Micro Focus Lanches Technology Manifesto – “Making BrITain Great Again”

 Catalyst For UK Growth, Jobs & Prosperity  

Micro Focus and cross-party panel of distinguished parliamentarians call on leaders from business, academia and politics to implement industrial plan for IP-rich technology industries to ‘make BrITain great again’ and generate 250,000 new jobs

House of Lords, Westminster, LONDON & NEWBURY, England, 21^st July, 2009 — Micro Focus® (LSE.MCRO.L), one of the UK’s leading and most successful technology companies and a leading provider of enterprise application management and modernisation solutions, today announces the launch of Making BrITain Great Again: The Micro Focus Technology Manifesto - Catalyst for UK Growth, Jobs & Prosperity.

The Micro Focus Technology Manifesto calls on UK leaders in business, academia and politics to help address the long-term challenges caused by the decline in manufacturing and the recent ‘shock’ in financial services. It proposes an integrated plan to develop sustainable growth, employment, and wealth from the intellectual property (IP-rich) technology industries.  Micro Focus’ plan has the potential to unlock a much larger contribution to national GDP from the IP-rich technology industries and calls for a quarter of a million UK jobs to be created within 8-10 years.

Making BrITain Great Again is launched today by Micro Focus CEO Stephen Kelly at the House of Lords, Westminster, London with the support of Richard Holway, Chairman, TechMarketView LLP, one of the UK’s leading Technology statesmen and a cross-party panel of parliamentarians - Lord Young of Graffham (Conservative and former Secretary of State for Employment and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry), Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour) and Lord Razzall of Mortlake (LibDem). All are distinguished by their passion for the development of a world-class UK IP-rich technology industry.

The Manifesto outlines three areas which Micro Focus believes hold the key to a step change in the technology sector’s contribution to UK plc – entrepreneurship; academic connections with industry; and a consistent fiscal framework for growth and prosperity.  The over-riding goal of the Manifesto is to increase UK technology jobs by 250,000 and in the process, significantly raise the contribution by home-grown technology businesses to GDP over the next ten years, thus providing a real roadmap for recovery by creating sustainable jobs, businesses and wealth.

To build the global businesses to achieve this, today’s Micro Focus Technology Manifesto recommends five directional priorities:

1.      Jobs, jobs, jobs… Increase the supply of world-class technology talent in the UK

2.      Harness the expertise and goodwill of successful leaders around the world to mentor leaders of UK-based emerging technology businesses

3.      Radically change the tax incentives available to companies and individuals who want to invest in growing technology businesses

4.      Implement specific fiscal incentives for UK-based tech companies seeking to accelerate world-leading R&D

5.      Proactively encourage international technology companies to invest in the UK

“UK plc is saddled with debt, decline, depleted industry and deteriorating employment, yet we have a great pedigree of innovation and IP-rich industries. Today, with a lack of hope for the future, and public cynicism with business and politics, it is exciting to be presenting a positive agenda for UK plc,” said Stephen Kelly, Micro Focus CEO. “Now more than ever, is the time for business, politics and academia to create more UK jobs by joining forces to implement a plan which fosters talent, encourages fiscal support and inward investment to produce a world class IP-rich technology industry which can truly make Britain great again.” 

During the first phase of this initiative, working with a taskforce of leaders from business, academia, and politics, the Technology Manifesto will be developed, refined and modelled to provide firm plans and recommendations by September 2009. The objective is that all the main political party manifestos and subsequent policies take account of the recommendations for ‘Making BrITain Great Again’, supported by a strong and vibrant technology industry.

“Today at the House of Lords with a distinguished cross-party panel, supported by endorsers across UK industry, we call upon leaders in business, politics and academia to sign-up to our five point manifesto target to achieve a quarter of a million new jobs and further strengthen a world-class UK technology industry of which we can be proud,” said Stephen Kelly, Micro Focus CEO. 

“I fully support the Micro Focus Technology Manifesto and look forward to its recommendations after the summer. We have an urgent need to reinforce the development and use of new technology across all sectors of our economy so as to increase our productivity and create more employment,” said Lord Young of Graffham (Conservative). “I am pleased to be a founding member of this cross-party initiative which will enable the UK to compete successfully on a global basis,” continued Lord Young.  

“I am similarly pleased to be adding my sponsorship to this cross-party panel which endorses the Micro Focus Technology Manifesto’s priorities for generating the extra employment desperately needed by the UK,” said Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour). “With the right encouragement, the UK technology industry has potential to nurture British talent and generate many more jobs over the coming years.”

“Britain needs to be at the forefront of technology. If we can improve our technology base we can be a world leader,” said Lord Razzall of Mortlake (LibDem).  “I am joining this cross-party support for the Micro Focus Manifesto’s commitment to generating more high quality jobs, better products and increased innovation to sell overseas, and make Britain a world class industrial player,” continued Lord Razzall.

“Britain has some very good IP-rich technology companies, but the opportunity exists to have many more in the years to come,” said Richard Holway, Chairman, TechMarketView LLP. “The Micro Focus Technology Manifesto offers an industrial plan to develop a technology industry that can be a force for growth and prosperity at home, and on the global stage. Politics, academia and business leaders should now embrace these recommendations as a roadmap for the growth and regeneration of the technology industry that Britain deserves,” continued Richard Holway.

Along with Richard Holway and the cross-party panel of distinguished politicians, more than 30 influential leaders have endorsed the Technology Manifesto including Jon Moulton, CEO, Alchemy Partners; Adam Hale, Chairman, Prince’s Trust Technology Leadership Group; Neil Berkett, CEO Virgin Media. A full list of endorsers can be found in the notes to editors.    

To download a copy of Making Britain Great Again: The Micro Focus Technology Manifesto - Catalyst for UK Growth & Prosperity and sign up to support this initiative visit

www.makingBrITainGreat.co.uk

About Micro Focus

Micro Focus provides innovative software that allows companies to dramatically improve the business value of their enterprise applications. Micro Focus Enterprise Application Modernisation and Management software enables customers’ business applications to respond rapidly to market changes and embrace modern architectures with reduced cost and risk. For additional information please visit http://www.microfocus.com/.

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Micro Focus is a registered trademark of Micro Focus.  All other products and companies mentioned in this announcement are the trademarks of their respective owners.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

ABOUT THE SUPPORTING PANEL

Richard Holway, Chairman, TechMarketView LLP

• Richard Holway is considered to be one of the UK's leading ICT analysts.

• Richard started in computing in 1966 as a programmer, joined Hoskyns (now Capgemini) in 1968 and progressed to join the board in 1979 as Group Marketing Director. In 1984, Richard was appointed Managing Director of Wootton Jeffreys plc before forming Richard Holway Limited in 1986.

• Richard Holway Limited became the leading authority on the financial performance of the UK software and IT services market and its constituent companies. Richard launched the annual Holway Report in 1988. In 1989, he published the first edition of the monthly newsletter SYSTEMhouse and, in 1996, the Hotnews internet news service - one of the very first technology "blogs". www.ukHotViews.com is the current manifestation of Hotnews and is required daily reading for thousands of tech CEOs and directors.

• In November 2000, Richard Holway Limited was acquired by Ovum and the service continued as Holway@Ovum. Richard was appointed as a director of Ovum as well as continuing as a leading analyst with Ovum. In March 2006, Ovum successfully IPOed on AIM at 190p. In Dec. 06, Datamonitor acquired Ovum for £42m/300p; a considerable premium. Richard stepped down from the board at that time.

• In 2002, Richard was one of the founding members of the Prince's Trust Technology Leadership Group and has raised over £7.5m for the Trust since. Richard's annual speeches have themselves raised over £750,000 to help disadvantaged young people. Richard served as the Chairman of the Group until April 2009.

• Richard has considerable experience as a Non-Executive Director (both of private and publicly quoted companies) and as an advisor to the boards of leading ICT companies. Currently, Richard sits on the advisory board at Elderstreet Capital Partners as a non executive director at the publicly quoted RCM Technology Trust plc and as a non executive director on the board of Regent Partners International Ltd - the holding company of M&A specialists Regent Associates.

• Richard joined forces with Anthony Miller once again in October 2008 to launch a new UK IT research venture, TechMarketView LLP, where he is now Chairman.

Rt Hon the Lord Young of Graffham, DL

• Lord Young of Graffham is a qualified solicitor and spent 20 years building up his own companies before entering Parliament in 1975 as a Conservative MP.

• After the 1987 general election, where he played a key role, Lord Young served as the Secretary of State for Employment and as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry during the 1980s, and was regarded a key advisor to Margaret Thatcher in this time. Indeed, he is listed in a Daily Telegraph article last year as being amongst the 50 most influential people of Lady Thatcher’s era.

• Lord Young retired from government in July 1989, serving as Deputy Chairman of the Party until June 1990, when he published book entitled, "The Enterprise Years", an autobiographical account.

• Lord Young set up his own company, Young Associates Ltd, which actively invests in technology companies.

The Lord Harris of Haringey

• Lord Harris of Haringey became a Labour peer in June 1998 and sits on a number of committees, All Party Parliamentary Groups and Boards.

• Lord Harris is Treasurer of the All Party Parliamentary Group on IT (PITCOM) – and was a member of the House of Lords Select Committee that reported on Personal Internet Security in 2007.

• He has developed a long-term interest and track-record in IT, being a prolific blogger, penning articles for instance on data security threats, science, Digital Britain, cloud computing and social networking.

• In 1980, Lord Harris was a contributor to the ‘Economics of Prosperity’ (1980); and worked in the Economics Division of the Bank of England (1975-79).

• Lord Harris has had his own company, Toby Harris Associates, since 1998, providing consultancy advice to both private and public sector organisations, including: Unisys, Anite Group, KPMG and Transport for London; and previously he has advised Infolog Training (1998-2005), Vantage Point (1998-2001) and DEMSA (2001-03); Harris has also wide experience in the healthcare sector – for example, as a Senior Associate with the King's Fund (1998-2004) and Vice Patron of the Artificial Heart Fund (2004) – where technological innovation plays a significant part.

The Lord Razzall of Mortlake CBE

• Since 1998, Lord Razzall has been the Lib Dem spokesman for Trade & Industry and its successor, Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

• Lord Razzall has over 35 years' experience in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions - see with particular emphasis on multinational and cross border transactions

• Lord Razzall was awarded the CBE in the New Year’s Honours, 1993 and became a life peer in 1997

• In 1996, Lord Razzall established Argonaut Associates - where he is now Senior Partner - to provide management, financial and corporate advisory services to owner managers and corporate entities wishing to expand into traditional or emerging business sectors; and he is a Director of Erinaceous plc

• Lord Razzall’s Directorships have included Abaco Investments Plc (Chairman), Cala plc, Specialty Shops plc (later Milner Estates plc), Chairman of Star Mining Corporation of Australia and Chairman of C&B Publishing plc

• Until 1993 he was Chief Executive of city law firm Frere Cholmeley Bischoff and he was awarded the title of European Lawyer of the Year in 1992

• Prior to Frere Cholmeley Bischoff, Lord Razzall was a teaching associate at North Western University in Chicago

Stephen Kelly, Micro Focus CEO

• Stephen Kelly has 25 years successful IT industry experience in various leading Board, Executive and Operational roles:

• Unique experience as both Chief Executive Officer of FTSE250 Company and previously Chief Executive Officer of US public company (NASDAQ). 

• Consistent track record of growth and value creation for shareholders.

• International experience in all major geographies and markets.

• Micro Focus (May 2006-to date) Chief Executive Officer. Market value increased from £150m to £700m.  

• Stephen was appointed in 2006 and has led the company turnaround. Since Stephen’s appointment, Micro Focus has grown substantially, expanding the workforce from 400 to 1,200, more than tripled profits, taken EBITDA margins from 23% to 43% and completed six successful acquisitions of both public and private US and European software companies.  

• Micro Focus is now a top 6 European software company by market value and Top 200 UK public company.

• Previously, Stephen spent almost 20 years in leadership roles for successful US software companies (including Oracle in 1988-97). He was CEO of Chordiant, a NASDAQ company, for five years before returning to the UK in 2006. 

FULL LIST OF INDUSTRY ENDORSERS

Making BrITain Great Again: The Micro Focus Technology Manifesto - Catalyst for UK Growth, Jobs & Prosperity is endorsed by: