RNS Number : 3924Q
Gladstone PLC
09 April 2009
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Press Release
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9 April 2009
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Gladstone plc
('Gladstone' or 'the Company')
Gladstone wins major university contracts
Gains preferred partner status at the University of Wales and Northumbria University
Gladstone plc (AIM: GLD.L), the leading provider of software solutions and services to the Health & Leisure and Education markets, is delighted to announce that it has again been chosen by a number of prestigious higher education establishments as their preferred provider of member relationship management (MRM) software at single and multi-site campus sports and leisure centres.
Gladstone Health and Leisure, is already well established as the market leader within both the mainstream public and private health and fitness sectors. Since taking the decision to enter the university market, Gladstone has proved that it has the technology, skills and organisational capability honed from its experience from the health and leisure markets to support the unique operational needs of the higher education sector. Gladstone sees the market opportunity as a natural progression from a business synergy, corporate strategy, and business expansion perspective.
Gladstone Health & Leisure's flagship Plus2 software has recently been chosen by the University of Wales, and also by Northumbria University, one of the Company's more established customers, to support how the university interacts with members and non-members alike in its new £26 million sports facility.
Not only can Gladstone's Plus2 solution service the on-site campus needs of students and staff alike, it has also been successful in enabling the universities to enhance their revenue streams by offering public gym memberships to local communities, school swimming lessons, and the increasingly popular summer and half-term camps for children during academic holidays and off-peak times.
Plus2 can also successfully manage advanced access control in an environment where different users have complex and different levels of access to the sports facilities, for example, in performance athletics entrance into the high-performance training area, or temporary barcodes for pay-as-you-go customers.
Dr Said Ziai, Chairman and Chief Executive of Gladstone plc, commented: 'We are delighted that Gladstone continues to be chosen as the preferred partner of choice by well-respected educational establishments to serve their growing health and leisure facility needs for their students, staff and local communities.
'Gladstone has recognised the potential growth opportunity within this education sector, as a natural complement to our core leisure markets. Our inclusive range of customer service-focused solutions, including internet bookings and self-service kiosk solutions, have gained rapid acceptance among a young dynamic and tech-saavy audience. This growing revenue stream has resulted from Gladstone's firm positioning as a complementary partner within the emerging university campus community utilising cashless systems as offered by our education business.'
Gladstone's other current university customers include:
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In England: the University of Southampton, Loughborough University, the University of Bath, Oxford Brookes University and the University of London
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In Wales: the University of Glamorgan and Cardiff University
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In Scotland: Glasgow Caledonian University, University of Strathclyde and the University of Edinburgh
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In Ireland: Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, and Queen's University Belfast
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In Australia: the University of Sydney, Newcastle University and Melbourne University.
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For further information, please contact:
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Financial Adviser and Nominated Adviser to Gladstone:
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Grant Thornton UK LLP
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Gerry Beaney
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Tel: +44 (0) 20 7728 2589
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David Hignell
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Tel: +44 (0) 20 7383 5100
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Media enquiries:
Notes to Editors
Gladstone plc's innovative software products and services, currently targeted at the global health and leisure and education markets, are used daily by thousands of front line staff, managers, end users and students.
Gladstone Health and Leisure is the market leader in the provision of member relationship management solutions for a wide range of health and leisure organisations including trusts, leisure centres, and major private leisure chains and is established as the de facto standard for UK local authorities. The Company enables all its clients in both public and private sectors to utilise central database facilities for central and cross-site on-line bookings, Customer Relationship Management ('CRM') and membership management, centralisation of administration, marketing and reporting.
The Company also provides a wide range of integrated systems and software-based solutions for the rapidly expanding Education Facilities Management Solutions ('EFMS') market across the entire spectrum of educational establishments and is a key supplier to the UK Government's Building Schools for the Future ('BSF') initiative.
Gladstone is focused on extending its solutions capabilities, which enable its clients to maximise resource usage, retain customers and improve operational performance, thereby making cost efficiencies, into new vertical and geographic markets aligned with its growth strategy.
The Company's current solutions include the comprehensive Plus2TM product suite which incorporates advanced functionality including web-based remote booking, advanced analysis and the use of kiosks, as well as Gladstone OnRecordTM which serves the education industry with e-registration, biometric and smart card recognition, cashless payment systems, extensive information portals, libraries usage and access control.
Based in Oxfordshire, the Company has sales offices in Glasgow, Dublin (Ireland) and Sydney (Australia), in addition to development facilities in Sonderborg (Denmark) and Karachi (Pakistan).
For further information, visit www.gladstoneplc.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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