RWS sees slight increase in first-half revenue

Intellectual property support services group RWS Holdings expects first-half revenue to be just slightly ahead of the same period the year before, held back by a continued weak performance in Berlin.

Revenue in the six months to March 31st 2012 is expected to be £33.5m, compared with £32.4m the year before, driven by the performance in RWS's core patent translations business and the initial benefit of strong subscriptions for the high-margin PatBase service.

The group has drawn attention to the World Intellectual Property Office, which last month published figures that showed a 10.7% year-on-year increase in patent application filings to set a new record, "demonstrating that procuring international patent rights has remained an integral part of many IP strategies despite the economic conditions."

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"Whilst RWS is not immune to global economic conditions, especially in the Eurozone, the provision of intellectual property support services has proved to be a resilient niche and we are well placed to continue to grow our share of the patent translation and intellectual property services markets," said Executive Chairman Andrew Brode.

Shares were down 1.66% at 526.12p in early trading on Tuesday.

BC