Pre-close period Trading Statement

SDL Maidenhead , United Kingdom
19 December 2006

SDL plc, a leader in the emerging market for global information management (GIM) solutions, today announced that profits before taxation and amortisation of intangible assets (“PBTA”) for the year ended 31 December 2006 are expected to be significantly ahead of consensus market expectations.

 

The company is expecting to report PBTA to be in the range of £10.5 million to £11 million (2005: £7.2 million), compared to a consensus market expectation of £9.6 million. Revenues are expected to be above consensus expectations of £92 million, to be not less than £93.5m (2005: £78.5 million).  The prime drivers for increased profitability being due to technology licence sales and the use of in house technology to enhance service profit levels.

Commenting on the factors that are driving this outperfomance, Mark Lancaster, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SDL said today:

"SDL has had another strong year of revenue and profit growth.  Managing global content is becoming increasingly important to large businesses as they recognise the role it plays in accelerating time-to-market for their products and services - probably the most important factor that determines competitive advantage and success in global markets.  SDL delivers this solution through its Global Information Management software which enables our customers to optimise their content supply chain and deliver content into their global markets fast and efficiently. The company’s global translation services infrastructure completes the SDL solution, in a way that provides ongoing scalability.”

SDL expects to announce full year results for 2006 on 20 February 2007.

About SDL

SDL is the leader in Global Information Management (GIM) solutions that empower organizations to accelerate the delivery of high-quality multilingual content to global markets. Its enterprise software and services integrate with existing business systems to manage the delivery of global information from authoring to publication and throughout the distributed translation supply chain.

Global industry leaders rely on SDL to provide enterprise software or hosted services for their GIM processes, including ABN-Amro, Best Western, Bosch, Canon, Chrysler, CNH, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Philips, SAP, Sony, SUN Microsystems and Virgin Atlantic.

SDL has implemented more than 480 enterprise GIM solutions, has deployed over 150,000 software licenses across the GIM ecosystem and provides access to on-demand translation portals for 10 million customers per month. Over 1,000 service professionals deliver consulting, implementation and language services through its global infrastructure of more than 50 offices in 30 countries. For more information, visit www.sdl.com

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Nicola Bogle (SDL)
+44 (0)1628 417225
nbogle@sdl.com