MAS-Trading statement out in the morning

Check this .
Statement due in the morning ffrom MAS about recent trading.
Recent share price rising well ahead of announcements.
19/01/04-
'Marlborough Stirling PLC is teaming up with Prudential PLC
and its internet bank Egg PLC to provide an expanded service for retail
investment and personal finance professionals.
The IT firm is working on integrating Exweb platform used by Independent
Financial Advisers (IFAs), with the pair's Fundsdirect operation.'
12/01/04-
'As discussed at the time of publication of the group's 2003 interim results in
September 2003, Marlborough Stirling plans to provide an update on trading in
respect of the year ended 31st December 2003 as well as the outlook for 2004 on
Thursday 22nd January 2004.'
27/10/03
'A key milestone has recently been achieved with the successful completion of the
migration of SLFoC's 800,000 live policies to Marlborough Stirling's Lamda
platform. Together with the associated re-engineering of SLFoC's business
processes this has resulted in a 60% saving in their operating costs compared to
2000 while at the same time delivering improvements in customer service levels.
With overall costs now less than 0.6% of funds under management this provides a
clear benchmark for the efficiencies that can be achieved through combined
technology and process re-engineering.'
'Agreements have been signed with Scottish Equitable, AXA, Friends Provident,
Norwich Union, Standard Life to participate in the initiative. These providers
have signed medium term contracts for a combined value of #10-15m that relate to
the provision of future quotes and electronic new business transactions.'
'Twelve major IFA firms are also involved in the initiative, including Bradford &
Bingley, Inter-Alliance and Woolwich IFA Services. This will ensure the services
are tailored to add maximum value to the intermediaries' businesses.'
'The new version of the Exchange's portal will be branded Exweb Gold and be
available to IFA's at an increased subscription level.
The project involves an investment in 2003 of over #3m and a similar amount in
2004. Additional revenues will start to accrue in 2004.'
Regarding 2004, our visibility, in terms of contracted and recurring turnover,
is over #60m. At this stage, we are working towards a return to growth in
turnover and earnings in 2004 and we will provide firmer guidance on the
prospects for next year in the new year.'
Hopefully these noises coming out of MAS point towards something positive.