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FY2010 Annual Report · iomart
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iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

Annual Report and Accounts 2010

We are deploying cloud services to our customers 
and using a range of virtualization technologies to 
deliver high availability services to organisations who 
expect 100% uptime.

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2010

Highlights

Financial
	 •	 Adjusted	EBITDA	of	£3.1m	(2009:	loss	of	£0.3m)

	 •	 Revenue	growth	of	55%	to	£18.3m	(2009:	£11.8m)

	 •	 Cashflow	from	operations	of	£3.9m	(2009:	£0.3m)

	 •	 Earnings	per	share	from	continuing	operations	of	2.12p		

(2009:	negative	earnings	per	share	of	1.95p)

	 •	 Dividend	up	33%	to	0.4p	per	share	(2009:	0.3p	per	share)

	 •	 Initial	acquisition	facility	of	£10m	provided	by	Lloyds		

	 Banking	Group	

Operational
	 •	 Robust	demand	in	internet	usage	and	cloud	computing		

	 ensuring	high	visibility	of	recurring	revenues

	 •	 Inflexion	point	reached	such	that	future	sales	will	contribute		
	 high	levels	of	profitability	-	iomart	Hosting	customer	base		
	 more	than	doubled	in	size	since	March	2009

	 •	 RapidSwitch	integrated	into	Group	and	operations		

	 completely	migrated	into	own	datacentre	in	Maidenhead

£3.1M 
EBITDA

55% 
Increase 
in Revenue

33% 
Increase 
in Dividend

£3.9M 
Cashflow
from Operations

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

	
	
	
	
	
	
	
“We needed a disaster recovery facility that 
could meet our requirements for continuity of 
service, accessibility, security, environmental 
considerations and best practice. iomart 
Hosting came out on top. Our aim is to ensure 
that our learners can access their learning 
around the clock when they need to. ”  

Fiona Benoist, Technology Services Manager 
for learndirect

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

Contents

Chairman’s statement 

Chief executive officer’s report 

Finance director's report 

Corporate governance 

Report of the board to the members on directors’ remuneration 

Directors' report 

Statement of directors' responsibilities 

Board of directors 

Independent auditor's report to the members of iomart Group plc 

Consolidated income statement 

Consolidated statement of comprehensive income 

Consolidated balance sheet 

Consolidated cash flow statement 

Consolidated statement of changes in equity 

Notes to the financial statements 

Holding company financial statements 

Notice of annual general meeting 

Officers and professional advisers 

1

3

4

6

9

11

15

17

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

27

56

64

69

www.iomart.com 

“When we met with iomart hosting they understood our world 
which is a great head start. We’re moving such a lot of digital 
media content around the world and we wanted our hosting 
partner to have a grasp of our business. We immediately felt 
that we could trust iomart Hosting.”

Ben Smith, Chief Technical Officer, ChilliBean

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

“the highlight of the year is our move into profitability after 
two years of investment whilst establishing our managed 
hosting operation.”

Ian Ritchie, Chairman

Once again I am delighted to report that iomart has enjoyed another very successful year. 
Focussing on our core strategic goal of becoming one of the UK’s leading managed hosting 
operators with owned datacentres has undoubtedly driven that success.

The  highlight  of  the  year  is  our  move  into  profitability  especially  in  the  face  of  particularly 
demanding economic conditions. This has been achieved following two years of investment 
in establishing our managed hosting operation. The move into profitability has been achieved 
by both continued organic growth and through the successful acquisition and integration of 
Rapidswitch during the year.  

We  remain  keen  to  grow  the  company  through  further  acquisitions  and  were  delighted  to 
secure a facility from our bank to finance future growth.

The success which has been achieved over the year is completely due to the dedication and 
commitment  of  the  senior  management  team  and  all  employees  of  the  Group.  On  behalf 
of the Board and all shareholders I am pleased to have this opportunity to acknowledge the 
contribution they have all made to our achievements this year.

I  indicated  in  my  statement  last  year,  when  I  advised  of  the  re-introduction  of  a  dividend 
payment,  that  your  Board  intended,  depending  on  the  underlying  profitability  and  cash 
generation  of  the  Group,  to  continue  to  pay  dividends  going  forward.  Due  to  our  success 
during the year we have already declared an interim dividend of 0.4p per share which was 
paid to shareholders on 1 April 2010. The Board intends to continue to reward shareholders 
with an increasing dividend stream as profitability and liquidity grows.

Each year since I became Chairman of the Group, I have been in the fortunate position of 
advising you, in my statement, of the excellent progress which we have made over the year 
under review. Likewise, each year, as I have considered our future prospects, I have advised 
you  of  the  confidence  we  have  felt  regarding  our  continued  success.  This  year  I  can  once 
again assure you that we are convinced that we will deliver another strong performance in 
the year to come.

Ian Ritchie
Chairman
1 June 2010

3

Chairman's Statement

“We are 
convinced that 
we will deliver 
another strong 
performance 
in the year to 
come.”

www.iomart.com 

4

Chief Executive Officer's Report

“We continue to deliver on the strategic goal of being 
the UK leader in the managed hosting market and I am 
delighted to report an excellent year of trading for the 
Group.”

Angus MacSween, Chief Executive Officer

Introduction
We continue to deliver on the strategic goal of becoming one of the UK’s leading managed 
hosting  Groups  and  I  am  delighted  to  report  an  excellent  year  of  trading  for  the  Group.  
Revenues have grown 55% to £18.3m and we have moved through the inflexion point from 
losses into profitability. Accordingly, the Group’s adjusted EBITDA* went from a loss of £0.3m 
in  2009  to  a  profit  of  £3.1m  in  2010.  In  addition  we  were  significantly  cash  generative 
producing cashflow from operations of £3.9m in the year.

The acquisition of our own datacentre capacity at the end of March 2007 exposed the Group 
to a planned period of losses as we absorbed the high level of fixed costs of the datacentres 
whilst taking up the challenge of growing revenues from a zero base. As a consequence we 
have recorded adjusted EBITDA losses in the past two years whilst making excellent progress 
in establishing our managed hosting operation. We have always retained a very strong belief 
that the ownership of our own datacentre capacity is an essential element in delivering on our 
strategic goal. This short period of loss making was necessary as we laid the foundations for 
a highly profitable managed hosting business.

A  feature  of  this  model  is  the  contracted  nature  of  the  services  provided  giving  excellent 
forward visibility of revenues and profits.

Easyspace,  which  services  the  micro  and  SME  market  through  its  website  has  continued  to 
provide the Group with strong levels of profits and cash generation and has helped underpin 
our ability to grow our managed hosting operation in the way we had planned.

The acquisition of Rapidswitch in May has helped accelerate our move into profitability. We 
are very happy with the performance of the business since acquisition and it has now been 
fully  integrated  into  our  Hosting  segment  enhancing  our  ability  to  provide  a  spectrum  of 
managed hosting services to any size of company.

We continue to look for opportunities to acquire companies that will enhance our position in 
the managed hosting market and we are pleased to announce an initial acquisition facility of 
£10m with our bank, Lloyds Banking Group. At a time when the lack of availability of debt 
finance is a constant topic of debate in the corporate world it shows the belief that the bank 
has in both our business model and our ability to continue to grow successfully.

Operational Review
Whilst all our activities involve the provision of managed hosting services we are organised 
into two segments.

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

“We are now 
more established, 
with more 
credibility and 
with a growing 
reputation for 
good service. We 
look forward to 
delivering another 
year of growth 
and enhanced 
profitability.”

5

Chief Executive Officer's Report

Hosting
Our Hosting segment provides managed hosting services to a wide range of SME and corporate customers. This includes the 
provision of complex hosting solutions to the corporate market through iomart Hosting; dedicated server hosting services to the SME 
market through Rapidswitch and cloud security services to the large corporate and education sector through Netintelligence.

iomart Hosting has been the driver of most of the organic growth. We have won over 300 new orders in the period almost half 
of which were from new customers and the balance were additional orders from existing customers. We are very pleased that our 
customers continue to show confidence in our provision of services in this way and we believe that additional orders from existing 
customers will form an important part of our future growth provided we maintain the level of service that we currently offer.

The introduction of our cloud product offerings during the year have been well received and has helped maintain our leading 
technological position in the marketplace. We have a highly experienced and innovative technology team, and we are currently 
testing or using all the flavours of virtualisation technologies to develop ‘private clouds’ for mission critical applications which we 
provide under our 100% uptime guarantee. Using our multiple datacentres we can provide an enviable level of resilience and 
backup/disaster recovery.

Rapidswitch has continued to grow revenues at a similar rate in absolute terms under the ownership of the Group as it did before 
being acquired. One of the major tasks in the period since acquisition was to move all servers from a rented datacentre facility 
to our own datacentre in Maidenhead. This major project was successfully achieved whilst continuing to deliver revenue growth 
and has resulted in the Group being free from any external datacentre rental costs going forward. We also continued with the fit 
out of the Maidenhead datacentre adding a further 3,500 square feet of new space during the year.

Netintelligence has focussed on the education market over the period. After a successful trial period at the start of the year, our 
“Software as a Service” internet security product was chosen by all of the suppliers to be part of the UK government’s Universal 
Home Access (UHA) laptop provision programme towards the end of the year. 

Our revenues in the Hosting segment have grown from £4.6m at the last year end to £11.0m for this year, an overall increase 
of £6.4m (139%) which has led to a substantial increase in profitability. 

Easyspace
Our  Easyspace  segment,  which  serves  the  micro  and  SME  market  with  a  range  of  products  including  domain  names,  shared 
hosting and dedicated and virtual servers has performed well. We have continued to drive operational efficiencies over the year 
as we seek to increase the profitability of Easyspace. Despite a competitive marketplace and an exposure to a strengthening US 
Dollar as a result of these efficiencies we have managed to improve the overall profitability of this segment.

Easyspace revenues for the year were £7.4m an increase of 2% over the previous year whilst the adjusted EBITDA profit margin 
has increased from 30% to 35%.

Current trading and outlook
We are now more established, with more recognition of our presence in the market and with a growing reputation for excellent 
service. We are also in a fragmented and fast growing market where more and more companies are looking to outsource their 
web facing infrastructure to a trusted supplier. We intend to be leaders in that market.

We are deploying leading edge cloud services to our customers and using a range of virtualisation technologies to deliver high 
availability services to organisations who expect 100% uptime.

We look forward to another exciting year of delivering significant growth and profitability. 

Angus MacSween, Chief Executive Officer. 1 June 2010

* Throughout the Chief Executive Officer, Finance Director and Directors' reports adjusted EBITDA for March 2010 is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation 
(EBITDA) before share based payment charges and gain on reduction of deferred consideration and for March 2009 is EBITDA before share based payment charges.

www.iomart.com 

6

Finance Director's Report

“With the net cash balance at the end of the year and the availability 
of the new bank facility we are very well funded to continue our 
growth through both organic and acquisitive means.”

Richard Logan, Finance Director

Trading results
Revenues for the year of £18.3m (2009: £11.8m) have grown by 55% with both of our operating 
segments having contributed to this growth. 

The Hosting segment grew revenues to £11.0m (2009: £4.6m) which is an increase of 139%. This, 
of course, includes the contribution from Rapidswitch which was acquired in May 2009. The growth 
in  the  Hosting  segment  revenues  over  the  previous  year  excluding  the  impact  of  Rapidswitch  was 
37%.

Easyspace grew revenues by 2% to £7.4m (2009: £7.2m) in challenging market conditions.

Our  gross  margin,  which  is  calculated  by  deducting  variable  cost  of  sales  such  as  domain  costs 
and sales commission and the relatively fixed costs of operating our datacentres from revenue, was 
£10.5m (2009: £6.1m). This substantial increase in gross margin was as a direct result of higher 
revenues in the Hosting segment.  In percentage terms the gross margin improved to 57% (2009: 
52%).  Despite  a  continued  exposure  to  a  stronger  US  Dollar,  Easyspace  has  maintained  its  gross 
margin  percentage  over  the  year  through  the  introduction  of  selective  price  increases.  Hosting 
continues to show an improved gross margin percentage as it generates additional sales revenues 
whilst its fixed costs of operation remain unchanged. The inclusion of Rapidswitch within the Hosting 
segment has also helped to improve the gross margin over the year in both absolute and percentage 
terms.

The Group’s adjusted EBITDA for the year of £3.1m (2009: adjusted EBITDA loss of £0.3m) showed 
a  very  significant  improvement  over  last  year.  Both  of  our  segments  have  helped  to  deliver  this 
expected improvement.

Our Hosting segment’s adjusted EBITDA was £2.8m (2009: adjusted EBITDA loss of £0.2m). This 
significant improvement is a direct result of the generation of sufficient sales revenues to cover the 
fixed cost base which was in place when our datacentre operations were established. New sales in 
the year have therefore contributed at a high margin level to the adjusted EBITDA for the period. 
We  have  also  continued  to  invest  in  our  Hosting  operation  through  increases  in  both  sales  and 
technical staff headcount and marketing expenditure thereby increasing overhead expenditure.  The 
Rapidswitch  operation  which  was  acquired  in  the  year  and  which  was  integrated  into  the  Hosting 
segment  during  the  year  also  contributed  significantly  to  the  improvement  in  adjusted  EBITDA 
performance.

Easyspace  improved  its  adjusted  EBITDA  to  £2.6m  (2009:  £2.2m)  and  most  encouragingly  in 
a  very  competitive  market  environment  also  achieved  a  substantial  improvement  in  its  adjusted 
EBITDA margin to 35% from 30%. This margin improvement has been achieved through operational 
efficiencies predominantly in the areas of staffing and marketing.

Group  overheads,  which  are  not  allocated  to  segments,  includes  the  cost  of  the  Board,  all  the 
running  costs of the premises in Glasgow, Group marketing, human resource, finance and design 
functions and legal and professional fees for the year of £2.2m has reduced from £2.3m in 2009. 

Depreciation charges of £1.8m (2009: £1.0m) have increased as we acquire equipment to provide 
hosting services to our customers and also as a result of the acquisition of Rapidswitch. The charge 
for  amortisation  of  intangibles  of  £0.5m  (2009:  £0.1m)  has  increased  as  a  consequence  of  the 
acquisition of Rapidswitch which has resulted in the recognition of additional intangible assets. The 

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

charge for share based payments in the year of £0.4m (2009: £0.2m) has increased as a result of 
the issue of additional share options.

As  a  consequence  of  the  reduction  in  the  amount  due  for  the  deferred  consideration,  details  of 
which are given in Note 20, on the acquisition of Ezee DSL Limited through which we acquired our 
datacentres an exceptional gain of £1.0m, offset by associated costs of £0.1m, has been credited 
to the Income Statement in the year.

Net finance income was nil (2009: £0.4m receipt) and has reduced from the level last year due to 
the reduction in cash balances, the reduction in interest rates and the use of finance leases to fund 
the acquisition of equipment for customers.

As a result the profit for the year before tax was £1.3m (2009: loss of £1.2m). 

The taxation credit for the year of £0.8m (2009: taxation charge of £0.7m) relates to the recognition 
of a deferred tax asset in respect of accumulated tax losses which the Group now expects to use up 
quicker than previously expected.

The profit for the year from continuing operations after taxation was £2.1m (2009: loss of £1.9m).

Earnings per share
Basic earnings per share from continuing operations was 2.12p (2009: negative earnings per share 
of 1.95p).

Acquisition 
In May 2009 the company acquired Rapidswitch Limited for a total consideration of £5.5m, including 
£0.2m of costs related to the acquisition. Full details of this acquisition are given in note 10.

Cash flow and net cash
The  Group  enjoyed  strong  operating  cash  generation  over  the  year  resulting  in  a  cash  flow  from 
continuing operations of £3.9m (2009: £0.3m). The improvement over the prior year was a direct 
consequence of the improved adjusted EBITDA recorded in the year. After deducting a tax payment 
of  £0.2m  relating  to  the  operations  of  Rapidswitch  the  net  cashflow  from  operating  activities  was 
£3.7m (2009: £0.8m).

Over the year, in total, the Group spent £11.0m (2009: £13.0m receipt) in investing activities. The 
biggest single element of this was the acquisition of Rapidswitch which cost £5.5m, including related 
costs.  In  addition,  £2.9m  was  spent  in  the  part  settlement  of  the  deferred  consideration,  together 
with  related  costs,  due  on  the  acquisition  of  Ezee  DSL  Limited.  We  also  invested  £2.3m  (2009: 
£1.5m), net of related finance lease drawdown, in the purchase of property plant and equipment 
primarily in acquiring the equipment to provide services to our Hosting customers and also in the fit 
out of additional datacentre space. Expenditure was incurred on development costs £0.3m (2009: 
£0.2m), purchase of intangible software assets £0.1m (2009: nil). There were two items related to 
the acquisition of Rapidswitch including the repayment of borrowings of £0.2m and the cash balance 
acquired of £0.2m. Finally, we received £0.2m of interest on our deposits over the year.

Our  financing  activities  absorbed  £0.9m  of  cash  (2009:  £1.3m).  This  included  sums  spent  on 
repayment of borrowings and finance leases and dividends.

As a consequence, our overall cash expenditure over the year was £8.2m (2009: £13.2m receipt) 
which  resulted  in  cash  and  cash  equivalent  balances  at  the  end  of  the  year  of  £5.7m  (2009: 
£13.9m). After recognising finance lease obligations of £1.3m (2009: £0.2m) net cash at the end 
of the period was £4.4m (2009: £13.7m).

Subsequent to the year-end we have secured a £10m facility with our bankers for the purposes of 
funding acquisitions and capital expenditure.

7

Finance Director's Report

www.iomart.com 

8

Finance Director's Report

Financial position
Having generated a cash flow from operations of £3.9m we are now generating significant amounts 
of operating cash which will be available to fund the continuing need to invest in capital expenditure 
for the equipment required to provide services for new managed hosting customers. With the net cash 
balance at the end of the year and the availability of the new bank facility we are very well funded 
to continue our growth through both organic and acquisitive means.

Principal risks and uncertainties
Section  417(3)  of  the  Companies  Act  2006  provides  that  the  business  review  must  contain  a 
description of the principal risks and uncertainties.

The board has established a formal process to identify risks and uncertainties through the production 
and  maintenance  of  a  risk  register.  There  are  a  number  of  potential  risks  and  uncertainties  which 
have been identified as a result of this process which could have a material impact on the Group’s 
future  performance.  These  are  not  all  the  risks  which  the  board  has  identified  but  those  that  the 
Directors  currently  consider  to  be  the  most  material.  In  addition  to  these  risks  Note  27  contains 
details of financial risks.

Staff
As  with  any  service  organisation  iomart  is  dependent  on  the  skill,  experience  and  commitment  of 
its  employees  and  especially  a  relatively  small  number  of  senior  staff.  The  Group  seeks  to  recruit 
and  retain  suitably  skilled  and  experienced  staff  by  offering  a  challenging  and  rewarding  work 
environment. This includes competitive and innovative reward packages and a strong commitment 
to training and development.

Datacentre operation
Any downtime experienced at our datacentres would immediately have an impact on our ability to 
provide  customers  with  the  level  of  service  they  demand.  Our  ongoing  investment  in  preventative 
maintenance  and  lifecycle  replacement  programme  ensures  our  datacentres  continue  to  deliver 
operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Customers
The  Group  provides  an  essential  service  to  an  extensive  client  base  many  of  whom  rely  on  the 
provision  of  that  service  for  their  major  internet  presence.  Any  diminution  in  the  level  of  service 
could have serious consequences for customer acquisition and retention. Our high level of recurring 
revenue  and  our  low  level  of  customer  attrition  are  evidence  of  our  ability  to  provide  the  level  of 
service required.

Key suppliers
The  Group  is  dependent  on  certain  key  suppliers  for  the  continued  operation  of  its  business.  The 
most significant of which are those for electricity, bandwidth and servers. In all cases these supplies 
are obtained from reputable organisations chosen after a thorough selection process. After selection, 
the Group actively seeks to maintain good relationships with the chosen suppliers. The Group also 
seeks to maintain either several sources of supply or in the case of electricity alternative sources of 
power.

Search engine optimisation
A significant amount of the Group’s sales revenues are generated through consumers using internet 
search  engines  to  acquire  goods  and  services.  The  Group  continually  monitors  the  position  of  its 
websites with respect to these search engines. Through the engagement of expert consultants and the 
allocation of experienced staff the Group seeks to maintain or enhance the position of its websites 
for detection by internet search engines.

Richard Logan
Finance Director
1 June 2010

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

9

Corporate Governance

As  the  company  is  listed  on  the  Alternative  Investment 
Market  it  is  not  required  to  comply  with  the  provisions  of 
the Combined Code. However, the board is committed to 
ensuring  that  proper  standards  of  corporate  governance 
operate  and  has  established  governance  procedures  and 
policies that are considered appropriate to the nature and 
size of the Group. Your board considers that at this stage in 
the Group’s development, the expense of full compliance 
with the Combined Code and with the further provisions of 
the Revised Combined Code is not appropriate.

Directors and the board
The  board  directs  the  Group's  activities  in  an  effective 
manner  through  regular  monthly  board  meetings  and 
timely  and  relevant 
through 
monitors  performance 
reporting  procedures.  Where  it  deems  it  necessary  the 
board requests reports on specific areas outwith the normal 
reporting regime.  All directors have access to advice from 
the  company  secretary  and  independent  professionals  at 
the company’s expense. Training is available for new and 
other directors as necessary.

The board at present comprises three executive and three 
non-executive directors. The size of the board is considered 
to be appropriate to the current size and character of the 
Group.    The  non-executive  directors  are  independent 
of  management  and  any  business  or  other  relationships 
which could interfere with the exercise of their independent 
judgement. The roles of chairman and chief executive are 
separate appointments and it is board policy that this will 
continue. 

The  board  has  established  three  committees,  the  audit 
committee, the remuneration committee and the nominations 
committee. Membership of both the audit committee and 
the  remuneration  committee  is  exclusively  non-executive 
while membership of the nominations committee comprises 
the  chairman,  two  non-executive  directors  and  the  chief 
executive officer. Ian Ritchie is chairman of the nominations 
committee,  Fred  Shedden  of  the  remuneration  committee 
and Chris Batterham of the audit committee.

Under  the  company’s  articles  of  association,  the  nearest 
number to one third of the board shall retire each year by 
rotation.

Accountability and audit
The  board  considers  that  the  annual  report  presents  a 
balanced  and  understandable  assessment  of  the  Group’s 
performance and prospects.

The audit committee has written terms of reference setting 
out its authority and duties and has meetings, at which the 
executive  directors  also  have  the  right  to  attend,  at  least 
three times a year with the external auditors.

The  audit  committee  reviews  the  independence  and 
objectivity of the external auditors. The committee reviews 
the nature and amount of the non-audit work undertaken 
by  the  auditors  to  satisfy  itself  that  there  is  no  effect  on 
their independence. The committee is satisfied that Grant 
Thornton UK LLP are independent. 

Risk management
The  board  established  a  risk  register  in  2006  which  is 
formally reviewed during each calendar year.

Going concern
On  the  basis  of  a  review  of  facilities  available  to  the 
Group  together  with  a  review  of  forecasts,  the  directors 
have  a  reasonable  expectation  that  the  Group  has 
adequate  resources  to  continue  in  operational  existence 
for the foreseeable future. For this reason they continue to 
adopt  the  going  concern  basis  in  preparing  the  financial 
statements.

Internal financial control
The Group has established policies covering the key areas 
of internal financial control and the appropriate procedures, 
controls, authority levels and reporting requirements which 
must be applied throughout the Group. The key procedures 
that have been established in respect of internal financial 
control are as follows:

A separate report on directors’ remuneration is set out on 
pages 11 to 14, this to be approved by the shareholders 
at the annual general meeting.

•	 Financial	reporting:		there	is	in	place	a	comprehensive		

system of financial reporting based on the annual 
  budget which the board approves.  The results for the 

www.iomart.com 

 
 
10

Corporate Governance

  Group as a whole and each business segment are 

reported  monthly,  along  with  an  analysis  of  key   
variances.  Year-end  forecasts  are  updated  on  a   
regular basis.

•	 Investment	 appraisal:	 	 applications	 for	 capital	 	

expenditure  are  made  in  a  prescribed  format  which  
  places  emphasis  on  the  commercial  and  strategic  as  
  well as the financial justification. All significant projects  

require specific board approval.  

No system can provide absolute assurance against material 
misstatement or loss but the Group's systems are designed 
to  provide  reasonable  assurance  as  to  the  reliability  of 
financial information, ensuring proper control over income 
and expenditure, assets and liabilities.

Relations with shareholders
The  company  values  the  views  of  its  shareholders 
and  recognises  their  interest  in  the  Group’s  strategy 
and  performance,  board  membership  and  quality  of 
management.

The  annual  general  meeting  is  used  to  communicate 
with  all  shareholder  and  investor  groups,  and  they  are 
encouraged  to  participate.  The  chairmen  of  the  audit, 
remuneration  and  nominations  committees  are  available 
to answer questions. Separate resolutions are proposed on 
each issue so that they can be given proper consideration 
and there are resolutions to receive the annual report and 
accounts  and  the  report  on  directors’  remuneration.  The 
company counts all proxy votes and will indicate the level 
of  proxies  lodged  on  each  resolution,  after  it  has  been 
dealt with by a show of hands.

The  company  uses  its  website,  www.iomart.com,  as  a 
means of providing information to shareholders and other 
related parties. The company’s annual report and accounts, 
interim  reports  and  other  relevant  announcements  are 
maintained on the website.  

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
Report of the board to the members on directors' 
remuneration

11

•	

Pensions

Pension  contributions  to  individuals’  personal  pension 
arrangements are payable by the Group at the rate of twice 
the contribution made by the director subject to a maximum 
employer contribution of 10% of basic salary.

•	

Share	options

Executive  directors  are  entitled  to participate  in share  option 
schemes.

•	

Joint	Share	Ownership	Plan

During  the  year  the  Company  established  a  Joint  Share 
Ownership Plan (JSOP) to provide additional incentives to
executive directors.

•	 Other	benefits

The  executive  directors  are  entitled  to  life  insurance  cover 
and  to  participate  in  the  Group’s  Private  Medical  Insurance 
scheme.

All the executive directors are engaged under service contracts 
which require a notice period of 6 or 12 months. 

Remuneration of non-executive directors
The  fees  paid  to  the  non-executive  directors  are  determined 
by  the  board.  They  are  not  entitled  to  receive  any  bonus  or 
other benefits.

Non-executive  directors’  letters  of  appointment  are  on  a  6 
month rolling basis.

The  remuneration  committee  has  given  consideration  to  the 
Combined Code issued by the Financial Services Authority in 
framing  its  remuneration  policy.  As  the  company  is  listed  on 
the Alternative Investment Market, it is not required to comply 
with  the  provisions  of  Section  412  of  the  Companies  Act 
2006. The following disclosures are voluntary as is resolution 
2 to approve this report at the annual general meeting.

Remuneration committee
The  remuneration  committee  determines,  on  behalf  of  the 
board,  the  Group’s  policy  for  executive  remuneration  and 
the individual remuneration packages for executive directors. 
In setting the Group’s remuneration policy, the remuneration 
committee  considers  a  number  of  factors,  including  the 
following:

•	 salaries	and	benefits	available	to	executive	directors	

of comparable companies;

•	

the	need	to	attract	and	retain	executives	of	an	
appropriate calibre; and

•	
the	continued	commitment	of	executives	to	the	
  Group’s success through appropriate incentive 

schemes.

The committee meets at least twice a year.

Remuneration of executive directors
The remuneration packages of the executive directors comprise 
the following elements:

•	

Base	salary

The  remuneration  committee  sets  base  salaries  to  reflect 
responsibilities and the skill, knowledge and experience of the 
individual.    The  executive  directors  do  not  receive  directors’ 
fees.

•	

Bonus	scheme

The  executive  directors  are  eligible  to  receive  a  bonus  on 
top of their basic salary dependent on individual and Group 
performance at the discretion of the remuneration committee.  
Performance  conditions  are  set  individually  for  each  director 
to ensure they are relevant and stretching. 

www.iomart.com 

	
 
 
	
 
 
	
 
 
 
 
12

Report of the board to the members on directors' remuneration

Directors’ remuneration
Details of individual directors’ emoluments for the year are as follows:

Name of director 

Angus MacSween 
Chris Batterham 
Sarah Haran 
Richard Logan 
Ian Ritchie 
Fred Shedden 

Salary or fees 
£ 
159,490 
30,000 
116,850 
116,850 
50,000 
30,000 

Bonus 
£ 
150,000 
- 
105,000 
93,500 
- 
- 

Benefits 
£ 
1,557 
- 
412 
1,409 
- 
- 

Pension 
contributions 
£ 
15,949 
- 
11,685 
11,685 
- 
- 

Year 
ended 

Year
ended
31 March  31 March
2009
Total
£
321,717
30,000
219,812
232,809
50,000
30,000

2010 
Total 
£ 
326,996 
30,000 
233,947 
223,444 
50,000 
30,000 

503,190 

348,500 

3,378 

39,319 

894,387 

884,338     

Directors’ interests in shares
The interests of the directors in the shares of the company at 31 March 2010, together with their interests at 1 April 2009 were as 
follows:

Name of director 
Angus MacSween 
Chris Batterham  
Sarah Haran 
Richard Logan 
Ian Ritchie 
Fred Shedden 

                    Number of ordinary shares

31 March 2010 

 At 1 April 2009 

19,686,304 
90,621 
1,224,944 
135,500 
151,400 
764,588 

19,686,304
45,621
745,704
135,500
107,000
744,588

The shareholdings for Angus MacSween, Sarah Haran and Richard Logan exclude shares held under the Company’s Joint Share 
Ownership Plan (JSOP) which was established during the year, to replace certain share option arrangements, in which the directors are 
beneficial co-owners of shares. Details of such shareholdings are given overleaf.

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Report of the board to the members on directors' remuneration

13

Directors’ interests in shareholdings of Joint Share Ownership Plan
The interests of the directors in the JSOP shares are as follows:-

Name of director 

Angus MacSween 

Sarah Haran 

Richard Logan 

Market  
Award  price at date   Participation 
price 

of award 

date 

Vesting date 

  Number of 
shares 

Date
from which
exerciseable 

Expiry date

31/03/2010 
31/03/2010 
31/03/2010 
31/03/2010 

31/03/2010 
31/03/2010 
31/03/2010 
31/03/2010 
31/03/2010 

31/03/2010 
31/03/2010 
31/03/2010 
31/03/2010 

49.5p 
49.5p 
49.5p 
49.5p 

49.5p 
49.5p 
49.5p 
49.5p 
49.5p 

49.5p 
49.5p 
49.5p 
49.5p 

49.5p 
78.5p 
49.5p 
49.5p 

Already vested 
Already vested 
31/03/2011 
31/03/2012 

356,990 
322,612 
350,000 
450,000 

31/03/2010  06/10/2018
31/03/2010  17/11/2014
31/03/2011  06/10/2018
31/03/2012  06/10/2018

  1,479,602 

50.5p 
78.5p 
49.5p 
49.5p 
49.5p 

Already vested 
Already vested 
Already vested 
31/03/2011 
31/03/2012 

414,018 
177,867 
357,087 
350,000 
450,000 

31/03/2010  27/09/2017
31/03/2010  17/11/2014
31/03/2010  06/10/2018
31/03/2011  06/10/2018
31/03/2012  06/10/2018

  1,748,972

49.5p 
50.5p 
49.5p 
49.5p 

Already vested 
Already vested 
31/03/2011 
31/03/2012 

221,505 
500,000 
350,000 
450,000 

31/03/2010  06/10/2018
31/03/2010  27/09/2017
31/03/2011  06/10/2018
31/03/2012  06/10/2018

  1,521,505

The JSOP shares are held jointly between the director and the iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust. Under the terms of the JSOP 
rules the directors are eligible to receive the excess of any disposal proceeds received for the JSOP shares over the participation price. 
The participation price is subject to a 3% per annum escalation until the JSOP shares are sold. The JSOP shares do not carry dividend 
or voting rights whilst they are jointly held by the director and the iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust. The JSOP shares which vest 
for Angus MacSween, Sarah Haran and Richard Logan at 31 March 2011 and 2012 are subject to continuous employment criteria.

Under the rules of the scheme should the market price of a vested JSOP share exceed the participation price the director has the 
option to convert the value of any such excess into a number of wholly owned shares within the JSOP. If a director exercises this right 
then the wholly owned shares subsequently held within the JSOP by the director shall be eligible for both dividend and voting rights.

www.iomart.com 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
14

Report of the board to the members on directors' remuneration

Directors’ interests in share options
The interests of the directors at 31 March 2010 in options over the ordinary shares of the company were as follows:

Name of  
director 

At 
1 April 

2009  Exercised  Surrendered  Lapsed 

At 
  31 March  Exercise 
price 

2010 

Date of 

Date from
which 
Grant  exerciseable 

Expiry
date

Angus MacSween  450,000 
12,302 
150,000 
250,000 
350,000 
450,000 

1,662,302 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 

(322,612) 

-  (12,302) 
- 
- 
- 
- 

-  127,388 
- 
43,010 
- 
- 
- 

(106,990) 
(250,000) 
(350,000) 
(450,000) 

78.5p  17/11/2004 
76.0p  01/03/2006 
46.5p  06/10/2008 
46.5p  06/10/2008 
46.5p  06/10/2008 
46.5p  06/10/2008 

17/11/2007  17/11/2014
01/03/2009  01/09/2009
31/03/2009  06/10/2018
31/03/2010  06/10/2018
31/03/2011  06/10/2018
31/03/2012  06/10/2018

(1,479,602)  (12,302)  170,398 

Sarah Haran 

159,746 
159,747 
159,747 
250,000 
4,921 
500,000 
150,000 
250,000 
350,000 
450,000 

(159,746) 
(159,747) 
(159,747) 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
(177,867) 
- 
(414,018) 
(107,087) 
(250,000) 
(350,000) 
(450,000) 

- 
- 
- 
- 
(4,921) 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
72,133 
- 
85,982 
42,913 
- 
- 
- 

5.0p  11/05/2000 
5.0p  11/02/2001 
5.0p  11/02/2002 
78.5p  17/11/2004 
76.0p  01/03/2006 
50.5p  27/09/2007 
46.5p  06/10/2008 
46.5p  06/10/2008 
46.5p  06/10/2008 
46.5p  06/10/2008 

11/05/2000  29/03/2010
11/02/2001  29/03/2010
11/02/2002  29/03/2010
17/11/2007  17/11/2014
01/03/2009  01/09/2009
27/09/2010  27/09/2017
31/03/2009  06/10/2018
31/03/2010  06/10/2018
31/03/2011  06/10/2018
31/03/2012  06/10/2018

2,434,161 

(479,240) 

(1,748,972) 

(4,921)  201,028 

Richard Logan 

50,000 
500,000 
150,000 
250,000 
350,000 
450,000 

1,750,000 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 

- 
(500,000) 
- 
(221,505) 
(350,000) 
(450,000) 

50,000 
- 
- 
- 
-  150,000 
28,495 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

74.0p  24/08/2006 
50.5p  27/09/2007 
46.5p  06/10/2008 
46.5p  06/10/2008 
46.5p  06/10/2008 
46.5p  06/10/2008 

24/08/2009  24/08/2016
27/09/2010  27/09/2017
31/03/2009  06/10/2018
31/03/2010  06/10/2018
31/03/2011  06/10/2018
31/03/2012  06/10/2018

(1,521,505) 

-  228,495 

On 19 June 2009, Sarah Haran exercised 479,240 share options under the Company’s Unapproved Share Option Scheme at an 
exercise price of 5.0p. The market price on the date of exercise was 32.0p resulting in a gain on exercise of £129,395. No share 
options were exercised by directors in the previous year and no new share options were granted to directors during the year. There 
have been no variations to the terms and conditions or performance criteria for share options during the year.

The market price of the company’s shares at the end of the financial period was 49.5p and the range of prices during the period was 
between 31.0p and 52.5p.

By order of the board

Fred Shedden, Chairman, Remuneration committee
1 June 2010

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Directors' Report

The directors present their annual report on the affairs of the 
Group,  together  with  the  financial  statements  and  auditors’ 
report, for the year ended 31 March 2010.

Principal activity
The  principal  activity  of  the  Group  is  the  provision  of 
webhosting and managed hosting services through a network 
of owned data centres.  

Business review
The chairman’s statement, chief executive officer’s and finance 
director’s reports contain a review of trading.

The Group is focused on building a managed hosting business 
using its own carrier neutral datacentre capacity to allow the 
full  set  of  vertical  components  from  domain  names  through 
space, power and bandwidth to complex application hosting. 
The principal risks and uncertainties faced by the business are 
described in the Finance Director’s Report.

Key performance indicator review

Revenue 

2010 
55% increase 

2009
45% increase

Revenue  from  continuing  operations  grew  by  55%  over  the 
year compared to a growth of 45% in the previous year. The 
Hosting segment grew revenues by 139% (2009: 155%) and 
the Easyspace segment by 2% (2009: 14%).

Adjusted EBITDA margin  

2010 
17% 

2009
-3%

The  adjusted  EBITDA  margin  has  shown  a  substantial 
improvement  as  a  result  of  the  Hosting  segment  both 
continuing to win new business and the inclusion of Rapidswitch 
which  was  acquired  during  the  year.  Easyspace  has  also 
contributed  to  the  adjusted  EBITDA  margin  improvement 
through operational efficiencies.

15

Financial instruments
The  Group’s  financial  instruments  comprise  cash  and  liquid 
resources and finance leases together with various items such 
as trade debtors and trade creditors that arise directly from its 
operations.  The main purpose of these financial instruments 
is  to  provide  finance  for  the  Group’s  operations.    The  main 
risk to the Group is interest rate risk arising from floating rate 
interest  rates.  The  Group’s  borrowings  at  31  March  2010 
comprise finance leases totalling £1.3m (2009: £0.2m).  The 
interest rates on the finance leases are fixed for the term of the 
lease at between 5.0% and 12.2%.  The Group has exposure 
to movements in the exchange rate of the US dollar as certain 
domain  name  purchases  are  transacted  in  this  currency.  To 
protect  cash  flows  against  the  level  of  exchange  rate  risk, 
the Group entered into forward exchange contracts to hedge 
foreign exchange exposures arising on the forecast payments. 
The majority of transactions of the holding company and the 
UK subsidiaries are in UK sterling and, with the exception of 
forward foreign exchange contracts, the Group does not use 
derivative  instruments.    Additional  information  on  financial 
instruments is included in Note 27.

Dividend
The  directors  declared  an  interim  dividend  on  22  February 
2010, for the year ended 31 March 2010, of 0.4p per share 
(2009: nil) which was paid on 1 April 2010. The directors do 
not recommend a final dividend for the year ended 31 March 
2010 (2009: 0.3p).  

Directors and their interests
The present membership of the board is set out on page 19. 
In accordance with the company’s Articles of Association, Ian 
Ritchie and Fred Shedden will offer themselves for re-election 
at the forthcoming annual general meeting.  

Details of directors’ interests in the company’s shares are set 
out  in  the  report  of  the  board  to  the  members  on  directors’ 
remuneration on pages 11 to 14. 

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
16

Directors' Report

Substantial shareholdings
At 18 May 2010 the following interests in 3% or more of the 
issued  ordinary  share  capital,  excluding  shares  held  by  the 
iomart  Group  plc  Employee  Benefit  Trust,  had  been  notified 
to the company: 

Shareholder 

Shares 

Percentage held

Gartmore 
Investment Limited 

27,401,453  

Angus MacSween  

19,686,304  

28.02%

20.13%

Majedie Asset 
Management 

Legal & General 
Investment 
Management 

Universities 
Superannuation 
Scheme 

British Steel 
Pension Scheme 

8,278,001 

8.47%

4,785,000 

4.89%

4,737,000  

4.84%

Bill Dobbie 

3,361,369 

4,653,000  

4.76%

3.44%

Transactions in own shares 
At  31  March  2009  the  company  held  3,294,547  shares  in 
treasury  and  during  the  year  the  company  issued  830,660 
shares from treasury in respect of the exercise of share options 
by  employees  and  2,463,887  shares  from  treasury  to  the 
iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust. At 31 March 2010 
no shares were held in treasury.

The  company  also  issued  2,513,297  ordinary  shares  to  the 
iomart  Group  plc  Employee  Benefit  Trust.  Therefore,  at  31 
March  2010  the  iomart  Group  plc  Employee  Benefit  Trust 
held  4,977,184  shares  (2009:  nil)  which  are  accounted  for 
as Own shares.

Employee involvement
The  Group  regularly  communicates  with  all  staff  providing 
information  on  developments  within  the  Group  including 
updates on the Group’s strategy and details of new products 
and services provided by the Group.

Staff  are  eligible  to  receive  share  options  or  Joint  Share 
Ownership  Plan  shares  in  the  company  under  the  Group’s 
share incentive schemes and it is the board’s policy to make 
specific  awards  as  appropriate  to  attract  and  retain  the  best 
available people.

their  particular  aptitudes  and  abilities.    Appropriate  training 
is  arranged  for  disabled  persons,  including  retraining  for 
alternative  work  of  employees  who  become  disabled,  to 
promote their career development within the organisation.

Supplier payment policy and practice
The company and its subsidiaries agree the terms of payment 
when negotiating the terms and conditions for their transactions 
with their suppliers. Payment is made in compliance with those 
terms,  subject  to  the  terms  and  conditions  of  the  relevant 
transaction  having  been  met  by  the  supplier.  Trade  creditor 
days of the Group at 31 March 2010 were 23 days (2009: 25 
days), and of the company were 4 days (2009: 6 days). This 
represents the ratio, expressed in days, between the amounts 
invoiced to the company in the year by its suppliers and the 
amounts due, at the year end, to trade creditors falling due for 
payment within one year.

Political and charitable donations
The Group did not make any charitable or political donations 
in either the current or the previous year. 

Awareness of relevant audit information
So  far  as  each  of  the  directors,  at  the  time  the  report  is 
approved, is aware:

	 •	 there	is	no	relevant	audit	information	of	which	the	

  auditors are unaware, and

	 •	 the	directors	have	taken	all	the	steps	they	ought	to	
have taken to make themselves aware of any 
relevant audit information and to establish that the 

  auditors are aware of that information.

Website disclaimer
The  maintenance  and  integrity  of  the  iomart  Group  plc 
website is the responsibility of the directors. The work carried 
out  by  the  auditor  does  not  involve  consideration  of  these 
matters and, accordingly, the auditors accept no responsibility 
for  any  changes  that  may  have  occurred  to  the  financial 
statements since they were initially presented on the website. 
Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation 
and dissemination of the financial statements may differ from 
legislation in the other jurisdictions.

Auditors
Grant  Thornton  UK  LLP  have  expressed  their  willingness  to 
continue  in  office  as  auditors  and  a  resolution  to  reappoint 
them  will  be  proposed  at  the  forthcoming  annual  general 
meeting.

By order of the board

Employment of disabled persons
Full  and  fair  consideration  is  given  to  applications  for 
employment  made  by  disabled  persons  having  regard  to 

Bruce Hall, Company secretary
1 June 2010

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
Statement of Directors' Responsibilities

17

The directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report 
and the Group and the Parent Company Financial Statements 
in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company  law  requires  the  Directors  to  prepare  financial 
statements for each financial year. Under that law the Directors 
have prepared the Group Financial Statements in accordance 
with  International  Financial  Reporting  Standards  (IFRSs)  as 
adopted  by  the  European  Union,  and  the  Parent  Company 
Financial  Statements  in  accordance  with  applicable  law  and 
United  Kingdom  Accounting  Standards  (United  Kingdom 
Generally  Accepted  Accounting  Practice).  The  Group  and 
Parent Company Financial Statements are required by law to 
give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Company 
and the Group and of the profit or loss of the Group for that 
period. In preparing those financial statements, the Directors 
are required to: 

•	select	suitable	accounting	policies	and	then	apply	

them consistently;

•	make	judgements	and	estimates	that	are	

reasonable and prudent; and

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

that the Group will continue in business.

The directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting 
records  which  disclose,  with  reasonable  accuracy  at  any 
time,  the  financial  position  of  the  company  and  to  enable 
them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the 
Companies  Act  2006.    They  are  also  responsible  for  the 
Group’s system of internal financial control, for safeguarding 
the  assets  of  the  Group  and  hence  for  taking  reasonable 
steps  for  the  prevention  and  detection  of  fraud  and  other 
irregularities.

www.iomart.com 

	
 
 
	
 
 
	
 
 
 
“Corporate responsibility has long been a part of the Group's 
values and how we operate. We recognise that our long-term 
success depends on our ability to develop and offer innovative 
services that encourage both our clients and our shareholders to 
invest in us with confidence.”

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

The Easyspace sponsored elephant, ‘Cosmos’, outside the Royal Exchange.
One of 258 individually designed elephants that formed the London Elephant Parade 2010.

Board of Directors

Ian Ritchie
59,  appointed  2008;  currently  Chairman  of  Computer  Application  Services  Ltd,  Caspian 
Learning  Ltd  and  Interactive  Design  Institute  Ltd.  He  is  also  a  past  President  of  the  British 
Computer  Society.  Ian  was  founding  chairman  of  several  technology  companies,  including 
Voxar Ltd (now part of Toshiba), Orbital Software Group plc (now part of Sopheon plc), Digital 
Bridges Ltd (now part of Oberon Inc) and Sonaptic Ltd (now part of Wolfson Microelectronics 
plc).

Angus MacSween
53, appointed 2000; after a short service commission in the Royal Navy, Angus started his first 
business selling telephone systems in 1984. Since selling this first business he has established, 
grown  and  sold  5  profitable  businesses  in  the  telephony  and  internet  sector.  Following  the 
sale of Teledata Limited, the UK’s leading telephone information services company to Scottish 
Telecom plc, Angus spent two years on the executive of Scottish Telecom plc where he was 
responsible for the development of the company's Internet division. In December 1998 Angus 
founded iomart.  

Chris Batterham
55, appointed 2005; Chris was finance director of Unipalm plc, the first internet company to 
IPO and stayed with the company for 5 years following its takeover by UUnet.  He was CFO of 
Searchspace until 2005 and is currently a non executive director of SDL plc, DRS Group plc, 
office2office plc, DRS plc, The Risk Advisory Group and Betfair Limited. He is also chairman 
of Eckoh plc.  Chris has also served on the boards of Staffware plc, DBS Management plc 
and The Invesco Techmark Enterprise Trust plc

Sarah Haran
44,  appointed  2000;  Sarah  has  spent  her  career  implementing  and  managing  operations 
centres  for  large  corporations  such  as  Microsoft  Inc,  Compaq  Inc,  Scottish  Power  plc 
and  Prestel  Limited.  She  joined  iomart  in  1998,  from  Scottish  Telecom  plc  and  has  been 
responsible  for  developing  the  day-to-day  business  processes  and  technical  operations  to 
support the Group’s customer base.

Richard Logan
52, appointed 2006; Richard is a chartered accountant having qualified with Arthur Young in 
1984. Richard then spent 7 years with Ben Line Group initially as Group treasurer and latterly 
as  financial  director  of  Ben  Line’s  main  container  shipping  division.    From  1992  to  2002 
Richard served as finance director of Kingston SCL a company which provided administration 
and billing software to the mobile communications market during which time he was involved 
in a management buy-out and subsequent trade sale of the company.  Immediately prior to 
joining iomart Richard served as finance director of ePOINT Group, a technology company 
based in Scotland.

Fred Shedden
65,  appointed  2000;  independent  director  of  Murray  International  Trust  plc;  vice-chair  of 
Glasgow Housing Association and Glasgow School of Art; formerly chairman of Halladale 
Group plc and senior partner of McGrigors.

19

www.iomart.com 

20

Independent auditor's report to the members of 
iomart Group plc

We  have  audited  the  Group  financial  statements  of  iomart 
Group  Plc  for  the  year  ended  31  March  2010  which 
comprise  the  consolidated  income  statement,  consolidated 
statement  of  comprehensive  income,  consolidated  balance 
sheet,  consolidated  cash  flow  statement,  the  consolidated 
statement  of  changes  in  equity  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  European 
Union. 

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 auditor's 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,  the  directors  are  responsible  for  the  preparation 
of the Group financial statements and for being satisfied that 
they  give  a  true  and  fair  view.    Our  responsibility  is  to  audit 
the Group 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
A description of the scope of an audit of financial statements is 
provided on the APB’s website at www.frc.org.uk/apb/scope/
UKNP.

Opinion
In our opinion the Group financial statements:
•	 give	a	true	and	fair	view	of	the	state	of	the	Group's	affairs	
  as at 31 March 2010 and of its profit for the year then 
  ended;

•	 have	been	properly	prepared	in	accordance	with	IFRS	as	
  adopted by the European Union; and 

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

Opinion  on  other  matter  prescribed  by  the  Companies 
Act 2006
In our opinion the information given in the Directors’ Report for 
the financial year for which the Group financial statements are 
prepared is consistent with the Group 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:

•	 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.

Other matter
We have reported separately on the parent company financial 
statements of iomart Group plc for the year ended 31 March 
2010.

Andrew Howie
Senior Statutory Auditor
for and on behalf of Grant Thornton UK LLP
Statutory Auditor, Chartered Accountants
Glasgow
1 June 2010

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

Consolidated Income Statement
Year ended 31March 2010

CONTINUING OPERATIONS 
Revenue 

Cost of sales 

Gross profit 

Administrative expenses 

Operating profit/(loss) 

Analysed as: 
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, share based  
payments and gain on reduction of deferred consideration 
Share based payments 
Depreciation 
Amortisation 

Gain on reduction of deferred consideration on business combination 
Associated costs on gain on reduction of deferred consideration 
Finance income 
Finance costs 

Profit/(loss) before taxation 

Taxation 

Profit/(loss) for the year from continuing operations 

DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS 
Profit for the year from discontinued operations 
Profit on disposal of discontinued operations 
Net result from discontinued operations 

TOTAL OPERATIONS 
Profit for the year from total operations attributable to 
equity holders of the parent 

Basic and diluted earnings per share

Continuing operations 
Basic 
Diluted 

Total operations 
Basic 
Diluted 

Note 

4 

4 

24 
4 
4 

20 
20 
6 
6 

8 

11 
11 

11 
11 

21

2010  
£’000 
18,327  

2009
£’000
 11,797 

(7,830) 

 (5,718)

10,497  

 6,079 

(10,119) 

 (7,728)

378 

 (1,649)

3,112 

 (318)

(379) 
(1,846) 
(509) 

1,000 
(135) 
77  
(66) 

(231)
 (959)
 (141)

-
-
 497 
 (49)

1,254 

 (1,201)

816 

(731) 

2,070 

 (1,932)

-  
-  
-  

 516 
 12,598 
 13,114 

2,070  

 11,182 

2.12 p 
2.12 p 

(1.95)p
(1.95)p

2.12 p 
2.12 p 

11.27p
11.17p

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
22

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income
Year ended 31March 2010

Profit for the year from total operations 

Total comprehensive income for the year 

Attributable to equity holders of the parent 

2010 
£’000 

2,070 

2,070 

2,070 

2009
 £’000

11,182 

11,182

11,182

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
23

Consolidated Balance Sheet
 31March 2010

Note 

2010 
£’000 

2009
£’000

ASSETS 
Non-current assets 
Intangible assets – goodwill 
Intangible assets – other 
Deferred tax asset 
Lease deposit 
Deferred consideration receivable on disposal 
Property, plant and equipment 

Current assets 
Cash and cash equivalents 
Deferred consideration receivable on disposal 
Trade and other receivables 

Total assets 

LIABILITIES 
Non-current liabilities 
Non-current borrowings 

Current liabilities 
Deferred consideration due on acquisition 
Trade and other payables 
Current borrowings 

Total liabilities 

Net assets 

EQUITY 
Share capital 
Own shares 
Capital redemption reserve 
Share premium 
Retained earnings 
Total equity 

These financial statements were approved by the board of directors on 1 June 2010.
Signed on behalf of the board of directors

Angus MacSween
Director and chief executive officer

12 
12 
9 
13 
18 
15 

17 
18 
16 

21 

20 
19 
21 

23 

20,723 
1,008 
604 
1,216 
- 
12,276 
35,827 

5,715 
914 
2,937 
9,566 

16,550
363
20
884
1,000
8,672
27,489

13,910
-
2,184
16,094

45,393 

43,583 

(834) 
(834) 

(54)
(54)

(1,000) 
(7,489) 
(480) 
(8,969) 

(4,800)
(5,190)
(148)
(10,138)

(9,803) 

(10,192)

35,590 

33,391

1,028 
(2,464) 
1,200 
19,514 
16,312 
35,590 

1,002
(678)
1,200
17,583
14,284
33,391

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
   
 
 
  
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
 
  
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
24

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement
Year ended 31March 2010

Profit/(loss) before taxation  
Gain on reduction of deferred consideration - net 
Finance income - net 
Depreciation 
Amortisation 
Share based payments 
Movement in deposits 
Movement in trade receivables 
Movement in trade payables 
Cash flow from operations 
Taxation paid 
Cash generated from discontinued operations 
Net cash flow from operating activities 

Cash flow from investing activities 
Purchase of property, plant and equipment 
Capitalisation of development costs 
Purchase of intangible assets - software 
Purchase of intangible assets – domain names 
Payment for acquisition of business 
Repayment of borrowings on acquisition of business 
Deferred consideration paid on prior period acquisition 
Receipt from disposal of discontinued operation 
Net cash acquired with subsidiary undertaking 
Interest received 
Investing activities of discontinued operation 
Net cash (used in)/from investing activities 

Cash flow from financing activities 
Issue of shares 
Repayment of finance leases 
Repayment of borrowings 
Purchase of own shares 
Interest paid 
Dividends paid 
Financing activities of discontinued operation 
Net cash used in financing activities 

Note 

20 
6 
4 
4 
24 

15 
12 
12 
12 
10 
10 
20 

23 
21 
10 

6 
7 

2010 
£’000 

1,254 
(865) 
(11) 
1,846 
509 
379 
(332) 
(63) 
1,169 
3,886 
(164) 
- 
3,722 

(2,341) 
(281) 
(69) 
- 
(5,458) 
(226) 
(2,935) 
- 
155 
172 
- 
(10,983) 

41 
(396) 
(222) 
- 
(66) 
(291) 
- 
(934) 

2009 
£’000

(1,201)
-
(448)
959
141
231
-
(453)
1,087
316
-
463
779

(1,519)
(238)
(10)
(31)
-
-
-
15,235
-
389
(99)
13,727

50
(210)
(432)
(678)
(49)
-
(20)
(1,339)

Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents 

Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year 

(8,195) 

13,167

13,910 

743 

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 

17 

5,715 

13,910

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity
 Year ended 31March 2010

25

Own 
shares 
JSOP 
£’000 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

Changes in equity 

Balance at 1 April 2008 

Note 

Share 
capital 
£’000 

994 

Share based payments  

24 

Deferred tax on share based 
payments 

Acquisition of own shares 

Issue of shares for option 
redemption 

Profit in the period  

- 

- 

- 

8 

- 

Balance at 31 March 2009 

1,002  

Dividends – final (paid) 

Share based payments  

Issue of own shares for 
option redemption 

Issue of own shares to 
Joint Share Ownership Plan 

Issue of new shares to Joint 
Share Ownership Plan 

Profit in the period  

7 

24 

- 

- 

- 

- 

26 

(2,464) 

- 

- 

Balance at 31 March 2010 

1,028  

(2,464) 

Own 

Share
Capital 
shares  redemption  premium 
account 
reserve 
£’000 
£’000 

treasury 
£’000 

Retained
earnings 
£’000 

Total
£’000

- 

- 

- 

(678) 

- 

- 

1,200 

17,541 

2,946 

22,681

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

42 

231 

231

(75) 

(75)

- 

- 

(678)

50

- 

11,182 

11,182

(678)  

1,200  

17,583  

14,284 

33,391 

- 

- 

171 

507 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

(291) 

(291)

379 

379

(130) 

41

712 

1,219 

- 

- 

1,219

(1,219)

- 

2,070 

2,070

1,200  

19,514  

16,312 

35,590 

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“iomart Hosting’s central London location data centre gives us a much 
better power supply, huge amounts of bandwidth, the tightest security and 
a 100 per cent uptime guarantee that’s actually written in to the contract. 
We now feel a lot more comfortable than we did.”

Alex Fagioli, Technical Director of Tectrade

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

27

Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 31March 2010

1. GENERAL INFORMATION
iomart  Group  plc  is  a  company  incorporated  in  the  United 
Kingdom under the Companies Act 2006. The address of the 
registered office is given on page 69 of this report. The nature 
of  the  Group’s  operations  and  its  principal  activities  are  set 
out in the Chief Executive Officer’s report, Finance Director’s 
report and Directors’ report.

The  financial  statements  are  presented  in  pounds  sterling 
because  that  is  the  currency  of  the  primary  economic 
environment  in  which  each  of  the  Group’s  subsidiaries 
operates. Foreign operations are included in accordance with 
the policies set out in note 2.

2. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of preparation
The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in 
accordance with applicable International Financial Reporting 
Standards  (IFRS)  as  adopted  by  the  EU  and  issued  by 
the  International  Accounting  Standards  Board  (IASB).  The 
measurement bases and principal accounting policies of the 
Group are set out below. These policies have been consistently 
applied to all years presented unless otherwise stated.

Standards, amendments, and interpretations 
effective in year
IAS 1 (revised) Presentation of Financial Statements. This does 
not  affect  the  financial  position  or  profits  of  the  Group  but 
gives  rise  to  additional  disclosures.  The  measurement  and 
recognition  of  the  Group’s  assets,  liabilities,  income  and 
expenses is unchanged. The adoption of this standard affects 
the presentation of owner changes in equity and introduces a 
‘Statement of Comprehensive Income’. 

IFRS  8  Operating  Segments.  This  extends  the  scope  of 
segmental  reporting  so  that  segments  are  identified  by 
reference to the information reviewed by the Chief Operating 
Decision  Maker.  This  standard  does  effect  the  Group’s 
financial  statements  and  the  required  disclosure  has  been 
included in Note 3 to the financial statements.

In  addition  the  following  standards,  amendments  and 
interpretations  are  effective  in  the  year  but  have  no  material 
impact on the Group’s financial statements:

	 •	 IAS	23	Borrowing	Costs.

	 •	 IAS	32	(amended	February	2008)	Financial	Instruments:		
    Presentation.

	 •	 IAS	 39	 and	 IFRIC	 9	 Financial	 Instruments:	 Recognition		
    and Measurement: Eligible Hedged Items.

	 •	 IFRS	 2	 (amendment),	 Share-based	 Payment,	 vesting		
    conditions and cancellations.

	 •	 IFRS	 7	 (amended	 March	 2009)	 Improving	 Disclosures		
    about Financial Instruments.

	 •	 IFRIC	13	Customer	Loyalty	Programme.

	 •	 IFRIC	 15	 Agreements	 for	 the	 Construction	 of	 Real		
    Estate.

	 •	 IFRIC	 16	 Hedges	 of	 a	 Net	 Investment	 in	 a	 Foreign		
    Operation.

New standards and interpretations of existing standards 
that  are  not  yet  effective  and  have  not  been  adopted 
early by the Group

IFRS 3 Business Combinations (revised 2008). This continues 
to  apply  the  acquisition  method  to  business  combinations. 
This  standard  does  not  have  any  impact  on  the  Group’s 
financial  statements.  The  standard  is  applicable  to  business 
combinations  occurring  in  reporting  periods  beginning  on 
or  after  1  July  2009  and  will  be  applied  prospectively.  This 
standard will be applied to any future acquisitions. 

In addition the following new standards and interpretations of 
existing standards that are not yet effective and have not been 
adopted  early  by  the  Group  are  not  expected  to  have  any 
impact on the Group’s consolidated financial statements:

	 •	 IAS	27	Consolidated	and	Separate	Financial	Statements		

(revised 2008).

	 •	 IFRIC	17	Distributions	of	Non-cash	Assets	to	Owners.	

	 •	 IFRIC	18	Transfers	of	Assets	from	Customers.

www.iomart.com 

 
   
28

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

Summary of Accounting Policies

Goodwill
Goodwill  representing  the  excess  of  the  cost  of  acquisition 
over  the  fair  value  of  the  Group’s  share  of  the  identifiable 
net assets acquired is capitalised and reviewed annually for 
impairment.  Goodwill  is  carried  at  cost  less  accumulated 
impairment losses.  Any excess of the Group’s interest in the 
net fair value of the identifiable net assets acquired over cost 
is  recognised  immediately  after  acquisition  in  the  income 
statement.

Basis of consolidation 
The  Group  financial  statements  consolidate  those  of  the 
company and all of its subsidiary undertakings drawn up to 
31  March  2010.    Subsidiaries  are  entities  over  which  the 
Group has the power to control the financial and operating 
policies  so  as  to  obtain  benefits  from  its  activities.    The 
Group obtains and exercises control through voting rights.

Unrealised  gains  on  transactions  between  the  Group  and 
its  subsidiaries  are  eliminated.    Unrealised  losses  are  also 
eliminated  unless  the  transaction  provides  evidence  of  an 
impairment  of  the  asset  transferred.    Amounts  reported  in 
the  financial  statements  of  subsidiaries  have  been  adjusted 
where  necessary  to  ensure  consistency  with  the  accounting 
policies adopted by the Group.

Acquisitions  of  subsidiaries  are  dealt  with  by  the  purchase 
method.  The  purchase  method  involves  the  recognition  at 
fair  value  of  all  identifiable  assets  and  liabilities,  including 
contingent  liabilities  of  the  subsidiary,  at  the  acquisition 
date, regardless of whether or not they were recorded in the 
financial  statements  of  the  subsidiary  prior  to  acquisition.  
On  initial  recognition,  the  assets  and  liabilities  of  the 
subsidiary  are  included  in  the  consolidated  balance  sheet 
at  their  fair  values,  which  are  also  used  as  the  bases  for 
subsequent  measurement  in  accordance  with  the  Group 
accounting policies.  Goodwill is stated after separating out 
identifiable intangible assets.  Goodwill represents the excess 
of acquisition cost over the fair value of the Group’s share 
of the identifiable net assets of the acquired subsidiary at the 
date of acquisition.

Revenue 
Revenue  comprises  the  fair  value  of  the  consideration 
received  or  receivable  for  the  sale  of  goods  and  services 
in  the  ordinary  course  of  the  Group’s  activities.  Revenue  is 
shown net of value-added tax, returns, rebates and discounts 
and after eliminating sales within the Group.

The Group recognises revenue when the amount of revenue 
can be reliably measured, it is probable that future economic 
benefits  will  flow  from  the  transaction  and  specific  criteria 
have been met for each of the Group’s activities as described 
below.  The  amount  of  revenue  is  not  considered  to  be 
reliably measurable until all contingencies relating to the sale 
have been resolved. The Group bases its estimates on prior 
experience,  taking  into  consideration  the  type  of  customer 
and the type of transaction.

Continuing Operations
Easyspace 
This  operating  segment  provides  domain  name  registration 
and  shared  hosting  services.    Revenue  from  the  provision 
of  domain  names  is  recognised  at  the  time  the  title  to  the 
domain name passes.  Revenue from the provision of shared 
hosting  is  recognised  evenly  over  the  period  of  the  service 
and  once  the  service  has  been  established.    Any  unearned 
portion  of  revenue  is  included  in  payables  as  deferred 
revenue.

Hosting
This operating segment provides managed hosting facilities 
and services.  Revenue from the sale of facilities and services 
is spread evenly over the period of the agreement and once 
the service has been established.  Any unearned portion of 
revenue is included in payables as deferred revenue.                                             

Interest
Interest  is  recognised  on  a  time-proportion  basis  using  the 
effective interest method.

Intangible assets
Research and development
Expenditure on research (or the research phase of an internal 
project) is recognised as an expense in the period in which it 
is incurred. Development costs incurred are capitalised when 
all the following conditions are satisfied:

	 •	 completion	of	the	intangible	asset	is	technically	

feasible so that it will be available for use or sale
	 •	 the	Group	intends	to	complete	the	intangible	asset		
    and use or sell it
	 •	 the	Group	has	the	ability	to	use	or	sell	the	intangible		
    asset
	 •	 the	intangible	asset	will	generate	probable	future		
    economic benefits
	 •	 there	are	adequate	technical,	financial	and	other		

resources to complete the development and to use or  
sell the intangible asset, and

	 •	 the	expenditure	attributable	to	the	intangible	asset		

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

   
   
   
Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

29

    during its development can be measured reliably.

Development costs not meeting the criteria for capitalisation 
are expensed as incurred. The only development costs which 
are deemed to meet these criteria in the Group are in relation 
to  developments  by  specific  teams  to  develop  products  in 
the  hosting  asset  management  control  system  and  internet 
security.  Development  costs  capitalised  are  amortised  on  a 
straight-line basis over the estimated useful life of the asset. 
The  estimated  useful  life  is  deemed  to  be  three  years  from 
the  month  of  expenditure  for  all  developments  capitalised. 
Amortisation  charges  are  recognised  in  administration 
expenses in the income statement. 

Software
Software  is  recognised  at  fair  value  on  purchase  and 
amortised  on  a  straight-line  basis  over  its  useful  economic 
life, which does not generally exceed four years.

Assets acquired as part of a business combination
In  accordance  with  IFRS  3  Business  Combinations,  an 
intangible  asset  acquired  in  a  business  combination  is 
deemed  to  have  a  cost  to  the  Group  of  its  fair  value  at 
the  acquisition  date.    The  fair  value  of  the  intangible  asset 
reflects  market  expectations  about  the  probability  that  the 
future economic benefits embodied in the asset will flow to 
the Group.  Where an intangible asset might be separable, 
but  only  together  with  a  related  tangible  or  intangible 
asset,  the  group  of  assets  is  recognised  as  a  single  asset 
separately from goodwill where the individual fair values of 
the assets in the Group are not reliably measurable.  Where 
the  individual  fair  values  of  the  complementary  assets  are 
reliably measurable, the Group recognises them as a single 
asset provided the individual assets have similar useful lives.

Property, plant and equipment
Property,  plant  and  equipment  is  stated  at  cost  net  of 
depreciation  and  any  provision  for  impairment.  Leasehold 
property  is  included  in  property,  plant  and  equipment  only 
where it is held under a finance lease.  

Disposal of assets 
The  gain  or  loss  arising  on  the  disposal  of  an  asset  is 
determined as the difference between the disposal proceeds 
and  the  carrying  amount  of  the  asset  and  is  recognised  in 
the income statement.  

Depreciation
Depreciation  is  calculated  to  write  down  the  cost  of  all 

property,  plant  and  equipment  to  the  expected  residual 
value  by  equal  annual  instalments  over  their  estimated 
useful  economic  lives.    All  items  of  plant  and  equipment 
are  deemed  to  have  immaterial  residual  values.    The  rates 
generally applicable are (per annum):

Freehold property 
Leasehold improvements 
Computer equipment 
Office equipment 
Datacentre equipment 
Motor vehicle 

3.33%
25%
Between 20% and 50%
Between 10% and 25%
Between 6% and 10%
25%

Impairment testing of goodwill, other intangible assets 
and property, plant and equipment
For the purposes of assessing impairment, assets are grouped 
at the lowest levels for which there are separately identifiable 
cash flows (cash-generating units).  As a result, some assets 
are  tested  individually  for  impairment  and  some  are  tested 
at cash-generating unit level.  Goodwill is allocated to those 
cash-generating  units  that  are  expected  to  benefit  from 
synergies of the related business combination and represent 
the  lowest  level  within  the  Group  at  which  management 
monitors goodwill.

Goodwill,  other  individual  assets  or  cash-generating  units 
that  include  goodwill,  and  those  intangible  assets  not  yet 
available for use are tested for impairment at least annually.  
All other individual assets or cash-generating units are tested 
for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances 
indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable.

An impairment loss is recognised for the amount by which the 
asset’s or cash-generating unit’s carrying amount exceeds its 
recoverable amount.  The recoverable amount is the higher 
of  fair  value,  reflecting  market  conditions  less  costs  to  sell, 
and value in use based on an internal discounted cash flow 
evaluation. Management estimate expected future cash flows 
from  each  cash  generating  unit  and  determines  a  suitable 
interest  rate  to  determine  the  present  value  of  the  future 
cash  flows.  Discount  factors  are  determined  for  each  cash 
generating  unit  to  reflect  the  underlying  risks  involved.  The 
future  cash  flows  used  in  the  calculation  are  based  on  the 
Group’s latest approved budget.

Impairment  losses  recognised  for  cash-generating  units,  to 
which  goodwill  has  been  allocated,  are  credited  initially 
to  the  carrying  amount  of  goodwill.    Any  remaining 
impairment  loss  is  charged  pro  rata  to  the  other  assets  in 

www.iomart.com 

30

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

the  cash  generating  unit.    With  the  exception  of  goodwill, 
all assets are subsequently reassessed for indications that an 
impairment loss previously recognised may no longer exist.

Details  of  the  key  assumptions  and  judgements  are  shown 
in note 12.

Leased assets 
In accordance with IAS 17 Leases, the economic ownership 
of a leased asset is deemed to have been transferred to the 
Group  (the  lessee)  if  the  Group  bears  substantially  all  the 
risks  and  rewards  related  to  the  ownership  of  the  leased 
asset.  The related asset is recognised at the time of inception 
of the lease at the fair value of the leased asset or, if lower, the 
present value of the minimum lease payments plus incidental 
payments, if any, to be borne by the lessee.  A corresponding 
amount is recognised as a finance lease liability.  

The  interest  element  of  leasing  payments  represents  a 
constant proportion of the capital balance outstanding and 
is  charged  to  the  income  statement  over  the  period  of  the 
lease.  

All  other  leases  are  regarded  as  operating  leases  and  the 
payments  made  under  them  are  charged  to  the  income 
statement on a straight line basis over the lease term.  Lease 
incentives  are  spread  over  the  term  of  the  lease.  Where  a 
lease is for land and buildings there is a split between land 
and  buildings  in  the  consideration  as  to  whether  there  is  a 
finance lease within the lease.

Income Taxes
The  tax  expense  recognised  in  the  Income  Statement 
comprises  the  sum  of  deferred  tax  and  current  tax  not 
recognised  in  other  comprehensive  income  or  directly  in 
equity.

Current  tax  is  the  tax  currently  payable  based  on  taxable 
profit  for  the  year.  Deferred  income  taxes  are  calculated 
using the liability method on temporary differences.  Deferred 
tax  is  generally  provided  on  the  difference  between  the 
carrying  amounts  of  assets  and  liabilities  and  their  tax 
bases.  However, deferred tax is not provided on the initial 
recognition of goodwill, nor on the initial recognition of an 
asset or liability unless the related transaction is a business 
combination  or  affects  tax  or  accounting  profit.    Deferred 
tax  on  temporary  differences  associated  with  shares  in 
subsidiaries  is  not  provided  if  reversal  of  these  temporary 
differences can be controlled by the Group and it is probable 
that  reversal  will  not  occur  in  the  foreseeable  future.    In 
addition,  tax  losses  available  to  be  carried  forward  as  well 

as  other  income  tax  credits  to  the  Group  are  assessed  for 
recognition as deferred tax assets.

Deferred  tax  liabilities  are  provided  in  full,  with  no 
discounting.  Deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent 
that it is probable that the underlying deductible temporary 
differences  will  be  able  to  be  offset  against  future  taxable 
income.  Current and deferred tax assets and liabilities are 
calculated  at  tax  rates  that  are  expected  to  apply  to  their 
respective period of realisation, provided they are enacted or 
substantively enacted at the balance sheet date.

Changes  in  deferred  tax  assets  or  liabilities  are  recognised 
as  a  component  of  tax  expense  in  the  income  statement, 
except where they relate to items that are recognised in other 
comprehensive  income  or  directly  in  equity  (such  as  share 
based remuneration) in which case the related deferred tax 
is also recognised in other comprehensive income or equity 
respectively.

Financial assets
All financial assets are recognised when the Group becomes 
a  party  to  the  contractual  provisions  of  the  instrument.  
Financial  assets  other  than  those  categorised  as  at  fair 
value  through  profit  or  loss  are  recognised  at  fair  value 
plus  transaction  costs  on  initial  recognition.    Financial 
assets  categorised  as  at  fair  value  through  profit  or  loss 
are  recognised  initially  at  fair  value  with  transaction  costs 
expensed through the income statement.

All  income  and  expenses  relating  to  financial  assets  that 
are  recognised  in  income  statement  are  presented  within 
‘finance  costs’,  ‘finance  income’  or  ‘other  financial  items’ 
except for impairment of trade receivables which is presented 
within ‘other expenses’.

Loans and receivables are non-derivative financial assets with 
fixed  or  determinable  payments  that  are  not  quoted  in  an 
active market.  Trade and other receivables are classified as 
loans and receivables.  Loans and receivables are measured 
subsequent  to  initial  recognition  at  amortised  cost  using 
the effective interest method, less provision for impairment.  
Discounting  is  omitted  where  the  effect  of  discounting  is 
immaterial.  The  Group’s  cash  and  cash  equivalents,  trade 
and most other receivables fall into this category of financial 
instruments.

Provision against trade and other receivables is made when 
there is objective evidence that the Group will not be able to 
collect all amounts due to it in accordance with the original 
terms  of  those  receivables.    The  amount  of  the  write-down 

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

31

is determined as the difference between the asset’s carrying 
amount and the present value of estimated future cash flows. 
An assessment for impairment is undertaken at least at each 
balance sheet date.

Financial  derivatives  such  as  forward  foreign  exchange 
contracts  are  carried  at  fair  value  through  the  income 
statement.

A financial asset is derecognised only where the contractual 
rights  to  the  cash  flows  from  the  asset  expire  or  the 
financial  asset  is  transferred  and  that  transfer  qualifies 
for  derecognition.    A  financial  asset  is  transferred  if  the 
contractual rights to receive the cash flows of the asset have 
been transferred or the Group retains the contractual rights to 
receive the cash flows of the asset but assumes a contractual 
obligation to pay the cash flows to one or more recipients.  
A financial asset that is transferred qualifies for derecognition 
if the Group transfers substantially all the risks and rewards 
of ownership of the asset, or if the Group neither retains nor 
transfers substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership 
but does transfer control of that asset. 

Financial liabilities
Financial  liabilities  are  obligations  to  pay  cash  or  other 
financial  assets  and  are  recognised  when  the  Group 
becomes  a  party  to  the  contractual  provisions  of  the 
instrument.    Financial  liabilities  categorised  as  at  fair  value 
through profit or loss are recorded initially at fair value, all 
transaction costs are recognised immediately in the income 
statement.  All other financial liabilities are recorded initially 
at fair value, net of direct issue costs.

Financial  liabilities  categorised  as  at  fair  value  through 
profit or loss are re-measured at each reporting date at fair 
value,  with  changes  in  fair  value  being  recognised  in  the 
income statement.  All other financial liabilities are recorded 
at  amortised  cost  using  the  effective  interest  method,  with 
interest-related charges recognised as an expense in finance 
costs  in  the  income  statement.    Finance  charges,  including 
premiums  payable  on  settlement  or  redemption  and  direct 
issue  costs,  are  charged  to  the  income  statement  on  an 
accruals  basis  using  the  effective  interest  method  and  are 
added to the carrying amount of the instrument to the extent 
that they are not settled in the period in which they arise.

Financial liabilities  are categorised  as  at  fair  value  through 
profit  and  loss  on  initial  recognition.  A  financial  liability  is 
derecognised only when the obligation is extinguished, that 
is,  when  the  obligation  is  discharged,  cancelled  or  when  it 
expires.

Foreign currency transactions
Transactions denominated in foreign currencies are recorded 
at  the  rate  ruling  at  the  date  of  the  transaction.  Any  gains 
or  losses  arising  on  assets  and  liabilities  between  the  date 
of  recording  and  the  date  of  settlement  are  treated  as 
gains  or  losses  in  the  income  statement.  Forward  foreign 
exchange contracts used to hedge the Group’s exposure to 
foreign currency transactions are fair valued at the balance 
sheet date and the gain or loss is recognised in the income 
statement for the period.

Cash and cash equivalents
Cash  and  cash  equivalents  comprise  cash  on  hand  and 
demand  deposits,  together  with  other  short-term,  highly 
liquid  investments  that  are  readily  convertible  into  known 
amounts  of  cash  and  which  are  subject  to  an  insignificant 
risk of changes in value.

Dividends
Dividend  distributions  payable  to  equity  shareholders  are 
included in the financial statements within ‘other short term 
financial  liabilities’  when  a  final  dividend  is  approved  in  a 
general  meeting.    Interim  dividend  distributions  to  equity 
shareholders  approved  by  the  Board  are  not  included  in 
the  financial  statements  until  paid.  Scrip  dividends  are 
recognised at the fair value of the cash alternative.

Equity
Equity comprises the following:

	 •	 “Share	capital”	represents	the	nominal	value	of	equity	

shares.

	 •	 “Own	shares	JSOP”	represents	the	amount	of	the	
    company’s own equity shares, plus attributable 

transaction costs, that is held by the company within 
the iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust in respect 

    of the Joint Share Ownership Plan.
	 •	 “Own	shares	treasury”	represents	the	amount	of	

the company’s own equity shares, plus attributable 
transaction costs, that is held by the company as 
treasury shares.

	 •	 “Share	premium”	represents	the	excess	over	nominal	

value of the fair value of consideration received for 

    equity shares, net of expenses of the share issue.
	 •	 “Capital	redemption	reserve”	represents	set	aside	
reserves in relation to previous redemption of own 
shares.

	 •	 “Retained	earnings”	represents	retained	profits.

www.iomart.com 

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
32

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

Employee benefits
The Group operates a stakeholder pension scheme and also 
contributes  to  a  number  of  personal  pension  schemes  on 
behalf  of  executive  directors  and  some  senior  employees.  
The  pension  costs  charged  against  operating  profit  are 
the  contributions  payable  to  the  schemes  in  respect  of  the 
accounting period.

Share-based payment 
The Group operates equity-settled and cash-settled  share-
based remuneration plans for its employees. All goods and 
services  received  in  exchange  for  the  grant  of  any  share-
based  payment  are  measured  at  their  fair  values.    Where 
employees  are  rewarded  using  share-based  payments,  the 
fair  values  of  employees’  services  are  determined  indirectly 
by reference to the fair value of the instrument granted to the 
employee. This fair value is appraised at the grant date and 
excludes  the  impact  of  non-market  vesting  conditions  (for 
example, profitability and sales growth targets).

Where existing share based incentives are replaced the fair 
value of the replacement share based incentives is calculated 
and compared to the current fair value of the replaced share 
based incentives. Where the fair value of the replaced share 
based  incentives  exceeds  that  of  the  replacement  share 
based incentives then the share based payment charge to the 
income statement for the year continues to be based on the 
original share based incentives.

All share-based remuneration plans are ultimately recognised 
as an expense in the income statement with a corresponding 
credit to ‘retained earnings’.  

If  vesting  periods  or  other  non-market  vesting  conditions 
apply,  the  expense  is  allocated  over  the  vesting  period, 
based  on  the  best  available  estimate  of  the  number  of 
share options expected to vest.   Estimates are subsequently 
revised  if  there  is  any  indication  that  the  number  of  share 
based  incentives  expected  to  vest  differs  from  previous 
estimates.    Any  cumulative  adjustment  prior  to  vesting  is 
recognised  in  the  current  period.    No  adjustment  is  made 
to  any  expense  recognised  in  prior  periods  if  share  based 
incentives ultimately exercised are different to that estimated 
on vesting.

the value of any such excess into a number of wholly owned 
shares  within  the  JSOP.  The  JSOP  scheme  can  therefore 
be  either  equity-settled  or  cash-settled  at  the  option  of  the 
employee.

Discontinued operations
Profit  or  loss  from  discontinued  operations,  including  prior 
year components of profit or loss, are presented as a single 
amount in the Income Statement. A discontinued operation 
is a component of the entity that either has been disposed of, 
or is classified as held for sale, and:
	 •	 represents	a	major	line	of	business	or	geographical	
    area of operations;
	 •	 is	part	of	a	single	coordinated	plan	to	dispose	of	a	

separate major line of business or geographical area 

    of operations; or
	 •	 is	a	subsidiary	acquired	exclusively	with	a	view	to	

resale.

The  Group  disposed  of  its  Ufindus  operation  in  the  prior 
year  and  consequently,  Ufindus  has  been  treated  as  a 
discontinued  operation  within  these  financial  statements. 
The  Ufindus  operation  has  been  shown  as  discontinued 
within the segmental analysis at note 3. The disclosures for 
discontinued operations in the prior year relate to operations 
that have been discontinued by the reporting date. 

Segmental reporting
The Group provides segmental reporting on a basis consistent 
with  the  provision  of  internal  financial  information  used  for 
decision making purposed by the Chief Operating Decision 
Maker.  Internal  reports  are  produced  on  a  basis  consistent 
with  the  accounting  policies  adopted  in  Group’s  financial 
statements.

The Group calculates geographical information on the basis 
of the location of the customer.

Key sources of estimation uncertainty
The  key  assumptions  concerning  the  future,  and  other  key 
sources of estimation uncertainty at the balance sheet date, 
that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment 
to  the  carrying  amounts  of  assets  and  liabilities  within  the 
next financial year are discussed below.

Upon  exercise  of  share  based  incentives  the  proceeds 
received  net  of  attributable  transaction  costs  are  credited 
to  share  capital,  and  where  appropriate  share  premium. 
Under  the  rules  of  the  Joint  Share  Ownership  Plan  (JSOP), 
should the market price of a vested JSOP share exceed the 
participation  price  the  employee  has  the  option  to  convert 

Impairment of goodwill
Determining  whether  goodwill  is  impaired  requires  an 
estimation  of  the  value  in  use  of  the  cash-generating  units 
to  which  goodwill  has  been  allocated.  The  value  in  use 
calculation  requires  the  entity  to  estimate  the  future  cash 
flows  expected  to  arise  from  the  cash-generating  unit  and 

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

   
   
 
Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

33

to  select  a  suitable  discount  rate  in  order  to  calculate  the 
present  value.  Full  details  of  the  assumptions  used  in  the 
calculation are disclosed in note 12.

Valuation of intangible assets and fair value adjustments 
on acquisition
Note  10  summarises  the  fair  value  adjustments  that  were 
made  in  relation  to  the  acquisition  of  Rapidswitch  Limited. 
Within  these  adjustments  consideration  has  been  given 
to  the  valuation  of  intangible  assets  including  customer 
relationships and brand.

Recoverability  of  deferred  consideration  on  disposal  of 
subsidiary
Part  of  the  consideration  due  to  be  received  in  relation  to 
the  disposal  of  Ufindus  Limited  was  deferred  and  placed 
into escrow against warranty claims. Under the terms of the 
agreement relating to the disposal the Group gave standard 
warranties to the purchaser. An assumption has been made 
that  no  further  warranty  claim  will  reduce  the  remaining 
amount outstanding.

Estimated accruals
Estimates have been made of a number of accruals relating 
to premises used in the Group’s operations. These estimates 
are based on previous experience of costs incurred in similar 
situations.

Deferred tax
The Group has substantial tax losses available to offset future 
taxable  profits.  In  assessing  the  amount  of  deferred  tax  to 
be  recognised  as  an  asset  the  Group  has  estimated  future 
profitability of the relevant operating unit.

3.  SEGMENTAL ANALYSIS

The  chief  operating  decision-maker  has  been  identified  as 
the  Chief  Executive  Officer  (“CEO”)  of  the  Company.  The 
CEO reviews the Group’s internal reporting in order to assess 
performance  and  to  allocate  resources.  The  Company  has 
determined its operating segments based on these reports.

The Group currently has two reportable segments. 

	 •	 Easyspace	–	this	segment	provides	a	range	of	share	
    hosting and domain registration services to micro and 
    SME companies.

	 •	 Hosting	–	this	segment	provides	managed	hosting	
facilities and services, through a network of owned 
    datacentres, to the larger SME and corporate markets. 
    The segment uses several routes to market and  
    provides managed hosting services through iomart 
    Hosting, Rapidswitch and Netintelligence. Rapidswitch 
Limited was acquired in the early part of the year and 

    was fully integrated into the Hosting segment during 

the year.

Information  regarding  the  operation  of  the  reportable 
segments  is  included  below.  The  CEO  assesses  the 
performance  of  the  operating  segments  based  on  revenue 
and  a  measure  of  Earnings  before  Interest,  Depreciation 
and  Amortisation  (EBITDA)  before  any  allocation  of  Group 
overheads  or  charges  for  share  based  payments.  Segment 
EBITDA is used to measure performance as the CEO believes 
that such information is the most relevant in evaluating the 
results of the segment. 

The Group’s EBITDA for the year has been calculated after 
deducting  Group  overheads  from  the  EBITDA  of  the  two 
segments  as  reported  internally.  In  previous  years  certain 
Group overheads were allocated at the year end to segments 
for  segmental  reporting  purposes.  Consequently  prior  year 
comparative figures have been presented on a basis consistent 
with the current year with no allocation of Group overheads. 
Whilst this means that the level of Group overheads reported 
in the segmental analysis comparative figures has increased 
from  that  reported  last  year  likewise  the  level  of  EBITDA 
profitability  of  the  two  segments  has  also  increased  by  the 
same amount and the overall Group EBITDA profitability has 
been  unaffected.  The  Group  overheads  include  the  cost  of 
the Board, all the costs of running the premises in Glasgow, 
the Group marketing, human resource, finance and design 
functions and legal and professional fees.

www.iomart.com 

   
   
   
34

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

3. SEGMENTAL ANALYSIS (CONTINUED) 

The segment information is prepared using accounting policies consistent with those of the Group as a whole. 

The assets and liabilities of the Group are not reviewed by the chief operating decision-maker on a segment basis. Therefore none of the 
Group’s assets and liabilities are segmental assets and liabilities and are all unallocated for segmental disclosure purposes. The Group 
has adopted early the amendment to IFRS 8 Operating Segments as detailed in the ‘Improvements to IFRS’ issued in April 2009. This 
amendment states that if segmental assets and liabilities are not presented to the Chief Operating Decision Maker then the Group need 
not disclose these in the financial statements. On this basis the Group has not disclosed details of segmental assets and liabilities.

All segments are continuing operations. No customer accounts for more than 10% of external revenues. Inter-segment transactions are 
accounted for using an arms-length commercial basis.

Operating Segments
Revenue by Operating Segment

Easyspace 
Hosting 
Continuing operations 
Discontinued operations 

External 
£’000 
7,363 
10,964 
18,327 
- 
18,327 

2010 
Internal 
£’000 
- 
717 
717 
- 
717 

Total 
£’000 
7,363 
11,681 
19,044 
- 
19,044 

External 
 £’000  
7,224 
4,573 
11,797 
3,321 
15,118 

 2009
Internal 
 £’000  
- 
572 
572 
- 
572 

Total
£’000
7,224
5,145
12,369
3,321
15,690

Geographical Information
In presenting the consolidated information on a geographical basis, revenue is based on the geographical location of customers. The 
United Kingdom is the place of domicile of the parent company, iomart Group plc. All of the Group’s revenue originates from the United 
Kingdom. No individual country other than the United Kingdom contributes a material amount of revenue therefore revenue from outside 
the United Kingdom has been shown as from Rest of the World.

Analysis of Revenue by Destination

United Kingdom 
Rest of the World 
Revenue from continuing operations 

Profit by Operating Segment

Easyspace 
Hosting 
Group overheads 
Share based payments 

Net gain on business combination 
Group interest and tax 
Total continuing 
Gain on disposal 
Discontinued operations 
Profit for the year 

2010 
£’000 
17,142 
1,185 
18,327 

2009
£’000
11,173
624
11,797

2010 

EBITDA 
before 

Share based 
payments 

EBITDA 
before 

 2009
Share based
payments

£’000 
(35) 
(2,320) 
- 
(379) 
(2,734) 

payments 
£’000 
2,579 
2,763 
(2,230) 
- 
3,112 

Share based  depreciation &   Operating 
amortisation  profit/(loss) 
£’000 
2,544 
443 
(2,230) 
(379) 
378 
865 
827 
2,070 
- 
- 
2,070 

(2,734) 
- 
- 
(2,734) 

3,112 
- 
- 
3,112 

£’000 
(38) 
(1,062) 
- 
(231) 
(1,331) 

payments 
 £’000  
2,203 
(242) 
(2,279) 
- 
(318) 

Share based  depreciation &  Operating
amortisation  profit/(loss)
£’000
2,165
(1,304)
(2,279)
(231)
(1,649)
-
(283)
(1,932)
12,598
516
11,182

(1,331) 
- 
(99) 
(1,430) 

(318) 
12,598 
615 
12,895 

Group overheads, share based payments, interest and tax are not allocated to segments.

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

35

4. OPERATING PROFIT/(LOSS)

The profit for the year from total operations is stated after charging the following 
operating costs:

Staff costs excluding development costs capitalised and research and 
development costs written off the income statement  

 2010 
 £’000  

 2009 
 £’000 

6,216 

9,808

Depreciation of property plant and equipment 
 - Owned assets (2009: continuing operations: £787,000; discontinued operations: £34,000) 
 - Leased assets 
Property, plant and equipment hire 
 - Land and buildings 
 - Plant and machinery 
Amortisation of intangible assets (2009: continuing operations: £141,000; discontinued operations: £66,000) 
R&D expensed to income statement 
Marketing and sales 
Infrastructure 
Provision for doubtful debts 
Premises and office  

1,498 
348 

1,299 
242 
509 
162 
604 
337 
57 
3,778 

821
172

1,078
57
207
56
955
188
56
2,640

Included within other expenses are fees paid to the Group’s auditors, an analysis of which is provided below:

Auditors’ remuneration  

- Fees payable for the audit of the consolidation and the parent company accounts 
- Fees payable for audit of subsidiaries, pursuant to legislation 
- Tax compliance fees 
- Corporate finance and advisory transactions 

2010 
£’000 

2009
£’000

22 
23 
14 
27 
86 

21
19
12
22
74

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
36

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

5. INFORMATION REGARDING DIRECTORS AND EMPLOYEES

Directors’ emoluments 
Aggregate emoluments 
Pension contributions to personal money purchase schemes 
Share based payments 

Emoluments payable to the highest paid director are as follows: 
Aggregate emoluments 
Pension contributions to personal money purchase schemes 

2010 
£’000 

2009
£’000

855 
39 
243 

311 
16 

849
35
192

307
15

During the year the company made personal pension contributions to the personal pension schemes of 3 directors (2009: 3).
The aggregate amount of gains realised by directors on the exercise of share options during the year was £129,395 (2009: £nil).
The detailed numerical analysis of directors’ remuneration and share options is included in the report of the board to the members on 
directors’ remuneration on pages 11 to 14.

Average number of persons employed by the Group (including directors): 
Technical 
Customer services 
Sales and marketing 
Administration 

Number of persons employed by the Group at the year end 
Technical 
Customer services 
Sales and marketing 
Administration 

Staff costs of the Group during the year in respect of
 employees and directors were: 
Wages and salaries 
Social security costs 
Other pension costs 
Share based payments 

No. 

No.

66 
22 
33 
24 
145 

65 
19 
32 
22 
138 

51
32
86
35
204

48
23
28
26
125

2010 
£’000 

2009  
£’000

5,688 
536 
56 
379 

8,887
1,008
56
231
6,659  10,182

The  Group  operates  a  stakeholder  pension  scheme  and  also  contributes  to  a  number  of  personal  pension  schemes  on  behalf  of 
executive directors and some senior employees.  In the case of executive directors, details of the pension arrangements are given within 
the Directors’ Remuneration Report on pages 11 to 14. In the case of senior employees, pension contributions to individuals’ personal 
pension arrangements are payable by the Group at a rate equal to the contribution made by the senior employee subject to a maximum 
employer contribution of 5% of basic salary. The comparative figure for 2009 for staff costs during the year includes £5,145,000 relating 
to discontinued operations.

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
6. NET FINANCE COST

Finance income: 
Bank interest receivable 

Finance expenses: 
Bank overdraft and other borrowings 
Finance leases  

Net finance cost 

7. DIVIDENDS ON SHARES CLASSED AS EQUITY

Paid during the year: 
Final dividend – for prior year 
Equity dividends on ordinary shares 

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

37

2010 
£’000 

2009
£’000

77 
77 

497
497

- 
(66) 
(66) 

(26)
(23)
(49)

11 

448

2010 
Pence per  
share 

2010 

£’000 

2009 
Pence per
share 

2009

£’000

0.3p 

291 

291 

-

- 

 -

The directors declared an interim dividend on 22 February 2010, for the year ended 31 March 2010, of 0.4p per share (2009: nil) which 
was paid after the balance sheet date. 

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
38

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

8. TAXATION

Tax charge for the year 
Adjustment relating to prior year 
Deferred tax credit/(charge) 
Taxation  

2010 
£’000 

(12) 
20 
808 
816 

2009
£’000

-
-
(731)
(731)

The Group has a deferred tax asset which has been recognised in respect of tax losses within one of the subsidiary companies, which has 
generated taxable profits and is expected to continue to do so.

The differences between the total current tax shown above and the amount calculated by applying the standard rate of UK corporation 
tax to the profit before tax is as follows:

Profit before tax 

Tax charge @ 28% (2009 – 28%) 

Expenses disallowed for tax purposes 
Adjustments in respect of prior periods 
Effect of research and development tax reliefs  
Tax effect of share based remuneration 
Non-taxable gain on reduction of deferred consideration on business combination 
Effect of intangible asset tax reliefs 
Movement in unprovided deferred tax related to fixed assets 
Movement in unprovided deferred tax related to other timing differences 
Gain on disposal of subsidiary undertaking not subject to corporation tax 
Non-taxable income on discontinued operations 
Movement in unprovided deferred tax related to loses 
(Increase)/reduction in tax losses recognised 

2010 
£’000 

2009
£’000

1,254 

11,913

351 

3,336

23 
(20) 
(44) 
50 
(242) 
(24) 
(99) 
(8) 
- 
- 
- 
(803) 

25
-
(36)
24
-
-
(12)
5
(3,527)
(77)
199
794

Taxation (credit)/charge for the year 

(816) 

731

The weighted average applicable tax rate for the year ended 31 March 2010 was 28% (2009: 28%).

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

39

9. DEFERRED TAX

The Group had recognised deferred tax assets and liabilities as follows:

2010 

Deferred tax  Deferred tax 
Recognised  Unrecognised 
£’000 

£’000 

2009
Deferred tax  Deferred tax 
Recognised  Unrecognised
£’000

£’000 

Tax losses carried forward 
Share based remuneration 
Deferred tax on acquired assets with no capital allowances 
Deferred tax on customer relationships 
Deferred tax 

2,187 
72 
(1,504) 
(151) 
604 

2,427 
- 
- 
- 
2,427 

1,590 
79 
(1,649) 
- 
20 

3,270
-
-
-
3,270

At  the  balance  sheet  date,  the  Group  has  unused  tax  losses  of  £16.5m  (2009:  £17.4m)  available  for  offset  against  future  profits.  A 
deferred tax asset has been recognised in respect of £7.8m (2009: £5.7m) of such losses. No deferred tax asset has been recognised in 
respect of the remaining £8.7m (2009: £11.7m) since it is unlikely that these losses will be used in the foreseeable future.

The movement in the deferred tax account during the year was: 

Tax losses carried 
forward 
£’000 

  Deferred tax on
acquired assets
Share based  with no capital 
allowances 
£’000 

remuneration 
£’000 

Opening balance 
Acquired on acquisition of subsidiary 
Credited/(charged) to income statement 
Closing balance 

1,590 
- 
597 
2,187 

79 
- 
(7) 
72 

(1,649) 
- 
145 
(1,504) 

Customer
relationships 
£’000 

- 
(224) 
73 
(151) 

Total
£’000 

20
(224)
808
604

The deferred tax asset in relation to tax losses carried forward arises from the unutilised tax losses of the hosting trade. The deferred tax 
asset has been recognised in line with future projections of the hosting company over a three year period. The basis of these projections 
are:
	 •	 The	consistent	success	of	the	sales	teams	in	generating	new	business
	 •	 Expectations	about	the	retention	of	customers
	 •	 Continued	success	in	achieving	a	particular	product	mix	and	maintaining	price	yield

Based on the current profitability of the hosting company, an assessment of projections and the expectations of sustainable profits in future 
years, a deferred tax asset in relation to the utilisation of these losses is recognised in line with ‘IAS 12 Income Taxes’.

The  deferred  tax  asset  in  relation  to  share  based  remuneration  arises  from  the  anticipated  future  tax  relief  on  the  exercise  of  share 
options. 

The deferred tax on acquired assets arises from the datacentre equipment acquired through the acquisition of Ezee DSL Limited on which 
depreciation is charged but on which there are no capital allowances available.

The deferred tax on customer relationships arises from the intangible asset recognised on the acquisition of Rapidswitch Limited on 11 
May 2010 which is being amortised over an estimated useful life of 5 years and on which there are no capital allowances or other tax 
deductions available.

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
40

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

10.  ACQUISITION

The Group acquired 100% of the issued share capital of Rapidswitch Limited on 11 May 2009.  This transaction has been accounted for 
by the purchase method of accounting. The book and final fair values of the company were as follows:

Intangible assets 
Property, plant and equipment 
Trade and other receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 
Trade and other payables 
Deferred taxation 
Other loans 
Finance leases 
Bank loan 
Net assets 
Goodwill 
Total consideration 

Satisfied by: 
Cash 

Net cash outflow arising on acquisition 
Cash consideration 
Cash and cash equivalents acquired 

Book value 
£’000 
51 
2,226 
785 
155 
(1,526) 
- 
(226) 
(425) 
(222) 
818 

Fair value 
adjustments 
£’000 
753 
- 
- 
- 
(62) 
(224) 
- 
- 
- 
467 

Final
Fair value
£’000
804
2,226
785
155
(1,588)
(224)
(226)
(425)
(222)
1,285
4,173
5,458

5,458

5,458
(155)
5,303

The  goodwill  arising  on  the  acquisition  of  Rapidswitch  Limited  is  attributable  to  the  specialised,  industry  specific  knowledge  of  the 
management  and  staff,  the  benefits  to  the  Group  in  merging  the  business  with  our  existing  infrastructure  and  the  anticipated  future 
operating synergies from the combination.

Fair value adjustments resulting in a net increase in net assets of £467,000 were made on acquisition. The goodwill of £47,000 within 
the  company  was  written  off,  a  provision  of  £58,000  was  made  for  contracted  lease  payments  for  datacentre  space  in  excess  of  the 
company’s ongoing requirements and £4,000 was provided for a pre-acquisition trade creditor. An intangible asset in respect of existing 
customer relationships has been recognised at its fair value of £800,000 with a related deferred tax liability of £224,000. The £4,000 
adjustment for the pre-acquisition trade creditor is the only difference between the provisional fair value and the final fair value.

To estimate the fair value of the customer relationships, a discounted cash flow method, specifically the income approach, was used with 
reference to the directors’ estimates of the level of revenue which will be generated from them. A post-tax discount rate of 12% was used 
for the valuation. Customer relationships are being amortised over an estimated useful life of 5 years.

Rapidswitch acquires new customers by maintaining its position on internet search engines and as a consequence no value has been 
attributed to the brand name.

As part of the investment agreement, other loans owed by Rapidswitch Limited of £226,000 were repaid on the date of acquisition.

The Rapidswitch business contributed £4,694,000 of revenue and £994,000 of profit before tax to the Group for the period between 
the acquisition date and the balance sheet date.

If  the  acquisition  of  the  Rapidswitch  business  had  been  completed  on  the  first  day  of  the  financial  period,  it  would  have  contributed 
£5,235,000 of revenue and £1,059,000 of profit before tax to the Group.  

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

41

11. EARNINGS PER ORDINARY SHARE

Basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing the earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number of 
ordinary shares in issue during the year, after deducting any own shares (treasury and JSOP).  Fully diluted earnings per share is calculated 
by dividing the earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders by the total of the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue 
during the year and the dilutive potential ordinary shares relating to share options.  

Continuing operations 

Profit/(loss) from continuing operations for the financial year 
and basic earnings attributed to ordinary shareholders 

Weighted average number of ordinary shares: 
For basic earnings per share 
Exercise of share options 
For diluted earnings per share 

Basic earnings per share 
Fully diluted earnings per share 

Discontinued operations 

Profit from discontinued operations for the financial year 
and basic earnings attributed to ordinary shareholders 
Profit on disposal of discontinued operations 
Total profit from discontinued operations 

Weighted average number of ordinary shares: 
For basic earnings per share 
Exercise of share options 
For diluted earnings per share 

Basic earnings per share 
Fully diluted earnings per share 

Total operations 

Profit for the financial year and basic earnings 
attributed to ordinary shareholders 

Weighted average number of ordinary shares: 
For basic earnings per share 
Exercise of share options 
For diluted earnings per share 

Basic earnings per share 
Fully diluted earnings per share 

2010 
£’000 

2,070 

No 
000 

97,577 
230 
97,807 

2.12 p 
2.12 p 

2010 
£’000 

- 
- 
- 

No 
000 

- 
- 
- 

- p 
- p 

2010 
£’000 

2,070 

No 
000 

97,577 
230 
97,807 

2.12 p 
2.12 p 

For periods where the Group made a loss, there was no dilutive effect from the potential exercise of options.

2009
£’000

(1,932)

No
000

99,183
- 
99,183 

(1.95)p
(1.95)p

2009
£’000

516
12,598
13,114

No
000

99,183
902 
100,085 

13.22p
13.10p

2009
£’000

11,182

No
000

99,183
902 
100,085 

11.27p
11.17p

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
42

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

12. INTANGIBLE ASSETS 

Cost 
At 1 April 2008  
Additions 
Development cost capitalised 
Derecognised on disposal of subsidiary 
At 1 April 2009 
Additions 
Acquired on acquisition of subsidiary 
Development cost capitalised 
At 31 March 2010 

Accumulated amortisation: 
At 1 April 2008 
Derecognised on disposal of subsidiary 
Charge for the year 
At 1 April 2009 
Charge for the year 
At 31 March 2010 

Carrying amount: 

At 31 March 2010 

At 31 March 2009 

Goodwill 
 £’000  

Development 
costs 
£’000 

Customer 
relationships 
£’000 

Software 
 £’000  

Domain
names 
 £’000  

18,525  
- 
- 
(1,975) 
16,550 
4,173 
- 
- 
20,723 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

20,723  

16,550  

1,028 
- 
318 
(867) 
479 
- 
- 
281 
760 

(359) 
378 
(188) 
(169)  
(209) 
(378)  

382 

310 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
800 
- 
800 

- 
- 
- 
-  
(261) 
(261)  

539  

-  

Total
£’000

19,829 
53
318
(2,919)
17,281
4,242
804
281
22,608

(584)
423
(207)
(368) 
(509)
(877) 

276  
22 
-  
(77) 
221  
69 
4 
- 
294  

(225) 
45 
(19) 
(199)  
(30) 
(229)  

-  
31 
-  
- 
31  
- 
- 
- 
31  

- 
- 
- 
-  
(9) 
(9)  

65  

22  

22  

21,731

31  

16,913

All  amortisation  and  impairment  charges  are  included  in  the  depreciation,  amortisation  and  impairment  of  non-financial  assets 
classification, which is disclosed as administration expenses in the income statement. On 9 July 2008 the online directory business Ufindus 
was disposed of and the associated goodwill of £1,975,000 has been deducted from the carrying value. 

During the year, goodwill was reviewed for impairment in accordance with IAS 36 “Impairment of Assets”. No impairment charges (2009: 
nil) arose as a result of this review. For this review goodwill was allocated to individual Cash Generating Units (CGU) on the basis of the 
Group’s operations. The carrying value of goodwill by each CGU is as follows: 

Cash Generating Units (CGU) 

Easyspace 
Rapidswitch 
Hosting 

2010 
£’000 
12,314 
4,173 
4,236 
20,723 

2009
£’000
12,314
-
4,236
16,550

No goodwill in the Group is attributable to Netintelligence. 

The recoverable amount of a CGU is determined based on value-in-use calculations. These calculations use pre-tax cash flow 
projections based on financial budgets approved by management covering a five-year period. Cash flows beyond the five-year period 
are extrapolated using the estimated growth rates stated below. 

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

43

12.  INTANGIBLE ASSETS (CONTINUED)

The growth rates and margins used to estimate future performance are based on past performance and the experience of growth rates. 
The growth rate does not exceed the long-term average growth rate for the business in which the CGU operates. The growth rates used 
to estimate future performance beyond the periods covered by the annual and strategic planning processes do not exceed the long-term 
average growth rates for similar products.

The assumptions used for the CGU included within the impairment reviews are as follows:

Discount rate  
Future perpetuity rate  
Forecast period for which cash flows are estimated (years) 

Easyspace 
9% 
2.5% 
        5  

Rapidswitch 
12% 
2.5% 
5 

Hosting
12%
2.5%
5

Based on an analysis of the impairment calculation’s sensitivities to changes in key parameters (growth rate, discount rate and pre-tax 
cash flow projections) there was no probable scenario where the CGU’s recoverable amount would fall below its carrying amount. 

13.  LEASE DEPOSIT 

The lease deposit of £1,216,000 (2009: £884,000) is due to be repaid at the end of the lease which at the earliest is July 2020. The 
Group is due to receive interest on the lease deposit at the prevailing market rate and therefore it has not been discounted.

14. PRINCIPAL SUBSIDIARIES

The following subsidiaries have been consolidated in the Group financial statements:

Country of 
registration 
and operation 

Activity 

       Ordinary share capital 

Owned by the 
company 
% 

Owned by
subsidiary
undertakings
%

iomart Limited  
iomart Hosting Limited  
Netintelligence Limited  
iomart Virtual Servers Hosting Limited  
Easyspace Datacentres (UK) Limited 
Easyspace Limited 
Rapidswitch Limited 
Ezee DSL Limited 
Internetters Limited 
NicNames Limited 
Web Genie Internet Limited 

Scotland 
Scotland 
Scotland 
Scotland 
Scotland 
England 
England 
England 
England 
England 
England 

Dormant  
Managed hosting services 
Managed hosting services 
Dormant 
Dormant 
Webservices 
Managed hosting services 
Datacentre services 
Webservices 
Dormant 
Webservices 

100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 * 
- 
- 
- 

-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
100
100
100

* as described in Note 20, the single share in Ezee DSL Limited, representing 0.2% of its issued share capital, has been transferred to 
iomart Group plc through the completion of a signed stock transfer form that has been placed in escrow until the final payment of deferred 
consideration is made on 27 August 2010. Until the final payment is made, under the terms of the agreement, the vendor has undertaken 
to vote and otherwise exercise any and all rights in respect of the single share as directed by iomart Group plc. Furthermore, the vendor 
has undertaken to waive any and all dividends or other distributions made or declared in respect of the single share. 

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
44

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

15. PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

Freehold 
Property 
£’000 

Leasehold
improve- 
ments 
£’000 

Datacentre 
Equipment 
£’000 

Computer 
equipment 
£’000 

Office 
equipment 
£’000 

Motor
vehicles 
£’000 

Total
£’000

Cost: 
At 1 April 2008 
Additions in the year  
Disposals 
At 1 April 2009 
Additions in the year  
Acquisition of subsidiary 
Disposals in the year 
At 31 March 2010 

Accumulated depreciation: 
At 1 April 2008 
Charge for the year 
Eliminated on disposal 
At 31 March 2009 
Charge for the year 
Disposals in the year 
At 31 March 2010 

Carrying amount: 
At 31 March 2010 

837  
- 
- 
837  
- 
- 
- 
837  

- 
(12) 
- 
(12) 
(8) 
- 
(20) 

544  
- 
(184) 
360  
480 
1,299 
- 
2,139  

(459) 
(46) 
159 
(346) 
(112) 
- 
(458) 

6,580  
1,004 
- 
7,584  
645 
166 
- 
8,395  

(224) 
(453) 
- 
(677) 
(652) 
- 
(1,329) 

2,602  
416 
(1,149) 
1,869  
2,088 
727 
- 
4,684  

(1,846) 
(436) 
1,036 
(1,246) 
(1,029) 
- 
(2,275) 

817 

1,681  

7,066  

2,409  

At 31 March 2009 

825 

14  

6,907  

623  

850  
110 
(283) 
677  
12 
21 
- 
710  

(574) 
(46) 
246 
(374) 
(40) 
- 
(414) 

296 

303 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
14 
(7) 
7 

- 
- 
- 
- 
(5) 
5 
- 

7 

- 

The net book value of computer equipment held under finance lease at 31 March 2010 was £1,204,000 (2009: £91,000).

16. TRADE AND OTHER RECEIVABLES

Trade receivables 
Less: Provision for impairment 
Trade receivables (net) 
Other receivables 
Prepayments and accrued income  
Trade and other receivables    

2010 
£’000 
1,382 
(124) 
1,258 
191 
1,488 
2,937 

11,413 
1,530
(1,616)
11,327 
3,225
2,227
(7)
16,772 

(3,103)
(993)
1,441
(2,655)
(1,846)
5
(4,496)

12,276 

8,672 

2009
£’000
764
(67)
697
233
1,254
2,184

The carrying amount of trade and other receivables approximates to their fair value, which has been calculated based on expectations 
of debt recovery from historic performances feeding into impairment provision calculations. Some of the higher value trade receivables 
in the Hosting division are reviewed individually for impairment and judgment made as to any likely impairment based on historic trends 
and the latest communication with specific customers. The balance of trade receivables in the Group are individually small in terms of 
value, so are considered for impairment by business unit specific provision calculations and are not individually impaired.

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

45

16. TRADE AND OTHER RECEIVABLES (CONTINUED)

To consider the total exposure to credit risks, the Group uses figures net of VAT. At 31 March 2010, £862,000 (2009: £317,000) of 
net trade receivables were fully performing. Net trade receivables of £396,000 (2009: £380,000) were past due, but not impaired. The 
aging below shows that almost all are less than three months old. Historic performance indicates a high probability of payment for debts 
in this aging. Those over three months relate to a small number of larger customers without history of default.

Up to 3 months 
Over 3 months but less than 6 months 
Over 6 months but less than 1 year 
Total unimpaired trade receivables which are past due   

2010 
£’000 
337 
55 
4 
396 

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

Balance at start of the year 
Provision for receivables impairment 
Eliminated on disposal of business 
Balance at end of year   

17. CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS

Cash at bank and on hand  
Cash and cash equivalents 

2010 
£’000 
67 
57 
- 
124 

2010 
£’000 

5,715 
5,715 

2009
£’000
278
59
43
380

2009
£’000
1,608
56
(1,597)
67

2009
£’000 

13,910
13,910

The credit risk on cash and cash equivalents is considered to be negligible because the counter parties are UK banking institutions.

18. DEFERRED CONSIDERATION RECEVIABLE ON DISPOSAL

Deferred consideration receivable on disposal: non-current 

Deferred consideration receivable on disposal: current 

Total deferred consideration receivable on disposal 

2010 
£’000 

2009
£’000

- 

(1,000)

(914) 

-

(914) 

(1,000)

The deferred consideration is due to be received in July 2010 in respect of the disposal of Ufindus Limited in July 2008. The amount to 
be received has reduced over the year due to sums paid out in respect of a claim under the sale and purchase agreement.

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
46

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

19. TRADE AND OTHER PAYABLES  

Trade payables 
Corporation tax 
Other taxation and social security 
Accruals 
Deferred income 
Trade and other payables 

2010 
£’000 

(1,044) 
(12) 
(915) 
(2,399) 
(3,119) 
(7,489) 

2009
£’000

(746)
-
(476)
(1,923)
(2,045)
(5,190)

The carrying amount of trade and other payables approximates to their fair value. Trade payables and accruals are non-interest bearing 
and generally mature within three months.  

20. DEFERRED CONSIDERATION

Deferred consideration due on acquisition 

Total deferred consideration due on acquisition 

2010 
£’000 

2009
£’000

(1,000) 

(4,800)

(1,000) 

(4,800)

During  the  year  the  original  deferred  consideration  due  of  £4,800,000  on  the  acquisition  of  Ezee  DSL  Limited  was  subject  to  a 
renegotiation with the vendor. As a result of that the total amount due was reduced to £3,800,000 and the Group returned certain assets 
to the vendor which had been fair valued to nil in the balance sheet at the time of the acquisition. The reduction in deferred consideration 
of £1,000,000 has been treated as a gain on reduction of deferred consideration on business combination in the income statement. 
Costs of £135,000 were incurred in respect of the renegotiation with the vendor. These costs have also been shown separately in the 
income statement.

Of the total revised deferred consideration of £3,800,000, £2,800,000 was paid together with £135,000 of associated costs during 
the year and the remaining balance of £1,000,000 is due to be paid on 27 August 2010. As part of the settlement with the vendor, 
the single share in Ezee DSL Limited, representing 0.2% of its issued share capital, which had been held by the vendor, was transferred 
to iomart Group plc, through the completion of a signed stock transfer form which has been placed in escrow and will be released on 
payment of the remaining balance. The vendor has undertaken to vote and otherwise exercise any and all rights in respect of the single 
share as directed by iomart Group plc and to waive any and all dividends or other distributions made or declared in respect of the single 
share whilst it is held in escrow.

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

47

21. BORROWINGS

Current: 
Obligations under finance leases  
Current borrowings 

Non-current: 
Obligations under finance leases  
Total non-current borrowings 

Total borrowings 
The carrying amount of borrowings approximates to their fair value.

 The obligations under finance leases are secured by the related assets and are repayable as follows:

Due within one year 
Due between one and five years 

Capital 
£’000 
54 
1,260 
1,314 

2010 
Interest 

Total 
£’000  £’000 
55 
1 
149 
1,409 
150  1,464 

2010 
£’000 

(480) 
(480) 

(834) 
(834) 

(1,314) 

Capital 
£’000 
54 
148 
202 

2009
£’000

(148)
(148)

(54)
(54)

(202)

2009
Interest 

Total
£’000  £’000
55
157
212

1 
9 
10 

The Group in its ordinary course of business enters into hire purchase and finance lease agreements to fund or re-finance the purchase 
of computer equipment and software. The lease agreements are typically for periods of 2 to 3 years and do not have contingent rent or 
escalation clauses. The agreements have industry standard terms and do not contain any restrictions on dividends, additional debt or 
further leasing.

The finance lease liability has an effective interest rate of 6.1% (2009: 7.1%). Lease payments are made on a monthly basis. The future 
lease obligation of £1,464,000 (2009: £212,000) has present value of £1,367,000 (2009: £198,000). 

22. OPERATING LEASES

The Group has outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, which fall due 
as follows:

Within one year 
Within two to five years 
After five years 

2010 

Land and  
buildings 
£’000  

1,280 
4,972 
5,228 
11,480 

Other 
£’000 

240 
347 
387 
974 

2009

Land and
buildings 
£’000 

1,078 
4,311 
5,944 
11,333 

Other 
£’000

57
91
-
148

Lease terms for land and buildings
Operating  leases  do  not  contain  any  contingent  rent  clauses.  None  of  the  operating  leases  contain  renewal  of  purchase  options  or 
escalation clauses or any restrictions regarding further leasing or additional debt.

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
48

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

23. SHARE CAPITAL

Authorised 
At 31 March 2008, 2009, and 2010 
Called up, allotted and fully paid 
At 31 March 2008 
Exercise of options 
At 31 March 2009  
Issued to Employee Benefit Trust 
At 31 March 2010 

Ordinary shares of 1p each

Number of shares 

200,000,000 

99,439,302 
800,000 
100,239,302 
2,513,297 
102,752,599 

£’000

2,000

994
8
1,002
26
1,028

During the year the company issued 2,513,297 ordinary shares of 1p each to the iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust in relation 
to  the  Joint  Share  Ownership  Plan  (“JSOP”)  (2009:  nil),  for  which  a  net  total  of  £1,244,000  was  received.  In  the  previous  year,  the 
company issued 800,000 ordinary shares of 1p each in respect of the exercise of share options by employees for which a net total of 
£50,000 was received

At 31 March 2009 the company held 3,294,547 shares in treasury, which were accounted for in the Own Shares reserve and had a 
nominal value of £32,945 and a market value of £1,070,728. This represented 3.4% of the issued share capital as at 31 March 2009 
excluding treasury shares. During the year the company issued 830,660 shares from treasury, with a nominal value of £8,307, in respect 
of the exercise of share options, for which a net total of £41,533 was received, by employees and 2,463,887 shares from treasury to the 
iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust in relation to the JSOP. At 31 March 2010 no shares were held in treasury.

Due to the issue of new ordinary shares and the issue of shares held in treasury at 31 March 2010 the company held 4,977,184 shares 
(2009: nil) in the iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust in relation to the JSOP which are accounted for in the Own Shares JSOP 
reserve and have a nominal value of £49,772 (2009: £nil). 

During  the  year  the  company  set  up  a  Joint  Share  Ownership  Plan  (“JSOP”)  to  provide  incentives  to  directors  and  employees.  At  31 
March 2010, 4,977,184 shares were held in the JSOP all with an initial participation price of 49.5p, which was the mid-market value 
of the shares at the start of trading on the day they were issued, resulting in a total market value in the Own Shares JSOP reserve of 
£2,463,706.

The JSOP shares are held jointly between employees and the iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust. Under the terms of the JSOP 
rules employees are eligible to receive the excess of any disposal proceeds received for the JSOP shares over the participation price. The 
participation price is subject to a 3% per annum escalation until the JSOP shares are sold. The JSOP shares do not carry dividend or 
voting rights whilst they are jointly held by the employee and the iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust. 

Under the rules of the scheme should the market price of a vested JSOP share exceed the participation price the employee has the option 
to convert the value of any such excess value into a number of wholly owned shares within the JSOP. If an employee exercises this right 
then the wholly owned shares subsequently held within the JSOP by the employee shall be eligible for both dividend and voting rights.
The share capital of iomart Group plc consists of ordinary shares with a par value of 1p. All shares, excluding the shares held by the 
iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust and in the prior year the treasury shares, are equally eligible to receive dividends and represent 
one vote at the shareholders' meetings of iomart Group plc. All shares issued at 31 March 2010 are fully paid.

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

49

24.  SHARE BASED PAYMENTS

The  Group  operated  the  following  share  based  payment  employee  share  option  schemes  during  the  year;  Enterprise  Management 
Incentive scheme, a number of other approved schemes and a number of unapproved schemes. All schemes are settled in equity only, 
except for the Joint Share Ownership Plan, which may be settled in either equity or cash, and are summarised below.

Vesting period 

Maximum term 

Performance criteria 

Required to remain in  
employment

Enterprise Management  
Incentive scheme 

Up to 3 years 
from grant  

10 years after 
date of grant 

As set by Remuneration
Committee 

Sharesave scheme 

3 years from grant  

6 months after vesting   None 

Other approved schemes 

Between 1 and  
years from grant 

Unapproved schemes 

3 years from grant  

Joint Share Ownership  
Plan 

Up to 3 years 
from grant  

10 years after 
date of grant 

10 years after  
date of grant 

10 years after 
date of grant 

As set by Remuneration
Committee 

As set by Remuneration
Committee 

As set by Remuneration
Committee 

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

The exercise period on the Sharesave Scheme ended on 1 September 2009 with no share options being exercised and this scheme has 
not been replaced. The performance criteria as set by the Remuneration Committee are based on the achievement of annual objectives 
and continuous employment.

In accordance with the transitional provisions of IFRS, the requirements of IFRS 2 Share Based Payment have not been applied to equity 
instruments that were granted before 7 November 2002 or equity instruments that were granted after 7 November 2002 that had vested 
before the date of transition, being 1 April 2005. Therefore the following disclosures relate only to awards made after 7 November 2002 
that had not vested by 1 April 2005.

During the year, options over 830,660 ordinary shares (2009: 800,000) were exercised and the market price at the exercise date was 
32.0p  (2009:  46.5p).  As  described  in  Note  23,  on  31  March  2010,  a  total  of  4,977,184  share  options  were  surrendered  and  an 
equivalent number of shares issued to a Joint Share Ownership Plan to provide incentives to directors and employees. These have been 
accounted for as replacement share based incentives. As the fair value of the original share based incentives exceeds the fair value of 
the replacement share based incentives the share based payment charge recognised in the income statement in relation to these share 
based incentives continues to be based on the original share options.

As disclosed in note 5, a share based payment charge of £379,000 (2009: £231,000) has been recognised in the income statement 
during  the  year  in  relation  to  the  above  schemes.  The  fair  value  of  the  employee  services  received  is  valued  indirectly  by  valuing  the 
options granted using the Black-Scholes option pricing model, which worked on the following assumptions for the options granted in the 
year.
Grant date 
Vesting date 
Variables used 
Share price at grant date 
Volatility 
Dividend yield 
Number of employees holding options/units  
Option/award life (years)   
Expected life (years) 
Risk free rate 
Expectations of meeting performance criteria  
Fair value 
Exercise price per share 

37.0p 
55% 
1.0% 
2 
10 
3.9 
2.69% 
100% 
15.37p 
37.0p 

37.0p 
55% 
1.0% 
2 
10 
2.9 
2.69% 
100% 
13.51p 
37.0p 

37.0p 
55% 
1.0% 
2 
10 
1.9 
2.69% 
100% 
11.11p 
37.0p 

44.5p
61%
1.0%
1
10
3.3
2.64%
100%
18.73p
44.5p

37.0p 
55% 
1.0% 
2 
10 
0.9 
2.69% 
100% 
7.73p 
37.0p 

09-Dec-09
31-Mar-13

31-Mar-10  31-Mar-11 

31-Mar-12  31-Mar-13 

11-May-09 

i) Expected volatility was determined at the date of grant from historic volatility, adjusted for events that were not considered to be reflective 
of the volatility of the share price going forward
ii) Risk free rate was calculated based on the average Bank of England zero coupon yields.

Details of options and awards outstanding, and a reconciliation of movements in the year in respect of the Company’s ordinary shares 
of 1p each, under the various schemes are as follows:

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
50

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

 24. SHARE BASED PAYMENTS (CONTINUED)

As at 31 March 2010

Details 

                       Options for shares outstanding 

Vested
options for  
shares not yet  
exercisable

 Exercise 
  price 

Grant 
date 

Exercise 
date 

Expiry 
date 

31 March 
2009 

Issued  Surrendered  Exercised  Expired  31 March  31 March
2010

2010 

Enterprise management incentive   scheme 

6.25   02/07/2003 
6.25   02/07/2003 
6.25   02/07/2003 
  78.50   17/11/2004 
   74.00   24/08/2006 
  50.50  27/09/2007 
  43.50  20/12/2007 
  43.50  20/12/2007 
  43.50  20/12/2007 
  43.50  20/12/2007 
  43.50  20/12/2007 
  43.50  20/12/2007 
  46.50  29/09/2008 
  46.50  29/09/2008 
  46.50  29/09/2008 
  46.50  06/10/2008 
  46.50  06/10/2008 
  26.50  05/02/2009 
  37.00  11/05/2009 
  37.00  11/05/2009 
  37.00  11/05/2009 
  37.00  11/05/2009 
  44.50  09/12/2009 

Savings related scheme 
  76.00  01/03/2006 

Unapproved schemes 
5.00   29/03/2000 
5.00   29/03/2000 
5.00   29/03/2000 
  11.75  31/10/2001 
  78.50   17/11/2004 
  50.50  27/09/2007 
  43.50  20/12/2007 
  43.50  20/12/2007 
  46.50  29/09/2008 
  46.50  29/09/2008 
  46.50  29/09/2008 
  46.50  06/10/2008 
  46.50  06/10/2008 
  46.50  06/10/2008 
  46.50  06/10/2008 
  26.50  05/02/2009 
  37.00  11/05/2009 
  37.00  11/05/2009 
  37.00  11/05/2009 

 Approved Schemes  
  44.00   24/01/2001 
  13.50   26/09/2001 
  11.75   31/10/2001 

Total 

02/07/2004 
02/07/2005 
02/07/2006 
17/11/2007 
24/08/2009 
27/09/2010 
20/12/2007 
20/06/2008 
20/12/2008 
20/06/2009 
20/12/2009 
20/06/2010 
31/03/2009 
31/03/2010 
31/03/2011 
31/03/2009 
31/03/2010 
05/02/2012 
31/03/2010 
31/03/2011 
31/03/2012 
31/03/2013 
31/03/2013 

02/07/2013 
02/07/2013 
02/07/2013 
17/11/2014 
24/08/2016 
27/09/2017 
20/12/2017 
20/12/2017 
20/12/2017 
20/12/2017 
20/12/2017 
20/12/2017 
29/09/2018 
29/09/2018 
29/09/2018 
06/10/2018 
06/10/2018 
05/02/2019 
11/05/2019 
11/05/2019 
11/05/2019 
11/05/2019 
09/12/2019 

44,581 
47,916 
47,920 
224,521 
50,000 
85,982 
150,000 
160,000 
160,000 
160,000 
99,655 
10,000 
345,700 
216,668 
211,287 
235,923 
28,495 
100,000 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
250,000 
124,324 
25,000 
25,000 
200,000 

01/03/2009 

01/09/2009 

41,579 

- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

44,581 
47,916 
47,920 
224,521 
50,000 
85,982 
150,000 
160,000 
160,000 
160,000 
99,655 
10,000 
345,700 
216,668 
211,287 
235,923 
28,495 
100,000 
250,000 
124,324 
25,000 
25,000 
200,000 

44,581
47,916
47,920
224,521
50,000
-
150,000
160,000
160,000
160,000
99,655
-
345,700
216,668
-
235,923
28,495
-
250,000
-
-
-
-

-  (41,579) 

- 

-

11/05/2000 
11/02/2001 
11/02/2002 
31/10/2001 
17/11/2007 
27/09/2010 
20/12/2009 
20/06/2010 
31/03/2009 
31/03/2010 
31/03/2011 
31/03/2009 
31/03/2010 
31/03/2011 
31/03/2012 
30/09/2009 
31/03/2011 
31/03/2012 
31/03/2013 

276,886 
29/03/2010 
276,887 
29/03/2010 
276,887 
29/03/2010 
50,000 
31/10/2011 
500,479 
17/11/2014 
914,018 
27/09/2017 
60,345 
20/12/2017 
150,000 
20/12/2017 
104,304 
29/09/2018 
233,334 
29/09/2018 
238,708 
29/09/2018 
214,077 
06/10/2018 
06/10/2018 
721,505 
06/10/2018  1,050,000 
06/10/2018  1,350,000 
12,000 
05/02/2019 
- 
11/05/2019 
- 
11/05/2019 
- 
11/05/2019 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
125,676 
225,000 
225,000 

-  (276,886) 
-  (276,887) 
-  (276,887) 
- 
- 
- 
(500,479) 
- 
(914,018) 
- 
(20,115) 
- 
(50,000) 
- 
(23,657) 
- 
(66,667) 
- 
(66,666) 
- 
(214,077) 
- 
(721,505) 
- 
(1,050,000) 
- 
(1,350,000) 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

24/01/2004 
26/09/2004 
31/10/2004 

24/01/2011 
26/09/2011 
31/10/2011 

37,500 
5,000 
23,888 

- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
50,000 
- 
- 
40,230 
100,000 
80,647 
166,667 
172,042 
- 
- 
- 
- 
12,000 
125,676 
225,000 
225,000 

-
-
-
50,000
-
-
40,230
-
80,647
166,667
-
-
-
-
-
12,000
-
-
-

37,500 
5,000 
23,888 

37,500
5,000
23,888

8,916,045  1,200,000 

(4,977,184)  (830,660)  (41,579)  4,266,622  2,637,311

Weighted Average Exercise price 

44.45p 

38.25p 

50.41p 

5.00p  76.00p 

43.14p 

44.66p

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

51

24. SHARE BASED PAYMENTS (CONTINUED)

As at 31 March 2009

Details 

Grant 
date 

26/07/2002 
26/07/2002 
26/07/2002 
02/07/2003 
02/07/2003 
02/07/2003 
17/11/2004 
24/08/2006 
27/09/2007 
20/12/2007 
20/12/2007 
20/12/2007 
20/12/2007 
20/12/2007 
20/12/2007 
29/09/2008 
29/09/2008 
29/09/2008 
06/10/2008 
06/10/2008 
05/02/2009 

Exercise 
price 

6.25  
6.25  
6.25  
6.25  
6.25  
6.25  
78.50  
74.00  
50.50 
43.50 
43.50 
43.50 
43.50 
43.50 
43.50 
46.50 
46.50 
46.50 
46.50 
46.50 
26.50 

Savings related scheme 
01/03/2006 
76.00 

Unapproved schemes 
5.00  
5.00  
5.00  
11.75  
78.50  
74.00  
50.50 
43.50 
43.50 
46.50 
46.50 
46.50 
46.50 
46.50 
46.50 
46.50 
26.50 

29/03/2000 
29/03/2000 
29/03/2000 
31/10/2001 
17/11/2004 
24/08/2006 
27/09/2007 
20/12/2007 
20/12/2007 
29/09/2008 
29/09/2008 
29/09/2008 
06/10/2008 
06/10/2008 
06/10/2008 
06/10/2008 
05/02/2009 

 Approved Schemes  
44.00  
13.50  
11.75  

24/01/2001 
26/09/2001 
31/10/2001 

                                     Options for shares outstanding 

Exercise 
date 

Expiry 
date 

31 March 
2008 

Issued  Surrenderd  Exercised  Expired 

  31 March 
2009 

Vested

options for  
shares not yet  
exercisable

31 March
2009

26/07/2002  26/07/2012 
26/07/2003  26/07/2012 
26/07/2004  26/07/2012 
02/07/2004  02/07/2013 
02/07/2005  02/07/2013 
02/07/2006  02/07/2013 
17/11/2007  17/11/2014 
24/08/2009  24/08/2016 
27/09/2010  27/09/2017 
20/12/2007  20/12/2017 
20/06/2008  20/12/2017 
20/12/2008  20/12/2017 
20/06/2009  20/12/2017 
20/12/2009  20/12/2017 
20/06/2010  20/12/2017 
31/03/2009  29/09/2018 
31/03/2010  29/09/2018 
31/03/2011  29/09/2018 
31/03/2009  06/10/2018 
31/03/2010  06/10/2018 
05/02/2012  05/02/2019 

266,666 
266,666 
266,668 
44,583 
48,583 
54,251 
583,818 
135,135 
85,982 
200,000 
210,000 
210,000 
210,000 
129,540 
10,000 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
345,700 
216,668 
211,287 
235,923 
28,495 
100,000 

-  (266,666) 
-  (266,666) 
-  (266,668) 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

(2) 
(667) 
(6,331) 
(359,297) 
(85,135) 
- 
(50,000) 
(50,000) 
(50,000) 
(50,000) 
(29,885) 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

01/03/2009  01/09/2009 

337,565 

- 

(295,986) 

- 
- 
276,886 
11/05/2000  29/03/2010 
- 
- 
276,887 
11/02/2001  29/03/2010 
- 
- 
276,887 
11/02/2002  29/03/2010 
- 
- 
50,000 
31/10/2001  31/10/2011 
-  (3,755,703) 
17/11/2007  17/11/2014  4,256,182 
(64,865) 
- 
64,865 
24/08/2009  24/08/2016 
- 
- 
914,018 
27/09/2010  27/09/2017 
(20,115) 
- 
80,460 
20/12/2009  20/12/2017 
(50,000) 
- 
200,000 
20/06/2010  20/12/2017 
- 
104,304 
- 
31/03/2009  29/09/2018 
- 
233,334 
- 
31/03/2010  29/09/2018 
- 
238,708 
- 
31/03/2011  29/09/2018 
- 
214,077 
- 
31/03/2009  06/10/2018 
- 
- 
31/03/2010  06/10/2018 
721,505 
- 
-  1,050,000 
31/03/2011  06/10/2018 
- 
-  1,350,000 
31/03/2012  06/10/2018 
- 
12,000 
- 
30/09/2009  05/02/2019 

24/01/2004  24/01/2011 
26/09/2004  26/09/2011 
31/10/2004  31/10/2011 

37,500 
5,000 
23,888 

- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 

- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 

- 
- 
- 
44,581 
47,916 
47,920 
224,521 
50,000 
85,982 
150,000 
160,000 
160,000 
160,000 
99,655 
10,000 
345,700 
216,668 
211,287 
235,923 
28,495 
100,000 

-
-
-
44,581
47,916
47,920
224,521
-
-
150,000
160,000
160,000
-
-
-
345,700
-
-
235,923
-
-

41,579 

41,579

276,886 
- 
276,887 
- 
276,887 
- 
50,000 
- 
500,479 
- 
- 
- 
914,018 
- 
60,345 
- 
150,000 
- 
104,304 
- 
233,334 
- 
238,708 
- 
214,077 
- 
- 
721,505 
-  1,050,000 
-  1,350,000 
12,000 
- 

276,886
276,887
276,887
50,000
500,479
-
-
-
-
104,304
-
-
214,077
-
-
-
-

- 
- 
- 

37,500 
5,000 
23,888 

37,500
5,000
23,888

Total 
Weighted Average Exercise price   

9,522,030  5,062,001  (4,867,986)  (800,000) 
6.25p  

56.49p  

75.95p 

46.06p 

-  8,916,045  3,224,048
40.32p

44.45p 

n/a 

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
  
 
 
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
52

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

24. SHARE BASED PAYMENTS (CONTINUED)

Details of options and awards outstanding, and a reconciliation of movements in the year in respect of the Company’s ordinary shares 
of 1p each, under the JSOP scheme are as follows:

As at 31 March 2010

Details 

                                       Options for shares outstanding  

Vested

options for  
shares not yet  
exercisable

Exercise 
price 

Grant 
date 

Exercise 
date 

Expiry 
date 

31 March 
2009 

Issued  Surrenderd  Exercised  Expired 

31 March 
2010 

31 March
2010

Joint Share Ownership Plan 

49.50 

49.50 

49.50 

50.50 

78.50 

49.50 

49.50 

49.50 

49.50 

31/03/2010 

31/03/2010  06/10/2018 

31/03/2010 

31/03/2011  06/10/2018 

31/03/2010 

31/03/2012  06/10/2018 

31/03/2010 

31/03/2010  27/09/2017 

31/03/2010 

31/03/2010  17/11/2014 

31/03/2010 

31/03/2010  20/12/2017 

31/03/2010 

20/06/2010  20/12/2017 

31/03/2010 

31/03/2010  29/09/2018 

31/03/2010 

31/03/2011  29/09/2018 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

935,582 

1,050,000 

1,350,000 

914,018 

500,479 

20,115 

50,000 

90,324 

66,666 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

935,582 

935,582

1,050,000 

1,350,000 

914,018 

500,479 

20,115 

50,000 

90,324 

66,666 

-

-

914,018

500,479

20,115

-

90,324

-

Total 
Weighted Average Exercise price   

4,977,184 
52.60p 

- 
n/a 

- 
n/a 

- 
n/a 

4,977,184  2,460,518
55.77p

52.60p 

25.  RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

The only related party transactions in the year were the payments to key management (only directors are deemed to fall into this 
category) disclosed in note 5.

26.  CONTINGENCIES AND COMMITMENTS

(a) Contingencies
The Group is a party to certain operating lease agreements for properties which have been converted into datacentres. These operating 
leases  impose  a  liability  on  the  Group,  at  the  request  of  the  lessor,  to  reinstate  the  properties  to  the  condition  they  were  in  before 
conversion to datacentres. All of these properties are on long term leases and these leases may be extended. Consequently the Directors 
believe that the likelihood of these liabilities crystalising is remote. There were no other contingent assets or liabilities as at 31 March 
2010 (2009: nil).

(b) Commitments 
Capital expenditure on property, plant and equipment committed by the Group at 31 March 2010 was £249,000 (2009: £261,000). 

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

53

27.  RISK MANAGEMENT

The  Group  finances  its  operations  by  raising  finance  through  equity  and  bank  borrowings.  No  speculative  treasury  transactions  are 
undertaken however the Group does from time to time enter into forward foreign exchange contracts to hedge known currency exposures. 
Financial assets and liabilities include those assets and liabilities of a financial nature, namely cash, investments, short term receivables/
payables and borrowings. 

The carrying amounts of financial assets presented in the consolidated balance sheet relate to the following measurement categories as 
defined in IAS 39:

2010 
Non-current: 
Lease deposit 

Current: 
Deferred consideration on disposal of subsidiary  
Trade receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 
Other receivables 
Forward foreign exchange contracts 
Total for category 

2009 
Non-current: 
Lease deposit 
Deferred consideration on disposal of subsidiary 

Current: 
Trade receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 
Other receivables 
Forward foreign exchange contracts 
Total for category 

Designated at
fair value 
through profit 
or loss 
£’000 

Loans and  
receivables 
£’000 

Total for
line item
£’000

1,216 

- 

1,216

914 
1,258 
5,715 
172 
- 
9,275 

884 
1,000 

697 
13,910 
174 
- 
16,665 

- 
- 
- 
- 
19 
19 

- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
59 
59 

914
1,258
5,715
172
19
9,294

884
1,000

697
13,910
174
59
16,724

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
54

Notes to the Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

27. RISK MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED)

The carrying amounts of financial liabilities presented in the consolidated balance sheet relate to the following measurement categories 
as defined in IAS 39:

2010 
Non-current: 
Finance leasing capital obligations 

Current: 
Trade payables 
Accruals  
Deferred consideration due on acquisition 
Finance leasing capital obligations  
Total for category 

2009 
Non-current: 
Finance leasing capital obligations 

Current: 
Trade payables 
Accruals  
Deferred consideration due on acquisition 
Finance leasing capital obligations  
Total for category 

Financial 
liabilities 
measured at  
amortised cost 
£’000 

Other 
 (non-IAS 39) 
£’000 

Total for
line item
£’000

- 

(834) 

(834)

(1,044) 
(2,399) 
(1,000) 
- 
(4,443) 

- 
- 
- 
(480) 
(1,314) 

(1,044)
(2,399)
(1,000)
(480)
(5,757)

- 

(54) 

(54)

(746) 
(1,923) 
(4,800) 
- 
(7,469) 

- 
- 
- 
(148) 
(202) 

(746)
(1,923)
(4,800)
(148)
(7,671)

Liquidity risk
The Group seeks to manage financial risk to ensure sufficient liquidity is available to meet foreseeable needs and to invest cash safely 
and profitably. The Group reviews its cash flow requirements on a monthly basis.

Interest rates
The interest rate on the Group’s cash at bank is determined by reference to the base rate.

Currency risk
During the year the Group made payments totalling US$1.6m (2009: US$1.4m) to acquire domain names for its Easyspace division. 
The Group entered into forward exchange contracts to hedge its exposure to the US Dollar arising on these purchases. At the year end, 
the Group had outstanding forward contracts under which it was due to purchase $800,000 (2009: $500,000) for a total of £509,000 
(2009: £289,000), at an average exchange rate of US$:GBP of 1.57 (2009: 1.73) over the period to September 2010. The fair value of 
these currency contracts is estimated to be approximately £19,000 (2009: £59,000). This has been recognised in the income statement 
for the year. The Group has no non-monetary assets or liabilities denominated in foreign currencies and the level of monetary assets and 
liabilities denominated in foreign currencies is minimal. 

Credit risk
The majority of the Group’s customers are small businesses and a significant number of these customers take advantage of the deferred 
payment terms offered by the Group, however the revenue recognition policy takes account of this, so that there is no exposure from the 
deferred payment terms. Therefore the Group consider that the trade receivables of £1,258,000 (2009: £697,000) which are stated 
net of applicable provisions represent the total amount exposed to credit risk. The Group’s cash at bank is held within the UK clearing 
banks.

Further information on financial instruments policy and procedures is given in the Directors’ Report.

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“We’re delighted that iomart Hosting have joined us as the 
charity’s technology partners as their involvement removes 
the worry for us of having to manage our website and ensure 
that it’s always available to potential donors and restaurant 
patrons. We are left free to concentrate on running the 
campaign and raising vital funds to give homeless people hope 
and a new start in life.”

Glenn Pougnet, Director of StreetSmart

UK Charity StreetSmart raises money for homeless people by asking  diners in the nation’s top restaurants to give an extra £1 on top of their bill during the festive period.

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

56

Holding Company Financial Statements
Year ended 31March 2010

INDEPENDENT  AUDITOR’S  REPORT  TO  THE  MEMBERS 
OF IOMART GROUP PLC

We have audited the parent company financial statements of 
iomart Group plc for the year ended 31 March 2010 which 
comprise the parent company balance sheet and the related 
notes.  The  financial  reporting  framework  that  has  been 
applied  in  their  preparation  is  applicable  law  and  United 
Kingdom  Accounting  Standards  (United  Kingdom  Generally 
Accepted Accounting Practice).

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 auditor’s 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.

Opinion  on  other  matter  prescribed  by  the  Companies 
Act 2006
In  our  opinion  the  information  given  in  the  Directors'  Report 
for  the  financial  year  for  which  the  financial  statements  are 
prepared  is  consistent  with  the  parent  company  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	
parent company, or returns adequate for our audit have 
not been received from branches not visited by us; or

•	

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

•	 certain	disclosures	of	directors’	remuneration	specified	by	

Respective responsibilities of directors and auditors

law are not made; or

•	 we	have	not	received	all	the	information	and	

explanations we require for our audit.

Other matter
We have reported separately on the Group financial statements 
of iomart Group plc for the year ended 31 March 2010.

Andrew Howie
Senior Statutory Auditor
for and on behalf of Grant Thornton UK LLP
Statutory Auditor, Chartered Accountants
Glasgow
1 June 2010

As  explained  more  fully  in  the  Directors’  Responsibilities 
Statement,  the  directors  are  responsible  for  the  preparation 
of  the  parent  company  financial  statements  and  for  being 
satisfied that they give a true and fair view. Our responsibility 
is  to  audit  the  parent  company  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

A description of the scope of an audit of financial statements is 
provided on the APB's website at www.frc.org.uk/apb/scope/
UKNP.

Opinion on financial statements

In our opinion the parent company financial statements:
•	 give	a	true	and	fair	view	of	the	state	of	the	company's	

affairs as at 31 March 2010; 

•	 have	been	properly	prepared	in	accordance	with	United	
Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

•	 have	been	prepared	in	accordance	with	the	requirements	

of the Companies Act 2006.

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Holding Company Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

57

Note 

2010 
£’000 

2009
£’000

4 

5 

7 

8 
9 
9 
9 
9 

26,630 
26,630 

16,039 
5,224 
21,263 

(8,355) 

12,908 

39,538 

1,028 
(2,464) 
1,200 
19,514 
20,260 

17,129
17,129

13,081
13,577
26,658

(5,400)

21,258

38,387

1,002
(678)
1,200
17,583
19,280

FIXED ASSETS 
Investments 

CURRENT ASSETS 
Debtors 
Cash at bank 

CREDITORS: amounts falling due within one year 

NET CURRENT ASSETS 

NET ASSETS 

CAPITAL AND RESERVES 
Called up share capital 
Own shares 
Capital redemption reserve 
Share premium account 
Profit and loss account 

TOTAL EQUITY SHAREHOLDERS’ FUNDS 

39,538 

38,387

These financial statements were approved by the board of directors on 1 June 2010.
Signed on behalf of the board of directors

Angus MacSween
Director and chief executive officer
iomart Group plc – Company Number: SC204560

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
58

Holding Company Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The  financial  statements  are  prepared  in  accordance  with 
applicable United Kingdom accounting standards.

Investments
Investments held as fixed assets are stated at cost less provision 
for any permanent diminution in value. As part of the acquisition 
strategy  of  the  Company,  the  trade  and  net  assets  of  subsidiary 
undertakings  at  or  shortly  after  acquisition  may  be  transferred 
at book value to fellow subsidiaries. The cost of the Company's 
investment  in  that  subsidiary  undertaking  would  have  reflected 
the  underlying  fair  value  of  its  net  assets  and  goodwill  at  the 
time  of  its  acquisition.  As  a  result  of  such  a  transfer,  the  value 
of the Company's investment in that subsidiary undertaking may 
fall  below  the  amount  at  which  it  was  stated  in  the  Company's 
accounting records.

Where  this  occurs,  Schedule  4  of  the  Companies  Act  2006 
requires that the investment be written down accordingly and that 
the  amount  be  charged  as  a  loss  in  the  Company's  profit  and 
loss account.  However, the directors consider that, as there has 
been no overall loss to the Group, it would fail to give a true and 
fair  view  to  charge  the  diminution  to  the  Company's  profit  and 
loss account.  Instead, the carrying value of the investment in all 
companies  transferred  will  be  considered  together  against  the 
future cashflows and net asset position of those companies which 
received the trade and net assets.

Deferred taxation
Deferred tax is provided in full on timing differences which result 
in an obligation at the balance sheet date to pay more tax, or a 
right to pay less tax, at a future date, at rates expected to apply 
when they crystallise based on current tax rates and law.  Timing 
differences  arise  from  the  inclusion  of  items  of  income  and 
expenditure  in  taxation  computations  in  periods  different  from 
those in which they are included in financial statements. Deferred 
tax assets are recognised to the extent that it is regarded as more 
likely than not that they will be recovered. Deferred tax assets and 
liabilities are not discounted.

Leases
Assets obtained under finance leases, which transfer substantially 
all  the  risks  and  rewards  of  ownership,  are  capitalised  at  their 
fair  value  on  acquisition  and  depreciated  over  their  estimated 
useful  economic  lives.    The  finance  charges  are  allocated  over 
the  period  of  the  lease  in  proportion  to  the  capital  element 
outstanding.

Operating lease rentals are charged to the profit and loss account 
in equal annual amounts over the lease term.

Financial instruments
Financial assets are recognised in the balance sheet at the lower 
of cost and net realisable value. Provision is made for diminution 
in value where appropriate.

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

Income and expenditure on financial instruments is recognised on 
the accruals basis and credited or charged to the profit and loss 
account in the financial period to which it relates.

Pension scheme arrangements
The Group operates a stakeholder pension scheme and contributes 
to a number of personal pension schemes on behalf of executive 
directors and some senior employees.  No other post retirement 
benefits are provided to employees.  Pension costs are charged to 
the profit and loss account in the period to which they relate.

Share-based payment 
All share-based payment arrangements granted after 7 November 
2002 that had not vested prior to 1 April 2005 are recognised in 
the financial statements. All share-based payment arrangements 
in  the  company  are  equity  settled.    All  goods  and  services 
received in exchange for the grant of any share-based payment 
are measured at their fair values.  Where employees are rewarded 
using share-based payments, the fair values of employees’ services 
are  determined  indirectly  by  reference  to  the  fair  value  of  the 
instrument granted to the employee. This fair value is appraised 
at the grant date and excludes the impact of non-market vesting 
conditions (for example, profitability and sales growth targets).

All equity-settled share-based payments are ultimately recognised 
as an expense in the profit and loss account with a corresponding 
credit to “Profit and loss reserve”.  

If vesting periods or other non-market vesting conditions apply, the 
expense  is  allocated  over  the  vesting  period,  based  on  the  best 
available  estimate  of  the  number  of  share  options  expected  to 
vest.   Estimates are subsequently revised if there is any indication 
that  the  number  of  share  options  expected  to  vest  differs  from 
previous estimates.  Any cumulative adjustment prior to vesting is 
recognised in the current period.  No adjustment is made to any 
expense  recognised  in  prior  periods  if  share  options  ultimately 
exercised are different to that estimated on vesting.

Upon  exercise  of  share  options  the  proceeds  received  net  of 
attributable  transaction  costs  are  credited  to  share  capital,  and 
where appropriate share premium.

Development expenditure
Development  expenditure  is  charged  to  the  profit  and  loss 
account as incurred.

2. PROFIT OF PARENT COMPANY

As  permitted  by  Section  408  of  the  Companies  Act  2006,  the 
profit and loss account of the parent company is not presented as 
part of these financial statements.  The parent company’s profit 
for  the  financial  period  after  taxation  was  £1,022,000  (2009: 
£13,647,000).

Holding Company Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

59

3. INFORMATION REGARDING DIRECTORS AND EMPLOYEES

Staff costs of the company during the year in respect of employees and directors were:
Executive directors’ remuneration 
Non-executive directors’ remuneration 
Other wages and salaries 
Social security costs 
Pension contributions to personal money purchase schemes 

2010 
£’000 

2009
£’000

523 
110 
447 
111 
33 

520
110
447
108
29

1,224 

1,214

The comparatives in the above table have been restated to reflect the impact of a staff reorganisation in the prior year in which certain 
Group employees transferred their employment to the company. The company makes contributions to executive directors’ and some 
senior employees’ personal defined contribution pension schemes. These are the only pension arrangements of the holding company.

4. INVESTMENTS HELD AS FIXED ASSETS

Cost  
At 1 April 2009 
Additions 
Share based payment 

Cost at 31 March 2010 

Impairment 
At 1 April 2009 
Charge for the year 

Impairment at 31 March 2010 

Net book value of Investments at 31 March 2010 

Net book value of Investments at 31 March 2009 

All of the above investments are unlisted.

Shares in subsidiary undertakings 
£’000

18,803
9,390
122

28,315

(1,674)
(11)

(1,685)

26,630

17,129

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
60

Holding Company Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

4. INVESTMENTS HELD AS FIXED ASSETS (CONTINUED)

The following subsidiaries are included in the company financial statements:

Country  
of registration  
and operation 

Activity 

Ordinary share capital

Owned by the 
company 
% 

Owned by the
subsidiary
undertakings
% 

iomart Limited  
iomart Hosting Limited  
Netintelligence Limited  
iomart Virtual Servers Hosting Limited  
Easyspace Datacentres (UK) Limited 
Easyspace Limited 
Rapidswitch Limited 
Ezee DSL Limited 
Internetters Limited 
NicNames Limited 
Web Genie Internet Limited 

Dormant  

Dormant 
Dormant 

Scotland 
Scotland  Managed hosting services 
Scotland  Managed hosting services 
Scotland 
Scotland 
England  Webservices 
England  Managed hosting services 
England 
England  Webservices 
England 
England  Webservices 

Datacentre services 

Dormant 

100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100* 
- 
- 
- 

-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
100
100
100

* as described in Note 20 of the Group Financial Statements, the single share in Ezee DSL Limited, representing 0.2% of its issued 
share capital, has been transferred to iomart Group plc through the completion of a signed stock transfer form that has been placed in 
escrow until the final payment of deferred consideration is made on 27 August 2010. Until the final payment is made, under the terms 
of the agreement, the vendor has undertaken to vote and otherwise exercise any and all rights in respect of the single share as directed 
by iomart Group plc. Furthermore, the vendor has undertaken to waive any and all dividends or other distributions made or declared 
in respect of the single share. 

2010 
£’000 

126 
918 
36 
72 
14,887 

16,039 

2009
£’000

299
1,076
49
79
11,578

13,081

5. DEBTORS

Prepayments and accrued income 
Other debtors 
Other taxation and social security 
Deferred taxation (note 6) 
Amounts owed by subsidiary undertakings 

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Holding Company Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

61

6. DEFERRED TAXATION

The company had recognised deferred tax assets and potential unrecognised deferred tax assets as follows:

Share based remuneration 

The movement in the deferred tax account during the year was: 

Balance brought forward 
Income statement movement arising during the year 
Profit and loss account reserve movement during the year 
Balance carried forward 

2010 
Recognised   Unrecognised 
£’000 
- 

£’000 
72 

2009 
Recognised  Unrecognised
£’000
-

£’000 
79 

2010 
£’000 

79 
(7) 
- 
72 

2009
£’000

205
(51)
(75)
79

The deferred tax asset in relation to share based remuneration arises from the anticipated future tax relief on the exercise of share 
options.

7. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR 

Trade creditors 
Other taxation and social security 
Accruals and deferred income 
Deferred consideration 
Amounts owed to subsidiary undertakings 

8. SHARE CAPITAL

Authorised 
At 31 March 2008, 2009, and 2010 
Called up, allotted and fully paid 
At 31 March 2008 
Exercise of options 
At 31 March 2009  
Issued to Employee Benefit Trust 
At 31 March 2010 

2010 
£’000 

43 
184 
801 
1,000 
6,327 
8,355 

2009
£’000

58
169
824
-
4,349
5,400

Ordinary shares of 1p each

Number of shares 

200,000,000 

99,439,302 
800,000 
100,239,302 
2,513,297 
102,752,599 

£’000

2,000

994
8
1,002
26
1,028

During the year the company issued 2,513,297 ordinary shares of 1p each to the iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust in relation 
to the Joint Share Ownership Plan (JSOP) (2009: nil), for which a net total of £1,244,000 was received. In the previous year, the 
company issued 800,000 ordinary shares of 1p each in respect of the exercise of share options by employees for which a net total of 
£50,000 was received.

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
62

Holding Company Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

8. SHARE CAPITAL (CONTINUED)

At 31 March 2009 the company held 3,294,547 shares in treasury, which were accounted for in the Own Shares reserve and had a 
nominal value of £32,945 and a market value of £1,070,728. This represented 3.4% of the issued share capital as at 31 March 2009 
excluding treasury shares. During the year the company issued 830,660 shares from treasury in respect of the exercise of share options 
by employees and 2,463,887 shares from treasury to the iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust in relation to the JSOP. At 31 March 
2010 no shares were held in treasury.

Due to the issue of new ordinary shares and the issue of shares held in treasury at 31 March 2010 the company held 4,977,184 shares 
(2009: nil) in the iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust in relation to the JSOP which are accounted for in the Own Shares JSOP 
reserve and have a nominal value of £49,772 (2009: £nil). 

During  the  year  the  company  set  up  a  Joint  Share  Ownership  Plan  (“JSOP”)  to  provide  incentives  to  directors  and  employees.  At  31 
March 2010, 4,977,184 shares were held in the JSOP all with an initial participation price of 49.5p, which was the mid-market value 
of the shares at the start of trading on the day they were issued, resulting in a total market value in the Own Shares JSOP reserve of 
£2,463,706.

The JSOP shares are held jointly between employees and the iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust. Under the terms of the JSOP 
rules employees are eligible to receive the excess of any disposal proceeds received for the JSOP shares over the participation price. The 
participation price is subject to a 3% per annum escalation until the JSOP shares are sold. The JSOP shares do not carry dividend or 
voting rights whilst they are jointly held by employees and the iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust. 

Under the rules of the scheme should the market price of a vested JSOP share exceed the participation price the employee has the option 
to convert the value of any such excess value into a number of wholly owned shares within the JSOP. If an employee exercises this right 
then the wholly owned shares subsequently held within the JSOP by the employee shall be eligible for both dividend and voting rights.
The share capital of iomart Group plc consists of ordinary shares with a par value of 1p. All shares, excluding the shares held by the 
iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust and in the prior year the treasury shares, are equally eligible to receive dividends and represent 
one vote at the shareholders' meetings of iomart Group plc. All shares issued at 31 March 2010 are fully paid.

9. STATEMENT OF MOVEMENT IN RESERVES

Profit for the financial period 
Dividends 
Share based payments 
Issue of own shares for option redemption 
Issue of own shares to Joint Share Ownership Plan 
Issue of new shares to Joint Share Ownership Plan 

Own  
shares  
JSOP  
£’000 

Own 
shares 
treasury 
£’000 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
(2,464) 
(2,464) 

- 
- 
- 
171 
507 
- 
678 

Capital 

Share 
redemption  premium 
account 
£’000 

reserve 
£’000 

Profit and
loss
account
£’000 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
712 
1,219 
1,931 

1,022
(291)
379
(130)
-
-
980

Opening balance 

Closing balance 

-  

(678)  

1,200  

17,583  

19,280

(2,464)  

-  

1,200  

19,514  

20,260

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Holding Company Financial Statements. Year ended 31March 2010.

63

2010 
£’000 
1,022 
(291) 
- 
41 
1,219 
(1,219) 
379 
- 

1,151 

38,387 

39,538 

2009
£’000
13,647
-
(678)
50
-
-
231
(75)

13,175

25,212

38,387

10. MOVEMENT IN SHAREHOLDERS’ FUNDS

Profit for the financial period 
Dividend paid 
Acquisition of own shares 
Issue of own shares for option redemption 
Issue of own shares to Joint Share Ownership Plan 
Issue of new shares to Joint Share Ownership Plan 
Share based payments 
Deferred tax on share based remuneration 

Opening shareholders’ funds 

Closing shareholders’ funds 

11. SHARE BASED PAYMENTS

For details of share based payment awards and fair values see note 24 to the Group financial statements. The Company accounts 
recognise the charge for share based payments for the year of £379,000 (2009: £231,000) by;  

1)  taking the charge in relation to employees of the holding company through the holding company income statement £256,000  

(2009: £152,000),

2)  recording an increase to its investment in subsidiaries for the amounts attributable to directors of subsidiaries and recording a  

corresponding entry to the profit and loss account reserve £123,000 (2009: £79,000).

12. CONTINGENCIES AND COMMITMENTS

(a) Contingencies
The Company is a party to certain operating lease agreements for properties which have been converted into datacentres. These 
operating leases impose a liability on the Company, at the request of the lessor, to reinstate the properties to the condition they were in 
before conversion to datacentres. All of these properties are on long term leases and these leases may be extended. Consequently the 
Directors believe that the likelihood of these liabilities crystalising is remote. There were no other contingent assets or liabilities as at 31 
March 2010 (2009: nil).

(b) Commitments 
There are no commitments present as at 31 March 2010 (2009: Nil).

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
64

Notice of the 2010 Annual General Meeting

NOTICE  IS  HEREBY  GIVEN  that  the  2010  annual  general 
meeting of the Company will be held at Lister Pavilion, Kelvin 
Campus, West of Scotland Science Park, Glasgow G20 0SP 
on 23 August 2010 at 2.30 pm for the purpose of considering 
and, if thought fit, passing the following resolutions, of which 
resolutions  1  to  7  (inclusive)  will  be  proposed  as  ordinary 
resolutions and resolutions 8 to 9 (inclusive) will be proposed 
as special resolutions:-

1  To receive and adopt the financial statements of the 
Company and the directors' and auditors' reports thereon for 
the year ended 31 March 2010.

2  To  approve  the  report  of  the  board  to  the  members  on 
directors' remuneration for the year ended 31 March 2010.

3  To  reappoint  Ian  Ritchie  (who  retires  by  rotation  and,  
being  eligible,  offers  himself  for  re-election)  as  a  director  of 
the Company.

4  To  reappoint  Fred  Shedden  (who  retires  by  rotation  and, 
being  eligible,  offers  himself  for  re-election)  as  a  director  of 
the Company.

5  To reappoint Grant Thornton UK LLP, Chartered Accountants, 
as auditors of the Company and to authorise the directors to 
fix their remuneration. 

6  That,  in  accordance  with  section  551  of  the  Companies 
Act  2006  (the  "Act"),  the  Directors  are  generally  and 
unconditionally authorised to allot shares in the Company or 
grant rights to subscribe for or convert any security into shares 
in the Company (the "Rights") provided that:

(a) the aggregate nominal amount of shares to be allotted in 
pursuance of such authority is £342,508.66; and

(b) this authority shall expire, unless sooner revoked or varied 
by the Company in general meeting, at the conclusion of the 
Company's annual general meeting to be held in 2011 save 
that  the  Company  may,  before  such  expiry,  make  an  offer 
or  agreement  which  would  or  might  require  shares  to  be 
allotted or Rights granted after such expiry and the Directors 
may  allot  shares  in  pursuance  of  such  offer  or  agreement 
notwithstanding that the authority conferred by this resolution 
has expired.

This  authority  is  in  substitution  for  all  previous  authorities 
conferred  on  the  Directors  in  accordance  with  section  80  of 
the Companies Act 1985 or section 551 of the Act.

7  That  for  the  purposes  of  section  551  of  the  Act,  the 

Directors  are  generally  and  unconditionally  authorised  to 
exercise all powers of the Company to allot equity securities 
(as  defined  in  section  560  of  the  Act)  in  connection  with  a 
rights issue in favour of the holders of ordinary shares in the 
capital  of  the  Company  (the  "Ordinary  Shareholders")  where 
the  equity  securities  respectively  attributable  to  the  Ordinary 
Shareholders are proportionate (as nearly as may be) to the 
respective  numbers  of  Ordinary  Shares  held  by  them  up  to 
a maximum nominal amount of £342,508.66 provided that 
this authority shall expire, unless sooner revoked or varied by 
the  Company  in  general  meeting,  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
Company's annual general meeting to be held in 2011 save 
that  the  Company  may,  before  such  expiry,  make  an  offer 
or  agreement  which  would  or  might  require  equity  securities 
to  be  allotted  after  such  expiry  and  the  Directors  may  allot 
equity securities in pursuance of any such offer or agreement 
notwithstanding that the power conferred by this resolution has 
expired.

8  That subject to the passing of resolutions 6 and 7 and in 
accordance  with  section  570  of  the  Act  and  in  place  of  all 
existing  powers,  the  Directors  are  generally  empowered  to 
allot  equity  securities  of  the  Company  (as  defined  in  section 
560 of the Act) for cash pursuant to the authority conferred by 
resolutions 6 and 7 as if section 561 of the Act did not apply 
to such allotment provided that this power shall be limited 
to:

(a) the  allotment  of  equity  securities  in  connection  with  an 
issue in favour of holders of ordinary shares of 1 penny each 
in the capital of the Company (the "Ordinary Shares") where 
the equity securities are offered to such holders in proportion 
(as  nearly  as  may  be)  to  the  respective  number  of  Ordinary 
Shares  held,  or  deemed  to  be  held,  by  that  shareholder 
but  subject  to  such  exclusions  or  other  arrangements  as  the 
Directors  may  deem  necessary  or  expedient  in  relation  to 
fractional entitlements or legal or practical problems under the 
laws of, or the requirements of any recognised regulatory body 
or any stock exchange in, any territory;

(b) the allotment of equity securities pursuant to any authority 
conferred upon the Directors in accordance with and pursuant 
to  article  41  of  the  articles  of  association  of  the  Company; 
and

(c) the allotment (otherwise than pursuant to (a) and (b) above) 
of  equity  securities  up  to  an  aggregate  nominal  amount  of 
£51,376.29;

provided that this authority will expire, unless sooner revoked 
or  varied  by  the  Company  in  general  meeting,  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  Company's  annual  general  meeting  to  be 

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

held in 2011, save that the Company may at any time before 
such expiry make an offer or agreement which would or might 
require equity securities to be allotted after such expiry and the 
Directors may allot equity securities in pursuance of such offer 
or agreement notwithstanding that the power conferred by this 
resolution has expired.

9  That  the  Company  be  and  is  hereby  generally  and 
unconditionally  authorised  for  the  purposes  of  section  701 
of  the  Act  to  make  one  or  more  market  purchases  (within 
the  meaning  of  section  693(4)  of  the  Act)  on  a  recognised 
investment exchange (as defined in section 693(5) of the Act) 
of Ordinary Shares provided that:

(a) the maximum number of Ordinary Shares hereby authorised 
to  be  purchased  is  10,275,259    (representing  10%  of  the 
Company's  issued  ordinary  share  capital  at  the  date  of  the 
notice of this annual general meeting);

(b) the minimum price, exclusive of any expenses, which may 
be paid for any such Ordinary Share is 1p;

(c) the maximum price, exclusive of any expenses, which may 
be paid for any such Ordinary Share shall be not more than 
5%  above  the  average  of  the  middle  market  quotations  for 
an  Ordinary  Share  on  the  relevant  investment  exchange  on 
which  the  Ordinary  Shares  are  traded  for  the  five  business 
days immediately preceding the date on which such Ordinary 
Share is contracted to be purchased;

(d) unless  previously  revoked  or  varied,  the  authority  hereby 
conferred  shall  expire  on  the  conclusion  of  the  next  annual 
general meeting of the Company; and

(e) the  Company  may  make  a  contract  or  contracts  for  the 
purchase  of  Ordinary  Shares  under  this  authority  before  the 
expiry  of  this  authority  which  would  or  might  be  executed 
wholly  or  partly  after  the  expiry  of  such  authority,  and  may 
make  purchases  of  Ordinary  Shares  in  pursuance  of  such  a 
contract or contracts, as if such authority had not expired.

By order of the board  

Bruce Hall
Company Secretary
Lister Pavilion, Kelvin Campus,
West of Scotland Science Park,
29 June 2010  
Glasgow G20 0SP

Notice of the 2010 Annual General Meeting

65

www.iomart.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
66

Notice of the 2010 Annual General Meeting

NOTES:
Appointment of Proxy

1  As a member of the Company you are entitled to appoint a 
proxy to exercise all or any of your rights to attend, speak and 
vote at a meeting of the Company.  You should have received 
a proxy form with this notice of meeting.  You can only appoint 
a proxy using the procedures set out in the notes to the proxy 
form. A proxy need not be a member of the Company.

2  To be effective, the proxy form, and any power of attorney 
or other authority under which it is executed (or a duly certified 
copy  of  any  such  power  or  authority),  must  be  deposited  at 
the office of the Company’s registrars, Capita Registrars, PXS, 
34  Beckenham  Road,  Beckenham,  BR3  4TU,  not  less  than 
48 hours (excluding weekends and bank holidays) before the 
time for holding the meeting (i.e. by 2.30pm on Thursday 19 
August 2010) and if not so deposited shall be invalid.

Entitlement to attend and vote

3  Pursuant to Regulation  41  of the  Uncertificated  Securities 
Regulations  2001,  only  those  members  entered  in  the 
Company's register of members at:

•	 6.00pm	on	19	August	2010;	or

•	 if	 this	 meeting	 is	 adjourned,	 at	 6.00pm	 on	 the	 day	 two	
days prior to the adjourned meeting,
shall be entitled to attend and vote at the meeting.

Documents on Display

4  Copies of the service contracts and letters of appointment 
of the directors of the Company will be available:

•	 for	at	least	15	minutes	prior	to	the	meeting;	and

•	 during	the	meeting.

Communication

5  Except  as  provided  above,  members  who  wish  to 
communicate  with  the  Company  in  relation  to  the  meeting 
should do so by post to the Company's registered office, details 
of which are below.  No other methods of communication will 
be accepted.

Address: The Company Secretary, iomart Group plc

Lister Pavilion, Kelvin Campus, West of Scotland Science Park, 
Glasgow G20 0SP

EXPLANATORY  NOTES  TO  THE  NOTICE  OF  ANNUAL 
GENERAL MEETING OF IOMART GROUP PLC

Ordinary Resolutions

Resolutions  1  to  7  are  all  to  be  proposed  as  ordinary 
resolutions.  This means that for each of those resolutions to 
be passed, more than half of the votes cast must be in favour 
of the resolution.

Resolution  1  –  To  receive  and  adopt  the  financial 
statements for the year ended 31 March 2010 and the 
directors' and auditors' reports thereon

For  each  financial  year  the  directors  of  the  Company  must 
present the audited financial statements, the directors' report 
and  the  auditors'  report  on  the  financial  statements  to  the 
shareholders at an annual general meeting.  

Resolution  2  –  To  approve  the  directors'  remuneration 
report

Shareholders are asked to approve the directors' remuneration 
report which may be found in the annual report on pages 11 
to 14.  This resolution is an advisory one and no entitlement to 
remuneration is conditional on the resolution being passed.

Resolution 3 and 4 – Re-election of directors

Under article 24 of the Company's articles of association one 
third of the directors are required to retire by rotation at each 
annual  general  meeting.    Pursuant  to  those  articles,  Mr  Ian 
Ritchie and Mr Fred Shedden are required to retire by rotation 
at  this  annual  general  meeting  and,  being  eligible,  offer 
themselves for reappointment.  The Board is satisfied that the 
performance of Mr Ian Ritchie and Mr Fred Shedden continues 
to  be  effective  and  demonstrates  commitment  to  their  roles 
with  the  Company  including  commitment  of  time  for  Board 
meetings  and  other  duties  required  of  them.    Accordingly, 
resolutions  3  and  4  propose  the  reappointment  of  Mr  Ian 
Ritchie and Mr Fred Shedden.

Brief  biographical  details  of  Mr  Ian  Ritchie  and  Mr  Fred 
Shedden are given below.

Ian  Ritchie  59,  appointed  2008;  currently  Chairman  of 
Computer Application Services Ltd, Caspian Learning Ltd and 

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
Notice of the 2010 Annual General Meeting

67

Interactive  Design  Institute  Ltd.  He  is  also  a  past  President 
of the British Computer Society. Ian was founding chairman 
of  several  technology  companies,  including  Voxar  Ltd  (now 
part  of  Toshiba),  Orbital  Software  Group  plc  (now  part  of 
Sopheon plc), Digital Bridges Ltd (now part of Oberon Inc) 
and  Sonaptic  Ltd  (now  part  of  Wolfson  Microelectronics 
plc).

third of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company as 
at the date of the notice of this meeting.

There  is  no  present  intention  to  exercise  either  of  the 
authorities sought under these resolutions, which will expire 
at the conclusion of the Company's annual general meeting 
to be held in 2011.

Fred  Shedden  65,  appointed  2000;  independent  director 
of  Murray  International  Trust  plc;  vice-chair  of  Glasgow 
Housing  Association  and  Glasgow  School  of  Art;  formerly 
chairman  of  Halladale  Group  plc  and  senior  partner  of 
McGrigors.

Special Resolutions
Resolutions 8 and 9 will be proposed as special resolutions.  
This means that for each of those resolutions to be passed, 
at least three-quarters of the votes cast must be in favour of 
the resolution.

Resolution  5  –  Re-appointment  and  remuneration  of 
auditors

Resolution 8 - Disapplication of statutory pre-emption 
rights

The Company is required at each general meeting at which 
financial statements are presented to shareholders to appoint 
auditors who will remain in office until the next such meeting.  
Grant  Thornton  UK  LLP  have  expressed  their  willingness  to 
continue  in  office  for  a  further  year.    In  accordance  with 
company  law  and  corporate  governance  best  practice, 
shareholders  are  also  asked  to  authorise  the  directors  to 
determine the auditors' remuneration.

Resolution 8 gives authority to the directors of the Company 
to disapply the provisions of section 561 of the Act.  Under 
that section, if the directors wish to allot any of the unissued 
shares  for  cash  the  directors  must  in  the  first  instance  offer 
those  shares  to  existing  shareholders  in  proportion  to  the 
number of shares held by such shareholders.  An offer of this 
type is called a "rights issue" and the entitlement to be offered 
a new share is known as a "pre-emption right".

Resolutions  6  and  7  –  Authority  to  authorise  the 
directors to allot shares 

Section 551 of the Companies Act 2006 (the "Act") requires 
that  the  authority  of  the  directors  to  allot  shares  shall  be 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  shareholders  in  general 
meeting.    These  resolutions,  if  passed,  would  give  the 
directors  general  authority  to  allot  shares  in  the  capital  of 
the Company.

Resolution  6  would  give  the  directors  the  authority  to  allot 
shares up to an aggregate nominal amount of £342,508.66, 
being  approximately  one-third  of  the  issued  ordinary  share 
capital of the Company as at the date of the notice of this 
meeting.

In  line  with  recent  guidance  issued  by  the  Association  of 
British Insurers, resolution 7 would give directors the authority 
to allot shares in connection with a rights issue in favour of 
ordinary shareholders up to an aggregate nominal amount 
equal to £342,508.66 (representing 34,250,866 Ordinary 
Shares).  This amount represents approximately a further one 

There  may  be  circumstances,  however,  where  it  is  in  the 
interests  of  the  Company  for  the  directors  to  allot  some  of 
the new shares for cash other than by way of a rights issue.  
This cannot be done under the Act unless the shareholders 
first waive their pre-emption rights. 

There  are  legal,  regulatory  and  practical  reasons  why  it 
may  not  always  be  possible  to  issue  new  shares  under  a 
rights issue to some shareholders, particularly those resident 
overseas.  To  cater  for  this,  resolution  8  (at  paragraph  (a)), 
in authorising the directors to allot new shares by way of a 
rights issue, also permits the directors to make appropriate 
exclusions or arrangements to deal with such difficulties.

Under the Company's articles of association the Board may, 
with the sanction of an ordinary resolution, offer the holders 
of shares the right to receive shares, credited as fully paid, 
instead of cash in respect of the whole (or some part, to be 
determined by the  Board)  of  such dividend or dividends as 
are specified by such resolution.  Paragraph (b) of resolution 
8  asks  shareholders  to  waive  their  pre-emption  rights  in 
respect of any such issue of shares.

www.iomart.com 

 
resolution 9 to effect that buy back is 5% above the average 
middle  market  price  of  an  Ordinary  Share  for  the  five 
business days immediately preceding the date on which the 
buy back is effected.

The statutory provisions governing buy backs of own shares 
are currently contained in, inter alios, sections 693 and 701 
of the Companies Act 2006. 

68

Notice of the 2010 Annual General Meeting

Resolution  8  (at  paragraph  (c))  asks  shareholders  to  waive 
their pre-emption rights, but only for new shares equal to 5 
per cent. of the Company's issued ordinary share capital as 
at  the  date  of  the  notice  of  this  meeting.  The  directors  will 
be able to use this power without obtaining further authority 
from  shareholders  before  they  allot  new  shares  covered  by 
it.  However,  by  setting  the  limit  of  5  per  cent.,  the  interests 
of existing shareholders are protected, as their proportionate 
interest in the Company cannot, without their agreement, be 
reduced by more than 5 per cent. by the issue of new shares 
for  cash  to  new  shareholders.    If  the  directors  wish,  other 
than by rights issue, to allot for cash new shares which would 
exceed this limit, they would first have to ask the Company's 
shareholders to waive their pre-emption rights in respect of 
that proportion of new shares which exceeds the 5 per cent. 
ceiling.  

The power given by resolution 8 will, unless sooner revoked 
or  renewed  by  the  Company  in  general  meeting,  last  until 
the  conclusion  of  the  next  annual  general  meeting  of  the 
Company to be held in 2011.

Resolution  9  –  Authority  to  purchase  the  Company's 
own shares

This  resolution  grants  authority  to  the  Company  to  make 
purchases of up to a maximum of 10% of the issued ordinary 
share capital of the Company as at the date of the notice of 
this meeting.

In  certain  circumstances  it  may  be  advantageous  for  the 
Company  to  purchase  its  Ordinary  Shares.    The  directors 
would use the share purchase authority with discretion and 
purchases would only made from funds not required for other 
purposes and in light of market conditions prevailing at the 
time.  In reaching a decision to purchase Ordinary Shares, 
your  directors  would  take  account  of  the  Company's  cash 
resources  and  capital,  the  effect  of  such  purchases  on  the 
Company's business and on earnings per Ordinary Share.

The directors have no present intention of using the authority.  
However, the directors consider that it is in the best interests 
of  the  Company  and  its  shareholders  as  a  whole  that 
the  Company  should  have  flexibility  to  buy  back  its  own 
shares  should  the  directors  in  the  future  consider  that  it  is 
appropriate to do so.

In relation to any buy back, the maximum price per Ordinary 
Share  at  which  the  Company  is  authorised  in  terms  of 

iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

 
        
69

Officers and Professional Advisers

Ian Ritchie 
CBE, FREng, FRSE, FBCS, CEng, BSc
Non Executive Chairman

Angus MacSween
Chief Executive Officer

Chris Batterham MA, FCA
Non Executive Director

Sarah Haran
Director

Richard Logan BA, CA
Director

Fred Shedden MA, LLB
Non Executive Director

Bruce Hall BAcc (Hons), CA
Secretary

Registered office
Lister Pavilion, Kelvin Campus, West of Scotland Science Park, Glasgow G20 0SP

Nominated adviser and broker
KBC Peel Hunt Ltd, 111 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1PH

Bankers
Bank of Scotland, 235 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3EY

Solicitors
McGrigors LLP, 141 Bothwell Street, Glasgow G2 7EQ

Independent auditors
Grant Thornton UK LLP, 95 Bothwell Street, Glasgow G2 7JZ

Registrars
Capita IRG plc, Bourne House, 34 Beckenham Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 4TU

Company Registration Number
SC204560

www.iomart.com 

70

Group Contact Information

iomart Group

) : + 44 (0) 141 931 6400

* : info@iomart.com

www.iomart.com

iomart hosting

* : info@iomarthosting.com

www.iomarthosting.com

Easyspace

* : sales@easyspace.com

www.easyspace.com

Rapidswitch

* : sales@rapidswitch.com

www.rapidswitch.com

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iomart group plc Annual Report 2010

  
  
  
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iomart Group plc, Lister Pavilion, Kelvin Campus, West of Scotland Science Park, Glasgow, G20 0SP. www.iomart.com