Instem plc announced that its pre-close trading update for the year ended 31 December 2013. At the time of its update on 22 November 2013 when the company acquired Perceptive Instruments Limited, the company noted that the outcome for the full year would rely on the placing of certain anticipated contracts. Several of these contracts were secured, however contractual discussions regarding a single perpetual license with one large potential client remained ongoing at the year end and consequently results for the year ended 31 December 2013 are expected to be below market forecasts with profitability in line with the year ended 31 December 2012.

Discussions with the client are on-going and, if successfully concluded, will increase the Board's expectations for 2014. Overall order intake in the final quarter of the year was encouraging, with a mix of perpetual license business and four additional Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) deals, the latter making negligible financial contribution in 2013 but will enhance performance in later years. It see the trend in SaaS sales as encouraging and going forward will help to balance the impact of single perpetual license sales and improve future visibility.