Directors are 
responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and 
fair  view.  Our  responsibility  is  to  audit  the  financial  statements  in  accordance  with  applicable  law  and 
International  Standards  on  Auditing  (UK  and  Ireland).  Those  standards  require  us  to  comply  with  the 
Auditing Practices Board's (APB's) Ethical Standards for Auditors. 

Scope of the audit of the financial statements 
An  audit  involves  obtaining  evidence  about  the  amounts  and  disclosures  in  the  financial  statements 
sufficient to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement, 
whether  caused  by  fraud  or  error.    This  includes  an assessment  of:  whether  the  accounting  policies  are 
appropriate  to  the  Group  and  Company’s  circumstances  and  have  been  consistently  applied  and 
adequately disclosed; the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by the  Directors; and 
the overall presentation of the financial statements.  In addition, we read all the financial and non-financial 
information in the annual report to identify material inconsistencies with the audited financial statements.  
If  we  become  aware  of  any  apparent  material  misstatements  or  inconsistencies  we  consider  the 
implications for our report. 

Opinion on financial statements 

In our opinion: 

 

 

 

 

the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the Group’s and the Company's affairs 
as at 28 February 2014 and of the Group’s profit for the year then ended; 

the  consolidated  financial  statements  have  been  properly  prepared  in  accordance  with  IFRSs  as 
adopted by the EU; 

the Company financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted 
by the EU and as applied in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006; and 

the  financial  statements  have  been  prepared  in  accordance  with  the  requirements  of  the  Companies 
Act 2006. 

19 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Independent auditor’s report to the members of First Derivatives plc (continued) 

Opinion on other matter prescribed by the Companies Act 2006 

In our opinion the information given in the Strategic report and the Directors' report for the financial year 
for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements. 

Matters on which we are required to report by exception 

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 requires us 
to report to you if, in our opinion: 

  adequate  accounting  records  have  not  been  kept  by  the  Company,  or  returns  adequate  for  our  audit 

have not been received from branches not visited by us; or 

 

the Company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or 

  certain disclosures of Directors' remuneration specified by law are not made; or 

  we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit. 

Arthur O’Brien  (Senior Statutory Auditor) 
For and on behalf of KPMG, Statutory Auditor 
Chartered Accountants 
Stokes House 
17/25 College Square East 
Belfast 
BT1 6DH 

19 May 2014 

20 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Consolidated statement of comprehensive income 
Year ended 28 February 2014 

Note 

2014  
£’000 

Continuing operations 
Revenue 
Cost of sales 
Gross profit 

Other operating income  
Administrative expenses 
Results from operating activities 

Finance income 
Finance expense 
Loss on foreign currency translation 
Net financing expense 

Share of profit of associate using the equity method, net of tax 

Loss on dilution in associate using the equity method 

Profit before tax 

Tax expense   

Profit for the year 

Other comprehensive income 
Items that are or may be reclassified to profit or loss 
Deferred tax on share options outstanding 
Net exchange (loss)/gains on net investment in foreign 
subsidiaries and associate 
Net loss on hedge of net investment in foreign subsidiaries and 
associate 

Other comprehensive income for the period, net of tax 

Total comprehensive income for the period attributable to 
equity holders’ of the Company 

Earnings per share 
Basic 
Diluted 

5 

6 
7 

9 
9 
9 

18 

18 

11 

24 
27 

27 

15a 
15a 

2013  
£’000 

56,469 
(38,951) 
17,518 

1,616 
(11,982) 
7,152 

1 
(661) 
(538) 
(1,198) 

249 

(43) 
6,160 

(1,015) 

69,902 
(50,674) 
19,228 

1,950 
(12,890) 
8,288   

4 
(594) 
(19) 
(609) 

268 

- 
7,947   

(1,546) 

6,401 

5,145 

-   
(3,794)   

(227)   

(4,021) 

2,380 

Pence 
34.4 
32. 
29.7 

461 
905 

(214) 

1,152 

6,297 

Pence 
30.2 
32. 
27.9 

All profits are attributable to the owners of the Company and relate to continuing activities. 

The notes on pages 30 to 90 form part of these financial statements. 

21 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Consolidated balance sheet 
As at 28 February 2014 

Assets 
Property, plant and equipment 
Intangible assets and goodwill 
Investment in associate 
Trade and other receivables 
Deferred tax asset 
Non-current assets 

Trade and other receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 
Assets held for sale 
Current assets 

Total assets 

Equity 
Share capital 
Share premium 
Share option reserve 
Revaluation reserve 
Currency translation adjustment reserve 
Retained earnings 
Equity attributable to shareholders 

Liabilities 
Loans and borrowings 
Trade and other payables 
Deferred tax liabilities 
Non-current liabilities 

Loans and borrowings 
Trade and other payables 
Current tax payable 
Employee benefits 
Contingent deferred consideration 
Deferred consideration 
Current liabilities 

Total liabilities 

Total equity and liabilities 

Note 

2014  
£’000 

2013  
£’000 

16 
17 
18 
19 
30 

19 
20 
21 

22 
23 
24 
26 
27 

28 
29 
30 

28 
29 
31 
32 
33 
34 

5,358 
38,025 
5,233 
2,554 
5,855 
57,025 

20,571 
4,393 
3,146 
28,110 

85,135 

98 
22,251 
6,627 
167 
(3,040) 
25,959 
52,062 

9,706 
2,087 
4,008 
15,801 

5,875 
8,785 
430 
2,182 
- 
- 
17,272 

33,073 

85,135 

9,094 
37,545 
6,295 
1,673 
1,969 
56,576 

19,837 
1,902 
3,364 
25,103 

81,679 

87 
12,895 
3,341 
167 
981 
21,903 
39,374 

17,842 
2,224 
2,622 
22,688 

6,213 
8,505 
649 
3,038 
762 
450 
19,617 

42,305 

81,679 

These financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors on 19 May 2014. 

Seamus Keating  
Chairman             

Brian Conlon 
Chief Executive Officer   

          Graham Ferguson 
          Chief Financial Officer 

Registered Company number: NI 30731 

The notes on pages 30 to 90 form part of these financial statements. 

22 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Company balance sheet 
As at 28 February 2014 

Assets 
Property, plant and equipment 
Intangible assets 
Investment in subsidiaries 
Investment in associate 
Trade and other receivables 
Deferred tax assets 
Non-current assets 

Trade and other receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 
Assets held for sale 
Current assets 

Total assets 

Equity 
Share capital 
Share premium 
Share option reserve 
Fair value reserve 
Retained earnings 
Equity attributable to shareholders 

Liabilities 
Loans and borrowings  
Trade and other payables 
Deferred tax liabilities 
Non-current liabilities 

Loans and borrowings 
Trade and other payables 
Current tax payable 
Employee benefits 
Contingent deferred consideration 
Deferred consideration 
Current liabilities 

Total liabilities 

Total equity and liabilities 

Note 

2014  
£’000 

2013  
£’000 

16 
17 
18 
18 
19 
30 

19 
20 
21 

22 
23 
24 
25 

28 
29 
30 

28 
29 
31 
32 
33 
34 

2,048 
12,677 
24,464 
7,196 
4,183 
5,018 
55,586 

14,691 
3,607 
3,146 
21,444 

77,030 

98 
22,251 
6,627 
138 
21,021 
50,135 

9,706 
820 
2,694 
13,220 

4,649 
6,696 
433 
1,897 
- 
- 
13,675 

26,895 

77,030 

7,738 
9,383 
17,864 
7,196 
3,369 
1,379 
46,929 

17,514 
1,397 
3,364 
22,275 

69,204 

87 
12,895 
3,341 
133 
17,615 
34,071 

16,812 
1,010 
1,473 
19,295 

5,762 
5,756 
336 
2,776 
758 
450 
15,838 

35,133 

69,204 

These financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors on 19 May 2014. 

Seamus Keating  
Chairman             

Brian Conlon 
Chief Executive Officer   

          Graham Ferguson 
          Chief Financial Officer 

Registered Company number: NI 30731 

The notes on pages 30 to 90 form part of these financial statements.

23 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Consolidated statement of changes in equity 
Year ended 28 February 2014 

Balance at 1 March 2013 
Total comprehensive income for the year 
Profit for the year 
Other comprehensive income 
Net exchange loss on net investment in foreign 
subsidiaries and associate 
Net exchange loss on hedge of net investment 
in foreign subsidiaries and associate 
Total other comprehensive income 
Total comprehensive income for the year 
Transactions with owners of the Company 
Contributions and distributions 
Income tax relating to share options 
Exercise of share options 
Buy-back and cancellation of share options 
Issue of shares 
Issue of shares for settlement of deferred 
consideration 
Share based payment charge 
Transfer on forfeit of share options 
Dividends  
Total contributions and distributions  
Balance at 28 February 2014 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 
6 
- 
4 

1 
- 
- 
- 
11 

98 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 
3,695 
- 
4,562 

1,099 
- 
- 
- 
9,356 

22,251 

The notes on pages 30 to 90 form part of these financial statements. 

Share 
capital 

Share 
premium 

Share option 
reserve 

Revaluation 
reserve 

£000 

£000 

87 

12,895 

£000 

3,341 

£000 

167 

Currency 
translation 
adjustment 
£000 

Retained 
earnings 

Total  equity 

£000 

£000 

981 

21,903 

39,374 

- 

6,401 

6,401 

(3,794) 

(227) 

(4,021) 

(4,021) 

- 
- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 

- 

- 

6,401 

- 
- 
(314) 
- 

- 
- 
69 
(2,100) 
(2,345) 

(3,040) 

25,959 

(3,794) 

(227) 

(4,021) 

2,380 

3,350 
2,949 
(314) 
4,566 

1,100 
757 
- 
(2,100) 
10,308 

52,062 

- 

- 

- 

- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
167 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

3,350 
(752) 
- 
- 

- 
757 
(69) 
- 
3,286 

6,627 

24 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Consolidated statement of changes in equity 
Year ended 28 February 2013 

Share 
capital 

Share 
premium 

Balance at 1 March 2012 
Total comprehensive income for the year 
Profit for the year 
Other comprehensive income 
Deferred tax on share options outstanding 
Change in effective rate of deferred tax 
Net exchange gains on net investment in 
foreign subsidiaries and associate 
Net exchange loss on hedge of net investment 
in foreign subsidiaries and associate 
Transfer on dilution of investment in associate 
Total other comprehensive income 
Total comprehensive income for the year 
Transactions with owners of the Company 
Contributions and distributions 
Exercise of share options 
Issue of shares as purchase consideration 
Share based payment charge 
Transfer on forfeit of share options 
Dividends 
Total contributions and distributions  
Balance at 28 February 2013 

£000 

83 

- 

- 
- 
- 

- 

- 
- 

- 

3 
1 
- 
- 
- 
4 

The notes on pages 30 to 90 form part of these financial statements. 

87 

12,895 

10,502 

2,673 

£000 

- 

- 
- 
- 

- 

- 
- 

- 

1,294 
1,099 
- 
- 
- 
2,393 

Share 
option 
reserve 
£000 

- 

461 
- 
- 

- 

- 
461 

461 

(334) 
- 
686 
(145) 
- 
207 

3,341 

25 

Revaluation 
reserve 

£000 

167 

- 

- 
2 
- 

- 

(2) 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
167 

Currency 
translation 
adjustment 
£000 

Retained 
earnings 

£000 

Total  
equity 

£000 

290 

- 

- 
- 
905 

(214) 

- 
691 

691 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

981 

18,521 

32,236 

5,145 

5,145 

- 
(2) 
- 

- 

2 
- 

5,145 

- 
- 
- 
145 
(1,908) 
(1,763) 

21,903 

461 
- 
905 

(214) 

- 
1,152 

6,297 

963 
1,100 
686 
- 
(1,908) 
841 

39,374 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Company statement of changes in equity 
Year ended 28 February 2014 

Balance at 1 March 2013 
Total comprehensive income for the year 
Profit for the year 

Other comprehensive income 
Change in effective rate of deferred tax 
Total other comprehensive income 
Total comprehensive income for the year 

Transactions with owners of the Company 
Contributions and distributions 
Income tax relating to share options 
Exercise of share options 
Cancellation of share options 
Issue of shares for settlement of deferred consideration 
Issue of shares 
Share based payment charge 
Transfer on forfeit of share options 
Dividends to equity holders 
Total contributions and distributions 
Balance at 28 February 2014 

Share capital 

Share premium 

£000 

£000 

Share option  
reserve 
£000 

Fair value reserve 
£000 

Retained 
earnings 
£000 

Total equity 

£000 

87 

12,895 

3,341 

133 

17,615 

34,071 

- 

- 
- 

- 

- 
6 
- 
1 
4 
- 
- 
- 
11 

98 

- 

- 
- 

- 

- 
3,695 
- 
1,099 
4,562 
- 
- 
- 
9,356 

22,251 

- 

- 
- 

- 

3,350 
(752) 
- 
- 
- 
757 
(69) 
- 
3,286 

6,627 

- 

5 
5 

5 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

138 

5,751 

5,751 

- 
- 

5,751 

- 
- 
(314) 
- 
- 
- 
69 
(2,100) 
(2,345) 

21,021 

5 
5 

5,756 

3,350 
2,949 
(314) 
1,100 
4,566 
757 
- 
(2,100) 
10,308 

50,135 

The notes on pages 30 to 90 form part of these financial statements. 

26 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Company statement of changes in equity 
Year ended 28 February 2013 

Balance at 1 March 2012 
Total comprehensive income for the year 
Profit for the year 

Other comprehensive income 
Change in effective rate of deferred tax 
Deferred tax on share options outstanding 
Total other comprehensive income 
Total comprehensive income for the year 

Transactions with owners of the Company, 
Contributions and distributions 
Exercise of share options 
Issue of shares as purchase consideration 
Share based payment charge 
Transfer on forfeit of share options 
Dividends  
Total contributions and distributions 
Balance at 28 February 2013 

Share capital 

Share premium 

£000 

£000 

Share option 
reserve 
£000 

Fair value 
reserve 
£000 

Retained 
earnings 
£000 

Total equity 

£000 

83 

10,502 

2,673 

131 

16,266 

29,655 

3,114 

3,114 

- 

- 
- 
- 

- 

3 
1 
- 
- 
- 
4 

87 

- 

- 
- 
- 

- 

1,294 
1,099 
- 
- 
- 
2,393 

12,895 

- 

- 
461 
461 

461 

(334) 
- 
686 
(145) 
- 
207 

3,341 

- 

2 
- 
2 

2 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

(2) 
- 
(2) 

(2) 

- 
- 
- 
145 
(1,908) 
(1,763) 

133 

17,615 

- 
461 
461 

3,575 

963 
1,100 
686 
- 
(1,908) 
841 

34,071 

The notes on pages 30 to 90 form part of these financial statements. 

27 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Consolidated cash flow statement 
Year ended 28 February 2014 

Cashflows from operating activities 
Profit for the year 
Adjustments for: 
Net finance costs 
Share of profit of associate 
Share of loss on dilution in associate 
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 
Amortisation of intangible assets 
Gain on sale of property, plant & equipment 
Equity settled share-based payment transactions 
Grant income 
Tax expense 

Changes in: 
Trade and other receivables 
Trade and other payables 
Cash generated from operating activities 

Taxes paid 
Net cash from operating activities 

Cash flows from investing activities 
Interest received 
Dividend received from associate 
Disposal of property, plant and equipment 
Acquisition of subsidiaries, net of cash acquired 
Acquisition of property, plant and equipment 
Acquisition of intangible assets 
Payment of deferred consideration 
Net cash used in investing activities 

Cash flows from financing activities 
Proceeds from issue of share capital 
Payment to buy-back share options 
Proceeds from new borrowings 
Repayment of borrowings 
Payment of finance lease liabilities 
Interest paid 
Dividends paid 
Net cash used in financing activities 

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 
Cash and cash equivalents at 1 March  
Effects of exchange rate changes on cash held 
Cash and cash equivalents at 28 February  

2014  
£’000 

6,401 

609 
(268) 
- 
738 
3,477 
(988) 
667 
(1,931) 
1,546 
10,251 

(453) 
(793) 
9,005 

(915) 
8,090 

4 
773 
7,065 
(148) 
(2,907) 
(6,105) 
(125) 
(1,443) 

7,515 
(314) 
1,000 
(9,829) 
(254) 
(676) 
(2,204) 
(4,762) 

1,885 
(322) 
(19) 
1,544 

2013  
£’000 

5,145 

1,198 
(249) 
43 
699 
2,527 
(717) 
576 
 (1,589) 
1,015 
8,648 

(6,058) 
1,372 
3,962 

(765) 
3,197 

1 
1,267 
5,046 
(811) 
(1,098) 
(6,054) 
(471) 
(2,120) 

963 
- 
3,131 
(1,835) 
(126) 
(565) 
(1,804) 
(236) 

841 
(235) 
(928) 
(322) 

The notes on pages 30 to 90 form part of these financial statements 

28 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Company cash flow statement 
Year ended 28 February 2014 

Cashflows from operating activities 
Profit for the year 
Adjustments for: 
Finance expense and foreign exchange loss 
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 
Amortisation of intangible assets 
Dividends from associate and subsidiary 
Equity settled share-based payment transactions 
Profit on disposal 
Grant income 
Tax expense 

Changes in: 
Trade and other receivables 
Trade and other payables 
Cash generated from operating activities 
Taxes paid 
Net cash from operating activities 

Cash flows from investing activities 
Acquisition of subsidiaries 
Acquisition of property, plant and equipment 
Disposal of property, plant and equipment 
Acquisition of intangible assets 
Dividends received from associate and subsidiary 
Payment of deferred consideration 
Net cash used in investing activities 

Cash flows from financing activities 
Proceeds from issue of share capital 
Payment to buy-back share options 
Proceeds from new borrowings 
Repayment of borrowings 
Interest paid 
Dividends paid 
Net cash used in financing activities 

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 
Cash and cash equivalents at 1 March  
Effects of exchange rate changes on cash held 
Cash and cash equivalents at 28 February  

2014  
£’000 

5,751 

1,105 
252 
1,308 
(2,573) 
667 
(988) 
(1,872) 
1,184 
4,834 

(2,029) 
73 
2,878 
(877) 
2,001 

(148) 
(268) 
7,065 
(4,512) 
2,573 
(107) 
4,603 

7,515 
(314) 
1,000 
(9,829) 
(611) 
(2,204) 
(4,443) 

2,161 
(827) 
(576) 
758 

2013  
£’000 

3,114 

1,523 
324 
733 
(1,267) 
494 
(717) 
(1,053) 
414 
3,565 

(4,073) 
1,160 
652 
(775) 
(123) 

(958) 
(260) 
5,046 
(4,076) 
1,267 
(158) 
861 

963 
- 
3,131 
(1,835) 
(501) 
(1,804) 
(46) 

692 
(591) 
(928) 
(827) 

The notes on pages 30 to 90 form part of these financial statements. 

29 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes 
(forming part of the consolidated financial statements) 

1 

Significant accounting policies 

First Derivatives plc (“FDP” or the “Company”) is a public limited company incorporated and domiciled 
in Northern Ireland. The address of the Company’s registered office is 3 Canal Quay, Newry, BT35 6BP.  
The Company is primarily involved in the provision of a range of software and consulting services to the 
investment  banking  market,  the  derivatives  technology  industry  and  the  provision  of  technology  sales 
services to the IT sector. 

The financial statements were authorised by the Board of Directors for issuance on 19 May 2014. 

(a)  Basis of preparation 

The  consolidated  financial  statements  consolidate  those  of  the  Company  and  its  subsidiaries 
(together referred to as the “Group”) and equity account for the Group’s interest in associates.  The 
Company financial statements present information about the Company as a separate entity and not 
about the Group. 

Both  the  consolidated  financial  statements  and  the  Company  financial  statements  have  been 
prepared  and  approved  by  the  Directors  in  accordance  with  International  Financial  Reporting 
Standards as adopted by the EU (“IFRSs”).  On publishing the Group financial statements together 
with  the  Company  financial  statements,  the  Company  is  taking  advantage  of  the  exemption  in 
Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006 not to present its individual income statement and related 
notes that form a part of those approved financial statements. 

The  Group  and  Company  financial  statements  are  prepared  on  a  historical  basis  except  for  the 
following items which are measured at fair value or grant date fair value: 

  Share based payment arrangements; 
  Contingent deferred consideration; and 
  Derivative financial instruments. 

The accounting policies set out below have, unless otherwise stated, been applied consistently to all 
periods presented in these consolidated financial statements and have been applied consistently by 
the Group and Company other than those detailed in changes in accounting policies. 

Functional and presentational currency 
The financial statements are presented in GBP, rounded to the nearest thousand, which is also the 
Company’s functional currency. 

Changes in accounting policies 
The  Group  has  adopted  the  following  new  standards  and  amendment  to  standards,  including  any 
consequential  amendments  to  other  standards,  with  an  initial  application  of  1  March  2013  unless 
otherwise stated:  

  Amendments to IFRS 7 disclosures: Offsetting assets and liabilities 
  Amendments to IAS 19 Employment Benefits (2011) 
  Amendments  to  IAS  1  Presentation  of  Financial  Statements  –  Presentation  of  items  of  other 

comprehensive income 

  Amendments to IAS 12 Deferred Tax: Recovery of underlying assets 
 
  Annual Improvements to IFRS 2009 – 2011 cycle 

IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement 

30 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

Significant accounting policies (continued) 

(a)  Basis of preparation 

Changes in accounting policies (continued) 

  Amendments  to  IAS  36  –  Recoverable  amount  disclosures  of  non-financial  assets  (early 

adopted - mandatory 1 January 2014). 

New standards and interpretations not adopted 
A  number  of  new  standards,  amendments  to  standards  and  interpretations  are  effective  for  annual 
periods  beginning  after  1  March  2013  and  have  not  been  applied  in  preparing  these  financial 
statements.  None of these is expected to have a significant effect on the financial statements except 
for IFRS 9 Financial Instruments, which is likely to become mandatory (subject to EU endorsement) 
for  the  Group’s  and  Company’s  2018  financial  statements  and  could  change  the  classification  and 
measurement of financial assets.  The Group does not plan to adopt this standard early and the extent 
of this impact has not yet been determined.  The standard and interpretations not adopted are outlined 
below:  

  Amendments  to  IFRS10  Investment  entities  (mandatory  for  the  year  commencing  on  or  after  1 

January 2014). 

 

IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements, IFRS 11 Joint Arrangements, IFRS 12 Disclosure of 
Interest in other Entities, IAS 27 Separate Financial Statements (2013) which supercedes IAS 27 
(2008) and IAS 28 Investments in Associates and Joint Ventures (2013) which supercedes IAS 28 
(2008) (mandatory for the year commencing on or after 1 January 2014). 

  Amendments  to  IAS  32  Financial  Instruments  –  Offsetting  financial  assets  and  financial 

liabilities (mandatory for the year commencing on or after 1 January 2014). 

  Amendments  to  IAS  39  –  Novation  of  Derivatives  and  Contribution  of  Hedge  Accounting 

(mandatory for the year commencing on or after 1 January 2014). 

 

IFRIC 21 Levies (Mandatory for the year commencing on or after 1 January 2014)*. 

  Amendments to IAS 19 Defined Benefit Plans: Employee Contributions (Mandatory for the year 

commencing on or after 1 July 2014)*. 

  Annual  Improvements  to  IFRS’s  2010  –  2012  Cycle  and  2011-2013  Cycle  (Mandatory  for  the 

year commencing on or after 1 July 2014)*. 

 

 

IFRS 9 Financial Instruments – 2009 and subsequent amendments in 2010 and 2013 – (likely to 
be mandatory for the year commencing on or after 1 January 2018)*. 

IFRS  14  Regulatory  Deferral  Accounts  (Mandatory  for  the  year  commencing  on  or  after  1 
January 2016)*. 

  Amendments to IFRS 11: Accounting for acquisition of interests in joint ventures (Mandatory for 

the year commencing on or after 1 January 2016)*. 

*Not yet EU endorsed.  The effective dates above refer to the IASB effective dates. 

31 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

Significant accounting policies (continued) 

Going concern 
The  Group’s  business  activities,  together  with  the  factors  likely  to  affect  its  future  development, 
performance  and  position  are  set  out  in  the  Directors’  report  on  pages  9  to  11  and  the  Strategic 
Report on pages 12 to 14. The financial position of the Group, its cash flows, liquidity position and 
borrowing facilities are described in the Chief Executive’s Statement on pages 4 to 7 and below. In 
addition, note 2 to the financial statements includes the Group’s objectives, policies and processes 
for managing its capital; its financial risk management objectives; details of its financial instruments 
and hedging activities; and its exposures to credit risk, liquidity risk and market risk. 

The Group meets its day to day working capital requirements through generated cash flows and loan 
facilities which are due for renewal in 2015 and 2017. The Group’s forecasts and projections, taking 
account of reasonably possible changes in trading performance, show that the Group should be able 
to operate within the level of its facilities.  

After  making  enquiries,  the  Directors  have  a  reasonable  expectation  that  the  Company  and  the 
Group  have  adequate  resources  to  continue  in  operational  existence  for  the  foreseeable  future. 
Accordingly,  they  continue  to  adopt  the  going  concern  basis  in  preparing  the  annual  report  and 
financial statements. 

Critical accounting estimates and judgements 
The  preparation  of  financial  statements  in  conformity  with  IFRSs  requires  management  to  make 
judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the application of policies and reported amounts 
of assets and liabilities, income and expenses.  Actual results may differ from these estimates.   

Estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed and revised on an ongoing basis.  Revisions to 
accounting  estimates  are  recognised  in  the  period  in  which  the  estimates  are  revised  and  in  any 
future periods affected. 

Information about critical judgements in applying accounting policies that have the most significant 
impact on the amounts recognised in the financial statements are as follows: 

 

It is noted that management have assessed that all residences owned by the Group are held for 
use  within the  business (except those  classified  as  held  for  sale)  and as  such  are  classified as 
property, plant and equipment, rather than investment property. 

  Management have estimated the amount of deferred consideration payable on the acquisitions of 
subsidiaries which is based on forecast results and certain other criteria as required by the terms 
of  the  sale  and  purchase  agreements.    Management  have  made  prudent  estimates  of  deferred 
consideration payable based on the relevant share purchase agreements. 

  Management have assessed the deferred tax asset as being recoverable based on forecast results. 

32 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

Significant accounting policies (continued) 

Critical accounting estimates and judgements (continued) 

  Management  have  estimated  the  fair  value  of  intangibles  (including  goodwill)  acquired  on 
acquisitions  based  on  the  projected  profitability  expected  to  be  generated.    The  useful  economic 
lives of the intangibles are assessed as being critical and are based on management’s estimate of the 
life  over  which  revenue  can  be  generated  and  taking  cognisance  of  the  useful  economic  lives  of 
similar competitor products.   

  Where  an  intangible  asset  has  been  created  by  the  Group,  the  value  has  been  derived  by 
establishing  the  current  cost  associated  with  generating  this  asset  based  on  direct  costs  and 
reasonable allocations of indirect costs.  Useful economic lives of internally generated intangibles 
are  assessed  as  being  critical  and  are  based  on  management’s  estimate  of  the  life  over  which 
revenue can be generated and taking cognisance of the useful economic lives of similar competitor 
products. 

  Goodwill  on  acquisitions  is  not  amortised  but  is  tested  for  impairment  on  an  annual  basis.  
Management  have  assessed  goodwill  for  impairment  based  on  the  projected  profitability  of  the 
individual  cash  generating  unit  to  which  the  goodwill  relates.    No  impairments  have  been 
identified.    Other  intangibles  are  being  amortised  and  tested  for  impairment  if  an  indicator  of 
impairment is identified. 

Management have assessed that there are no other estimates or judgements that have a significant risk of 
causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities recognised in the financial 
statements other than those disclosed in note 38(b).  

Measurement of fair values 
IFRS  13  establishes  a  single  framework  for  measuring  fair  value  and  making  disclosures  about  fair 
value measurements when such measurements are required or permitted by other IFRSs.  It unifies the 
definition of fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in 
an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date.  It replaces and expands the 
disclosure requirements about fair value measurements in other IFRSs, including IFRS 7.  As a result, 
the Group has included additional disclosures in this regard (see Note 38). 

A number of the Group’s and Company’s accounting policies and disclosures require the measurement 
of fair values, both financial and non-financial assets and liabilities. 

Management have established a control framework with respect to the measurement of fair values and 
regularly review significant unobservable inputs and valuation adjustments.  If third party information, 
such as broker quotes or pricing services, is used to measure fair values, then management assesses the 
evidence  obtained  from  the  third  parties  to  support  the  conclusion  that  such  valuations  meet  the 
requirements of IFRS, including the level in the fair value hierarchy in which such valuations should be 
classified. 

33 

 
 
        
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

Significant accounting policies (continued) 

Measurement of fair values (continued) 

When measuring the fair value of an asset or a liability, the Group and Company uses market observable 
data as far as possible.  Fair values are categorised into different levels in a fair value hierarchy based on 
the inputs used in the valuation techniques as follows: 

  Level 1: quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. 
  Level  2:  inputs  other  than  quoted  prices  included  in  Level  1  that  are  observables  for  the  asset  or 

liability, either directly (i.e. as prices) or indirectly (i.e. derived from prices). 

  Level 3: inputs for the asset or liability that are not based on observable market data (unobservable 

 inputs). 

If  the  inputs  used  to  measure the  fair  value  of  an  asset  or  a liability  might  be categorised in  different 
levels  of  the  fair  value  hierarchy,  then the fair  value measurement  is  categorised  in  its entirety  in  the 
same  level  of  the  fair  value  hierarchy  as  the  lowest  level  input  that  is  significant  to  the  entire 
measurement. 

The  Group  recognises  transfers  between  levels  of  the  fair  value  hierarchy  at  the  end  of  the  reporting 
period during which the change has occurred. 

Further information about the assumptions made in measuring fair values is included in the following 
notes: 

  Note 38 – financial instruments; and  
  Note 39 – share based payment arrangements. 

(b)  Basis of consolidation 

(i)    Business combinations 
Business combinations are accounted for using the acquisition method as at the acquisition date, which is 
the date on which control is transferred to the  Group.  Control is the power to govern the financial and 
operating policies of an entity so as to obtain benefits from its activities.  In assessing control, the Group 
takes into consideration potential voting rights that currently are exercisable. 

The Group measures goodwill at the acquisition date as: 

 
 
 

 

the fair value of the consideration transferred; plus 
the recognised amount of any non-controlling interests in the acquiree; plus 
if the business combination is achieved in stages, the fair value of the existing equity interest in the 
acquiree; less 
the  net  recognised  amount  (generally  fair  value)  of  the  identifiable  assets  acquired  and  liabilities 
assumed.  Identifiable  intangibles  are  those  which  can  be  sold  separately  or  which  arise  from  legal 
rights regardless of whether those rights are separable. 

  When the excess is negative, a bargain purchase gain is recognised immediately in profit or loss. 

The  consideration  transferred  does  not  include  amounts  related  to  the  settlement  of  a  pre-existing 
relationship. Such amounts are generally recognised in profit or loss. 

34 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

Significant accounting policies (continued) 

(b)  Basis of consolidation (continued) 

(i)  Business combinations (continued) 

The  fair  value  of  customer  relationships  acquired  in  a  business  combination  is  determined  using  the 
multi-period excess earnings method, whereby the subject asset is valued after deducting a fair return of 
all other assets that are part of creating the related cash flows.  The fair value of other intangible assets 
acquired in a business combination is based on the discounted cash flows expected to be derived from the 
use and eventual sale of the assets. 

Transaction costs other than those associated with the issue of debt or equity securities, that the  Group 
incurs in connection with a business combination are expensed as incurred. 

Any deferred and contingent consideration payable is recognised at fair value at the acquisition date. If the 
deferred  and  contingent  consideration  is  classified  as  equity,  it  is  not  remeasured  and  settlement  is 
accounted  for  within  equity.  Otherwise,  subsequent  changes  to  the  fair  value  of  the  contingent 
consideration are recognised in profit or loss. 

ii)  Subsidiaries 
Subsidiaries are entities controlled by the Group. Control exists when the Group has the power, directly 
or indirectly, to govern the financial and operating policies of an entity so as to obtain benefits from its 
activities.  In  assessing  control,  potential  voting  rights  that  are  currently  exercisable  or  convertible  are 
taken  into  account.  The  financial  statements  of  subsidiaries  are  included  in  the  consolidated  financial 
statements  from  the  date  that  control  commences  until  the  date  that  control  ceases.    The  accounting 
policies of subsidiaries have been changed when necessary to align them with the policies adopted by the 
Group. 

In the Company’s financial statements, investments in subsidiaries are carried at cost less any provision 
made for impairment. 

        iii)  Investments in associates (equity accounted investees) 

Associates  are  those  entities  in  which  the  Group  has  significant  influence,  but  not  control,  over  the 
financial and operating policies. Significant influence is presumed to exist when the Group holds between 
20  and  50  percent  of  the  voting  power  of  another  entity.  Associates  are  accounted  for  using  the  equity 
method (equity accounted investees) and are initially recognised at cost. This includes goodwill identified 
on  acquisition  and  fair  value  of  intangibles  (these  amounts  are  not  recognised  separately  in  the 
consolidated financial statements but included in the Group’s net investment in the associate (note 18)). 
The  consolidated  financial  statements  include  the  Group’s  share  of  the  profit  or  loss  and  other 
comprehensive income, after adjustments to align the accounting policies with those of the Group, from 
the  date that  significant  influence  commences  until  the  date  that  significant  influence  ceases  net  of any 
impairments  on  the  investment.  When  the  Group’s  share  of  losses  exceeds  its  interest  in  an  equity 
accounted investee, the carrying amount of that interest, including any long-term investments is reduced 
to nil and the recognition of further losses is discontinued except to the extent that the Group has incurred 
legal or has constructive obligations. 

In  the  Company’s  financial  statements, investments  in  associates are  carried  at cost  less  any  provision 
made for impairment. 

35 

 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

Significant accounting policies (continued) 

(b)  Basis of consolidation (continued) 

iv)   Transactions eliminated on consolidation 
Intra-Group balances and transactions and any unrealised income and expenses arising from intra-Group 
transactions, are eliminated in preparing the consolidated financial statements.  Unrealised gains arising 
from transactions with equity-accounted investees are eliminated against the investment to the extent of 
the  Group’s  interest  in  the  investee.    Unrealised  losses  are  eliminated  in  the  same  way  as  unrealised 
gains, but only to the extent that there is no evidence of impairment. 

(c)  Foreign currency  

i)  Foreign currency transactions 
Transactions  in  foreign  currencies  are  translated  to  the  respective  functional  currency  of  the  Group 
entities at the exchange rate ruling at the date of the transactions. 

Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies at the reporting date are retranslated to 
the functional currency at the exchange rate at that date.  Monetary liabilities designated as a hedge of net 
investments  are  treated  as  set  out  in  note  1(c)  (iii)  below.    Non-monetary  assets  and  liabilities 
denominated in foreign currencies that are measured at historical cost are translated using the exchange 
rate  ruling  at  the  date  of  the  transaction.  Non-monetary  assets  and  liabilities  denominated  in  foreign 
currencies that are measured at fair value are translated to  the functional currency at the exchange rate 
ruling at the date the fair value was determined.  Foreign exchange differences arising on retranslation 
are recognised in profit or loss, except for differences arising on the retranslation of a financial liability 
designated as a hedge of the net investment in a foreign operation to the extent that the hedge is effective, 
which is recognised in other comprehensive income in the Group’s financial statements. 

Gains  or  losses  arising  on  the  retranslation  of  foreign  currency  deferred  and  contingent  consideration 
estimated  as  payable  at  the  year  end  on  acquisitions  prior  to  1  March  2013  are  accounted  as  an 
adjustment  to  goodwill.    On  acquisitions  on  or  after  1  March  2013  the  retranslation  gain  or  loss  is 
accounted for in profit or loss. 

ii)   Foreign operations 
The assets and liabilities of foreign subsidiaries, including goodwill and fair value adjustments arising on 
consolidation,  are  translated  to  GBP,  at  foreign  exchange  rates  ruling  at  the  balance  sheet  date.  The 
revenues and expenses of foreign operations are translated to GBP at the foreign exchange rates ruling at 
the  dates  of  the  transactions.    Foreign  currency  differences  are  recognised  in  other  comprehensive 
income and presented in the currency translation adjustment reserve in equity. However, if the operation 
is a non-wholly owned subsidiary, then the relevant proportionate share of the translation difference is 
allocated to the non-controlling interests.  When a foreign operation is disposed of, such that control or 
significant  influence  is  lost,  the  cumulative  amount  in  the  translation  reserve  related  to  that  foreign 
operation is reclassified to profit or loss as part of the gain or loss on disposal.  When the Group disposes 
of  only  part of  its interest  in  a  subsidiary  that includes  a  foreign  operation  while  retaining  control, the 
relevant  proportion  of  the  cumulative  amount  is  reattributed  to  non-controlling  interests.    When  the 
Group  disposes  of  only  part  of  its  investment  in  an  associate  that  includes  a  foreign  operation  while 
retaining significant influence, the relevant proportion of the cumulative amount is reclassified to profit 
or loss. 

36 

 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

Significant accounting policies (continued) 

(c)  Foreign currency (continued) 

ii)   Foreign operations (continued) 
Certain  exchange  differences  arising  from  a  monetary  item  receivable  from  or  payable  to  a  foreign 
operation, the settlement of which is neither planned nor likely in the foreseeable future, are considered 
to form part of a net investment in a foreign operation and are recognised in other comprehensive income 
and presented in the currency translation adjustment reserve in equity.  

iii)    Hedge of net investment in foreign operation 
Foreign currency differences arising on the retranslation of foreign currency loans designated as a hedge 
of net investments in a foreign operation are recognised in other comprehensive income to the extent the 
hedge, when designated in a hedge relationship which has been formally documented in line with IAS 39 
(Recognition  and  Measurement),  is  effective  and  are  presented  in  the  currency  translation  adjustment 
reserve.  To  the  extent  that  the  hedge  is  ineffective,  such  differences  are  recognised  in  profit  or  loss.  
When the hedged part of a net investment is disposed of, the associated cumulative amount in equity is 
transferred to profit or loss as an adjustment to the profit or loss on disposal. 

(d)     Property, plant and equipment 

       (i)   Owned assets 

Property,  plant  and  equipment  is  reported  at  cost  less  accumulated  depreciation  and  accumulated 
impairment losses.  Cost includes expenditure that is directly attributable to the acquisition of the asset.  
When parts of an item of property, plant and equipment have different useful lives, those components 
are accounted for as separate items of property, plant and equipment. 

Any gain or loss on disposal of an item of property, plant and equipment is determined by comparing 
the  proceeds  from  disposal  with  the  carrying  amount  of  the  property,  plant  and  equipment  and  is 
recognised  net  within  other  expenses  in  profit  or  loss.    When  revalued  assets  are  sold,  any  related 
amount included in the revaluation reserve is transferred directly to retained earnings. 

(ii)   Leased assets 
Leases were the Group assumes substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership are classified as 
finance leases.  Upon initial recognition the leased asset is measured at an amount equal to the lower 
of  its  fair  value  and  the  present  value  of  the  minimum  lease  payments.    Subsequent  to  initial 
recognition,  the  asset  is  accounted  for  in  accordance  with  the  accounting  policy  applicable  to  that 
asset. 

Assets held under other leases are classified as operating leases and are not recognised in the Group’s 
statement of financial position. 

(iii)   Subsequent costs 
The Group recognises in the carrying amount of an item of property, plant and equipment the cost of  
replacing part of such an item when that cost is incurred if it is probable that the future economic benefits  
embodied within the item will flow to the Group and the cost of the item can be measured reliably. All 
other costs are recognised in profit or loss as an expense as incurred. 

37 

 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

  Significant accounting policies (continued) 

 (d)    Property, plant and equipment (continued) 

(iv)   Depreciation 
Depreciation is calculated to write down the costs of parts of items to their estimated residual values 
and is charged to profit or loss on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful lives of each part of 
an item of property, plant and equipment.  Leased assets are depreciated over the shorter of the lease 
term and their useful lives unless it is reasonably certain that the Group will obtain ownership by the 
end of the lease term.  Depreciation is calculated using the following annual rates: 

Office furniture and equipment 
Plant and equipment 
Buildings – long leasehold and freehold 

- 
- 
- 

25%  
25-50%  
2%  

Items of property, plant and equipment are depreciated from the date that the asset is completed and 
ready for use. 

Depreciation  methods,  useful  lives  and  residual  values  are  reviewed  at  each  reporting  date  and 
adjusted if appropriate. 

Assets held for sale 

(e) 
Non-current assets that are expected to be recovered primarily through sale or distribution rather than 
through  continuing  use,  are  classified  as  held  for  sale  or  distribution.  Immediately  before 
classification  as  held  for  sale  or  distribution,  the  assets  or  components  of  a  disposal  group,  are 
remeasured in accordance with the  Group’s accounting policies. Thereafter, generally the assets are 
measured at the lower of their carrying value and fair value less costs to sell. Impairment losses on 
initial classification as held for sale or distribution and subsequent gains and losses on remeasurement 
are recognised in profit or loss. Gains are not recognised in excess of any cumulative impairment loss. 

Intangible assets and property plant and equipment once classified as held for sale or distribution are 
no longer amortised or depreciated. 

Intangible assets and goodwill 

(f) 
i)   Goodwill 
Goodwill  that  arises  on  the  acquisition  of  subsidiaries  is  presented  with  intangible  assets.    For  the 
measurement of goodwill at initial recognition see note 1(b). 

Goodwill is measured at cost less any accumulated impairment losses. In respect of equity accounted 
investees, the carrying amount of goodwill is included in the carrying amount of the investment in the 
investee.    Goodwill  is  allocated  to  cash-generating  units  and  is  tested  annually  for  impairment. 
Goodwill arising on acquistions is not amortised. 

Negative goodwill arising on an acquisition is recognised immediately in profit or loss. 

38 

 
 
 
     
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

  Significant accounting policies (continued) 

(f)   Intangible assets and goodwill (continued) 

ii)      Research and development 
Expenditure on research activities undertaken with the prospect of gaining new technical knowledge 
and understanding, is recognised in profit or loss as an expense as incurred. 

Expenditure on development activities, whereby research findings are applied to a plan or design for 
the  production  of  new  or  substantially  improved  products  and  processes,  is  capitalised  only  if 
development costs can be measured reliably, the product or process is technically and commercially 
feasible, future economic benefits are probable and the Group intends to and has sufficient resources 
to complete development and to use or sell the asset.  

The expenditure capitalised in respect of software assets includes the cost of materials, direct labour 
and an appropriate proportion of overheads that are directly attributable to preparing the asset for its 
intended use.  Other development expenditure is recognised through profit and loss as an expense as 
incurred.  Capitalised  development  expenditure  is  measured  at  cost  less  accumulated  amortisation 
and impairment losses. 

Tax  credits  for  research  and  development  are  recognised  at  their  fair  value  based  on  amounts 
recoverable from the tax authorities in current and future years.  A credit is recognised in the income 
statement  against  the  related  expense  or  recognised  in  the  period  in  which  the  expenditure  is 
amortised where the related expenditure is capitalised. 

iii)  Other intangible assets 
Intangible assets that are acquired by the Group are stated at cost less accumulated amortisation and 
impairment losses. 

iv)     Subsequent expenditure 
Subsequent  expenditure  on  capitalised  intangible  assets  is  capitalised  only  when  it  increases  the 
future economic benefits embodied in the specific asset to which it relates.  All other expenditure is 
recognised in profit or loss as incurred. 

  v)     Amortisation 

Except  for  goodwill,  intangible  assets  are  amortised  based  on  the  cost  of  an  asset  less  its  residual 
value.    Amortisation  is  charged  to  the  income  statement  on  a  straight-line  basis  over  the  estimated 
useful lives of intangible assets, from the date that the asset is available for use as follows: 

Customer lists 
Acquired software 
Brands 
Developed software 

- 
- 
- 
- 

12.5%  
12.5%  
12.5%  
12.5%  

Amortisation methods, useful lives and residual values reviewed at each reporting dates and adjusted 
if appropriate. 

39 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

Significant accounting policies (continued) 

Trade and other receivables 

 (g) 
Trade  and  other  receivables  are  initially  measured  at  fair  value  plus  any  directly  attributable 
transaction  costs.  Short-term  receivables  with  no  stated  interest  rate  are  measured  at  the  original 
invoice  amount  if  the  effect  of  discounting  is  immaterial.  Trade  and  other  receivables  are 
subsequently stated at amortised cost less impairment losses. 

Cash and cash equivalents 

(h) 
Cash and cash equivalents comprises of cash balances and call deposits with an original maturity of 
three  months  or  less  and  are  measured  at  amortised  cost.  Bank  overdrafts  that  are  repayable  on 
demand and form an integral part of the Group’s cash management are included as a component of 
cash and cash equivalents for the purpose of the statement of cash flows. 

Trade and other payables 

(i) 
Trade and other payables are initially measured at fair value less any directly attributable transaction 
costs.  Trade and other payables are subsequently measured at amortised cost.  Where the maturity is 
six  months  or  less  they  are  not  discounted  and  are  shown  at  cost  if  the  effect  of  discounting  is 
immaterial. 

Loans and borrowings 

(j) 
Loans  and  borrowings  are  recognised  initially  at  fair  value  less  attributable  transaction  costs. 
Subsequent  to  initial  recognition,  loans  and  borrowings  are  stated  at  amortised  cost  with  any 
difference between cost and redemption value being recognised in profit or loss over the period of 
the borrowings on an effective interest basis. 

Impairment 
Non-derivative financial assets 

(k) 
(i) 
A financial asset not carried at fair value through profit or loss is assessed at each reporting date to 
determine whether there is any objective evidence that it is impaired. A financial asset is considered 
to  be  impaired  if  objective  evidence  indicates  that  a  loss  event  has  occurred  after  the  initial 
recognition of the assets and that the loss event had a negative effect on  the estimated future cash 
flows of that asset that can be estimated reliably. 

Objective evidence that financial assets are impaired can include default or delinquency by a debtor, 
restructuring of an amount due to the Group on terms that the Group would not consider otherwise, 
indications that a debtor or issuer will enter bankruptcy, adverse changes in the payment status of 
borrowers  or  issuers  in  the  Group,  economic  conditions  that  correlate  with  defaults  or  the 
disappearance  of  an  active  market  for  a  security.    In  addition,  for  an  investment  in  an  equity 
security, a significant or prolonged decline in its fair value below its cost is objective evidence of 
impairment. 

40 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

  Significant accounting policies (continued) 

   (k) 

Impairment (continued) 

  (ii) 

Loans and receivables 

The Group considers evidence of impairment for loans and receivables at both a specific asset and 
collective level.  All individually significant receivables are assessed for specific impairment.  All 
individually  significant  loans  and  receivables  found  not  to  be  specifically  impaired  are  then 
collectively assessed for any impairment that has been incurred but not yet identified.  Loans and 
receivables  that  are  not  individually  significant  are  collectively  assessed  for  impairment  by 
grouping together loans and receivables with similar risk characteristics. 

In assessing collective impairment the Group uses historical trends of the probability of default, the  
timing of recoveries and the amount of loss incurred, adjusted for management’s judgement as to  
whether current economic and credit conditions are such that the actual losses are likely to be  
greater or less than suggested by historical trends.  

(iii)  Non-financial assets 
The  carrying  amounts  of  the  Group’s  non-financial  assets,  other  than  deferred  tax  assets,  are 
reviewed at each reporting date to determine whether there is any indication of impairment. If any 
such indication exists, then the asset’s recoverable amount is estimated.  

For goodwill and assets that have an indefinite useful life or that are not yet available for use, the 
recoverable amount is estimated at each balance sheet date.  An impairment loss is recognised if the 
carrying  amount  of  an  asset  or  its  related  cash-generating  unit  (CGU)  exceeds  its  estimated 
recoverable amount. 

The recoverable amount of an asset or CGU is the greater of its value in use and its fair value less 
costs to sell. In assessing value in use, the estimated future cash flows are discounted to their present 
value  using  a  pre-tax  discount  rate  that  reflects  current  market  assessments  of  the  time  value  of 
money and the risks specific to the asset or CGU. For the purpose of impairment testing, assets that 
cannot be individually tested are  grouped together into the smallest Group of assets that generates 
cash inflows from continuing use that are largely independent of the cash inflows of other assets or 
CGU.  Subject to an operating segment ceiling test, for the purposes of goodwill impairment testing, 
CGU’s to which goodwill has been allocated are aggregated so that the level at which impairment 
testing is performed reflects the lowest level at which goodwill is monitored for internal reporting 
purposes.  Goodwill acquired in a business combination, is allocated to the legal entity or business 
that has been acquired in a business combination. 

Impairment losses are recognised in profit or loss. Impairment losses recognised in respect of CGUs 
are allocated first to reduce the carrying amount of any goodwill allocated to the CGU and (Group 
of CGUs) and then to reduce the carrying amount of the other assets in the CGU (Group of CGUs) 
on a pro rata basis.   

An impairment loss in respect of goodwill is not reversed.  In respect of other assets, impairment 
losses recognised in prior periods are assessed at each reporting date for any indications that the loss 
has decreased or no longer exists. An impairment loss is reversed if there has been a change in the 
estimates  used  to  determine  the  recoverable  amount.  An  impairment  loss  is  reversed  only  to  the 
extent that the asset’s carrying amount does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been 
determined, net of depreciation or amortisation, if no impairment loss had been recognised. 

41 

 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

Significant accounting policies (continued) 

(l)  Provisions 

A provision is recognised in the balance sheet when the Group has a present legal or constructive 
obligation  as  a  result  of  a  past  event,  that  can  be  estimated  reliably  and  it  is  probable  that  an 
outflow  of  economic  benefits  will  be  required  to  settle  the  obligation.  If  the  effect  is  material, 
provisions  are  determined  by  discounting  the  expected  future  cash  flows  at  a  pre-tax  rate  that 
reflects  current  market  assessments  of  the  time  value  of  money  and,  when  appropriate,  the  risks 
specific to the liability.  The unwinding of the discount is recognised as finance cost. 

(m)  Employee benefits 

(i)  Defined contribution plans 
The  Group  operates a  defined  contribution (pension)  plan  for  employees.    A  defined  contribution 
plan  is  a  post-employment  benefit  plan  under  which  the  Group  pays  fixed  contributions  into  a 
separate entity and will have no legal or constructive obligation to pay further amounts. Obligations 
for contributions to defined contribution pension plans are recognised as an expense through profit 
or loss as incurred. 

 (ii)  Share-based payment transactions 
The share option programme allows Group employees to acquire shares of the Company.  The fair 
value  of  options  granted  is  recognised  as  an  employee  expense  with  a  corresponding  increase  in 
equity.    The  fair  value  is  measured  at  grant  date  and  spread  over  the  period  during  which  the 
employees become unconditionally entitled to the options.  The fair value of the options granted is 
measured using an adjusted Black-Scholes model, taking into account the terms and conditions upon 
which the options were granted.  Measurement inputs include the share price on the measurement 
date,  the  exercise  price  of  the  instrument,  expected  volatility  (based  on  an  evaluation  of  the 
Company’s historic volatility, particularly over the historic period commensurate with the expected 
term  and  adjusted  for  recent  volatility  changes)  expected  term  of  the  instruments  (based  on 
historical  experience  and  general  option  holder  behaviour),  expected  dividends  and  the  risk-free 
interest  rate  (based  on  government  bonds).    Service  and  non-market  performance  conditions 
attached  to  the  transactions  are  not  taken  into  account  in  determining  fair  value.    The  amount 
recognised as an expense is adjusted to reflect the actual number of share options that vest.  On the 
lapse of share options on the vesting date the amount recognised in shares to be issued is transferred 
to retained earnings.  On the exercise of share options, the amount recorded in shares to be issued is 
transferred to the share premium reserve. 

(iii)  Short term benefits 
Liabilities for employee benefits for wages, salaries and annual leave entitlements represent present 
obligations resulting from employees’ services provided up to the reporting date and are calculated 
at undiscounted amounts based on remuneration wage and salary rates that the Group expects to pay 
as at the reporting date. 

A liability is recognised for the amount expected to be paid under short-term cash bonus plans if the 
Group has a present legal or constructive obligation to pay this amount as a result of past service 
provided by the employee and the obligation can be estimated reliably. 

42 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

Significant accounting policies (continued) 

(n)  Revenue 

Products and Services rendered 

(i) 
Revenue  from  products  and  services  rendered  is  measured  at  the  fair  value  of  the  consideration 
received or receivable and is recognised in profit or loss in proportion to the stage of completion of 
the  transaction  at  the  balance  sheet  date.  No  revenue  is  recognised  if  there  are  significant 
uncertainties  regarding  recovery  of  the  consideration  due.    The  Group  does  not  have  contracts 
involving  a  combination  of  products  and  services  and  negotiates  prices  separately  for  each 
component.  Revenue in respect of each product or service is as follows: 

  Revenue  from  perpetual  software  licensing  is  recognised  upon  delivery  to  the  customer 
where there are no significant vendor obligations remaining following delivery, the client 
has  accepted  the  software  and  the  collection  of  the  resulting  receivable  is  considered 
probable.   

  Revenue from annual licensing is recognised over the period to which the contract relates. 

  Revenue from consulting services is recognised in the month the service is performed, upon 
acceptance  by  the  customer  and  the  collection  of  the  resulting  receivable  is  considered 
probable.   

 

In  respect  of  customisation  of  software,  revenue  is  recognised  upon  acceptance  by  the 
customer and the collection of the resulting receivable is considered probable. 

  Revenue  from  data  management  hosting,  other  hosting  and  transactional  activities  are 
recognised  over  the  period  to  which  the  contract  relates  or  the  transaction  occurs  which 
gives  rise  to  the  receivable.    In  instances  where  a  non-refundable  fee  is  paid  by  the 
customer, the fair value of any significant obligations are deferred and recognised over the 
life  of  the  contract  and  the  remaining  balance  is  recognised  following  delivery  and  the 
resulting receivable is considered probable. 

Commissions 

(ii) 
When  the  Group  acts  in  the  capacity  of  an  agent  rather  than  as  the  principal  in  a  transaction,  the 
revenue recognised is the net amount of commission earned by the Group.  Revenue is recognised 
upon acceptance by the customer of the sale.  

(iii)  Government grants 
An unconditional government grant is recognised as other operating income when the grant becomes 
receivable. Other government grant are initially recognised as deferred income at fair value and when 
there  is  reasonable  assurance  that  it  will  be  received  and  that  the  Group  has  complied  with  the 
conditions attaching to it, a release is then made to the income statement as other income. Grants that 
compensate the Group for expenses incurred are recognised as other operating income through profit 
or  loss  on  a  systematic  basis  in  the  same  periods  in  which  the  expenses  are  incurred.  Grants  that 
compensate  the  Group  for  the  cost  of  an  asset  are  recognised  in  the  income  statement  as  other 
operating income on a systematic basis over the useful life of the asset. 

43 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

Significant accounting policies (continued) 

(o)  Lease payments 

(i)  Operating lease payments 
Payments made under operating leases are recognised in profit or loss on a straight-line basis over the 
term of the lease. Lease incentives received are recognised in profit or loss as an integral part of the 
total lease expense, over the terms of the lease. 

(ii)  Finance lease payments 
Minimum lease payments made under finance leases are apportioned between the finance charge and 
the reduction of the outstanding liability. The finance expense is allocated to each period during the 
lease term so as to produce a constant periodic rate of interest on the remaining balance of the liability. 

(iii)  Determining whether an arrangement contains a lease 
At inception of an arrangement, the Group determines whether such an arrangement is or contains a 
lease.  A specific asset is the subject of a lease if fulfilment of the arrangement is dependent on the 
use  of  that  specified  asset.    An  arrangement  conveys  the  right  to  use  the  asset  if  the  arrangement 
conveys to the Group the right to control the use of the underlying asset. 

At  inception  or  upon  reassessment  of  the  arrangement,  the  Group  separates  payments  and  other 
consideration required by such an arrangement into those for the lease and those for other elements on 
the basis of their relative fair values.  If the Group concludes for a finance lease that it is impracticable 
to separate the payments reliably, then an asset and a liability are recognised at an amount equal to the 
fair value of the underlying asset.  Subsequently the liability is reduced as payments are made and an 
imputed finance charge on the liability is recognised using the Group’s incremental borrowing rate. 

(p)   Finance income and expenses 

Finance  income  comprises  interest  receivable  on  funds  invested  and  dividend  income.    Interest 
income  is  recognised  through  profit  or  loss  as it  accrues,  using  the  effective  interest  method. The 
interest expense component of finance lease payments is recognised through profit or loss using the 
effective interest rate method.  

Financing expenses comprises interest payable on borrowings calculated using the effective interest 
rate method, and foreign exchange gains and losses. 

(q)  Taxation 

Tax  expense  on  the  profit  or  loss  for  the  period  presented  comprises  current  and  deferred  tax. 
Current  and  deferred  tax  is  recognised  in  profit  or  loss  except  to  the  extent  that  it  relates  to  a 
business combination or items recognised directly in equity or in other comprehensive income. 

Current tax 

i) 
Current tax is the expected tax payable or receivable on the taxable income for the year, using tax 
rates enacted or substantively enacted at the balance sheet date, and any adjustment to tax payable in 
respect of previous years.  

44 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

Significant accounting policies (continued) 

(q)  Taxation (continued) 
Deferred tax 

ii) 
Deferred tax is provided using the balance sheet liability method, providing for temporary differences 
between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts 
used  for  taxation  purposes.  The  following  temporary  differences  are  not  provided  for:  goodwill  not 
deductible for tax purposes, those arising from the initial recognition of assets or liabilities acquired in 
a transaction that is not a business combination and that affects neither accounting nor taxable profit or 
loss, and differences relating to investments in subsidiaries to the extent that it is probable they will 
not reverse in the foreseeable future. The amount of deferred tax provided is based on the expected 
manner  of  realisation  or  settlement  of  the  carrying  amount  of  assets  and  liabilities,  using  tax  rates 
enacted or substantively enacted at the reporting date. 

In  determining  the  amount  of  current  and  deferred  tax  the  Group  takes  into  account  the  impact  of 
uncertain tax positions and whether additional taxes and interest may be due.  The Group believes that 
its  accruals  for  tax  liabilities  are  adequate  for  all  open  tax  years  based  on  its  assessment  of  many 
factors, including interpretations of tax law and prior experience.  This assessment relies on estimates 
and assumptions and may involve a series of judgements about future events.  New information may 
become available that causes the Company to change its judgement regarding the adequacy of existing 
tax  liabilities;  such  changes  to  tax  liabilities  will  impact  tax  expense  in  the  period  that  such  a 
determination is made. 

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset if there is a legally enforceable right to offset current tax 
liabilities  and  assets  and  they  relate  to  income  taxes  levied  by  the  same  tax  authority  on  the  same 
taxable entity, or on different tax entities, but they intend to settle current tax liabilities and assets on a 
net basis or their tax assets and liabilities will be realised simultaneously. 

A deferred tax asset is recognised only to the extent that it is probable that future taxable profits will 
be available against which the asset can be utilised. Deferred tax assets are reviewed at each reporting 
date and reduced to the extent that it is no longer probable that the related tax benefit will be realised. 

(r)  Classification of financial instruments issued by the Group 

Following the adoption of IAS 32, financial instruments issued by the Group are treated as equity only 
to the extent that they meet the following two conditions:  

a) 

they  include  no  contractual  obligations  upon  the  Company  (or  Group  as  the  case  may  be)  to 
deliver cash or other financial assets or to exchange financial assets or financial liabilities with 
another party under conditions that are potentially unfavourable to the Company (or Group); and  

b)  where  the  instrument  will  or  may  be  settled  in  the  Company’s  own  equity  instruments,  it  is 
either  a  non-derivative  that  includes  no  obligation  to  deliver  a  variable  number  of  the 
Company’s  own  equity  instruments  or  is  a  derivative  that  will  be  settled  by  the  Company’s 
exchanging a fixed amount of cash or other financial asset for a fixed number of its own equity 
instruments. 

To the extent that this definition is not met, the proceeds of issue are classified as a financial liability.  
Where  the  instrument  so  classified takes  the  legal form  of  the  Company’s  own  shares,  the  amounts 
presented in these financial statements for called up share capital and share premium account exclude 
amounts in relation to those shares.   

45 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

1 

Significant accounting policies (continued) 

(s)  Share capital 

Ordinary  shares  are  classified  as  equity.    Incremental  costs  directly  attributable  to  the  issue  of 
ordinary  shares  are  recognised  as  a  deduction  from  equity,  net  of  any  tax  effects.    The  nominal 
value of shares issued is recognised as share capital.  The value of the consideration received in 
excess of the nominal value is recognised as share premium. 

(t)  Earnings per share 

The Group presents basic and diluted earnings per share (EPS) data for its ordinary shares.  Basic 
EPS is calculated by dividing the profit or loss attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Group by 
the  weighted  average  number  of  ordinary  shares  outstanding  during  the  period.    Diluted  EPS  is 
determined  by  adjusting  the  profit  or  loss  attributable  to  ordinary  shareholders  and  the  weighted 
average  number  of  ordinary  shares  outstanding  for  the  effects  of  all  dilutive  potential  ordinary 
shares,  which  comprise  share  options  granted  to  employees,  Directors  and  as  part  of  business 
combinations. 

(u)  Segmental reporting 

An operating segment is a component of the Group that engages in business activities from which 
it  may  earn  revenues  and  incur  expenses,  including  revenues  and  expenses  that  relate  to 
transactions  with  any  of  the  Group’s  other  components.    The  operating  results  are  regularly 
reviewed  by  the  board  and  comprise  one  segment;  however  the  information  provided  records 
revenue split between the various consulting and software activities. 

2 

Financial risk management 

Overview 
The Group has exposure to the following risks from its use of financial instruments: 

 
 
 

Credit risk 
Liquidity risk 
Market risk 

This note presents information about the  Group’s exposure to the above risks, the  Group’s objectives, 
policies  and  processes  for  measuring  and  managing  risk,  and  the  Group’s  management  of  capital.  
Further quantitative disclosures are included throughout these financial statements. 

Risk management framework 
The board of Directors has overall responsibility for the establishment and oversight of the Group’s risk 
management framework.  The board is responsible for monitoring the Group’s risk management policies, 
which are established to identify and analyse the risks faced by the Group, to set appropriate risk limits 
and to monitor adherence to those policies. 

Credit risk 
Credit  risk  is  the  risk  of  financial  loss  to  the  Group  if  a  counterparty  fails  to  meet  its  contractual 
obligation and principally arises from the Group’s receivables from customers through selling on credit.  
This is managed through credit control procedures.  Regular contact is made with customers when debts 
are overdue with follow up procedures carried out as required.  The Group establishes an allowance for 
impairment  that  represents  its  estimate  of  incurred  losses  in  respect  of  trade  and  other  receivables.  
Concentration of credit risk is disclosed in note 38 to the financial statements. 

46 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

2 

Financial risk management (continued) 

Liquidity risk 
Liquidity risk is the risk that the  Group will encounter difficulty in meeting the obligations associated 
with  its  financial  liabilities  that  are  settled  by  delivering  cash  or  other  financial  assets.    The  Group’s 
approach  to  managing  liquidity  is  to  ensure,  as  far  as  possible,  that  it  will  always  have  sufficient 
liquidity  to  meet  its  liabilities  when  due,  under  normal  and  stressed  conditions,  without  incurring 
unacceptable losses or risking damage to the Group’s reputation. 

The Group generates positive operating cash flows, and is able to meet its liabilities as they fall due.  In 
addition the Group has lines of credit identified in note 28 to the financial statements. 

Market risk 
Market risk is the risk that changes in market prices, such as foreign exchange rates, interest rates and 
equity prices will affect the  Group’s income or the value of its holdings of financial instruments. The 
objective of market risk management is to manage and control market risk exposures within acceptable 
parameters, while optimising the return. 

The Group currently does not use derivative financial instruments to hedge its exposure to currency or 
interest  rate  risk.    All  loans  are  currently  variable  rate  in  nature,  with  the  terms  being  at  prevailing 
market interest rates. 

The level of trading and borrowings in foreign currency produces a natural hedge of a large proportion 
of  the  Group’s  exposures  to  foreign  currency  movements  on  trading  and  investments.  Certain 
borrowings in foreign currencies are designated as net investment hedges of foreign operations. 

Capital management  
The Board’s policy is to maintain a strong capital base so as to maintain investor, creditor and market 
confidence and to sustain future development of the business (capital is defined as share capital, share 
premium,  retained  earnings  and  shares  to  be  issued).    The  Board  of  Directors  monitors  the  return  on 
capital as well as the level of dividends to ordinary shareholders. 

The Group is not subject to external requirements in respect of its capital, with the exception of the need 
to comply with the level of ordinary shares available for trading on the Alternative Investment Market 
and Enterprise Securities Market, with which the  Group has complied in the current year.  Additional 
shares in the Group are made available to staff by the use of share option schemes as disclosed in the 
notes to the financial statements and as purchase consideration in business combinations. 

The  Board  seeks  to  maintain  a  balance between the  higher  returns that  might  be  possible  with  higher 
level of borrowings and the advantages and security afforded by a sound capital position. 

47 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

3  Acquisitions of subsidiaries  

There were no acquisitions completed during the year ended 28 February 2014. 

Prior year acquisitions 

On 27 September 2012 the Company obtained control of Redshift Horizons Limited, Cowrie Financial 
Limited  and  Redshift  Horizons  LLP  by  acquiring  all  of  the  ordinary  shares  and  membership  of  the 
entities.    Acquiring  the  entities  has  enabled  the  Group  to  expand  its  managed  services  and  real-time 
infrastructure  services.    In  the  5  months  to  28  February  2013  the  subsidiaries  contributed  revenue  of 
£1,900k  and  net  profit  of  £187k  to  the  consolidated  net  profit  for  the  year.  If  the  acquisition  had 
occurred  on  1  March  2012,  management  estimates  that  revenue  for  the  Group  would  have  been 
£59,129k  and  net  profit  would  have  been  an  estimated  £5,407k.  In  determining  these  amounts, 
Management have assumed that the fair value adjustments that arose on the date of acquisition would 
have been the same if the acquisition occurred on 1 March 2012. 

The following summarises the major classes of consideration transferred and the recognised amounts of 
assets acquired and liabilities assumed at the acquisition date. 

Effect of acquisitions 
The acquisitions had the following effect on the Group’s assets and liabilities. 

Acquiree’s net assets at the acquisition date: 
Intangible assets 
Property, plant and equipment 
Trade and other receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 
Trade and other payables 
Deferred tax liability 

Pre-acquisition 
carrying 
amounts 
£000 

- 
4 
1,334 
139 
(1,179) 
- 

Fair value 
 adjustments 

£000 

1,422 
- 
- 
- 
- 
(341) 

Net identifiable assets and liabilities 

298 

1,081 

Goodwill on acquisition 

Consideration paid, satisfied as follows: 
Cash 
Deferred consideration 
Shares issued (232,731 shares) 
Contingent consideration 

Cash consideration paid 
Cash (acquired) 

Net cash outflow 

48 

Recognised 
values  
on acquisition 
£000 

1,422 
4 
1,334 
139 
(1,179) 
(341) 

1,379 

1,919 

3,298 

1,098 
450 
1,100 
650 

3,298 

950 
(139) 

811 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
              
               
               
 
               
               
 
 
 
 
 
 
               
 
 
 
 
 
 
               
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
               
 
 
 
 
 
 
               
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
               
 
 
 
 
 
               
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

3  Acquisitions of subsidiaries (continued) 

Effect of acquisitions (continued) 
£148k of the cash consideration was outstanding at 28 February 2013.  This was settled in full during 
the year ended 28 February 2014. The trade and other receivables comprised gross contractual amounts 
of £1,094k of which no amounts were expected to be uncollectible at the acquisition date. Acquisition 
costs of £8k were capitalised by the Company as part of the investment and were expensed as profit and 
loss in the Group. 

Shares issued 
The number of ordinary shares issued (232,731 shares) was derived based on the average price of shares 
on  the  20  days  prior  to  27  September  2012  (472.65  pence  per  share).    The  fair  value  of  the  ordinary 
shares  issued  based  on  the  listed  share  price  on  the  27  September  2012,  the  effective  date  of  control 
(472.5  pence  per  share)  was  not  materially  different.    The  impact  would  be  to  decrease  goodwill  by 
£35k. 

Goodwill 
Goodwill has arisen on the acquisition and reflects the future economic benefits arising from assets that 
are not capable of being identified individually and recognised as separate assets.  The goodwill reflects 
the  anticipated  profitability  and  synergistic  benefits  arising  from  the  combination  and  the  ability  to 
leverage  off  client  relationships  and  knowhow.    The  Group  has  carried  out  an  impairment  review  of 
goodwill as at 28 February 2014 and 28 February 2013 and has not identified any impairment (see note 
17).   None of the goodwill is expected to be deductible for tax purposes. 

Contingent consideration 
The Group had agreed to pay the selling shareholders additional consideration of £650k if the acquirer’s 
turnover exceeded £2,750k over the next 12 months.  The turnover exceeded this amount and the £650k 
of  contingent  consideration  was  settled  in  full  during  the  year.  The  Group  has  included  £650k  as 
contingent  consideration  related  to  the  additional  consideration,  which  represents  its  fair  value  at  the 
acquisition date.  As at 28 February 2013, the contingent consideration was recognised at £650k and was 
payable within 12 months. This deferred consideration was settled through the issue of ordinary shares 
to the value of £650k during the year ended 28 February 2014. 

Deferred consideration 
The  Group  has  included  £450k  as  deferred  consideration  which  represents  its  fair  value  at  the 
acquisition date.  As at 28 February 2013, the contingent consideration was recognised at £450k and was 
payable within 12 months. This deferred consideration was settled through the issue of ordinary shares 
to the value of £450k during the year ended 28 February 2014. 

Acquisition related costs 
The Group incurred acquisition-related costs of  £163k related to external legal fees and due diligence 
costs.    The  legal  fees  and  due  diligence  costs  have  been  included  in  administrative  expenses  in  the 
Group’s consolidated statement of comprehensive income. 

49 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

4  Operating segments  

Business segments 
The Group’s board of Directors reviews internal management reports on a monthly basis.  The reports 
provided to the board of Directors focus on Group performance.  The information provided to the board 
does  not  report  performance  on  a  segmented  income  statement  basis,  however,  contained  within  the 
Group  management  accounts  is  a  split  of  revenue,  detailing  the  various  consulting  and  software  sales 
revenue figures throughout the Group.  This level of information is consistent with the Directors’ view 
of  the  nature  of  the  Group’s  business.    Staff  work  in  both  areas  of  the  business  with  substantial 
investment  being  made  by  the  Group  in  developing  highly  technical training  which  is  provided to  all 
staff  to  allow  them  to  cover  both  software  and  consulting  skills.    Costs  and  assets  are  therefore  not 
segmented nor presented on a segmental basis to the board of Directors. 

The  Group  has  disclosed  below  certain  information  on  its  revenue  and  non-current  assets  by 
geographical  location.    In  presenting  this  information,  segment  revenue  has  been  based  on  the 
geographic  location  of  customers  and  segment  assets  were  based  on  the  geographic  location  of  the 
assets.  Details regarding total revenues are presented in note 5. 

The Group’s two revenue streams are separated as follows: 

  Consulting activities which includes services to capital markets; and 
  Software activities which includes the sale of intellectual property and related services. 

Revenue by division 

Consulting 
Software 

Total 

Geographical location analysis 

UK 
Rest of Europe 
America 
Australasia 

Total 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

50,593 
19,309 
______ 

69,902 
______ 

41,475 
14,994 
______ 

56,469 
______ 

Revenues 
2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

Non-current assets 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

19,485 
8,047 
23,075 
5,862 
______ 

56,469 
______ 

17,915 
11,274 
20,225 
1,756 
______ 

51,170 
______ 

20,506 
10,419 
21,957 
1,725 
______ 

54,607 
______ 

26,857 
9,607 
26,230 
7,208 
______ 

69,902 
______ 

50 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

4  Operating segments (continued) 

Revenue generated and non-current assets located in Northern Ireland, the Group’s country of domicile 
are not material and as such, have not been separately disclosed for either the current or prior year. 

Major customers 
The  Group  has  one  (2013:  one)  key  customer  who  individually  generated  more  than  10%  of  Group 
revenue in 2014. Revenue from this customer represents approximately £9,088k (2013: £12,165k) of the 
Group’s total revenue.  The revenue from this customer has been derived from 34 different independent 
decision  making  business  units  across  seven  global  locations  with  no  individual  unit  accounting  for 
more than 2%.  

5  Revenue 

Sale of goods 
Rendering of services 
Commissions 

6  Other operating income 

Government grants 
Other income 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

11,537 
58,365 
- 
69,902 

8,845 
47,604 
20 
56,469 

2014   
£’000 

1,931 
19 
1,950 

2013   
£’000 

1,589 
27 
1,616 

During the year, employment grant income of £443k (2013: £435k) was claimed from  Invest Northern 
Ireland.   

51 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

7  Administrative expenses 

Rent, rates and insurance 
Telephone 
Accountancy, audit and legal expenses 
Advertising and marketing 
Depreciation and amortisation 
Payroll costs 
Research and development credit 
Listing expenses  
Provision for impairment of trade receivables 
Profit on disposal of property, plant and equipment 
Other 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

1,841 
587 
841 
596 
4,215 
4,592 
(307) 
193 
761 
(988) 
559 
12,890 

1,305 
522 
725 
565 
3,226 
4,105 
(364) 
242 
1,334 
(717) 
1,039 
11,982 

8  Personnel expenses and numbers 

The average weekly number of persons (including the Directors) employed by the Group during the year 
is set out below: 

Administration  
Technical 

The aggregate payroll costs of these persons were as follows:  

Wages and salaries 
Share based payments (see note 39) 
Social security costs 
Other pension costs 
Less capitalised development costs 

Disclosed as: 

Cost of sales 
Administrative expenses  

52 

2014   

2013   
Average no.  Average no. 

104 
702 
806 

2014   
£’000 

36,916 
757 
4,037 
1,219 
(5,632) 
37,297 

2014   
£’000 

32,705 
4,592 
37,297 

94 
629 
723 

2013   
£’000 

30,310 
683 
2,940 
860 
(5,466) 
29,327 

2013   
£’000 

25,222 
4,105 
29,327 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

9 

Finance income and expense  

Interest income on bank deposits 
Finance income 

Loss  on  foreign  currency  translation  of  monetary 
assets 

Interest expense on bank loans 
Other interest 
Finance expense 
Net finance expense recognised in profit or loss 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

4 
4 

(19) 

(594) 
- 
(594) 
(609) 

1 
1 

(538) 

(595) 
(66) 
(661) 
(1,198) 

Exchange gains and losses on net investments in foreign subsidiaries and associates and related effective 
hedges are recognised in the foreign currency translation reserve. 

10  Statutory and other information 

Depreciation on property, plant and equipment: 
           Owned assets 
Provision for impairment of trade receivables 
Amortisation of intangibles 
Rents payable in respect of operating leases 
Research and development costs expensed 

Auditor’s remuneration: 
Audit of these financial statements 
Audit of the subsidiary undertakings included in the 
consolidation 

Amounts receivable by auditors and their associates in 
respect of: 
-  Audit of financial statements of subsidiaries pursuant to 

legislation 

-  All other services 
-  Taxation compliance services 
-  Other tax advisory services 

53 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

738 
761 
3,477 
535 
1,497 

61 

15 

21 

3 
40 
76 
_____ 

216 
_____ 

699 
1,334 
2,527 
486 
1,428 

59 

16 

16 

2 
40 
84 
_____ 

217 
_____ 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

11  Tax expense 

Income tax recognised in the income statement 

Current tax expense 
Current year 
Adjustment for prior years 

Deferred tax expense 
Origination and reversal of temporary differences 
Adjustment for prior years 
Change in tax rate 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

1,084 
(194) 
890 

709 
134 
(187) 
656 

1,289 
(223) 
1,066 

81 
(20) 
(112) 
(51) 

Total tax expense in income statement 

1,546 

1,015 

Reconciliation of effective tax rate 
Profit excluding income tax 

Income  tax  using  the  Company’s  domestic  tax  rate  (23.1%)  (2013: 
24.2%) 
Tax exempt income 
Expenses not deductible for tax purposes 
Over provision in prior year 
Other differences 
Profit of associate 
Foreign tax rate differences 
Reduction in tax rates 
Unrelieved overseas taxes 

7,947 

1,834 

(164) 
(181) 
(60) 
63 
(62) 
(143) 
(187) 
446 
1,546 

6,160 

1,489 

(88) 
(173) 
(243) 
154 
(50) 
(129) 
(112) 
167 
1,015 

Following the 2013 budget statement, the main rate of UK corporation tax was reduced from 24% directly to 
23%  with  effect  from  the  1  April  2013.    Thereafter the  main  rate  of  UK  corporation  tax  will  continue to 
reduce  to  21%  by  2014  and  to  20%  from  1  April  2015.    It  is  expected  that  this  gradual  fall  in  the  main 
corporation tax rate will result in a reduction of the Group’s future current tax charge. 

54 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

12  Remuneration of Directors 

The remuneration paid to the Directors was: 

Aggregate emoluments (including benefits in kind) 
Company pension contributions 
Share option payment charge 

2014 
£’000 

659 
33 
112 
804 

2013 
£’000 

915 
47 
257 
1,219 

During the period there were 3 Directors accruing benefits under a defined contribution pension scheme 
(28 February 2013: 4).   

The aggregate emoluments and company pension contributions of the highest paid Director (excluding 
fees  paid  for  provision  of  services)  amounted  to  £327k  and  £15k  respectively  during  the  year  (2013: 
308k and £15k respectively). 

The Directors are deemed to be the key management of the Group. 

Directors’ emoluments 

Salary 
and 
fees  Benefits  
£’000 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

£’000 
32 
160 
150 
20 
25 
- 
35 
42 
35 
499 

Share 
based 

payment  Bonus 
£’000  £’000 
- 
100 
60 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
160 

15 
- 
117 
18 
3 
- 
8 
- 
- 
161 

2014 
Total 
excluding 
pension 
£’000 
47 
260 
327 
38 
28 
- 
43 
42 
35 
820 

2014 

2013 

2013 
Total 
excluding 

pension  Pension  Pension 
£’000 
£’000 
- 
- 
16 
16 
15 
15 
12 
2 
4 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
47 
33 

£’000 
65 
261 
308 
296 
157 
10 
43 
6 
26 
1,172 

R D Anderson 
B G Conlon 
R G Ferguson 
A Toner* 
K Cunningham* 
M G O’Neill* 
P Brazel 
S Keating 
K MacDonald 
Total 

*Details in the above table reflects emoluments paid up to resignation on 9 May 2013.  

55 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

12  Remuneration of Directors (continued) 

Directors interests 

Directors’ rights to subscribe for ordinary shares in the Company are indicated below: 

  March 
2013 

Granted 
during the 
year 

Exercised 
during the 
year 

Resignation/
28 February 

2014 

Exercise 
price 
£ 

Exercise 
period 

Adrian Toner* 

David Anderson 

Graham Ferguson 

175,000 
175,000 
60,000 

50,000 
10,000 

- 
- 
- 

- 
- 

- 
- 
(60,000) 

- 
(10,000) 

- 
175,000 
175,000 

150,000 
- 
- 

175,000 
175,000 
- 

50,000 
- 

150,000 
175,000 
175,000 

4.80 
4.15 
1.79 

4.80 
1.79 

5.65 
4.15 
1.77 

2014-2021 
2014-2020 
2011-2019 

2014-2021 
2013-2019 

2016-2023 
2014-2020 
2013-2019 

25,000 

4.80 

2014-2021 

- 
- 
- 

- 

Pat Brazel 

25,000 

- 

The average share price during the year was £8.24 (2013: £5.04) and the closing price at year end was 
£12.65 (2013: £5.88). 

*Details in the above table reflect the directors’ interests up to resignation on 9 May 2013.  

56 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

13  Dividends 

The following dividends were: 

Final dividend relating to the prior year 
Interim dividend paid 

2014   
£’000 

1,499 
601 
2,100 

2013   
£’000 

1,370 
538 
1,908 

The dividends recorded in each financial year represent the final dividend of the preceding financial year 
and the interim dividend of the current financial year. 

The final dividend relating to the prior year amounted to 8.40 (previous year: 8.15) pence per share and 
the interim dividend paid during the year amounted to 3.20 (previous year: 3.10) pence per share.  The 
cumulative dividend paid during the year amounted to 11.60 (previous year: 11.25) pence per share. 

After  the  respective  reporting  dates,  the  following  dividends  were  proposed  by  the  Directors.    The 
dividends have not been provided for and there are no income tax consequences. 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

         9.00 pence per ordinary share (2013: 8.40 pence) 

1,759 

1,499 

14  Company result 

Under Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006, the Company is exempt from the requirement to present 
its  own  income  statement.    The  profit  after  tax  (after  subtraction  of  foreign  currency  loss  of  £576k 
(2013:  loss  of  £928k)  for  the  financial  year  of  the  Company  as  approved  by  the  Board  was  £5,751k 
(2013: £3,114k). 

15 

(a)  Earnings per ordinary share 

Basic 
The calculation of basic earnings per share at 28 February 2014 was based on the profit attributable to 
ordinary shareholders of  £6,401k (2013: £5,145k), and a weighted average number of ordinary shares 
ranking for dividend of 18,623k (2013: 17,048k). 

Basic earnings per share 

2014   
Pence per 
share 

2013   
Pence per 
share 

34.4 

30.2 

57 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

15 

(a)  Earnings per ordinary share (continued) 

Weighted average number of ordinary shares 

Issued ordinary shares at 1 March 
Effect of share options exercised 
Effect of shares issued as purchase consideration 
Effect of shares issued to settle deferred consideration 
Effect of shares issued for cash 
Weighted average number of ordinary shares at 28 February 

2013 
Number ’000  Number ’000 

2014 

17,484 
421 
- 
152 
566 
18,623 

16,633 
317 
98 
- 
- 
17,048 

Diluted 
The calculation of diluted earnings per share at 28 February 2014 was based on the profit attributable to 
ordinary  shareholders  of  £6,401k  (2013:  £5,145k)  and  a  weighted  average  number  of  ordinary  shares 
after adjustment for the effects of all dilutive potential ordinary shares of 21,564k (2013: 18,432k). 

Diluted earnings per share 

Weighted average number of ordinary shares (diluted) 

Weighted average number of ordinary shares (basic) 
Effect of dilutive share options in issue 
Weighted average number of ordinary shares (diluted) at 28 February 

2014   
Pence  
per share 

2013 
Pence 
per share 

29.7 

27.9 

2014 
Number 
‘000 

18,623 
2,941 
21,564 

2013 
Number 
‘000 

17,048 
1,384 
18,432 

At  28  February  2014  552k  options  (2013:  1,183k)  were  excluded  from  the  diluted  weighted  average 
number of ordinary shares calculation as their effect would have been anti-dilutive. 

The average market value of the Group’s shares for purposes of calculating the dilutive effect of share 
options was based on quoted market prices for the period the options were outstanding. 

58 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

15 

(b)  Earnings before tax per ordinary share  

Earnings  before  tax  per  share  are  based  on  profit  before  taxation  of  £7,947k  (2013:  £6,160k).    The 
number of shares used in this calculation is consistent with note 15(a) above. 

Basic earnings before tax per ordinary share 
Diluted earnings before tax per ordinary share 

2014   
Pence per 
share 

2013 
Pence per 
share 

42.7 
36.9 

36.1 
33.4 

Reconciliation from earnings per ordinary share to earnings before tax per ordinary share. 

Basic earnings per share 
Impact of taxation charge 
Adjusted basic earnings before tax per share 

Diluted earnings per share 
Impact of taxation charge  
Adjusted diluted earnings before tax per share 

2014 
Pence per 
share 

2013   
Pence per 
share 

34.4 
8.3 
42.7 

29.7 
7.2 
36.9 

30.2 
5.9 
36.1 

27.9 
5.5 
33.4 

Earnings before tax per share has been presented to facilitate pre-tax comparison returns on comparable 
investments. 

59 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

16  Property, plant and equipment 

Group 

Cost 
At 1 March 2013 
Additions 
Disposals 
Reclassification to assets held for sale 
Exchange adjustments 
At 28 February 2014 

Depreciation 
At 1 March 2013 
Charge for the year 
Disposals 
Reclassification to assets held for sale 
Exchange adjustments 
At 28 February 2014 

Land and 
buildings 
£’000 

Plant and 
equipment 
£’000 

Office 
furniture 
£’000 

8,494 
598 
(3,811) 
(2,419) 
(70) 
2,792 

762 
233 
(259) 
(265) 
(11) 
460 

2,696 
2,237 
- 
- 
(246) 
4,687 

1,388 
462 
- 
- 
(106) 
1,744 

165 
72 
- 
- 
(2) 
235 

111 
43 
- 
- 
(2) 
152 

Land and 
buildings 
£’000 

Plant and 
equipment 
£’000 

Office 
furniture 
£’000 

Cost 
At 1 March 2012 
Additions 
Acquisition through business combinations 
Disposals  
Reclassification to assets held for sale 
Exchange adjustments 
At 28 February 2013 

Depreciation 
At 1 March 2012 
Charge for the year 
Disposals  
Reclassification to assets held for sale 
Exchange adjustments  
At 28 February 2013 

Carrying amounts 
At 1 March 2012 
At 28 February 2013 
At 28 February 2014 

14,855 
134 
- 
(2,843) 
(3,630) 
(22) 
8,494 

929 
254 
(160) 
(266) 
5 
762 

13,926 
7,732 
2,332 

1,688 
928 
4 
- 
- 
76 
2,696 

919 
420 
- 
- 
49 
1,388 

769 
1,308 
2,943 

128 
36 
- 
- 
- 
1 
165 

85 
25 
- 
- 
1 
111 

43 
54 
83 

Total  

£’000 

11,355 
2,907 
(3,811) 
(2,419) 
(318) 
7,714 

2,261 
738 
(259) 
(265) 
(119) 
2,356 

Total  

£’000 

16,671 
1,098 
4 
(2,843) 
(3,630) 
55 
11,355 

1,933 
699 
(160) 
(266) 
55 
2,261 

14,738 
9,094 
5,358 

The basis by which depreciation is calculated is stated in note 1.  

The Group leases equipment  under a number  of finance lease arrangements.  At 28 February 2014 the 
carrying amount of leased assets included in  plant and equipment was £313k (2013: £Nil) and related 
depreciation amounted to £78k (2013: £Nil). 

Details of security provided for borrowing in respect of property, plant and equipment are disclosed in 
note 28. 

60 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

16  Property, plant and equipment (continued) 

Company 

Land and 
buildings 
£’000 

Plant and 
equipment 
£’000 

Office  
furniture 
£’000 

Cost 
At 1 March 2013 
Additions 
Disposals 
Reclassification to assets held for sale 
At 28 February 2014 

Depreciation 
At 1 March 2013 
Charge for the year 
Disposals 
Reclassification to assets held for sale 
At 28 February 2014 

8,284 
- 
(3,811) 
(2,419) 
2,054 

713 
146 
(259) 
(265) 
335 

600 
200 
- 
- 
800 

443 
93 
- 
- 
536 

75 
68 
- 
- 
143 

65 
13 
- 
- 
78 

Land and 
buildings 
£’000 

Plant and 
equipment 
£’000 

Office 
furniture 
£’000 

Cost 
At 1 March 2012 
Additions 
Disposals  
Reclassification to assets held for 
sale 
At 28 February 2013 

Depreciation 
At 1 March 2012 
Charge for the year 
Disposals  
Reclassification to assets held for 
sale 
At 28 February 2013 

Carrying amounts 
At 1 March 2012 
At 28 February 2013 
At 28 February 2014 

14,660 
97 
(2,843) 

(3,630) 
8,284 

910 
229 
(160) 

(266) 
713 

13,750 
7,571 
1,719 

444 
156 
- 

- 
600 

353 
90 
- 

- 
443 

91 
157 
264 

68 
7 
- 

- 
75 

60 
5 
- 

- 
65 

8 
10 
65 

The basis by which depreciation is calculated is stated in note 1. 

No assets are held under finance leases. 

Details of security in respect of property, plant and equipment are disclosed in note 28. 

61 

Total 
£’000 

8,959 
268 
(3,811) 
(2,419) 
2,997 

1,221 
252 
(259) 
(265) 
949 

Total 
£’000 

15,172 
260 
(2,843) 

(3,630) 
8,959 

1,323 
324 
(160) 

(266) 
1,221 

13,849 
7,738 
2,048 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

17 

Intangible assets and goodwill 

 Group 

Goodwill 

Customer 
lists 

Acquired 
Software 

Brand name 

£’000 

£’000 

£’000 

£’000 

Cost 
Balance at 1 March 2013 
Development costs  
Additions 
Adjustment to deferred 
consideration 
Exchange adjustments 
At 28 February 2014 
Amortisation and 
impairment losses 
Balance at 1 March 2013 
Amortisation for the year 
Exchange adjustment 
At 28 February 2014 

14,943 
- 
- 

14 
(1,431) 
13,526 

- 
- 
- 
- 

3,810 
- 
- 

- 
(263) 
3,547 

1,356 
450 
(153) 
1,653 

9,514 
- 
208 

- 
(711) 
9,011 

3,653 
1,084 
(307) 
4,430 

387 
- 
- 

- 
(26) 
361 

156 
45 
(15) 
186 

Internally 
developed 
software 
£’000 

16,761 
5,987 
- 

- 
(354) 
22,394 

2,705 
1,898 
(58) 
4,545 

Total 

£’000 

45,415 
5,987 
208 

14 
(2,785) 
48,839 

7,870 
3,477 
(533) 
10,814 

Goodwill  Customer 
lists 

Acquired 
Software 

Brand 
name 

£’000 

£’000 

£’000 

£’000 

12,890 
- 
- 

1,919 

(317) 
451 

2,362 
- 
- 

1,350 

- 
98 

8,645 
- 
553 

- 

- 
316 

304 
- 
- 

72 

- 
11 

Internally 
developed 
software 
£’000 

10,951 
5,608 
- 

Total 

£’000 

35,152 
5,608 
553 

- 

3,341 

202 

(317) 
1,078 

14,943 

3,810 

9,514 

387 

16,761 

45,415 

- 
- 
- 

- 

924 
51 
381 

2,433 
157 
1,063 

1,356 

3,653 

12,890 
14,943 
13,526 

1,438 
2,454 
1,894 

6,212 
5,861 
4,581 

107 
6 
43 

156 

197 
231 
175 

1,635 
30 
1,040 

5,099 
244 
2,527 

2,705 

7,870 

9,316 
14,056 
17,849 

30,053 
37,545 
38,025 

Cost 
Balance at 1 March 2012 
Development costs 
Additions 
Acquisition through 
business combinations 
Adjustment to deferred 
consideration 
Exchange adjustments 
Balance at 28 February 
2013 
Amortisation and 
impairment losses 
Balance at 1 March 2012 
Exchange adjustment 
Amortisation for the year 
Balance at 28 February 
2013 

Carrying amounts 
At 1 March 2012 
At 28 February 2013 
At 28 February 2014 

Leased intangible assets 
The  Group  leases  items  of  required  software  under  a  number  of  finance  lease  arrangements.    At  28 
February  2014  the  carrying  amount  of  leased  assets  included  in  acquired  software  was  £914k  (2013: 
£1,139k) and related amortisation amounted to £159k (2013: £166k). 

62 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

17  Intangible assets and goodwill (continued) 

The basis by which amortisation is calculated is stated in note 1.  Amortisation is recognised  through 
profit and loss in administration expenses. 

Included  within  development  costs  capitalised  in  the  year  is  £5,632k  (2013:  £5,466k)  of  capitalised 
employees costs, including £90k of capitalised share option costs (2013: £107k) together with £265k of 
capitalised consultancy  costs (2013:  £35k)  for the  year.   Developed  software includes  £2,922k  (2013: 
£2,235k) of software under development at 28 February 2014 not yet commissioned. 

Impairment testing of goodwill 

The  Group  tests  goodwill  for  impairment  at  each  reporting  date,  or  more  frequently  if  there  are 
indications  that  goodwill  might  be  impaired.    For  the  purposes  of  impairment  testing,  goodwill  is 
allocated to divisions which represent the lowest level within the Group at which goodwill is monitored, 
which  is  not  higher  than  the  statutory  entity  level  summary.    A  statutory  entity  level  summary  of  the 
goodwill (which is equivalent to cash generating units) is presented below: 

Subsidiaries 
Market Resource Partners LLC 
Reference Data Factory LLC 
First Derivatives Pty Limited 
First Derivatives (Ireland) Limited 
First Derivatives Canada Inc. 
Cowrie Financial Limited 
Redshift Horizons Limited 

Associate 
Kx Systems Inc. (included in note 18) 

2014 
£’000 

9,079 
725 
1,194 
161 
468 
821 
1,078 
13,526 

2013 
£’000 

10,045 
788 
1,483 
171 
537 
841 
1,078 
14,943 

3,801 

4,186 

The recoverable amount of each cash generating unit (CGU) has been determined based on a value-in-use 
(VIU) calculation using cash flows derived from financial projections over a five year period, with cash 
flows thereafter calculated using a terminal value methodology.  A growth rate of 10% (2013: 10%) is 
applied for years 2 to 5, followed by a growth rate of 2% (2013: 2%) thereafter.  The pre-tax discount 
rates applied to cash flow projections of the CGUs was 15% (2013: 15%). 

Projected cash flows are most sensitive to assumptions regarding future profitability and working capital 
investment.  The values applied to these key assumptions are derived from a combination of external and 
internal factors, based on past experience together with management’s future expectations about business 
performance. 

Discount rates reflect the current market assessment of the risk specific to each CGU.  The discount rate 
was estimated based on past experience and industry average weighted average cost of capital adjusted to 
reflect the market assessment of risks specific to each CGU for which the cash flow projections have not 
been adjusted. 

63 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

17 

Intangible assets and goodwill (continued) 

Sensitivity analysis 

There was no impairment charge for the year ended 28 February 2014 (2013: Nil).  For the purposes of 
performing  sensitivity  analysis,  a  change  in  the  assumption  to  increase  the  discount  rate  by  1%  or, 
separately, to reduce the terminal growth by 1% would not result in any indication of impairment.  No 
reasonable change in assumption would indicate any impairment. 

Company 

Cost 
Balance at 1 March 2013 
Development cost  
Balance at 28 February 2014 
Amortisation and impairment losses 
Balance at 1 March 2013 
Amortisation for the year 
Balance at 28 February 2014 

Cost 
Balance at 1 March 2012 
Development cost 
Balance at 28 February 2013 
Amortisation and impairment losses 
Balance at 1 March 2012 
Amortisation for the year 
Balance at 28 February 2013 

Carrying amounts 
At 1 March 2012 
At 28 February 2013 
At 28 February 2014 

Internally 
developed 
software 
£’000 

11,432 
4,602 
16,034 

2,049 
1,308 
3,357 

7,249 
4,183 
11,432 

1,316 
733 
2,049 

5,933 
9,383 
12,677 

Included  within  development  costs  capitalised  in  the  year  is  £4,512k  (2013:  £4,076k)  of  capitalised 
employees  costs  and  £90k  of  capitalised  share  option  costs  (2013:  £107k)  for  the  year.    Developed 
software includes £1,846k (2013: £1,490k) of software under development at 28 February 2014 not yet 
commissioned. 

64 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

18 

Investment in subsidiaries and associate 

The Group and Company have the following investments in subsidiaries: 

Country of 
incorporation 

Class of 
share held 

Market Resource Partners LLC 
First Derivatives Holdings Pty Limited   
First Derivatives Pty Limited1 
First Derivatives (Ireland) Limited 
First Derivatives Holdings Inc 
Reference Data Factory LLC2 
First Derivatives US Inc2 
First Derivatives No.1 Inc 
First Derivatives Canada Inc 
(formerly Lakefront Data Ventures Inc) 
Market Resource Partners Limited 
Cowrie Financial Limited 
Redshift Horizons Limited 
Redshift Horizons LLP3 
First Derivatives Pte. Limited 
First Derivatives (Hong Kong) Limited 
First Derivatives Japan Co. Limited 

United States 
Australia 
Australia 
Ireland 
United States 
United States 
United States 
United States 
Canada 

N. Ireland 
UK 
UK 
UK 
Singapore 
Hong Kong 
Japan 

Ordinary 
Ordinary 
Ordinary 
Ordinary 
Ordinary 
Ordinary 
Ordinary 
Ordinary 
Ordinary 

Ordinary 
Ordinary 
Ordinary 
Ordinary 
Ordinary 
Ordinary 
Ordinary 

Ownership 

2014 

100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 

100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 

2013 

100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 

100% 
100% 
100% 
100% 
- 
- 
- 

1First  Derivatives  Holdings  Pty  Limited  holds  100%  of  the  ordinary  shares  of  First  Derivatives  Pty 
Limited.  

2First Derivatives Holdings Inc. holds 100% of the ordinary shares of Reference Data Factory LLC and 
First Derivatives US Inc. 

3First Derivatives Plc and Redshift Horizons Limited are the only members of the subsidiary Redshift 
Horizons LLP. 

Unlisted investments in subsidiaries at cost 
At 1 March  
Additions 
Foreign exchange movement in contingent deferred consideration 

At 28 February  

Company 

2014 
£’000 

2013 
£’000 

17,864 
6,600 
- 

14,549 
3,306 
9 

24,464 

17,864 

During the year the company increased its investment in First Derivatives Ireland Limited by £6,600k 
following receipt of additional ordinary shares in exchange for settlement of a receivable from the 
subsidiary of £6,600k. 

65 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

18 

Investment in subsidiaries and associate (continued) 

Associate 
The Group has the following investment in an associate: 

Group and Company 
Kx Systems Inc 

Country of 
incorporation 

Class of 
share held 

Ownership 

2014 

2013 

United States 

Ordinary 

20.1% 

20.1% 

The Group’s share of profit in associates for the year was £268k (2013: £249k).  The associate is not 
publicly  listed  and  consequently  does  not  have  a  published  share  price.    During  the  year,  the  Group 
received dividends of £773k (2013: £1,267k) from its associate.  Summary financial information for the 
year to  28 February 2014 for the associate for total assets, total liabilities, revenue and net profit was 
£9,014k  (2013:  £9,984k),  £6,309k  (2013:  £7,185k),  £8,485k  (2013:  £8,367k)  and  £3,451k  (2013: 
£3,221) respectively. 

Group 

At 1 March  
Dividends received 
Share of associate profit 
Loss on dilution in associate using the equity method 
Exchange adjustment 

At 28 February  

Company 

At 28 February 2013 and 28 February 2014 

2014 
£’000 

6,295 
(773) 
268 
- 
(557) 

2013 
£’000 

7,059 
(1,267) 
249 
(43) 
297 

5,233 

6,295 

£’000 

7,196 

The  Directors  are  of  the  view  that  the  fair  value  of  the  investment  in  Kx  Systems  is  substantially  in 
excess of its carrying value. The loss on dilution in the prior year arose on the exercise of share options 
in Kx Systems at an exercise price less than the carrying value per share at which the Group acquired its 
investment.  

Goodwill arising on the associate was tested for impairment, see note 17. 

66 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

19  Trade and other receivables 

Current assets 

Trade receivables 
Receivables from associates 
Receivables from subsidiaries 
Sundry receivables 
Prepayments 
Grant income receivable 
Corporation tax receivable 

Non-current assets 

Receivables from subsidiaries 
Trade and other receivables 
Grant income receivable 

Group 

2014   
£’000 

14,774 
32 
- 
1,710 
2,196 
1,808 
51 
20,571 

Group 

2014   
£’000 

- 
1,779 
775 
2,554 

2013   
£’000 

14,672 
43 
- 
2,665 
1,807 
650 
- 
19,837 

2013   
£’000 

- 
737 
936 
1,673 

Company 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

8,906 
32 
1,600 
376 
1,869 
1,632 
276 
14,691 

7,541 
43 
7,803 
302 
1,562 
263 
- 
17,514 

Company 

2014   
£’000 

2,404 
1,779 
- 
4,183 

2013   
£’000 

2,632 
737 
- 
3,369 

The repayment terms of the receivable from subsidiaries has been agreed as falling due after more than 
one year.   

At 28 February 2014 Group and Company trade receivables are shown net of an allowance for doubtful 
debts of £2,088k and £576k respectively (2013: Group £1,532k; Company £211k) arising from on-going 
invoice  disputes  and  the  risk  of  companies  defaulting.  The  impairment  charge  in  the  year  was  £761k 
(2013: charge £1,334k) for Group and £365k (2013: charge £128k) for the Company.  

The  Group’s  and  Company’s  exposure  to  credit  and  currency  risks  and  impairment  losses  related  to 
trade and other receivables is disclosed in note 38. 

20  Cash and cash equivalents 

Bank balances 

              Group 

             Company 

2014   
£’000 

4,393 

2013   
£’000 

1,902 

2014   
£’000 

3,607 

2013   
£’000 

1,397 

See note 38 for discussion of interest rate risk and sensitivity analysis. 

For the purposes of the Statement of Cashflows, cash and cash equivalents compromises bank balances 
less the bank overdraft (see note 28). 

67 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

21  Assets held for resale 

Of  the  six  properties  presented  as  held  for  sale  in  the  prior  year,  four  were  disposed  off  during  the 
current year and two properties (carried at £992k) continue to be held for sale as at 28 February 2014. 
Seven properties are presented as held for sale following the commitment of management to a plan to 
dispose of the properties. No impairment loss has been recognised as management expect to dispose of 
the properties at a profit. 

Property, plant and Equipment 

3,146 

3,364 

              Group 
2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

             Company 

2014   
£’000 

3,146 

2013 
£’000 

3,364 

22 

Share capital 

In issue at 1 March 
Exercise of share options (Note 39) 
Issued in business combinations (Note 3) 
Issued as payment of deferred consideration 
Issued for cash 
In issue at 28 February – fully paid 

              Ordinary shares 

2014 
Number 
17,484,069 
1,076,530 
- 
141,011 
840,000 
19,541,610 

2013 
Number 
16,633,036 
618,302 
232,731 
- 
- 
17,484,069 

Equity shares 
Issued, allotted and fully paid 
Ordinary shares of £0.005 each 

2014 
Number 

2014 
£’000 

2013 
Number 

19,541,610 
_________ 

98 
___ 

17,484,069 
_________ 

2013 
£’000 

87 
___ 

The holders of ordinary shares are entitled to receive dividends as declared from time to time and 
are entitled to one vote per share at meetings of the Company. 

Shares increased in the year due to the issue of 840,000 ordinary shares (2013: nil) for cash consideration 
of £4,738k (2013: £nil), the exercise of 1,076,530 share options (2013: 618,302) for cash consideration 
of  £2,949k  (2013:  £963k)  together  with  an  associated  transfer  from  the  share  option  reserve  of  £752k 
(2013: £334k), the issue of 141,011 shares (2013: nil) at £1,100k (2013: £nil) purchase consideration for 
outstanding deferred consideration on subsidiaries. Additionally in the prior year 232,731 ordinary shares 
were issued as purchase consideration of £1,100k in business combinations. 

Transaction costs of £172k (2013: £nil) were accounted for as a deduction from equity during the period. 

68 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

23  Share premium account 

Opening balance 
Premium on shares issued 

              Group 
2014   
£’000 

12,895 
9,356 

              Company 

2013   
£’000 

10,502 
2,393 

2014   
£’000 

12,895 
9,356 

2013   
£’000 

10,502 
2,393 

Closing balance 

22,251 

12,895 

22,251 

12,895 

24 

Share option reserve 

             Group 
2014   
£’000 

Opening balance 
Fair value of share based  
payments cost (note 39) 
Options exercised in the period 
Effect of share option forfeits 
Income tax on share based payments 

3,341 

757 
(752) 
(69) 
3,350 

2013   
£’000 

2,673 

686 
(334) 
(145) 
461 

Closing balance 

6,627 

3,341 

              Company 

2014   
£’000 

3,341 

757 
(752) 
(69) 
3,350 

6,627 

2013   
£’000 

2,673 

686 
(334) 
(145) 
461 

3,341 

The share option reserve comprises the charge for unexercised share options granted to employees and 
includes  share  options  granted  in  consideration  for  the  acquisition  of  business  combinations  net  of 
deferred tax assets relating to the tax deduction receivable when the options are exercised. 

25  Fair Value reserve 

Opening balance 
Effect of corporation tax rate reduction on deferred tax liability 
Closing balance 

              Company 

2014 
£’000 
133 
5 
138 

2013 
£’000 
131 
2 
133 

The fair value reserve includes the cumulative net change in the fair value of available-for-sale financial 
assets until the investment is derecognised or impaired.  The amount is retained in the Company as the 
original  investment  was  included  at  fair  value  in  the  carrying  value  of  the  associate  when  significant 
influence was obtained. 

69 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

26  Revaluation reserve 

Opening balance 
Transfer to retained earnings on loss of interest in associate 
Effect of corporation tax rate reduction on deferred tax liability 
Closing balance 

       Group 

2014 
£’000 
167 
- 
- 
167 

2013 
£’000 
167 
(2) 
2 
167 

For the purposes of the Group, the revaluation of the available for sale asset prior to its reclassification 
as an associate has been transferred to the revaluation reserve. 

27    Currency translation adjustment reserve 

Opening balance 
Net (loss) / gain on net investment in foreign subsidiaries 
Net (loss) / gain on net investment in associate 
Net loss on hedge of net investment in foreign subsidiaries 
Net loss on hedge of investment in associate 

Closing balance 

            Group 
2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

981 
(3,237) 
(557) 
(240) 
13 

(3,040) 

290 
608 
297 
(97) 
(117) 

981 

The  translation  reserve  comprises  all  foreign  exchange  differences  arising  from  the  translation  of  the 
financial statements of foreign operations and intercompany loans that are determined to form part of the 
net investment, as well as from the translation of liabilities that hedge the  Group’s net investment in a 
foreign subsidiary. 

28  Loans and borrowings 

This note provides information about the contractual terms of the Group and Company’s interest-bearing 
loans and borrowings, which are measured at amortised cost.  For more information about the Group and 
Company’s  exposure  to  interest  rate,  foreign  currency  and  liquidity  risk  arising  from  these  loans  and 
borrowings see note 38. 

               Group 

             Company 

Current liabilities 
Secured bank loans 
Finance lease liabilities 

Non-current liabilities 
Secured bank loans 
Less: Capital arrangement fee 
Finance lease liabilities 

2013   
£’000 

5,762 
451 
6,213 

16,838 
(26) 
1,030 
17,842 

2014   
£’000 

4,649 
- 
4,649 

9,747 
(41) 
- 
9,706 

2013   
£’000 

5,762 
- 
5,762 

16,838 
(26) 
- 
16,812 

2014   
£’000 

4,649 
1,226 
5,875 

9,747 
(41) 
- 
9,706 

70 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

28  Loans and borrowings (continued) 

Terms and repayment schedule 

The Group had the following loan facilities with Bank of Ireland at the end of the year: 

£11,500,000 multi currency loan (Facility A) 
£9,000,000 multi currency loan (Facility B) 
£4,500,000 sterling overdraft (Bank Overdraft) 

The terms and conditions of outstanding loans were as follows: 

Currency 

Nominal 
interest rate 

Year of 
maturity 

Multi 
Multi 
GBP 
GBP 
EUR 

3.00%+LIBOR 
2.50%+LIBOR*  
2.00%+LIBOR  
2.50%+LIBOR  
4.375% 

2015 
2017 
- 
- 
2015 

28 February 2014 
Face 
value 
£000 

Carrying  
amount 
£000 

28 February 2013 
Carrying 
amount 
£000 

Face 
value 
£000 

4,529 
7,018 
- 
2,849 
1,226 
15,622 

4,488 
7,018 
- 
2,849 
1,226 
15,581 

11,376 
9,000 
2,224 
- 
1,481 
24,081 

11,350 
9,000 
2,224 
- 
1,481 
24,055 

Facility A 
Facility B 
Bank overdraft 
Bank overdraft 
Finance lease liabilities 
Total interest-bearing  

* The nominal interest rate varies as the Group meets financial targets and these have been assessed as 
being closely linked to the underlying contract with a minimum rate available of 2.0%+LIBOR. 

The  bank  loans  are  secured  over  property,  plant  and equipment including  assets  held  for  sale  with a 
carrying amount of £5,478k (2013: £11,096k).  All outstanding loans have interest charged at 2.5%, or  
3% (2013: 2%, 2.50% or 3%) above LIBOR. 

Finance lease liabilities 

Finance lease liabilities are payable as follows: 

Group 

Future 
minimum 
lease 
payments 
2014 

£’000 
1,249 

- 
1,249 

Interest 
2014 

Principal 
2014 

£’000 
23 

- 
23 

£’000 
1,226 

- 
1,226 

Future 
minimum 
lease 
payments 
2013 

£’000 
511 

1,054 
1,565 

Interest 
2013  

Principal 
2013  

£’000 
60 

24 
84 

£’000 
451 

1,030 
1,481 

Less than one year 
Between one and 
five years 

The finance leases are secured over the leased equipment. 

71 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

29  Trade and other payables 

Current liabilities 

Trade payables 
Other payables 
Accruals 
Deferred income including 
government grants 
Payables to subsidiaries 

Non-current liabilities 

              Group 

            Company 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

2,362 
2,537 
695 

3,191 
- 

8,785 

1,922 
1,990 
729 

3,864 
- 

8,505 

1,108 
2,122 
537 

1,524 
1,405 

6,696 

826 
1,614 
464 

1,887 
965 

5,756 

              Group 

            Company 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

Deferred income in respect of 
government grants 

2,087 

2,224 

820 

1,010 

The Group and Company’s exposure to currency and liquidity risk related to trade and other payables is 
disclosed in note 38. 

The Group has claimed three government grants to date as follows: 

  Grant  amounting  to  £7,110k  (2013:  £5,522k),  conditional  on  recruitment  of  additional  staff.    The 
grant is recognised as deferred income as additional staff are recruited and is being amortised over 
the period of the grant. 

  Grant  amounting  to  £468k  (2013:  £468k),  conditional  on  the  provision  of  staff  training.    It  is 

recognised as other income as training is provided.   

  Grant  amounting  to  £1,656k  (2013:  £1,656k),  conditional  upon  research  and  development 
expenditure.    This  is  recognised  as  deferred  income  as  expenditure  is  incurred  and  is  being 
amortised over the useful life of the generated intangible. 

72 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

30  Deferred taxation 

Group 
Deferred tax assets and liabilities are attributable to the following: 

Assets 

Liabilities 

Property, plant and equipment 
Share based payments 
Trading Losses 
Net fair value movement on 
available for sale assets 
Intangible assets 
Other 
Tax assets/(liabilities) before set-off 
Set off of tax 
Net tax assets/(liabilities) 

2014 
£000 

- 
3,628 
1,713 

- 
- 
570 
5,911 
(56) 
5,855 

2013 
£000 

- 
1,211 
323 

- 
- 
435 
1,969 
- 
1,969 

2014 
£000 

(2,942) 
- 
- 

(40) 
(1,082) 
- 
(4,064) 
56 
(4,008) 

2013 
£000 

(1,530) 
- 
- 

(40) 
(1,052) 
- 
(2,622) 
- 
(2,622) 

              Net 
2014 
£000 

(2,942) 
3,628 
1,713 

(40) 
(1,082) 
570 
1,847 
- 
1,847 

2013 
£000 

(1,530) 
1,211 
323 

(40) 
(1,052) 
435 
(653) 
- 
(653) 

  Movement in deferred tax balances differences during the year: 

Property, plant and 
equipment 
Share based payments 
Trading losses 
Net fair value movement on 
available for sale assets 
Intangible assets 
Other 

Balance at 
1 March 2012 
£000 
(1,633) 

Recognised in 
income 
£000 
103 

Recognised 
in equity 
£000 
- 

1,048 
302 

(42) 
(549) 
400 
(474) 

28 
21 

- 
(136) 
35 
51 

461 
- 

2 
(26) 
- 
437 

Recognised on 
acquisition 

£000 
- 

- 

- 
(341) 
- 
(341) 

Share options 
exercised 
£000 
- 

Balance at  
28 Feb 2013 
£000 
(1,530) 

Recognised in 
income 
£000 
(1,412) 

Recognised in 
equity 
£000 
- 

Share options 
exercised 
£000 

Balance at 
28 Feb 2014 
£000 
(2,942) 

- 

(326) 
- 

- 
- 
- 
(326) 

1,211 
323 

(40) 
(1,052) 
435 
(653) 

21 
719 

- 
(119) 
135 
(656) 

3,324 
671 

- 
89 
- 
4,084 

(928) 
- 

- 
- 
- 
(928) 

3,628 
1,713 

(40) 
(1,082) 
570 
1,847 

The basis by which taxation is calculated is stated in note 1.  There is no unprovided or unrecognised deferred tax balances. 

73 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

30  Deferred taxation (continued) 

Company 

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are attributable to the following: 
Assets 

Liabilities 

Net 

Property, plant and equipment 
Share based payments 
Net fair value movement on 
available for sale assets 
Trading losses 
Other 
Tax assets/(liabilities) before set off 
Set off of tax 
Net tax assets/(liabilities) 

2014 
£000 

- 
3,628 
- 

1,349 
41 
5,018 
- 
5,018 

2013 
£000 

- 
1,211 
- 

131 
37 
1,379 
- 
1,379 

2014 
£000 

(2,654) 
- 
(40) 

- 
- 
(2,694) 
- 
(2,694) 

2013 
£000 

(1,433) 
- 
(40) 

- 
- 
(1,473) 
- 
(1,473) 

2014 
£000 

(2,654) 
3,628 
(40) 

1,349 
41 
2,324 
- 
2,324 

2013 
£000 

(1,433) 
1,211 
(40) 

131 
37 
(94) 
- 
(94) 

  Movement in deferred tax balances during the year: 

Property, plant and equipment 
Share based payments 
Net fair value movement on 
available for sale assets 
Trading losses 
Other 

Balance at 
1 March 2012 

Recognised in 
profit and loss 

£000 
(1,497) 
1,048 
(42) 

- 
36 
(455) 

£000 
64 
28 
- 

131 
1 
224 

Recognised in 
equity 
£000 
- 
461 
2 

Share options 
exercised 
£000 
- 
`(326) 
- 

- 
- 
463 

- 
- 
(326) 

Balance at 
28 Feb 2013 
£000 
(1,433) 
1,211 
(40) 

131 
37 
(94) 

Recognised in 
profit and loss 

£000 
(1,221) 
21 
- 

547 
4 
(649) 

Recognised in 
equity 
£000 
- 
3,324 
- 

Share options 
exercised 
£000 
- 
(928) 
- 

671 
- 
3,995 

- 
- 
(928) 

Balance at  
28 Feb 2014 
£000 
(2,654) 
3,628 
(40) 

1,349 
41 
2,324 

The basis by which taxation is calculated is stated in note 1.  There is no unprovided or unrecognised deferred tax balances.  

74 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

31  Current tax payable 

           Group 
2014 
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

            Company 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

Current tax payable 

430 

649 

433 

336 

32  Employee benefits 

Accrued holiday pay 
Employee taxes 

              Group 

2014   
£’000 

824 
1,358 

2,182 

2013   
£’000 

775 
2,263 

3,038 

         Company 
2014   
£’000 

690 
1,207 

1,897 

2013   
£’000 

625 
2,151 

2,776 

33  Contingent deferred consideration 

Contingent deferred consideration liabilities are payable as follows: 

       Group 
2014 
£’000 

2013 
£’000 

    Company 
2014 
£’000 

2013 
£’000 

At 1 March 
Additions  
Increase/(decrease) in contingent deferred 
consideration 
Foreign exchange movement in contingent deferred 
consideration 
Settled in year – cash 
Settled in year – shares issued 
Settled in year – share option charge 
At 28 February 

762 
- 

14 

(1) 
(125) 
(650) 
- 
- 

890 
650 

(317) 

13 
(471) 
- 
(3) 
762 

758 
- 

- 

(1) 
(107) 
(650) 
- 
- 

259 
650 

- 

10 
(158) 
- 
(3) 
758 

75 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

33  Contingent deferred consideration (continued) 

The payment of contingent deferred consideration was paid in cash and shares.  As at 28 February 2014 
the maximum total amount payable under the terms of the sale and purchase agreements is £Nil (2013: 
£762k) and the minimum total amount payable is £Nil (2013: £112k).  

Less than one year 

       Group 
2014 
£’000 

2013 
£’000 

     Company 
2014 
£’000 

2013 
£’000 

- 

- 

762 

762 

- 

- 

758 

758 

The amount  of  contingent deferred  consideration  was  variable  dependent  on  the  future  performance  of 
the relevant subsidiary and was payable in either cash or shares. 

34  Deferred consideration 

Deferred consideration liabilities are payable as follows: 

At 1 March 
Additions in deferred consideration 
Settled in the year – shares issued 

       Group 
2014 
£’000 

2013 
£’000 

      Company 
2014 
£’000 

2013 
£’000 

450 
- 
(450) 

-  

- 
450 
- 

450 

450 
- 
(450) 

-  

- 
450 
- 

450 

76 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

35  Commitments 

There was no capital or other commitments at the current or prior year end. 

Non-cancellable operating lease rentals are payable as follows: 

Less than one year 
Between one and five years 
More than five years 

               Group 

             Company 

2014 
£’000 
453 
1,234 
884 

2,571 

2013 
£’000 
447 
1,376 
983 

2,806 

2014 
£’000 
140 
560 
560 

1,260 

2013 
£’000 
140 
560 
700 

1,400 

The Group leases four premises under operating lease arrangements. 

Group 
During  the  year  £535k  was  recognised  as  an  expense  in  the  income  statement  in  respect  of  operating 
leases (2013: £486k). 

Company 
During  the  year  £140k  was  recognised  as  an  expense  in  the  income  statement  in  respect  of  operating 
leases (2013: £140k). 

36  Pension contributions 

The  Group  makes  contributions  to  the  personal  pension  schemes  of  certain  employees.  The  pension 
charge  for  the  year  amounted  to  £1,219k  (2013:  £860k).    Contributions  amounting  to  £153k  (2013: 
£124k) were payable to the schemes at the year end and are included in creditors. 

37  Related parties transactions 

Parent and ultimate controlling party 
There is no one party who is the ultimate controlling party of the Group and Company. 

Group 
Key management personnel compensation 
The remuneration of the Directors and rights to subscribe for shares as set out in note 12 is deemed to be 
the remuneration of key management personnel.  

Key management personnel and Director transactions 
The Group is charged rent monthly for the use of apartments located in London owned by Brian Conlon.  
The charge  incurred  during  the  financial  year  amounted  to  £53k  (2013:  £53k).    Rent  deposits  of  £26k 
(2013: £26k) have been paid to the Brian Conlon in respect of these apartments.   The balance owed to 
Brian Conlon at 28 February 2014 is £Nil (2013: £Nil). 

77 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

37  Related parties transactions (continued) 

A 15 year lease was entered into for the rental of office space for the head office in Newry. The lessor is 
Oncon Properties, a partnership in which B Conlon is a partner. £140k (2013: £140k) rental charge was 
incurred in the year. The balance owed to Oncon at 28 February 2014 is £Nil (2013: £Nil) and an amount 
of £143k (2013: £nil) had been prepaid.  

During the year the company bought back 93,334 share options (2013: none) for cash consideration of 
£314k from two employees. 

Other related party transactions 

        Commission earned 

Associate 

Associate 

Company 

Other related party transactions 

Subsidiaries  
Associate 

2014 
£000 

- 

- 

2013 
£000 

20 

20 

Administrative expenses 
incurred from 
2013 
£000 

2014 
£000 

- 

- 

- 

- 

Receivables outstanding 
2013 
£000 

2014 
£000 

Payables outstanding 
2013 
£000 

2014 
£000 

316 

316 

148 

148 

- 

- 

- 

- 

Revenue 

2014 
£000 

2,822 
- 

Administrative expenses 
incurred from 
2013 
£000 

2014 
£000 

6,513 
- 

6,153 
- 

2013 
£000 

1,741 
98 

2,822 

 1,839 

6,513 

6,153 

78 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
               
               
               
               
 
 
               
               
               
               
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
               
               
               
               
 
 
               
               
               
               
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
               
               
               
               
 
 
               
               
               
               
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

37  Related parties transactions (continued) 

Subsidiaries 
Associates 

Receivables outstanding 

2014 
£000 

4,006 
316 

2013 
£000 

10,435 
148 

4,322 

10,583 

Payables outstanding 
2013 
£000 

2014 
£000 

1,405 
- 

1,405 

965 
- 

965 

The  above  associate  receivables  balances  outstanding  for  Group  and  Company  includes  a  trade 
receivable balance of £32k (2013: £43k) and a prepayment of £284k (2013: £105k). 

All outstanding trade receivable balances with the associate are on an arm’s length basis and are due to 
be settled in cash within six months of the reporting date. The balances are not secured.  The Group has 
a perpetual OEM agreement for the kdb+ software.   

During  the  year  development  costs  of  £710k  (2013:  £Nil)  were  recharged  from  a  subsidiary  to  the 
Company.  

Interest is charged on inter-company loans at market rates. 

During the year the company increased its investment in First Derivatives Ireland  Limited by £6,600k 
following  receipt  of  additional  ordinary  shares  in  exchange  for  settlement  of  a  receivable  from  the 
subsidiary of £6,600k. 

79 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                  
                 
                   
                   
 
 
               
               
               
               
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

38  Financial instruments 

Fair values 

(a)  Accounting classifications and fair values 

Group 
The  following  table  shows  the  carrying  amounts  and  fair  values  of  financial  assets  and  liabilities.  
The carrying amount of all financial assets and liabilities not measured at fair value is considered to 
be a reasonable approximation of fair value.   

28 February 2014 

Financial assets not measured at fair value 
Trade and other receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 

Financial liabilities not measured at fair value 
Secured bank loans 
Finance leases 
Trade, accruals and other payables 
Employee benefits 

28 February 2013 

Financial assets not measured at fair value 
Trade and other receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 

Financial liabilities measured at fair value 
(Level 2) 
Contingent deferred consideration* 

Financial liabilities not measured at fair value 
Secured bank loans 
Finance leases 
Trade, accruals and other payables 
Employee benefits 

Loans and 
receivables  
£’000 

Carrying value 

Liabilities at 
amortised cost 

£’000 

20,878 
4,393 
25,271 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 

(14,355) 
(1,226) 
(5,594) 
(2,182) 
(23,357) 

Loans and 
receivables  
£’000 

Carrying value 

Liabilities at 
amortised cost 

£’000 

19,703 
1,902 
21,605 

- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 

(762) 
(762) 

(22,574) 
(1,481) 
(4,641) 
(3,038) 
(31,284) 

Carrying 
amount  
£’000 

20,878 
4,393 
25,271 

(14,355) 
(1,226) 
(5,594) 
(2,182) 
(23,357) 

Carrying 
amount  
£’000 

19,703 
1,902 
21,605 

(762) 
(762) 

(22,574) 
(1,481) 
(4,641) 
(3,038) 
(31,284) 

*Contingent deferred consideration are level 2 fair values (see above). 

80 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

38  Financial instruments (continued) 

Company 
The  following  table  shows  the  carrying  amounts  and  fair  values  of  financial  assets  and  liabilities.  
The carrying amount of all financial assets and liabilities not measured at fair value is considered to 
be a reasonable approximation of fair value.   

28 February 2014 

Financial assets not measured at fair value 
Trade and other receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 

Financial liabilities not measured at fair value 
Secured bank loans 
Trade, accruals and other payables 
Employee benefits 

28 February 2013 

Financial assets not measured at fair value 
Trade and other receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 

Financial liabilities measured at fair value 
(Level 2) 
Contingent deferred consideration* 

Financial liabilities not measured at fair value 
Secured bank loans 
Trade, accruals and other payables 
Employee benefits 

Loans and 
receivables  
£’000 

Carrying value 

Liabilities at 
amortised cost 

£’000 

16,729 
3,607 
20,336 

- 
- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 

(14,355) 
(5,172) 
(1,897) 
(21,424) 

Loans and 
receivables  
£’000 

Carrying value 

Liabilities at 
amortised cost 

£’000 

19,321 
1,397 
20,718 

- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 

(758) 
(1,208) 

(22,574) 
(3,869) 
(2,776) 
(28,769) 

Carrying 
amount  
£’000 

16,729 
3,607 
20,336 

(14,355) 
(5,172) 
(1,897) 
(21,424) 

Carrying 
amount  
£’000 

19,321 
1,397 
20,718 

(758) 
(1,208) 

(22,574) 
(3,869) 
(2,776) 
(28,769) 

*Contingent deferred consideration are level 2 fair values (see above). 

81 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

38  Financial instruments (continued) 

(b)  Measurement of fair values 

Licence agreement  
The Group continues to hold a licence agreement with a customer for the provision of software services. 
Upon termination or expiry of the licence, the  Group  has contractual right to receive a termination fee 
based on 30% of enterprise value of the licensee. This is considered to be a level 3 fair value instrument. 
The  Group  and  the  licensee  both  have  the  option  to  terminate  the  agreement  after  an  initial  contract 
period  of  five  years.  Should  neither  party  exercise  the  option  to  terminate,  the  contract  automatically 
extends for further two year periods. At 28 February 2014, the termination fee was fair valued at £Nil as 
although  services  had  commenced,  the  early  stage  of  the  contract  would  indicate  no  value,  due  to 
subjectivity,  volatility  and  the  intention  is  to  continue  to  extend  the  contract  subsequent  to  the  initial 
contract  period.  No  fair  value  gain  or  loss  has  been  recognised  in  the  Consolidated  Statement  of 
Comprehensive Income during the period (2013: £Nil). 

Exposure to credit risk 
The  carrying  amount  of  financial  assets  represents  the  maximum  credit  exposure.    The  maximum 
exposure to credit risk at the reporting date was: 

Trade and other receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 

     Group 
Carrying amount 
2014 
£’000 

2013 
£’000 

     Company 
Carrying amount 
2014 
£’000 

2013 
£’000 

20,878 
4,393 
______ 

25,271 
______ 

19,703 
1,902 
______ 

21,605 
______ 

16,729 
3,607 
______ 

20,336 
______ 

19,321 
1,397 
______ 

20,718 
______ 

All financial assets which are subject to credit risk are held at amortised cost. 

The  maximum  exposure  to  credit  risk  for  trade  and  other  receivables  at  the  reporting  date  by 
geographical region was: 

Europe 
America 
United Kingdom 
Australasia 

     Group 

     Company 

2014 
£’000 

5,499 
8,422 
6,048 
909 

2013 
£’000 

4,585 
7,621 
4,934 
2,563 

2014 
£’000 

2,037 
8,538 
5,514 
640 

2013 
£’000 

8,054 
6,630 
3,906 
731 

20,878 

19,703 

16,729 

19,321 

82 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

38  Financial instruments (continued) 

Exposure to credit risk (continued) 
The  maximum  exposure  to  credit  risk  for  trade  and  other  receivables  at  the  reporting  date  by  type  of 
counterparty was: 

End-user customer 
Other 

     Group 

     Company 

2014 
£’000 

12,648 
8,230 

2013 
£’000 

14,948 
4,755 

2014 
£’000 

8,906 
7,823 

2013 
£’000 

7,585 
11,736 

20,878 

19,703 

16,729 

19,321 

The  Group’s  and  Company’s  most  significant  customer  is  an  investment  bank  which  accounts  for 
£1,707k  of  the  trade  and  other  receivables  carrying  amount  at  28  February  2014  (2013:  £2,103k).   No 
other customers had receivable balances in excess of 10% of the Group’s total balance at the year end.  In 
addition  £1,808k  (2013:  £650k)  is  receivable  from  Invest  Northern  Ireland  in  respect  of  grants 
receivable. 

Impairment losses 

The ageing of trade receivables at the reporting date was: 

Group 

Not past due 
Past due 0-30 days 
Past due 31-120 days 
Past due 120 days + 

Total 

Company 

Not past due 
Past due 0-30 days 
Past due 31-120 days 
Past due 120 days + 

Total 

Impairment 
2014 
£’000 

- 
- 
- 
2,088 

2,088 

Impairment 
2014 
£’000 

- 
- 
- 
576 

576 

Gross 
2013 
£’000 

7,628 
1,769 
1,023 
5,784 

16,204 

Gross 
2013 
£’000 

4,784 
1,256 
563 
1,149 

7,752 

Impairment 
2013 
£’000 

- 
- 
- 
1,532 

1,532 

Impairment 
2013 
£’000 

- 
- 
- 
211 

211 

Gross 
2014 
£’000 

6,699 
2,678 
2,909 
4,576 

16,862 

Gross 
2014 
£’000 

4,255 
1,643 
2,151 
1,433 

9,482 

83 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

38  Financial instruments (continued) 

Impairment losses (continued) 

The movement in the specific allowance for impairment in respect of trade receivables during the year 
was as follows: 

    Group 

     Company 

Balance at 1 March 
Impairment loss charged 
Foreign exchange impact 
Amounts written off 

Balance at 28 February 

2014 
£’000 
1,532 
761 
(205) 
- 

2,088 

2013 
£’000 
379 
1,334 
- 
(181) 

1,532 

2014 
£’000 
211 
365 
- 
- 

576 

2013 
£’000 
230 
128 
- 
(147) 

211 

A  review  of  debt  outstanding  led  to  the  increase  of  £761k  in  the  impairment  provision.    A  specific 
impairment loss was incurred during the prior year with regard to concerns over the recoverability of debt 
various customers mainly due to the economic circumstances of the customers. The Group and Company 
believe that the unimpaired amounts that are past due by more than 30 days are still collectible, based on 
historic payment behaviours.   

The above allowance for impairment for the Group includes a collective based provision of £Nil (2013: 
£nil).  The allowance for impairment for the Company is entirely specific. 

The Group and Company held cash and cash equivalents of £4,393k (2013: £1,902k) and £3,607k (2013: 
£1,397k) respectively at 28 February 2014 which represents their maximum exposure on the assets.  The 
cash and cash equivalents are held with bank and institutional counter parties which are rated AA- to AA+ 
based on credit agency ratings. 

84 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

38  Financial instruments (continued) 

Liquidity risk 

Group 
The following are contractual maturities of financial liabilities, including estimated interest payments. 

28 February 2014 

Secured bank loans  
Finance leases 
Trade and other payables 

28 February 2013 

Secured bank loans  
Finance leases 
Trade and other payables 
Deferred consideration 

Carrying 
amount 
£’000 
(14,355) 
(1,226) 
(5,594) 
(21,175) 

Contractual 
cash flows 
£’000 
(15,702) 
(1,249) 
(5,594) 
(22,545) 

Carrying 
amount 
£’000 
(22,574) 
(1,481) 
(4,641) 
(1,212) 
(29,908) 

Contractual 
cash flows 
£’000 
(24,113) 
(1,565) 
(4,641) 
(1,212) 
(31,531) 

6 mths 
or less 
£’000 
(4,038) 
(650) 
(5,594) 
(10,282) 

6 mths 
or less 
£’000 
(3,517) 
(205) 
(4,641) 
(562) 
(8,925) 

6-12 mths 

1-2 years 

£’000 
(1,212) 
(599) 
- 
(1,811) 

£’000 
(6,817) 
- 
- 
(6,817) 

2-5 years  More than 
5 years 
£’000 
- 
- 
- 
- 

£’000 
(3,635) 
- 
- 
(3,635) 

6-12 mths 

1-2 years 

£’000 
(2,978) 
(306) 
- 
(650) 
(3,934) 

£’000 
(4,042) 
(1,054) 
- 
- 
(5,096) 

2-5 years  More than 
5 years 
£’000 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

£’000 
(13,576) 
- 
- 
- 
(13,576) 

The above contracted cash flows include interest on secured bank loans the terms of which are set out in 
note 28. 

Company 

The following are contractual maturities of financial liabilities, including estimated interest payments. 

28 February 2014 

Secured bank loans  
Trade and other payables 

28 February 2013 

Secured bank loans  
Trade and other payables 
Deferred consideration 

Carrying 
amount 
£’000 
(14,355) 
(5,172) 
(19,527) 

Carrying 
amount 
£’000 
(22,574) 
(3,869) 
(1,208) 
(27,651) 

Contractual 
cash flows 
£’000 
(15,702) 

(5,172)   

(20,874) 

6 mths 
or less 
   £’000 

(4,038) 
(5,172) 
(9,210) 

Contractual 
cash flows 
£’000 
(24,113) 
(3,869) 
(1,208) 
(29,190) 

6 mths 
or less 
£’000 
(3,517) 
(3,869) 
(558) 
(7,944) 

6-12 mths 

1-2 years 

£’000 
(1,212) 
- 
(1,212) 

£’000 
(6,817) 
- 
(6,817) 

6-12 mths 

1-2 years 

£’000 
(2,978) 
- 
(650) 
(3,628) 

£’000 
(4,042) 
- 
- 
(4,042) 

2-5 years  More than 
5 years 
£’000 
- 
- 
- 

£’000 
(3,635) 
- 
(3,635) 

2-5 years  More than 
5 years 
£’000 
- 
- 
- 
- 

£’000 
(13,586) 
- 
- 
(13,576) 

The above contracted cash flows include interest on secured bank loans the terms of which are set out in 
note 28. 

It is not expected that the cash flows included in the maturity analysis could occur significantly earlier, or 
at significantly different amounts. 

85 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

38  Financial instruments (continued) 

Currency risk  

Group 
The Group’s exposure to currency risk was as follows: 

28 February 2014 
Euro 
£’000 
1,510 
- 
- 
1,510 

CAD 
£000’s 
164 
- 
- 
164 

USD 
£’000 
7,784 
- 
- 
7,784 

28 February 2013 

CAD 
£000’s 
697 
- 
- 
697 

Euro 
£’000 
938 
- 
- 
938 

USD 
£’000 
7,527 
- 
- 
7,527 

Trade receivables 
Secured bank loans 
Trade payables 
Gross balance sheet 
exposure 

The  secured  bank  loan  above  excludes  bank  loans  designated  in  a  net  investment  hedge  of  £5,139k 
(2013: £9,356k). 

Company 
The Company’s exposure to currency risk was as follows: 

28 February 2014 

28 February 2013 

CAD 
£000’s 
164 
- 
- 
164 

Euro 
£’000 
784 
- 
- 
784 

USD 
£’000 
3,869 
(5,139) 
- 
(1,270) 

CAD 
£000’s 
697 
- 
- 
697 

Euro 
£’000 
886 
- 
- 
886 

USD 
£’000 
3,209 
(9,356) 
- 
(6,147) 

Trade receivables 
Secured bank loans 
Trade payables 
Gross balance sheet 
exposure 

The following significant exchange rates applied during the year: 

USD 1 
EUR 1 
CAD 1 

Average rate 

2014 

1.57 
1.18 
1.64 

2013 

          1.57 
          1.23 
          1.57 

Reporting date 
spot rate 

2014 

1.67 
1.22 
1.86 

2013 

1.51 
1.15 
1.55 

Sensitivity analysis 
A  10%  strengthening  of  Sterling  against  the  above  currencies  at  the  end  of  the  period  would  decrease 
Group  equity  and  profit  or  loss  by  approximately  £1,427k    (2013:  £1,407k).    A  10%  weakening  of 
Sterling against the above currencies at the end of the period would increase  Group equity and profit or 
loss by approximately £1,427k (2013: £1,407k).  The movement on the net investment hedge would be 
offset by the movement in the net investment.  This analysis assumes that all other variables, in particular 
interest rates, remain constant. 

86 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

38  Financial instruments (continued) 

Sensitivity analysis (continued) 
A  10%  strengthening  of  Sterling  against  the  above  currencies  at  the  end  of  the  period  would  increase 
Company equity and profit or loss by approximately £80k (2013: £747k).  A 10% weakening of Sterling 
against the above currencies at the end of the period would decrease Company equity and profit or loss by 
approximately £80k (2013: £747k).  The movement on the net investment hedge would be offset by the 
movement in the net investment.  This analysis assumes that all other variables, in particular interest rates, 
remain constant. 

Interest rate risks 
At  the  reporting  date  the  interest  profile  of  the  Group’s  and  Company’s  interest  bearing  financial 
instruments was: 

Variable rate instruments 
-  Financial assets 
-  Financial liabilities 

Fixed rate instruments 
-  Financial assets 
-  Financial liabilities 

Group 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

Company 

2014   
£’000 

2013   
£’000 

4,393 
(14,396) 

(10,003) 

- 
(1,226) 

(1,226) 

1,902 
(22,600) 

(20,698) 

- 
(1,481) 

(1,481) 

3,607 
(14,396) 

(10,789) 

1,397 
(22,600) 

(21,203) 

- 
- 

- 

- 
- 

- 

A 10% reduction in interest rates at the end of the period would increase  Group equity and profit and 
loss  by  approximately  £81k  (2013:  £72k).    A  10%  increase  in  interest  rates  at  the  end  of  the  period 
would  decrease  Group  equity  and  profit  or  loss  by  approximately  £81k  (2013:  £72k).    This  analysis 
assumes that all other variables remain constant. 

39  Share based payments 

Options have been granted as set out below under the Group’s two equity-settled share option schemes 
which  are  open  to  all  Directors  and  employees  of  the  Group.    The  key  terms  of  all  options  issued  are 
consistent, with all options subject to the completion of one, two, three and four years of service as set by 
the  Group  prior  to  the  grant  of  the  option.    As  the  options  vest  at  annual  intervals  over  a  three  year 
period, they are deemed to consist of three separate options for valuation purposes.  Vested options are 
exercisable following the satisfaction of the service criteria for a period not exceeding 10 years from the 
date of grant.  It is noted that share options which pre-date the scope of IFRS 2 (Share Based Payment), 
are not accounted for under this standard.  

87 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

39  Share based payments (continued) 

Reconciliation of outstanding share options 
The number and weighted average exercise prices of share options have been analysed into three exercise 
price ranges as follows: 

Weighted 
average 
exercise 
price 
2014 

Number  
of options 

Weighted 
average 
exercise price 

Number  
of options 

2014 

2013 

2013 

1.35 
1.69 
1.25 
- 

1.37 
1.37 

1,026,167 
(60,000) 
(438,000) 
- 

528,167 
528,167 

1.32 
- 
1.27 
- 

1.35 
1.35 

1,482,667 
- 
(456,500) 
- 

1,026,167 
1,026,167 

Maximum  options  outstanding  at 
beginning of period 
Lapsed during the period 
Exercised during the period 
Granted during the period 
Maximum  options  outstanding  at 
end of period 
Exercisable at end of period 

The options outstanding at 28 February 2014 above have an exercise price in the range of £0.62 to £1.785 
(2013: £0.510 to £1.785) and a weighted average contractual life of 3.6 years (2013: 4.8 years). 

Weighted 
average 
exercise 
price 
2014 

Number  
of options 

Weighted 
average 
exercise price 

Number  
of options 

2014 

2013 

2013 

2.46 
2.27 
2.40 
- 

2.52 
2.52 

544,830 
(48,300) 
(174,362) 
- 

322,168 
322,168 

2.49 
2.67 
2.36 
- 

2.46 
2.51 

931,665 
(225,033) 
(161,802) 
- 

544,830 
445,387 

Maximum  options  outstanding  at 
beginning of period 
Lapsed during the period 
Exercised during the period 
Granted during the period 
Maximum  options  outstanding  at 
end of period 
Exercisable at end of period 

The options outstanding at 28 February 2014 above have an exercise price in the range of £2.27 to £2.735      
(2013: £2.270 to £2.735) and a weighted average contractual life of 4.8 years (2013: 6.0 years). 

88 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

39  Share based payments (continued) 

Weighted 
average 
exercise  
price 
2014 

4.50 
4.61 
4.30 
7.05 

5.48 
4.45 

Number  
of options 
2014 

2,264,600 
(66,667) 
(464,168) 
1,021,100 

2,754,865 
960,451 

Weighted 
average 
exercise  
price 
2013 

4.33 
4.55 
- 
4.74 

4.50 
4.30 

Number  
of options 
2013 

1,361,600 
(80,000) 
- 
983,000 

2,264,600 
560,533 

Maximum  options  outstanding  at 
beginning of period 
Lapsed during the period 
Exercised during the period 
Granted during the period 
Maximum  options  outstanding  at 
end of period 
Exercisable at end of period 

The options outstanding at 28 February 2014 above have an exercise price in the range of £4.15 to £8.47          
(2013: £4.150 to £5.05) and a weighted average contractual life of 7.8 years (2013: 7.7 years). 

The weighted average share price at the date of exercise for share options exercised for the year ending 
28 February 2014 was £8.99 per share (2013: £5.00). 

Measurement of fair values 
The fair value of services received in return for share options granted is based on the fair value of share 
options granted, measured using an adjusted Black Scholes model, with the following inputs: 

Grant of options during the year ended 28 February 2014 
Grant date 
Fair value at grant date 
Share price at grant date 
Exercise price 
Number of options 
Expected volatility (weighted average volatility) 
Option life (expected weighted average life) 
Expected dividends 
Risk-free interest rate (based on government bonds) 

17/04/13 
0.90 
5.65 
5.65 
245,100 
20% 
2.5 years 
0.1% 
3.0% 

Grant of options during the year ended 28 February 2013 
Grant date 
Fair value at grant date 
Share price at grant date 
Exercise price 
Number of options 
Expected volatility (weighted average volatility) 
Option life (expected weighted average life) 
Expected dividends 
Risk-free interest rate (based on government bonds) 

25/06/12 
0.81 
4.72 
4.72 
394,000 
20% 
2.5 years 
0.1% 
4.0% 

01/07/13 
0.91 
5.75 
5.75 
280,000 
20% 
2.5 years 
0.1% 
3.0% 

27/09/12 
0.91 
4.73 
4.73 
550,000 
20% 
3 years 
0.1% 
4.0% 

06/11/13 
1.65 
8.475 
8.475 
496,000 
20% 
3.5 years 
0.1% 
3.0% 

12/12/12 
0.86 
5.05 
5.05 
39,000 
20% 
2.5 years 
0.1% 
4.0% 

The adjustments made to the standard Black Scholes model are those required to reflect more clearly the 
Company’s experience relating to key assumptions. 

89 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Notes (continued) 

39  Share based payment (continued) 

Employee expenses – equity settled 

Expense relating to: 
Share options granted in 2010/11 – equity settled 
Share options granted in 2011/12 – equity settled 
Share options granted in 2012/13 – equity settled 
Share options granted in 2013/14 – equity settled 

Total expense recognised as employee benefit expense 

Capitalised expenses – equity settled 
Amounts relating to: 
Share options granted in 2011/12- equity settled 
Share options granted in 2012/13- equity settled 
Share options granted in 2013/14- equity settled 

Total amount recognised as software development cost 

Business combinations – equity settled 
Amount relating to: 
Share options granted in 2009/10 – equity settled 

2014 
£’000 

138 
107 
239 
183 

667 

42 
10 
38 

90 

- 

Total amount recognised in share based payment reserve 

757 

2013 
£’000 

273 
140 
163 
- 

576 

96 
11 
- 

107 

3 

686 

40  Contingent liabilities 

 Government grants 
A  portion  of  grants  may  become  repayable  should  the  conditions  of  offer  cease  to  be  met.    The 
repayment  of  the  employment  grant  is  contingent  on  the  maintenance  of  employment  levels  to  May 
2014, February 2016 and October 2016 in relation to the respective grants. 

90 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Registrars 
Neville Registrars Ltd. 
Neville House 
18 Laurel Lane 
Halesowen 
West Midlands 
B63 3DA 

Telephone: +44 121-585 1131  
Fax: +44 121 585 1132  

PR 
Walbrook Public Relations 
4 Lombard Street, 
 London 
EC3V 9HD 

Telephone:+44 (0)20 7933 8780 
Email: info@walbrookpr.com 
Website:  www.walbrookpr.com  

First Derivatives plc 

Corporate directory 

Nominated Adviser and Brokers 
Charles Stanley Securities 
131 Finsbury Pavement 
London 
EC2A 1NT 
United Kingdom   

Telephone:  +44 (0) 207 149 6000 
Fax: +44 (0) 207 149 6777 
Website: www.csysecurities.com 

ESM Adviser and Brokers 
Goodbody Stockbrokers 
Ballsbridge Park 
Ballsbridge 
Dublin 
Ireland 

Telephone: +353 1 614 0600  
Fax: +353 1 667 2111 
Email: support@goodbody.ie 
Website: www.goodbody.ie 

Solicitors 
Mills Selig 
21 Arthur Street  
Belfast 
BT1 4GA 
Northern Ireland  

Telephone: +44 28 9024 3878 
Fax: +44 28 9023 1956 
Email: info@nilaw.com 
Website: www.millselig.com 

Auditors 
KPMG 
Stokes House 
17-25 College Square East 
Belfast 
BT1 6DH 

Telephone: +44 (0)28 90243377 
Fax: +44 (0)28 90893893  
Website: www.kpmg.ie 

91 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Global directory 

UK & Ireland 
Head Office 
First Derivatives plc 
3 Canal Quay 
Newry 
Co. Down 
N.Ireland 
BT35 6BP 
Telephone: +44 28 3025 2242  
Fax: +44 28 3025 2060 

London  
Fifth Floor, 
100 Cannon Street, 
London, 
EC4N 6EU 
UK 

USA & Canada 
New York  
45 Broadway 
Suite 2040 
New York 
NY 10006 
USA 
Telephone: +1 888 290 3525 

Philadelphia  
1650 Arch Street 
Suite 2210 
Philadelphia 
PA 19103 
USA 

Belfast  
City Exchange 
11-13 Gloucester Street 
Belfast 
Co. Antrim 
N. Ireland 
BT1 4LS 

Dublin  
1st Floor 
Fleming Court 
Flemings Place 
Mespil Road 
Dublin 4 
Eire 

New Jersey  
14 Vervalen Street 
Closter 
NJ 07624 
USA 

Toronto  
First Canadian Place 
100 King Street West 
Suite 5600 
Toronto 
M5X 1C9 
Canada 

92 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First Derivatives plc 

Global directory 

Asia Pacific 
Sydney  
Suite 713 
1C Burdett Street 
Hornsby 
NSW 2076 
Australia 

Singapore 
Level 40  
Ocean Financial Centre 
10 Collyer Quay 
Singapore 
049315 

Tokyo 
Bankers Club Building 
1-3-1 Marunouchi 
Chiyoda-ku 
Tokyo 
100-0005 Japan 

Hong Kong 
Level 8 
Two Exchange Square 
8 Connaught Place 
Central 
Hong Kong 

93