TANGENT 
/
PLC
T angent Communications plc
84–86 Great Portland Street 
London W1W 7NR
www.tangentplc.com
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Intelligent marketing 
and technology
Tangent Communications plc Annual report and accounts 2009
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T angent is a leading 
integrator of technology, 
data and marketing strategy.
US/
Who we are
What we do
_
Our companies combine  
world-class technical and creative 
skills with marketing expertise 
to deliver highly personalised and 
bespoke digital communications 
for leading brands. 
Our companies provide services 
that integrate seamlessly with 
each other and allow us to provide 
end-to-end digital and direct 
marketing strategies. We call 
this our ‘Network of Experts’.
  01 highlights
 02 Our structure
 04 chairman’s statement
 06 Business review
   06 Joint chief executives’ review
  16 Financial review
 18 gO vernance
  18 Board of directors
  20 Directors’ report
  23 corporate governance statement
  25 remuneration report
  27 independent auditors’ report
 28 Financial statements
  28 consolidated income statement
  29  c onsolidated statement of 
changes in equity
  30 consolidated balance sheet
  31 	 Consolidated 	 cash 	 flow 	 statement
  32  company statement of changes 
in equity
  33 company balance sheet
  34 	 Company 	 cash 	 flow 	 statement
  35 	 Notes 	 to 	 the 	 financial 	 statements
 48  nOtice OF annual general 
meeting
 51 FOrm OF prO xy
 IBC Financial calenD ar
Financial calendar
28 July 2009  Annual general meeting
26 August 2009  Dividend payment (subject to shareholder approval)
31 August 2009  Financial half year end
November 2009  Interim results announcement
28 February 2010  Financial year end
May 2010  Annual results announcement
_0_tan_ar09_cover.indd   2 22/06/2009   14:50:00 highlights/
tangent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
01
highlights
Highlights
Operational
Restructured the company into five new operational divisions and brands
Completed work transfer programme and office re-location
Launched Tangent One Australia off the back of major e-commerce win
Launched Version 2.0 of Tangent Direct’s local marketing software
Acquired Lateral Net Ltd – award winning digital strategy agency (March 2009)
Secured a license agreement with VLM Holdings Ltd adding key property networks 
to Ravensworth (March 2009)
Launch of the Digital Print Partnership (May 2009)
Financial
Revenue £15.61m (2008: £17 .36m)
Underlying operation profit £1.08m (2008: £2.44m)
Underlying basic earnings per share 0.50p (2008: 1.24p)
Cash from operations £1.60m (2008: £2.55m)
Net funds £2.65m (2008: £2.43m)
Dividend maintained at 0.2p per share
_0_tan_ar09_front.indd   1 22/06/2009   14:50:36 Business  
overview
Main technology  
platforms
key Brands
Core markets
Online 
technology, 
creative and 
marketing 
strategy
Research and 
development
Direct and local 
marketing
T angent One creates, 
executes and manages 
end to end digital 
communications 
across e-commerce, 
websites, email and 
mobile marketing.
T angent Labs is a 
technology development 
powerhouse at the 
leading edge of intelligent 
marketing technology.
T angent Direct provides 
highly targeted 
and personalised 
communications built 
around the intelligent 
integration of customer 
data and variable creative.
T aoBase™, a proprietary 
tool that captures, 
stores and segments 
customer data, providing 
clients with a single 
customer view across 
all digital transactions.
T aoBase™ and T oolkit™: 
two unique operating 
environments that combine 
customer databases, 
innovative websites 
and online applications 
to drive personalised 
communication.
T oolkit™: a proprietary 
online marketing tool that 
enables bespoke and 
local direct marketing 
on a national scale.
02
tangent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
_
Tangent companies deliver 
industry‑leading technology developed 
to continually challenge and improve 
the way marketing is delivered. Each 
is a recognised expert in its field and 
the group is built around synergy 
as a central principle.
Our structure
_0_tan_ar09_front.indd   2 22/06/2009   14:50:36 OUR STRUCTURE/
Business  
overview
Main technology  
platforms
Short run 
digital print
TOD (T angent On 
Demand) is a specialist 
and premium digital 
print solutions provider, 
delivering fast turnaround, 
short run, on demand print 
without compromising 
either quality or accuracy.
T/OD’s ability to 
consistently deliver high 
quality on demand print 
under the most challenging 
conditions is built upon 
the company’s investment 
in the most advanced 
printing technology.
key Brands specialist Brands
Core markets
 
 
 
User  
interfaces
ZUI utilises a unique 
and proprietary framework 
to provide increased 
productivity for SAP 
software through the 
development of highly 
customised and 
user-friendly interfaces.
ZUI’s proprietary 
framework blends 
SAP and Rich Internet 
Application technologies 
to create modern user 
interfaces for enterprise 
applications.
Property 
marketing 
services
Ravensworth delivers 
industry leading marketing 
services to the property 
sector, providing highly 
bespoke and localised 
marketing collateral to 
over 3,000 estate agents 
in the UK.
Highly advanced and 
intuitive web to print 
technology allied to one 
of Europe’s most advanced 
digital print facilities is key 
to Ravensworth’s ability 
to deliver truly on-demand 
marketing material.
03
Our structure tangent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
_0_tan_ar09_front.indd   3 22/06/2009   14:50:37 Piers Caldecote
04
_
I am confident that T angent is in 
a good position to move ahead 
over the next two years, with strong 
recovery from the weakness of the 
second half of last year.
tangent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Chairman’s statement
Chairman’s statement
The acquisition of Ravensworth in March 2007 
and the subsequent failure to expand Tangent 
by acquisition in other sectors left us too exposed 
to the residential property market. 
Although we realised that activity in the residential 
property market in 2007 was cyclically high, we did 
not anticipate the severity of the decline which even 
with the benefit of new HIPS work has resulted in a 
37% reduction in demand for our property digital 
printing services on a like-for-like basis. 
The resourceful management team has done excellent 
work in consolidating our digital printing activities and 
adding new customers, but with high operational gearing 
the overall profit contribution has fallen substantially. 
When activity in the residential property market 
recovers and with any further growth from new clients, 
the operational gearing should work in our favour.
Our other businesses increased their profits in the year. 
We have highly creative teams which provide innovative 
technology and marketing services, often to large clients. 
For example, in October 2008, Tangent One won 
its largest ever contract to build the e-commerce 
operations for Australia’s leading book retailer and 
T angent Labs’ business software joint venture ZUI is 
building a mobile sales tool for a major drinks business.
However, in total T angent’s underlying pre-tax profits 
in 2008/09 have fallen to £1.15m from £2.5m.
_0_tan_ar09_front.indd   4 22/06/2009   14:50:41 CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT/
Chairman’s statement
Our financial position remains strong with net cash 
generation in the year of £0.14m resulting in net cash 
of £2.65m at the end of the year. Therefore, and with a 
solid start to the current year, we are recommending 
that the dividend of 0.2p per share (payable on 
26 August 2009) is maintained at a cost of £0.34m.
I am confident that T angent is in a good position 
to move ahead over the next two years, with strong 
recovery from the weakness of the second half 
of last year.
Tangent has quality, creative people and valuable 
physical and intellectual proprietary assets supported 
by a robust balance sheet. We have recently made 
two acquisitions which can prosper within our existing 
central overhead structure. We expect other similar 
opportunities to arise, resulting in potentially high 
marginal contributions.
We are grateful for the support shown by our 
shareholders in this difficult period. I thank all 
our employees for their hard work.
Piers Caldecote
Non‑executive chairman
2 June 2009
05
tangent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
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tangent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
_
T angent has a strong balance sheet 
which will underpin our operations 
through the recession, core businesses 
which are either already growing or 
positioned for rapid growth when the 
economy stabilises and lastly a number 
of new initiatives which could add 
significant value.
Business review
Joint chief executives’ review
Business review
Joint chief executives’ review
Timothy Green
Nicholas Green
Reacting to the change in the business climate 
the company restructured its operations in 2008. 
This process included a reduction in headcount 
across all offices, a consolidation of all marketing 
production into one facility (Newcastle), the re-location 
of two offices, the closure of our Cheltenham production 
facility and re-structuring the T angent brand.
The company’s fall in profits was due to a reduction in 
sales of £2.31m from Ravensworth which provides print 
services to estate agents. This fall reduced significantly 
the profit contribution from this part of the business 
and was too great to be offset by the largely strong 
performance from the other parts of the business. 
T angent has a strong balance sheet which will underpin 
our operations through the recession, core businesses 
which are either already growing or positioned for rapid 
growth when the economy stabilises and lastly a number 
of new initiatives which could add significant value. 
With the restrictions in the equity market, 
management has focused on small bolt-on 
acquisitions. In March 2009 the company acquired 
a digital marketing agency, Lateral Net Ltd which 
overnight doubled the size of our digital marketing 
agency T angent One. Also in March 2009 T angent took 
control of the UK licence to the VLM software platform. 
VLM was the largest competitor to Ravensworth and 
the company has now significantly increased its 
market share. Both transactions were funded from 
internal resources and build on our two key markets 
of local marketing and e-commerce. 
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Business review
Joint chief executives’ review
07
tangent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
The new financial year has got off to a good start 
with the business performing ahead of budget. 
The board’s decision to maintain the dividend is a 
reflection of confidence in T angent’s current operations 
and growth strategies, notwithstanding the very real 
challenges of today’s business climate. 
Business review
The rebranding exercise undertaken at the half year 
created two key marketing brands, T angent One and 
T angent Direct. T angent Labs has been set up to drive 
the technology development of both Tangent One 
and Tangent Direct and has direct sales to only a 
handful of significant customers. Our specialist brands 
Ravensworth (property), T angent On Demand (London 
digital print) and ZUI (software development) have all 
been given direct routes to market.
Tangent One 
T angent One is a full service digital agency with key 
services including website creation, e-commerce, 
email and mobile marketing. The business has 
matured over the last three years, delivering steadily 
larger projects, with particular specialisms in retail, 
publishing and charities. 
2008/09 review
2008/09 was transformational for T angent One, as the 
agency graduated from building strategically robust 
medium-sized projects, to winning large scale websites 
for household name brands, in the UK and internationally. 
The year saw the launch of the T aoCommerce online 
shopping platform; the opening of our Melbourne 
office and account wins that included the Department 
of Health and Cancer Research UK, often in closely 
fought multi-stage pitches. In addition, the group’s 
cross-selling initiative has resulted in large pieces 
of incremental business from long standing T angent 
clients such as ATS, Borders Books, Greene King, 
Citroën and Wolseley. 
Tangent One Australia
In October 2008 T angent One successfully won a 
pitch to build a 1 million product eCommerce site for 
Angus and Robertson, Australia’s leading book retailer. 
Based on the T aoCommerce platform, the project involved 
creating a technology framework that would be extended 
to four additional transactional websites in Australia, 
New Zealand and Singapore. With platform development 
conducted in London by T angent Labs, the Melbourne 
operation has its own technical and account management 
resource and design talent. It is also in the process 
of driving new business opportunities in the region, 
a process that is already delivering promising results.
Business outlook
In March 2009 T angent completed the acquisition of 
Lateral Net Ltd, one of the UK’s longest established 
digital creative agencies. Lateral brings new revenue 
from a client base that includes household names 
like Paco Rabanne, Hodder & Stoughton and 
Which? Magazine.
Their multi-award winning creative team complements 
T angent’s existing strategic and technical excellence, 
which has become more noticeable during the recent 
integration process with T angent One. The businesses 
are now located in T angent’s London offices and are 
being led by Nick Gillett (managing director), Simon Crab 
(creative director) and Jon Bains (strategy director).
The combination of Lateral and T angent One presents 
a number of opportunities:
•  Digital remains a growth medium. T angent now has 
a larger, higher profile business operating in this area 
and as such we expect a larger proportion of the 
group’s future profits to come from digital marketing.
•  By doubling the size of both individual businesses, 
the combined agency is able to pitch for higher 
value projects. In May 2009 Tangent One and 
Lateral won their first integrated pitch for Boots, 
which has added the agency to its roster, starting 
with a project for cosmetics brand No7.
•  Platform and channel-neutral, T angent One has 
the freedom to use either the T aoBase platform 
or existing client-side systems to deliver projects. 
T echnology is never a barrier to winning new work.
The outlook for 2009/10 is positive. Our PR strategy 
is generating increasing levels of interest in 
the agency, additional work is arriving from 
Lateral and a number of new pitches are 
already scheduled. 
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t angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Business review continued
tangent labs
Tangent Labs is a pure technology development 
business. Project teams with highly-skilled technical 
developers build the applications which support the 
clients of T angent One and T angent Direct. In addition 
T angent Labs has a number of direct large corporate 
clients for which it provides bespoke project work. 
The division employs 23 people and uses bespoke 
development methodologies to achieve high levels 
of innovative output. 
The strategy for the business is to continue to develop 
scalable solutions for T angent One and T angent Direct 
as well as to identify ways in which it can maximise the 
commercial opportunity for developed applications 
in the wider marketplace by focusing on developing 
solutions which improve clients’ businesses. 
2008/09 review
The year saw growth in sales, team capabilities and 
product development. Demand for the services sold 
by Tangent Direct and Tangent One accelerated the 
investment in T aoBase, T angent’s proprietary technology 
platform. T oday the platform is the cornerstone for a 
range of solutions which include:
•  T aoBase – database design, construction 
and implementation;
•  T aoMail – fully integrated email platform generating 
targeted and high volume email campaigns with 
a fully integrated tracking and results interface 
for campaign management;
•  SWC – enterprise content management for websites, 
allowing clients to manage anything from one to 
hundreds of websites from a single login and 
content repository; and
•  T oolkit – enterprise digital print platform, allowing 
clients at head offi ce or branch level to generate 
high quality variable communications within 
brand guidelines.
In addition, T angent Labs has a number of corporate 
customers. In these cases T angent Labs is commonly 
solving business critical problems and providing 
embedded solutions which become part of a 
company’s internal architecture. By way of example, 
T angent Labs recently created MenuBuilder for the 
food service industry.
Application case study – MenuBuilder
The UK food and beverage industry is facing a number 
of critical legislative changes as well as operational 
challenges. These include: 
•  the inclusion of nutritional information on menus;
•  rapid and frequent changes in wholesale prices 
of food and beverages;
•  the importance of reducing wastage, increasing 
revenue per customer in the current economic 
climate; and
•  the need to refresh menus frequently and vary them 
locally to meet modern consumer expectations.
Business review
Joint chief executives’ review
Joint chief executives’ review continued
Market leading e‑commerce 
in a hurry
anGUs & rOBertsOn >
Australia’s biggest 
bookshop chain, 
Angus & Robertson, 
needed to re‑launch 
their high profi le 
online store and 
deliver the entire 
project in less than 
three months.
Tangent One worked 
with a range of third 
party suppliers from 
fulfi lment to fraud 
prevention, enabling 
live integration between 
all and created a site 
that could also be 
re‑used by other 
store brands in the 
same group.
Email and search 
marketing will be next, 
driving traffi c to the site 
through paid 
advertising (PPC) and 
best practice search 
engine optimisation 
(SEO) to attract users 
searching for products 
to buy.
With a hugely 
successful and highly 
regarded web shop 
under its belt and 
more in development, 
Tangent One is making 
a name for itself 
down under. 
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09
t angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Business review
Joint chief executives’ review
Improving profi tability and 
revolutionising effi ciency
natiOnal UniOn OF stUdents serVices ltd (nUssl) >
When NUSSL 
required a more 
cost effective way 
to build, manage 
and market their 
entire food service 
operation, Tangent 
Labs developed 
MenuBuilder.
MenuBuilder has made 
it possible to simplify 
a range of previously 
extremely complicated 
and time consuming 
procedures such as 
nutritional labelling, 
menu generation and 
daily reporting and 
management of 
business data, helping 
to put managers in 
control at both a local 
and national level. 
An integrated link to 
Tangent’s digital print 
facility adds further 
functionality.
_
MenuBuilder is an incredibly 
exciting innovation for us as 
we believe it will genuinely 
revolutionise the effi ciency 
of our business.
Ged Parker, Commercial Consultant
NUSSL
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tangent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Business review
Joint chief executives’ review
Business review continued
MenuBuilder allows head office and local chefs to create 
menus, with ingredients automatically connected to 
supplier databases. This means that when ingredient 
prices change, the system automatically alerts users, 
changes suppliers or revises menu prices. The system 
allows a national food service business to reduce the 
timeline for creating a new menu from 16 weeks to two 
weeks. It automatically orders menus to be printed at 
Tangent’s digital printing facility, can publish menus 
to websites and even updates point of sales terminals 
with the latest pricing. 
MenuBuilder has already been bought by a number of 
customers and is currently part of a new strategy to take 
T angent Labs’ developed products to a wider audience. 
Business outlook
The change in economic climate has affected the demand 
for high value bespoke technical projects and as a direct 
result we expect the contribution from T angent Labs to be 
significantly below last year. For this reason the strategy 
implemented for this year will be to increase direct sales 
of the work developed by T angent Labs. Whilst we expect 
this to take time to deploy as the general business climate 
returns, we expect the business to return in stronger 
shape as it will have a more diversified sales mix 
including direct and indirect sales. 
ZUI – a joint venture between Tangent Labs 
and De Villiers Walton
ZUI was set up in 2008 to pool the resources of two 
world-leading software implementation teams to 
deliver revolutionary web interfaces for enterprise 
software. Towards the end of its first year in 
operation, the venture has collected a number of 
small contracts with large organisations. The turning 
point for 2009/10 has been a four month contract 
to build a significant software interface for one 
of Europe’s largest companies; we expect this 
contract to be a significant six-figure piece of work.
Tangent Direct
T angent Direct has two businesses which are linked 
together through the company’s campaign management 
and digital print facility in Newcastle. The business 
brands are T angent Direct and Ravensworth.
T angent Direct provides clients with a market-leading, 
data-driven communications platform that delivers 
accountable and cost effective brand strategy across 
multiple channels. The platform allows clients to 
create, adapt order and track marketing collateral 
for print, email, web or mobile campaigns through a 
single, easy to use interface. The business employs 
94 people across three locations in Cheltenham, London 
and Newcastle and currently delivers solutions for 
a wide range of clients including The Labour Party, 
Citroën, Greene King, GalaCoral and Wolseley.
Joint chief executives’ review continued
_
Tangent Direct’s strategic thinking 
and advanced technology made this 
complex project very manageable 
and surprisingly cost effective, 
helping us to develop a unique 
platform that really does enable 
us to think global, but act local.
Lou Collins, Marketing Manager 
Greene King
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11
t angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Business review
Joint chief executives’ review
Greene kinG >
Communicating a 
national brand locally
When leading pub 
retailer and brewer 
Greene King wanted 
to build stronger, 
more profi table 
and longer lasting 
relationships with 
local customers 
Tangent Direct 
provided the 
perfect solution.
Using the proprietary 
TaoBase data 
management and 
processing platform, 
Tangent built a central 
online content 
management system 
allowing landlords to 
quickly nominate details 
about their pub and use 
them to drive both the 
content of their local 
website and generate 
personalised CRM 
campaigns across web, 
email, mobile, direct 
mail and POS.
Tangent Direct’s business strategy is based on the 
ever growing demand for effi ciency, cost effectiveness 
and personalisation within marketing communications. 
The company provides a much needed alternative 
to the increasingly out-dated operational models of 
traditional communications agencies by providing 
a single interface and a channel neutral perspective 
that allows delivery of the right message, to the right 
person through the right channel at all times. 
2008/09 review
In 2008/09 T angent Direct continued to increase its 
revenues, customer base and services. Particularly 
signifi cant has been the growth in the breadth of services 
provided to existing clients whose confi dence in T angent 
Direct’s ability to deliver integrated communications 
strategies continues to grow. In addition, its profi le has 
been substantially improved within the industry press 
through a sustained PR strategy that is successfully 
positioning T angent Direct as a thought leader in the 
delivery of data-driven local marketing strategy.
Business outlook
2009/10 should see an increase in design and 
consultancy services from this division. As a full 
service direct agency the team has broadened 
the strategic offering through design, planning and 
deployment of campaigns with a full circle results and 
analysis service. This allows Tangent to provide the 
complete loop in direct marketing activities which 
should reinforce our strong position with key clients 
and generate an increasingly profi table revenue 
model for the future. 
The current climate is well suited for T angent Direct. 
Businesses are now focused on how they are 
spending money and what returns on marketing 
investment they are receiving. Customers are also 
becoming more demanding and are seeking brands 
to engage on a more sophisticated level and justify 
harder on cost levels. All these reasons work well 
for T angent Direct and the services it provides. 
Ravensworth
Ravensworth is the UK’s leading supplier of printed 
sales particulars to UK estate agents. The business 
has a combination of large corporate customers 
(Countrywide, Halifax and Reeds Rains) and small 
independent customers. The facility based in 
Newcastle also produces a signifi cant proportion 
of the UK’s printed Home Information Packs (HIPs).
2008/09 review
2008/09 proved a very diffi cult year. The residential 
housing market collapsed, signifi cantly reducing 
the number of properties for sale and therefore 
the requirement from estate agents for printed sales 
particulars. On a like-for-like basis compared to 2007/08 
sales were down 37%. In addition the number of agents 
using the Ravensworth technology platform reduced 
due to a combination of agents going out of business 
and in some cases agents choosing temporarily to 
print in house. 
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t angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Business review
Joint chief executives’ review
Joint chief executives’ review continued
Successful marketing 
implementation
Reeds Rains, 
an estate agent 
with over 100 
branches, turned 
to Ravensworth to 
deliver a strategic 
marketing campaign 
to increase 
market share. 
Targeting different 
sectors of the housing 
market Ravensworth 
prepared a range of 
campaign materials to 
promote Reeds Rains 
extensive services with 
all items being available 
to order online, resulting 
in property listings 
increasing by 80% 
on the previous year. 
Such strategic thinking 
allied to our unique 
combination of 
creativity and 
technology 
demonstrates that 
businesses can deliver 
success even in the 
most challenging 
of circumstances.
reeds rains >
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13
tangent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Business review
Joint chief executives’ review
_
I’m pleased to say that with the 
expertise and help of Ravensworth 
the campaign has been a tremendous 
success with Reeds Rains ‘bucking’ 
the trend in most locations, and one 
of the best decisions we’ve made.
David Mills, Managing Director 
Reeds Rains
Business review continued
During this period headcount was reduced and work 
from London was transferred to Newcastle to offset 
the reduction in property volumes. The work transfer 
process has brought about a number of long term 
benefits for T angent:
•  Historically the facility in Newcastle was solely focussed 
on producing a handful of products for one market, 
namely the property market. T oday, thanks to the work 
transfer process and an internal training programme, 
T angent has a multi functional facility which provides 
a significantly larger range of products to a much 
wider market and a greater number of customers. 
In the long term this will allow the sales team to sell 
a broader range of products to our customers 
and the business to enter into new markets. 
•  By moving marketing production from London 
to Newcastle, T angent has been able to break out 
T angent On Demand into its own premises, benefit 
from cost efficiencies in consolidating marketing 
production and provide Tangent One, Tangent 
Direct and T angent Labs with an appropriate office 
environment which reflects their brand values. 
Business outlook
T oday we have shifted our focus away from branch 
numbers and concentrated our efforts on increasing the 
number of products sold to each branch. The strategy 
for Ravensworth is being implemented as follows:
•  Through a licencing deal with VLM, Ravensworth 
has increased its market share and will benefit from 
lower levels of competition in the market place. VLM 
was the largest competitor to Ravensworth and counts 
Savills, Spicer Haart and Sequence amongst its 
client base. We expect to see further consolidation 
opportunities in the year. 
•  Over half of VLM’s business was in canvassing 
materials or direct mail. Their experience and 
knowledge are now being transferred to the 
Ravensworth sales team and therefore we expect 
our share of this market and thus revenue per 
customer to increase over time. 
•  We have expanded our digital proposition to 
include email marketing and web build to secure 
non-print revenues from the estate agency market.
Whilst we expect it to take time, we are confident that 
we can become the primary provider of marketing 
services to estate agents. With an extensive customer 
base already in place, the opportunity to generate new 
revenues today and as the market returns is strong. 
We will be tracking closely our cost base against current 
levels of activity in the property market. We are changing 
practices to ensure we are ever more efficient for when 
the market returns, to maximise the growth opportunity 
and profit contribution from this part of the group.
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tangent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Business review
Joint chief executives’ review
Joint chief executives’ review continued
_
The new financial year has got off to a 
good start with the business performing 
ahead of budget. The board’s decision 
to maintain the dividend is a reflection 
of confidence in Tangent’s current 
operations and growth strategies, 
notwithstanding the very real challenges 
of today’s business climate.
Business review continued
Tangent On Demand
T angent On Demand is a boutique digital print business. 
Based in central London, it has one of the largest suites 
of small and large format digital printing capabilities and 
provides short run on demand services to the corporate 
and retail marketplace. The business employs 22 people.
The strategy for T angent On Demand is to build market 
share primarily in two markets:
•  Neighbouring advertising agencies. By offering an 
on demand service, T angent On Demand has 
already proven to provide a business critical service 
to agencies. 
•  Fashion – with clients including Giorgio Armani, 
Matthew Williamson, Jenny Packham and DKNY .
2008/09 review
2008/09 was a transitional year for T angent On 
Demand. Prior to the October 2008 restructure and 
branding, T angent On Demand was incorporated 
within the London print facility but had no outward 
facing brand. In October this changed and T angent 
On Demand (TOD) was launched as a self contained 
unit, with a management structure and external brand. 
The early indications are that this will benefit the 
business long term and help establish the business 
in its own right. 
Digital Print Partnership
In May 2009, T angent On Demand launched a new 
business venture called the Digital Print Partnership. 
The Digital Print Partnership is a trade offering aimed 
at UK-based print businesses (estimated at 12,000). 
The majority (estimated at 80%) have not invested 
and expanded their offering into digital print. These 
companies are currently missing out on revenue 
generated from digital print. Some will be considering 
investing in digital print and for some the financial 
barriers to entry will be too high. 
The Digital Print Partnership is free to join. Members gain 
access to T angent’s online estimating tool and digital 
production facility. Members have the opportunity to sell 
digital print to their customer base and then use T angent’s 
tools and systems to generate print estimates and to print 
the actual work. The key benefits of the service are:
•  The service is a white label business-to-business 
offering. End clients see no Digital Print 
Partnership branding. 
•  The Digital Print Partnership provides its clients with 
the opportunity to make money from selling Digital 
Print to its customers without making the significant 
capital investment in equipment.
Whilst the Digital Print Partnership is a relatively new 
concept in the UK, it is a more established proposition 
in other markets. In the US, Mimeo (www.mimeo.com)
_0_tan_ar09_front.indd   14 22/06/2009   14:51:03 BUSINESS REVIEW/
15
t angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Business review
Joint chief executives’ review
last year reported revenues of $100m providing a very 
similar service. In Italy, Pixart, again offering a similar 
service, generated revenues of €25m.
In its fi rst few weeks the Digital Print Partnership 
attracted a total of 150 customers, generating on 
average 25 orders a day. Over the next six months 
an outbound marketing campaign will be executed 
to the target audience. 
Business outlook 
Backed with new branding and re-located in the 
West End and a proactive marketing approach being 
taken by the team, T angent On Demand is very well 
placed to increase its market share. The backdrop of the 
general economic climate will play a role in the speed 
at which the business grows but over a one to two year 
period the outlook for the core business is expected to 
be positive. The Digital Print Partnership is a new initiative 
to the group but the early signs are good and it has 
required no capital investment by T angent. 
Group outlook
The board is taking a cautious view for 2009/10. 
We are not forecasting any return to growth from 
either Ravensworth or T angent Labs. Whilst we can 
see the long term benefi ts from the Lateral and VLM 
acquisitions and the launch of the Digital Print Partnership, 
we believe that it is prudent to keep our forecasts 
conservative as visibility is low. 
Underpinned by £2.65m of net cash and an undrawn 
£1m bank facility, T angent has the resources to see 
out the recession and the fi nancial fl exibility to take 
advantage of distressed opportunities. The core 
business has both strong recovery prospects and 
continued growth in T angent One and T angent Direct. 
The Digital Print Partnership, ZUI and Australia have 
the potential to inject signifi cant growth. 
Nicholas Green and Timothy Green
Joint chief executives
2 June 2009
When Jack Morton 
Worldwide was 
appointed to 
produce the 2008 
Wella Professionals 
International Trend 
Vision Award event 
in Portugal, they 
needed a digital 
print solution that 
could be delivered 
almost instantly.
Tangent On Demand 
produced and installed 
a wide range of signage 
and display material for 
both the interior and 
exterior of the venue 
and installed it on 
site in Portugal in 
just four days.
The project 
demonstrated Tangent 
On Demand’s ability to 
respond to the most 
challenging deadlines 
and why it’s the leading 
supplier of on demand 
digital print to the retail, 
fashion and advertising 
industries.
Rapid turnaround 
and delivery
Jack MOrtOn WOrldWide and Wella >
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tangent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Business review
Financial review
Business review
Financial review
£0.33m
dividend paid
£2.65m
net funds
Overview
The year ended 28 February 2009 was a challenging one 
for T angent because the significant decline in revenue 
from property-related clients was not sufficiently offset 
by the revenue growth from other markets. 
Nevertheless, T angent continued to make profits and 
generate cash and at the year end had net funds of 
£2.65m after paying a dividend of £0.33m and having 
incurred £0.4m of restructuring costs.
With a high operating cash conversion rate and significant 
cash reserves, the board is recommending a dividend of 
0.2p per share (2008: 0.2p per share) which is 2.5 times 
covered by underlying earnings.
Key performance indicators (KPIs)
We manage T angent’s business using KPIs which measure 
underlying performance. Underlying performance excludes 
the share-based payment charge and the restructuring 
cost. We believe that our focus on the KPIs, as set out 
below, will in the medium and long term deliver value 
for shareholders.
• Revenue declined 10% to £15.61m (2008: £17.36m)
•  Underlying operating profit decreased to £1.08m 
(2008: £2.44m)
•  Underlying operating margin reduced to 6.9% 
(2008: 14.0%)
Graeme Harris
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17
tangent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Business review
Financial review
•  Underlying basic earnings per share were 0.50p 
(2008: 1.24p) and
•  Operating cash generation was £1.60m (2008: £2.55m) 
representing an improved cash conversion rate of 
149% (2008: 105%) of underlying operating profit.
Trading performance
Property-related revenue declined by £2.31m while 
revenue from other sectors increased by £0.56m to 
give an overall reduction in revenue of £1.75m and 
a reduction in gross profit of £1.05m.
Operating expenses increased by £0.31m, most of 
which is accounted for by the inclusion of a full twelve 
months from Ravensworth compared with eleven months 
in the prior year after it was acquired. Like-for-like operating 
expenses increased by 2% to £5.95m.
Group restructuring expense
During the year the board restructured the business 
which included the consolidation into its Newcastle site 
of all long run and local marketing printing operations 
and fulfilment facilities from T angent’s London and 
Cheltenham sites. These changes were accompanied 
by some redundancies and a relocation of T angent’s 
London and Cheltenham employees to new premises 
in London and Cheltenham. 
The T angent Labs business was refocused to become 
a central technology resource that can be better utilised 
for the benefit of all businesses in the group. In addition 
new brands were created for all group businesses to 
reflect the new group structure.
The combined cost of implementing the improved 
structure and relocations was £0.4m and they have 
yielded annualised savings of £0.2m. The costs of 
restructuring are not part of the normal operating 
expenses of T angent and they have therefore been 
separately identified in the income statement and 
excluded from underlying operating profit.
Share‑based payment charge
The share-based payment charge of £0.23m 
(2008: £0.40m) is for the fair value of options granted 
and £0.21m relates to those granted in 2005 for which 
the full charge had been expensed by September 2008. 
This charge has been excluded from underlying operating 
profit as there is no related cash flow and it results 
in no reduction in equity attributable to shareholders. 
For future periods the charge is not expected to be 
material and will therefore not be separately identified 
from operating expenses.
t axation
The tax charge of £0.22m (2008: £0.55m) equates 
to 41.9% of profit before tax. After adding back the 
share-based payment charge, which is excluded from 
the calculation of taxable profits, the underlying tax rate 
was 27% (2008: 22.1%). The tax charge differs from 
the standard corporation tax rate of 28% because the 
group has expenses that are not deductible for tax 
purposes and because some of the profits benefit 
from past tax losses. At the year end the group had 
£0.6m of tax losses available to offset against future 
profits from Tangent’s localised marketing business.
Earnings
Underlying profit before tax was £1.15m (2008: £2.5m) 
and underlying profit after tax decreased to £0.84m 
(2008: £1.94m) which equates to underlying basic 
earnings per share of 0.5p (2008: 1.24p) and underlying 
diluted earnings per share of 0.48p (2008: 1.11p).
Cash flow
Operating cash flow of £1.6m (2008: £2.55m) was strong 
and tracked 49% above underlying operating profit and 
more than 3.5 times operating profit. The net £0.4m 
improvement in working capital, along with non-cash 
charges for depreciation (£0.52m) and share-based 
payments (£0.23m) were the main reasons for such 
high cash generation relative to operating profit.
T ax payments were £0.38m (2008: £0.59m). A further 
£0.17m of deferred consideration was paid for the 
acquisition of C360 UK leaving a final £0.17m to be 
paid in the current year. No other cash consideration is 
payable on acquisitions made up to 28 February 2009.
Capital expenditure of £0.62m (2008: £0.64m) 
was mostly spent on new digital equipment 
and leasehold improvements.
T angent paid its first dividend of £0.33m and repaid 
£0.09m of finance leases.
Over the year, net funds improved by £0.22m to £2.65m 
(2008: £2.43m).
Balance sheet
The net assets increased by £0.2m to £19.59m 
(2008: £19.38m) and at the year end current assets 
exceeded current liabilities by over £3m.
Dividends
The board believes that paying a dividend is an 
important part of providing total shareholder return. 
We will recommend a dividend of 0.2p (2008: 0.2p) 
per share at the annual general meeting on 28 July 2009. 
If approved, the dividend will be paid on 26 August 2009 
to shareholders on the register on 31 July 2009. The 
proposed dividend is covered 2.5 times by underlying 
earnings and 0.9 times by profit for the year.
Treasury, funding and exchange risk
The group finances its operations through funds raised 
from shareholders, retained earnings and finance lease 
borrowings. In addition, the group has an unutilised 
variable rate £1m overdraft facility. The group’s funding 
structure provides a high level of financial flexibility for 
potential acquisitions and investments. Regular reports on 
cash balances and borrowings are provided to the board. 
The majority of trade is conducted in sterling 
although a material amount is denominated in euro. 
The directors monitor exposure and where possible 
match euro-denominated revenue and expenditure or 
if appropriate hedge some of the exposure to mitigate 
the foreign exchange risk.
Graeme Harris
Finance director
2 June 2009
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tangent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Governance
Board of directors
Governance
Board of directors
Piers Caldecote
Non‑executive chairman (age 62)
Piers was an associate director at Carlton 
Communications PLC between 1990 and 2004 
covering strategy and mergers and acquisitions. 
Prior to that, he worked in the city as an investment 
analyst, latterly for Chase Manhattan Securities.
Nicholas Green 
Joint chief executive officer (age 36)
Prior to joining T angent, Nicholas worked at 
Advertising.com as European sales and marketing 
director. The company specialises in performance 
based marketing and was successfully sold to 
AOL in 2004 for $439m. Prior to Advertising.com, 
Nicholas worked at Teletext for seven years 
in the commercial department.
Graeme Harris
Finance director (age 42)
Graeme was finance director of Coutts Holdings plc 
where he worked on its initial flotation and on a series 
of acquisitions in the marketing services sector. 
He oversaw the successful sale of Coutts to Media 
Square plc for £22.5m. Graeme is an economics 
graduate of Manchester University and qualified as 
a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young in London.
Timothy Green 
Joint chief executive officer (age 33)
Prior to joining T angent, Timothy was a founding 
partner at Unanimis, which specialises in internet 
commercial services for clients such as Ebay and 
the BBC. Prior to this Timothy worked at Ask Jeeves 
in the commercial team.
Secretary
Graeme Harris
Registered office 
84–86 Great Portland Street  
London W1W 7NR
Company registration number
3967805
Nominated adviser and broker
Collins Stewart Limited
88 Wood Street 
London EC2V 7QR 
Bankers
HSBC Bank plc
60 Queen Victoria Street 
London EC4N 4TR
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19
tangent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Governance
Board of Directors
Auditors
UHY Hacker Young LLP
Quadrant House 
4 Thomas More Square 
London E1W 1YW
Registrar
Capita Registrars 
Northern House  
Woodsome Park 
Fenay Bridge 
Huddersfield 
West Yorkshire HD8 0LA
Solicitors
Pinsent Masons LLP
CityPoint 
One Ropemaker Street 
London EC2Y 9AH
Rosenblatt 
9–13 St Andrew Street 
London EC4A 3AF
Paul Murray
Non‑executive director (age 48)
Paul was group finance director at Carlton 
Communications PLC between 2001 and 2004. 
Prior to that he was group finance director at 
LASMO PLC. He currently sits on the boards 
of Thomson SA and Knowledgepeers PLC. Until 
October 2008 he was the senior independent director 
at market researcher Taylor Nelson Sofres PLC.
Greg Jackson
Executive director (age 37)
Greg co-founded the data-driven agency C360 in 
2003, which was acquired by T angent in 2006. He is a 
graduate of Cambridge University, and his career prior 
to C360 included running a database business, being 
a brand manager at Procter and Gamble and writing 
high performance software. Greg is responsible for 
T angent’s online strategy.
_0_tan_ar09_front.indd   19 22/06/2009   14:51:27 Directors’ report
for the year ended 28 February 2009
20
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
The directors present their report and audited financial statements of the group for the year ended 28 February 2009.
Principal activity and review of the business
The principal activity of the group is the provision of customised marketing services. A review of the business, 
its future development and its key performance indicators can be found in the chief executives’ review and the 
financial review.
Results and dividends
The consolidated profit for the year amounted to £304,000. The directors recommend the payment of a dividend 
of 0.2p per ordinary share to be paid on 26 August 2009 to shareholders on the register at the close of business 
on 31 July 2009. Further information on the group’s results and financial position is included in the financial review.
Company listing
T angent is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange. The market code 
for the company is TNG. Information required by AIM Rule 26 is available in the investor relations section 
of Tangent’s website at www.tangentplc.com.
Changes in share capital
On 6 August 2008 the company issued 4,166,667 ordinary shares as part of the contingent consideration 
for C360 UK Limited.
At 28 February 2009 and at the date of this report the number of issued ordinary shares is 170,133,502.
Directors
During the financial year the following directors held office:
Piers Caldecote  
Nicholas Green  
Timothy Green  
Graeme Harris  
Greg Jackson 
Paul Murray
Directors’ interests 
At 28 February 2009 the directors’ shareholdings were as follows:
 Ordinary shares of 1p each
    28 February  29 February 
    2009  2008
Piers Caldecote    1,500,000  1,250,000
Nicholas Green    2,730,770  2,730,770
Timothy Green    2,730,770  2,730,770
Graeme Harris    500,000  500,000
Greg Jackson    10,315,938  8,597,188
Paul Murray    3,322,510  2,924,998
Directors’ interests in share options are set out in the remuneration report on pages 25 and 26.
Governance
Directors’ report
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21
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Governance
Directors’ report
Substantial shareholdings
The directors are aware of the following shareholdings of 3% or more of the issued share capital of the company 
at 26 May 2009.
      % of issued 
    Ordinary  ordinary 
    shares of   share 
Beneficial holder    1p each  capital
Michael Green     53,076,924  31.2%
Hargreave Hale    11,323,680  6.7%
Nicholas Gillett
#
    10,315,938  6.1%
#
 A vendor of C360 UK Limited and senior employee within the group.
Institutional shareholders with an interest of between 1% and 3% of the issued share capital of the company 
at 26 May 2009 were as follows:
Aberdeen Asset Management 
AXA Framlington Investment Management 
Bluehone Investors 
Discretionary Unit Fund 
F&C Asset Management 
Herald Investment Management 
Marlborough Fund Managers 
Savoy Investment Management 
Unicorn Asset Management
Suppliers payment policy 
It is the group’s policy that payments to suppliers are made in accordance with those terms and conditions 
agreed between the group and its suppliers, provided that all trading terms and conditions have been complied 
with. At 28 February 2009, the group had an average of 47 days (2008: 58 days) of purchases outstanding 
in trade creditors.
Employees
The group recognises the benefit of keeping its employees informed of all relevant matters on a regular basis. 
The group is an equal opportunities employer and all applications for employment are considered fully on the 
basis of suitability for the job. 
Use of financial instruments
T angent’s financial risk management objectives are to minimise debt, to fund acquisitions through a mixture 
of equity financing and cash and to ensure sufficient working capital for the group’s overhead and capital 
expenditure commitments. This is achieved by prudent financial management and careful management of the 
group’s cash balances, both short and long term. The financial risk management objectives and policies of the 
group set out in note 20 of the financial statements include the group’s exposure to currency, credit, liquidity 
and credit risk.
Key risks and uncertainties
The key risks and uncertainties for the group are identified as exposure to further declines in the residential 
property market, exposure to bad debts and the effect of larger technology companies replicating some 
of Tangent’s technical innovations.
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T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Governance
Directors’ report
Directors’ report continued
for the year ended 28 February 2009
Going concern
After making appropriate enquiries and examining those areas which could give rise to financial exposure, 
the directors are satisfied that no material or significant exposures exist and that the group has adequate 
resources to continue its operations for the foreseeable future. For this reason, the directors continue to 
adopt the going concern basis in preparing the group’s financial statements.
Donations
During the year the group made charitable donations of £8,000 (2008: £9,000) and a political donation 
to The Labour Party of £6,000 (2008: £6,000).
Statement of directors’ responsibilities
Company law requires the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true 
and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and of the group and of the profit or loss of the group for 
that period. In preparing those financial statements, the directors are required to:
•  select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
•  make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
•  state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures 
disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
•  prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that 
the group will continue in business.
The directors confirm that the financial statements comply with the above requirements.
The directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy 
at any time the financial position of the group and which enable them to ensure that the financial statements 
comply with the Companies Act 1985. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the group 
and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Auditors
So far as the directors are aware:
•  there is no relevant audit information of which the company’s auditors are unaware; and
•  each director has taken steps that he ought to have taken to make himself aware of any relevant audit 
information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information. 
A resolution that UHY Hacker Young LLP be re-appointed as auditors of the company will be put to the annual 
general meeting.
By order of the board
Graeme Harris
Secretary
2 June 2009
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23
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Governance
Corporate governance statement
Corporate governance statement
for the year ended 28 February 2009
Statement of compliance
Although AIM listed companies are not required to report on the Combined Code, the directors are committed 
to proper standards of corporate governance and will continue to keep procedures under review. 
Board and board committees
For most of the year the board of directors comprised two non-executive directors and four executive directors. 
Greg Jackson was appointed on 14 May 2008 as executive director. The full board manages overall control of 
the group’s affairs by the schedule of matters reserved for its decision. These include the approval of financial 
statements, acquisitions and disposals, authority levels for expenditure and review of monthly and other 
management reports. The chairman will continue to review the skills and balance of the board as the 
group grows.
The directors are able to take independent professional advice in the furtherance of their duties at the company’s 
expense and all directors have access to the advice and services of the company secretary.
The board considers its non-executive directors to be independent. An independent director is one who has 
no relationship with the company or its management which may undermine independence and who is not 
dependent on the company or its management for his primary source of income, was not within the last three 
years a senior manager of the company and does not participate in the company’s incentive bonus scheme 
or pension schemes.
The board delegates day-to-day and business management control to the executive directors who are in regular 
contact with each other. Formal decisions are communicated throughout the group. The executive directors are 
responsible for implementing group policy, the monitoring and performance of the business and reporting to the 
full board thereon.
The company has an audit committee, whose terms of reference cover the points recommended by the Code. 
Its duties include monitoring internal financial control throughout the group, approving the group’s accounting 
policies and reviewing the interim and annual financial statements before submission to the board. Paul Murray 
is chairman of the audit committee and Piers Caldecote is the other member.
The company has a remuneration committee of which Paul Murray is chairman and Piers Caldecote is the 
other member.
All executive directors have rolling service contracts with the company terminable on twelve months’ notice 
from the company (except Greg Jackson, whose contract is terminable on six months’ notice from the company) 
and by six months’ notice by the director. Non-executive directors agree a letter of appointment terminable 
on six months’ notice by each party. 
Following their first appointment to the board, the terms of the articles of association require all directors to retire 
and stand for re-election at the earliest opportunity. Under the articles of association all directors are required 
to retire once every three years. 
The nominations committee comprises all directors and is chaired by Piers Caldecote.
Relationship with shareholders
The directors consider the clear and timely communication of information to shareholders as an important 
part of their duties. The chief executives’ review and financial review provide a summary of the group’s trading 
performance and future outlook. The group’s website (www.tangentplc.com) also gives shareholders access 
to additional information. Furthermore, twice a year, the group’s financial results are published, in conjunction 
with briefings for investment managers and institutional analysts following the company’s interim and preliminary 
full year announcements, and at other ad hoc times.
The board views the annual general meeting as an opportunity to communicate with both institutional and private 
investors alike and aims to comply with all the provisions of the Code relating to the constructive uses of annual 
general meetings. The directors intend to be present and available to answer questions at this year’s annual 
general meeting.
_0_tan_ar09_back.indd   4 22/06/2009   14:49:19 24
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Governance
Corporate governance statement
Corporate governance statement continued
for the year ended 28 February 2009
Accountability and financial control
The board has overall responsibility for the systems of financial control. Implementation and maintenance of the 
financial control systems is the responsibility of executive management. The board, through the audit committee, 
has reviewed the effectiveness of the systems of internal financial control for the accounting year, and the period 
to the date of approval of the financial statements. It should be understood, however, that such systems are 
designed to provide reasonable but not absolute assurance against material misstatement or loss.
The company has an established framework of internal financial controls, the key features of which are as follows:
Control environment
There are clearly defined organisational responsibilities and the board is committed to employing suitably 
qualified staff so that the appropriate level of authority can be delegated with regard to accountability and 
acceptable levels of risk.
Information systems
The group operates a number of separate systems of financial and operational reporting to the board and senior 
management, based upon an annual budget and regular forecasts. Monthly, weekly and other periodic reports 
of actual results (financial and non-financial) together with key performance indicators are produced and discussed 
by the directors.
Identification and evaluation of business risks and controls
Management control is exercised at all levels of the group and is regulated by appropriate limits of authority. 
The directors have considered various areas of business risks and have developed appropriate policies to 
manage and diffuse those risks. These policies are reviewed in the light of known and perceived changes 
to the risks.
Quality and integrity of personnel
The group attaches high importance to the values of trust, honesty and integrity of personnel in responsible 
positions and operates a policy of recruiting and promoting suitably experienced personnel with clearly 
defined accountabilities. 
Investment appraisal
All major capital expenditure is included in the annual budget and is reported on to the board. In addition, 
all potential and actual acquisition opportunities are regularly reviewed by the board, both in meetings 
and by ad hoc reports.
Monitoring
Given the size of the group and the close day-to-day involvement of the executive directors in all of the group’s 
locations, no formal internal audit is considered necessary.
Piers Caldecote  Graeme Harris 
Director  Director
2 June 2009
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25
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Governance
Remuneration report
Remuneration report
for the year ended 28 February 2009
Introduction
The policy of the group is to offer competitive remuneration packages that will attract, retain and motivate experienced 
and talented individuals who will enhance the value of the group. The remuneration packages of the executive 
directors are reviewed and approved by the remuneration committee on an annual basis. The remuneration 
policies aim to incentivise and reward both short term financial performance and also shareholder value 
creation. The remuneration of other employees is the responsibility of the joint chief executives.
Remuneration of the directors
Executive directors are paid a basic salary and receive benefits in kind. The remuneration of non-executive 
directors requires approval by the board. Individual directors are not permitted to participate in decisions 
concerning their own remuneration.
The structure of executive directors’ remuneration was reviewed at the beginning of the year and the 
remuneration elements are as follows:
•  a base salary, pension and benefits in kind are set at a competitive level and reflect the remuneration 
packages paid by companies of a similar size and in similar sectors; 
•  an annual cash bonus of up to 50% of basic salary is payable depending upon achievement of challenging 
financial performance targets set at the beginning of each financial year. The purpose is to incentivise on the 
short term financial performance of the group; and
•  a long term incentive plan (LTIP) under which share options with an intrinsic value up to 50% of basic salary 
per year are awarded to directors which vest over a three year period depending upon the achievement of 
challenging goals based on total shareholder return over the period. The purpose is to incentivise delivery 
of long term value and to align interests with shareholders.
Audited remuneration of directors for the year under review was as follows:
     2009 2008 
  Salary Bonus Benefits Total T otal 
  £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
Piers Caldecote  21 — — 21  20
Nicholas Green  115 — 9 124 157
Timothy Green  115 — 9 124 157
Graeme Harris  110 — 9 119 150
Greg Jackson  54 — — 54 —
Paul Murray  21 — — 21  19
  436 — 27 463 503
No bonuses were paid to executive directors as financial targets were not met for the year ended 28 February 2009.
In addition to the remuneration stated in the table above, pension contributions of £9,000 (2008: £8,000) were 
made to defined contribution schemes for the benefit of each of the executive directors Nicholas Green, 
Timothy Green and Graeme Harris.
Remuneration is stated for the period during which each director served. Greg Jackson was appointed to the 
board on 14 May 2008. The audited directors’ remuneration is all classified as short term employment benefits 
under International Accounting Standard 24. 
Share options
The company operates three share option schemes by which employees, including executive directors, are able 
to acquire shares, comprising an Inland Revenue approved scheme (The Approved Scheme), an unapproved 
scheme (The Unapproved Scheme), and an Enterprise Management Incentive scheme (The EMI Scheme). 
At 28 February 2009, 5,000 (2008: 5,000) options had been granted to employees under the Approved Scheme, 
10,221,643 (2008: 9,450,488) under the Unapproved Scheme and 5,082,934 (2008: 5,415,934) under the 
EMI Scheme. In total, 15,312,577 options had been granted at 28 February 2009 which represents 9% of 
the issued number of shares.
2008 LTIP awards
On 6 August 2008, under the 2008 LTIP , operating through the Unapproved Scheme, Graeme Harris and 
Greg Jackson were granted options over 498,180 shares and 272,975 shares respectively, with an exercise 
price of 1p per ordinary share. The options will vest over three years conditional upon Tangent generating 
a minimum total shareholder return of 10% per annum based on a share price of 11.99p, being the volume 
weighted average share price for the four weeks prior to 1 March 2008. Regulatory restrictions prevented the 
grant of options to Nicholas Green and Timothy Green (because they are deemed to be part of a concert party 
owning more than 30% of T angent’s shares in issue) so each was awarded 522,066 phantom options. The phantom 
options will vest over three years conditional upon a minimum total shareholder return of 10% per annum as above. 
On 1 March 2011, each phantom option that has vested will entitle the holder to a cash bonus equivalent to the 
volume weighted average share price for the four weeks prior to that date of a T angent ordinary share, less 1p 
per share. For the 2008 LTIP award the remuneration committee awarded each executive director options or 
phantom options with an intrinsic value (by reference to the volume weighted average share price for the 
four weeks prior to 1 March 2008) of 50% of their base salary.
_0_tan_ar09_back.indd   6 22/06/2009   14:49:22 26
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Governance
Remuneration report
Remuneration report continued
for the year ended 28 February 2009
2008 LTIP awards continued
The share options held by directors who served during the year were as follows:
   At  At 
  Exercise 1 March Granted 28 February 
 Note price 2008 in year 2009
Nicholas Green  (a) 1p 2,500,000 — 2,500,000
 (b) 5p 2,500,000 — 2,500,000
Timothy Green  (a)  1p 2,500,000 — 2,500,000
 (b)  5p 2,500,000 — 2,500,000
Graeme Harris  (a)  5p 1,100,000 — 1,100,000
 (b)   11.75p 500,000 — 500,000
 (c) 1p 393,422 — 393,422
 (d) 1p — 498,180 498,180
Greg Jackson  (d)  1p — 272,975 272,975
   11,993,422 771,155 12,764,577
(a)  Options granted on 27 September 2005 which have vested in full. Vesting criteria were the purchase and retention of matching ordinary shares in T angent, 
achievement of specific business integration targets following the reverse acquisition that was completed on 11 July 2005 and continued employment. 
The options are exercisable between 27 September 2008 and 26 September 2015.
(b)  Options granted on 27 September 2005 which have vested in full. Vesting criteria were targets for earnings per share performance and total shareholder 
return performance for each of the financial years that ended in February 2006, 2007 and 2008 and continued employment. Earnings per share targets 
were for earnings per share, excluding amortisation and exceptional items, to exceed 0.7p in the year ended 28 February 2006, and this target increased 
by 15% per annum over the following two years. T otal shareholder return targets were that for each year total shareholder returns on T angent shares equal 
or exceed the total shareholder return on a portfolio of smaller support services companies selected from the FTSE All Share Index. The options are 
exercisable between 27 September 2008 and 26 September 2015.
(c)  Options granted on 25 June 2007 under the 2007 LTIP which vest and become exercisable between 1 March 2010 and 25 June 2012 dependent on 
the achievement of total shareholder return performance in excess of 10% per annum from 1 March 2007 to the financial year ends in February 2008, 
2009 and 2010. At 28 February 2009 no options had vested under the 2007 LTIP .
(d)  Options granted on 6 August 2008 under the 2008 LTIP which vest and become exercisable between 1 March 2011 and 6 August 2013 dependent 
on the achievement of total shareholder return performance in excess of 10% per annum from 1 March 2008 to the financial year ends in February 2009, 
2010 and 2011. At 28 February 2009 no options had vested under the 2008 LTIP .
The share-based payment charge for options and phantom options granted to directors was £225,000 which 
was mostly attributable to options granted in September 2005.
2009 LTIP awards
The 2009 LTIP award was made on 31 March 2009. Graeme Harris and Greg Jackson were granted options 
over 1,649,096 shares and 1,506,024 shares respectively. The options have an exercise price of 1p per share. 
Where regulatory restrictions apply to individual directors, the LTIP operates by awarding phantom options that 
give an equivalent cash bonus, which is not directly convertible into shares. Accordingly, Nicholas Green and 
Timothy Green were each awarded 1,728,163 phantom options with the same vesting conditions. 
For the 2009 LTIP award, the remuneration committee awarded each executive 1p options or phantom options with 
an intrinsic value of 25% of their salary based on a share price of 2.66p, being the volume weighted average share 
price for the four weeks prior to 31 March 2009. These awards were less than the 50% of salary awards made in 
previous years. The remuneration committee decided that such a reduction was warranted given the low share price 
against which the awards were calculated. In addition, the committee decided to adopt relative return performance 
criteria for the vesting of these options. Previous awards have absolute return performance criteria which were not 
considered appropriate given the low share price against which the awards were calculated. The options and 
phantom options will vest equally over three years from 1 March 2009, and will vest fully if T angent generates a 
total shareholder return of 10% per annum above the total shareholder return of the AIM Index excluding certain 
unrelated sectors. Partial vesting commences if T angent generates a total shareholder return equal to the total 
shareholder return of the AIM Index excluding certain unrelated sectors. 
Paul Murray 
Director 
2 June 2009
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27
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Governance
Independent auditors’ report
Independent auditors’ report
to the shareholders of T angent Communications plc
We have audited the group and parent company financial statements of Tangent Communications plc for 
the year ended 28 February 2009, which comprise the consolidated income statement, the consolidated and 
company statements of changes in equity, the consolidated and company balance sheets, the consolidated 
and company cash flow statements and the related notes. These financial statements have been prepared 
in accordance with the basis and the accounting policies set out therein.
This report is made solely to the company’s members, as a body, in accordance with section 235 of the 
Companies Act 1985. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company’s members 
those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors’ report and for no other purpose. T o the fullest extent 
permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the company and the 
company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Respective responsibilities of directors and auditors
The directors’ responsibilities for preparing the annual report and financial statements in accordance with applicable 
law and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adopted by the European Union are set out in the 
statement of directors’ responsibilities in the directors’ report. 
Our responsibility is to audit the financial statements in accordance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements 
and International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland).
We report to you our opinion as to whether the financial statements give a true and fair view and are properly prepared 
in accordance with the Companies Act 1985. We also report to you whether, in our opinion, the information given 
in the directors’ report is consistent with the financial statements. In addition, we report to you if, in our opinion, 
the company has not kept proper accounting records, if we have not received all the information and explanations 
we require for our audit, or if information specified by law regarding directors’ remuneration and transactions 
with the company and other members of the group is not disclosed.
We read other information contained in the annual report, from the section on highlights to the section on 
the remuneration report, and consider whether it is consistent with the audited group financial statements. 
We consider the implications for our report if we become aware of any apparent misstatements or material 
inconsistencies with the financial statements. Our responsibilities do not extend to any other information.
Basis of opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) issued by the 
Auditing Practices Board. An audit includes examination, on a test basis, of evidence relevant to the amounts 
and disclosures in the financial statements. It also includes an assessment of the significant estimates and 
judgements made by the directors in the preparation of the financial statements, and of whether the accounting 
policies are appropriate to the group’s and company’s circumstances, consistently applied and adequately disclosed.
We planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all the information and explanations which we considered 
necessary in order to provide us with sufficient evidence to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements 
are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or other irregularity or error. In forming our opinion 
we also evaluated the overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the financial statements.
Opinion
In our opinion:
•  the financial statements give a true and fair view, in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the European Union, 
of the state of the group’s and the parent company’s affairs as at 28 February 2009 and of the group’s profit 
for the year then ended;
•  the financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 1985; and
•  the information given in the directors’ report is consistent with the financial statements.
UHY Hacker Young LLP  Quadrant House
Chartered Accountants  4 Thomas More Square
Registered auditors  London E1W 1YW
2 June 2009  
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T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Consolidated income statement
Consolidated income statement
for the year ended 28 February 2009
     2009 2008 
    Notes £000 £000
Revenue     15,607 17,361
Cost of sales     (8,576) (9,277)
Gross profit     7,031 8,084
Operating expenses     (5,954) (5,646)
Underlying operating profit      1,077 2,438
Group restructuring expense    2 (397) —
Share-based payment charge    22 (229) (402)
Operating profit    3 451 2,036
Finance income    6 72 58
Profit before tax     523 2,094
T ax    7 (219) (552)
Profit for the year     304 1,542
Earnings per share (pence)*    8  
Basic     0.18 0.98
Diluted     0.17 0.88
* Earnings per share based on underlying profit is shown in note 8 to the financial statements.
The results shown above relate entirely to continuing operations and are attributable to equity shareholders 
of the company.
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29
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Consolidated statement of changes in equity
Consolidated statement of changes in equity
for the year ended 28 February 2009
      Retained  
  Share Share Merger Other  earnings/ T otal 
  capital premium reserve reserves (losses) equity 
 Notes £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
At 1 March 2007  1,118 7,860 7,022 2,208 (7,980) 10,228
Share-based payment charge  — — — 402 — 402
Issue of shares  542 5,594 867 (501) — 6,502
Share issue costs  — (289) — — — (289)
Contingent consideration 13 — — — 999 — 999
Capital restructuring  — (13,165) (7,430) — 20,595 —
Retained profit for the year  — — — — 1,542 1,542
At 29 February 2008  1,660 — 459 3,108 14,157 19,384
Equity dividend  — — — — (329) (329)
Share-based payment charge  — — — 229 — 229
Issue of shares 21 42 — 458 (500) — —
Retained profit for the year  — — — — 304 304
At 28 February 2009  1,702 — 917 2,837 14,132 19,588
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T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Consolidated balance sheet
Consolidated balance sheet
at 28 February 2009
      2009 2008 
    Notes £000 £000
Assets      
Non‑current assets      
Intangible assets – goodwill    11 14,961 14,961
Property, plant and equipment    12 1,685 1,638
      16,646 16,599
Current assets      
Inventories    14 106 95
Trade and other receivables    15 3,191 4,324
Cash and cash equivalents     2,801 2,664
      6,098 7,083
T otal assets     22,744 23,682
Liabilities      
Current liabilities      
Borrowings    16 (63) (90)
Trade and other payables    17 (2,664) (3,391)
Current tax liabilities     (148) (296)
Provisions    18 (166) (167)
      (3,041) (3,944)
Non‑current liabilities      
Borrowings    16 (87) (149)
Provisions    18 — (166)
Deferred tax    19 (28) (39)
     (115) (354)
T otal liabilities     (3,156) (4,298)
Net assets     19,588 19,384
Equity      
Share capital    21 1,702 1,660
Merger reserve     917 459
Other reserves    23 2,837 3,108
Retained earnings     14,132 14,157
T otal equity – attributable to equity shareholders of the company   19,588 19,384
These financial statements were approved by the board of directors on 2 June 2009 and were signed on its 
behalf by:
Nicholas Green  Graeme Harris
Director  Director
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31
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Consolidated cash flow statement
Consolidated cash flow statement
for the year ended 28 February 2009
     2009 2008 
    Notes £000 £000
Cash from operations      
Cash generated from operations    24 1,600 2,552
Interest paid     (13) (29)
T ax paid     (378) (591)
Net cash inflow from operating activities     1,209 1,932
Investing activities      
Acquisition of subsidiary, net of cash acquired     — (5,479)
Payment of contingent consideration     (167) (167)
Purchase of property, plant and equipment    12 (618) (635)
Sale of property, plant and equipment     48 27
Interest received     83 87
Net cash used in investing activities     (654) (6,167)
Financing activities      
Dividends paid     (329) —
Repayment of borrowings     (89) (206)
Proceeds from issue of shares, net of costs     — 5,771
Net cash (outflow)/inflow from financing activities     (418) 5,565
Increase in cash and cash equivalents     137 1,330
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year     2,664 1,334
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year    25 2,801 2,664
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T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Company statement of changes in equity
Company statement of changes in equity
for the year ended 28 February 2009
      Retained  
  Share Share Merger Other  earnings/ T otal 
  capital premium reserve reserves (losses) equity 
 Note £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
At 1 March 2007  1,118 7,860 7,022 1,047 (8,580) 8,467
Share-based payment charge  — — — 402 — 402
Issue of shares  542 5,594 867 (501) — 6,502
Share issue costs  — (289) — — — (289)
Contingent consideration 13 — — — 999 — 999
Capital restructuring  — (13,165) (7,430) — 20,595 —
Retained loss for the year  — — — — (1,146) (1,146)
At 29 February 2008  1,660 — 459 1,947 10,869 14,935
Equity dividend  — — — — (329) (329)
Share-based payment charge  — — — 229 — 229
Issue of shares  42 — 458 (500) — —
Retained loss for the year  — — — — (1,080) (1,080)
At 28 February 2009  1,702 — 917 1,676 9,460 13,755
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33
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Company balance sheet
Company balance sheet
At 28 February 2009
     2009 2008 
    Notes £000 £000
Assets      
Non‑current assets      
Investments in subsidiaries    13 17,095 17,095
     17,095 17,095
Current assets      
Trade and other receivables    15 18 31
Cash and cash equivalents     — 85
      18 116
T otal assets     17,113 17,211
Liabilities      
Current liabilities      
Trade and other payables    17 (3,192) (1,943)
Provisions    18 (166) (167)
      (3,358) (2,110)
Non‑current liabilities      
Provisions    18 — (166)
      — (166)
T otal liabilities     (3,358) (2,276)
Net assets     13,755 14,935
Equity      
Share capital    21 1,702 1,660
Merger reserve     917 459
Other reserves    23 1,676 1,947
Retained earnings     9,460 10,869
T otal equity – attributable to equity shareholders of the company   13,755 14,935
These financial statements were approved by the board of directors on 2 June 2009 and were signed on its 
behalf by:
Nicholas Green  Graeme Harris
Director  Director
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T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Company cash flow statement
Company cash flow statement
for the year ended 28 February 2009
     2009 2008 
    Note £000 £000
Cash from operations      
Cash generated from operations    24 410 (21)
Interest paid     — —
T ax paid     — —
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from operating activities     410 (21)
Investing activities      
Payment of contingent consideration     (167) (167)
Interest received     1 5
Acquisition of subsidiary     — (5,599)
Net cash used in investing activities     (166) (5,761)
Financing activities      
Dividends paid     (329) —
Proceeds from issue of shares, net of costs     — 5,771
Net cash (outflow)/inflow from financing activities     (329) 5,771
Decrease in cash and cash equivalents     (85) (11)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year     85 96
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year     — 85
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35
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Notes to the financial statements
Notes to the financial statements
for the year ended 28 February 2009
1. Summary of significant accounting policies
T angent has prepared both its consolidated financial statements and its parent company financial statements 
for the year ended 28 February 2009 in compliance with IFRS as adopted by the European Union and those 
parts of the Companies Act 1985 applicable to companies reporting under IFRS. The principal accounting 
policies applied in the preparation of these consolidated financial statements are set out below. These policies 
have been consistently applied to all the years presented.
1.1 Basis of preparation
These consolidated financial statements of the company and its subsidiaries are for the year ended 28 February 2009. 
The consolidated financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and on a going 
concern basis.
1.2 Consolidation
Subsidiaries are all entities which T angent has the power to govern the financial and operating policies generally 
accompanying a shareholding of more than one half of the voting rights. Subsidiaries are fully consolidated from 
the date on which control is transferred to T angent. They are de-consolidated from the date that control ceases. 
All active subsidiaries were held by a direct 100% shareholding by the parent company at the balance sheet date.
The purchase method of accounting is used to account for the acquisition of subsidiaries. The cost of an 
acquisition is measured as the fair value of the assets given, equity instruments issued and liabilities incurred or 
assumed at the date of exchange, plus costs directly attributable to the acquisition. Identifiable assets acquired 
and liabilities and contingent liabilities assumed in a business combination are measured initially at their fair value 
at the date of acquisition. The excess of the cost of acquisition over the fair value of T angent’s share of the identifiable 
net assets acquired is recorded as goodwill.
Intra-group transactions, balances and unrealised gains on transactions between group companies are 
eliminated. Accounting policies of subsidiaries have been changed, where necessary, to ensure consistency 
with the policies adopted by T angent.
1.3 Revenue recognition
Revenue comprises the fair value of the consideration received or receivable for the sale of goods and services 
in the ordinary course of Tangent’s activities. Revenue is shown net of value-added tax, returns, rebates and 
discounts and after eliminating intra-group sales.
T angent recognises revenue when the amount of revenue can be reliably measured, it is probable that future 
economic benefits will flow to T angent and specific delivery criteria have been met. 
1.4 Segmental reporting
A business segment is a group of assets and operations engaged in providing products or services that are 
subject to risks and returns that are different from those of other business segments. A geographical segment 
is engaged in providing products or services within a particular economic environment that are subject to risks 
and returns that are different from those of segments operating in other economic environments. In the directors’ 
opinion T angent operates in one business segment which cannot be subdivided in a meaningful way.
1.5 Foreign currency translation
(a) Functional and presentational currency
Items included in the financial statements of each of T angent’s entities are measured in sterling, which is the 
company’s and the group’s functional and presentation currency.
(b) Transactions and balances
Foreign currency transactions are translated into sterling using the exchange rates prevailing at the dates of 
the transactions. Exchange differences arising from the translation at the year end exchange rates of monetary 
assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are recognised in the income statement.
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T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Notes to the financial statements
Notes to the financial statements continued
for the year ended 28 February 2009
1. Summary of significant accounting policies continued
1.6 Employee benefits
(a) Pension obligations
Tangent has defined contribution plans under which Tangent pays fixed contributions into a separate entity. 
T angent has no legal or constructive obligations to pay further contributions relating to employee service in the 
current and prior years. The contributions are recognised as an employee benefit expense when they are due.
(b) Share‑based compensation
T angent operates a number of equity-settled, share-based compensation plans. The fair value of the employee 
services received in exchange for the grant of the options is recognised as an expense. The total amount to be 
expensed over the period until the option can be exercised is determined by reference to the fair value of the 
options granted, excluding the impact of any non-market vesting conditions (e.g. profitability and revenue growth 
targets). Non-market vesting conditions are included in the assumptions about the number of options that are 
expected to vest. At each balance sheet date, Tangent revises its estimates of the number of options that are 
expected to vest. It recognises the impact of the revision to original estimates, if any, in the income statement, 
with a corresponding adjustment to equity.
The proceeds received net of any directly attributable transaction costs are credited to share capital 
(nominal value) and share premium when the options are exercised. 
1.7 Intangible assets – goodwill
Goodwill represents the excess of the cost of an acquisition over the fair value of T angent’s share of the net 
identifiable assets of the acquired subsidiary at the date of acquisition. Goodwill on acquisition of subsidiaries 
is included in intangible assets. Goodwill is tested annually for impairment and carried at cost less accumulated 
impairment losses. Any impairment on goodwill is recognised immediately in the income statement and is not 
subsequently reversed. Gains and losses on the disposal of an entity include the carrying amount of goodwill 
relating to the entity sold.
Goodwill is allocated to cash-generating units for the purpose of impairment testing. The allocation is made to 
those cash-generating units or groups of cash-generating units that are expected to benefit from the business 
combination in which the goodwill arose. T angent currently allocates goodwill to a single business segment.
1.8 Investments in subsidiaries
The parent company’s investments in subsidiary undertakings are included in the company balance sheet at cost, 
less provision for any impairments in value.
1.9 Property, plant and equipment
Property, plant and equipment are stated at historic cost less subsequent depreciation and impairment. 
Historic cost includes expenditure that is directly attributable to the acquisition of the items.
Depreciation on assets is calculated using the straight line method to allocate their cost less their residual values 
over their estimated useful lives, as follows:
• Buildings   over the term of the lease
• Plant and equipment two to ten years
The assets’ residual values and useful lives are reviewed, and adjusted if appropriate, at each balance sheet date.
Subsequent costs are included in an asset’s carrying amount or recognised as a separate asset, as appropriate, 
only when it is probable that future economic benefits associated with the item will flow to T angent and the cost 
of the item can be measured reliably. The carrying amount of a replaced part is derecognised. All other repairs 
and maintenance are charged to the income statement during the financial year in which they are incurred.
An asset’s carrying amount is written down immediately to its recoverable amount if the asset’s carrying amount 
is greater than its estimated recoverable amount.
Gains and losses on disposals are determined by comparing the proceeds with the carrying amount and are 
recognised in the income statement. 
1.10 Inventories
Inventories are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value. 
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37
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Notes to the financial statements
1. Summary of significant accounting policies continued
1.11 Trade receivables
Trade receivables are recognised initially at fair value. A provision for impairment of trade receivables is established 
when there is objective evidence that the group will not be able to collect all amounts due according to the original 
terms of the receivables. The amount of the provision is the difference between the asset’s carrying amount and 
the present value of estimated future cash flows. The carrying amount of the asset is reduced through the use of 
an allowance account, and the amount of the loss is recognised in the income statement within operating expenses. 
When a trade receivable is uncollectible, it is written off against the allowance account for trade receivables. 
Subsequent recoveries of amounts previously written off are credited against operating expenses in the 
income statement. 
1.12 Cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents on the balance sheet include cash in hand, short term deposits held with banks. 
Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities on the balance sheet. For the purposes of 
the cash flow statement, cash and cash equivalents also include bank overdrafts.
1.13 Leases
Leases in which a significant portion of the risks and rewards of ownership are retained by the lessor are classified 
as operating leases. Payments under operating leases (net of any incentives received from the lessor) are charged 
to the income statement on a straight line basis over the period of the lease.
T angent leases certain plant and equipment where T angent has substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership. 
These leases are classified as finance leases. Finance leases are capitalised at the lease commencement at the 
lower of the fair value of the leased property and the present value of the minimum lease payments.
Each finance lease payment is allocated between the liability and finance charges so as to achieve the explicit 
or implicit interest rate on the finance balance outstanding. The corresponding rental obligations, net of finance 
charges, are included in other short term and other long term borrowings. The interest element of the finance 
cost is charged to the income statement over the lease period. The property, plant and equipment acquired 
under finance leases is depreciated over the shorter of the useful life of the asset and the lease term.
1.14 Provisions
Provisions are recognised when T angent has a present legal or constructive obligation as a result of past events, 
it is probable that an outflow of resources will be required to settle the obligation and the amount has been reliably 
estimated. Provisions are not recognised for future operating losses.
Provisions are measured at the present value of the expenditures expected to be required to settle the obligation 
using a pre-tax rate that reflects current market assessments of the time value of money and the risks specific 
to the obligation. The increase in the provision due to the passage of time is recognised as interest expense.
1.15 Deferred tax
Deferred tax is provided in full, using the liability method, on temporary differences arising between the tax bases 
of assets and liabilities and their carrying amounts in the consolidated financial statements. Deferred tax is not 
accounted for if it arises from initial recognition of an asset or liability in a transaction other than a business 
combination that, at the time of the transaction, affects neither accounting nor taxable profit or loss. Deferred tax 
is determined using tax rates that are expected to apply when the related deferred tax asset is realised or when 
the deferred tax liability is settled.
Deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that it is probable that future taxable profits will be available 
against which the temporary differences can be utilised.
1.16 Equity instruments
Ordinary shares are classified as equity. Costs directly attributable to the issue of new shares are shown as equity 
as a deduction from the proceeds.
1.17 New standards and interpretations not applied
At the date of authorisation of these financial statements, IFRS 8: Operating Segments was in issue but not yet 
effective, so has not been applied. The directors anticipate that the adoption of the IFRS Standards and Interpretations 
that are currently in issue but not yet effective will have no material impact on the financial statements of the group 
except for possible additional disclosures on Operating Segments when IFRS 8 comes into effect for the year 
commencing on 1 March 2009.
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T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Notes to the financial statements
Notes to the financial statements continued
for the year ended 28 February 2009
1. Summary of significant accounting policies continued
1.18 Accounting estimates and judgements
Estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, 
including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances.
Tangent makes estimates and assumptions concerning the future. The resulting accounting estimates will, 
by definition, rarely equal the related actual results. The estimates and assumptions that have a significant risk 
of causing a material adjustment to carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year are 
outlined below:
(a) Intangible fixed assets
T angent tests annually whether goodwill has suffered any impairment, in accordance with the accounting policy 
stated in note 1.7. The recoverable amounts from cash-generating units are determined based on value-in-use 
calculations. These calculations require the use of estimates. In arriving at the fair value of goodwill, T angent estimates 
the future consideration payable for acquisitions where the final consideration is contingent upon future events or 
performance. Estimated future consideration is reviewed and accrued at each balance sheet date. If recoverable 
amounts of cash-generating units are below the estimated levels or if the future consideration payable on acquisitions 
is higher than estimated an impairment loss may be triggered.
(b) Deferred tax
T angent estimates future profitability in arriving at the fair value of the deferred tax assets and liabilities. If the final 
tax outcome is different to the estimated deferred tax amount the resulting changes will be reflected in the income 
statement, unless the tax relates to an item charged to equity in which case the changes in tax estimates will also 
be reflected in equity.
2. Group restructuring
The board completed a restructuring and relocating of the businesses of T angent during the year. The restructuring 
included the consolidation of all long run and local marketing printing operations and fulfilment facilities within 
T angent’s Newcastle site.
This consolidation was achieved through the transfer to Newcastle of T angent’s local marketing printing operations 
from London and the production and fulfilment facilities from Cheltenham. The changes were accompanied by 
relocations of T angent’s London and Cheltenham employees to new premises in London and in Cheltenham.
The T angent Labs team was refocused to become a central technology resource that can be better utilised 
for the benefit of all businesses in the group.
T o reflect the new business structure, specific new brands were created for the group and for each business 
in the group.
The costs of restructuring are not part of the normal operating expenses of T angent and they have therefore been 
separately identified in the income statement and excluded from underlying operating profit. The restructuring 
expenses are set out below:
      £000
Employee redundancies       188
Property relocations      209
       397
3. Operating costs
The operating costs, which are deducted from revenue in arriving at operating profit, are analysed as follows:
     2009 2008 
    Note £000 £000
Employee benefits    5 6,346 6,159
Direct purchases for goods and services provided     6,271 6,385
Depreciation     519 488
Other expenses     2,020 2,293
     15,156 15,325
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39
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Notes to the financial statements
4. Auditors’ remuneration
     2009 2008 
     £000 £000
Audit     50 50
T ax services     12 12
Other services     11 57
     73 119
The other services were £11,000 (2008: £10,000) for reviewing the group interim report. In the prior year there 
was also £28,000 for due diligence work on the acquisition of subsidiaries and £19,000 for IFRS advisory work.
5. Employee information
     2009 2008 
    Note £000 £000
Wages and salaries     5,463 5,230
Social security costs     586 481
Pension contributions     68 46
Share-based payment charge    22 229 402
     6,346 6,159
The average number of employees, including directors, by location was:
     2009 2008 
     Number Number
London     81 88
Newcastle     68 66
Cheltenham     14 20
     163 174
Details of directors’ emoluments, including details of share option schemes are given in the remuneration report 
on pages 25 and 26. These disclosures form part of the audited financial statements of the group.
6. Finance income
     2009 2008 
     £000 £000
Interest receivable on deposits     85 87
Interest payable on finance leases     (13) (29)
     72 58
7. Taxation
     2009 2008 
     £000 £000
UK corporation tax – current year     238 552
UK corporation tax – prior year     (8) —
Deferred tax     (11) —
     219 552
UK corporation tax is calculated at 28% (2008: 30%) of the estimated assessable profit for the period.
Reconciliation of the tax charge in the income statement
     2009 2008 
     £000 £000
Profit before tax     523 2,094
T ax at the weighted average tax rate of 28% (2008: 30%)    146 628
T ax effects of:      
Movement in deferred tax assets not recognised     (25) (203)
Expenditure not deductible for tax purposes     123 135
Other adjustments     (25) (8)
T ax charge for the year     219 552
Deferred tax assets are recognised for unused tax losses to the extent that it is probable that taxable profit 
will be available against which losses can be utilised. The carrying value of deferred tax assets recognised 
at 28 February 2009 is £nil (2008: £nil). 
The group has tax losses available to carry forward against future profits amounting to £600,000 (2008: £700,000) 
and the unrecognised deferred tax asset at 28 February 2009 is £168,000 (2008: £210,000).
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T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Notes to the financial statements
Notes to the financial statements continued
for the year ended 28 February 2009
8. Earnings per share
The calculation of the basic and diluted earnings per share is based on the following:
     2009 2008 
     £000 £000
Profit attributable to shareholders     304 1,542
Group restructuring expense, net of tax     306 —
Share-based payments, net of tax     229 402
Underlying profit attributable to shareholders     839 1,944
     Number Number 
     000 000
Weighted average number of shares:      
For basic earnings per share     166,902 156,996
Adjustment for options outstanding     5,078 9,417
Adjustment for contingent shares     4,158 8,325
For diluted earnings per share     176,138 174,738
     Pence per Pence per 
     share share
Earnings per share:      
Basic     0.18 0.98
Underlying basic     0.50 1.24
Diluted     0.17 0.88
Underlying diluted     0.48 1.11
Diluted earnings per share is calculated by adjusting the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding 
to assume conversion of all dilutive potential ordinary shares. T angent has two categories of dilutive potential 
ordinary shares: share options and shares contingently issuable as consideration for an acquisition.
A calculation is performed for the share options to determine the number of shares that could have been acquired 
at fair value based on the monetary value of the subscription rights attached to the outstanding share options. 
The number of shares from this calculation is compared with the number of shares that would have been issued 
assuming the exercise of the options and the difference is deemed to be the number of dilutive shares attributable 
to share options.
The estimated number of shares that will be issued in the future as purchase consideration for current 
subsidiaries is deemed to be the number of dilutive shares issuable as consideration for acquisitions.
9. Dividends
     2009 2008 
     £000 £000
Recommended final dividend for the year of 0.2p (2008: 0.2p) per share   337 329
The recommended final dividend is subject to approval by shareholders at the 2009 annual general meeting 
and has not been included as a liability in these financial statements. 
The T angent employee share ownership trust, which holds a total of 1,428,340 ordinary shares, has agreed 
to waive all dividends so the directors estimate that the dividend will be payable on approximately 
168.71m ordinary shares.
10. Income statement for the parent company
In accordance with section 230 of the Companies Act 1985, the parent company has not published an 
income statement. The loss dealt with in the financial statements of the parent company of £1,080,000 
(2008: loss of £1,146,000) has been included in the consolidated income statement.
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41
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Notes to the financial statements
11. Intangible assets – goodwill
     2009 2008 
Group     £000 £000
Cost and net book value      
At 1 March     14,961 8,487
Additions      — 6,474
At 28 February     14,961 14,961
Additions to goodwill in the year ended 29 February 2008 comprise £5,474,000 on the acquisition of 
Ravensworth Digital Services Limited and an additional £999,000 of contingent equity consideration that 
the directors estimated would be payable on the acquisition of C360 UK Limited. 
No further consideration is payable for the acquisition of Ravensworth Digital Services Limited. The financial 
statements provide for the payment of the maximum contingent consideration under the agreement to purchase 
C360 UK Limited.
The group tests goodwill annually for impairment, or more frequently if there are indications that goodwill might 
be impaired. The recoverable amount for impairment testing is determined based on value-in-use calculations, 
using cash flow projections based on budgets and forecasts approved by the board. Cash flows beyond five years 
are extrapolated using a growth rate of 3% (2008: 3%). A discount rate of 8.1% (2008: 10%) has been applied 
to the projected cash flows. The directors have concluded that the value of goodwill has not been impaired.
12. Property, plant and equipment
    Short    
    leasehold    
    land and Plant and  
    buildings equipment T otal  
Group    £000 £000 £000
Cost      
At 1 March 2007     59 1,961 2,020
Additions    10 625 635
Acquired with subsidiary     389 978 1,367
Disposals    — (73) (73)
At 29 February 2008     458 3,491 3,949
Additions    218 400 618
Disposals    (68) (1,401) (1,469)
At 28 February 2009    608 2,490 3,098
Depreciation      
At 1 March 2007    32 1,313 1,345
Charge for the year    37 450 487
Acquired with subsidiary    40 503 543
Disposals    — (64) (64)
At 29 February 2008     109 2,202 2,311
Charge for the year    42 477 519
Disposals    (51) (1,366) (1,417)
At 28 February 2009     100 1,313 1,413
Net book value      
At 28 February 2009    508 1,177 1,685
At 29 February 2008     349 1,289 1,638
Included within net book value of plant and equipment is £169,000 (2008: £272,000) in respect of assets held 
under finance leases. Included within the depreciation charge for the year is £40,000 (2008: £107,000) in respect 
of assets held under finance leases.
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T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Notes to the financial statements
Notes to the financial statements continued
for the year ended 28 February 2009
13. Investments in subsidiaries
     2009 2008 
Company     £000 £000
Cost      
At 1 March     17,359 10,319
Additions     — 7,040
At 28 February     17,359 17,359
Provision for impairment      
At 1 March and 28 February     (264) (264)
Net book value      
At 28 February     17,095 17,095
Additions to investments in the prior year ended 29 February 2008 comprise £6,041,000 on the acquisition 
of Ravensworth Digital Services Limited and an additional £999,000 of contingent equity consideration that 
the directors estimated would be payable on the acquisition of C360 UK Limited. Of the additional amount, 
£500,000 was satisfied by the issue of 4,166,667 shares at 12p during the year ended 28 February 2009 and 
the directors estimate that the final £499,000 of equity consideration will be satisfied by the issue of 4,158,333 
shares at 12p during the year ending 28 February 2011.
In the opinion of the directors, the aggregate value of the investment in subsidiary undertakings is not less than 
the amount at which it is stated in the balance sheet.
Subsidiary undertakings
The company’s significant trading subsidiaries are as follows:
     Interest in 
    Principal ordinary  
Name    activity share capital
Ravensworth Digital Services Limited    Marketing services 100%
T angent Labs Limited (formerly C360 UK Limited)    Marketing services 100%
T angent Marketing Services Limited    Marketing services 100%
The subsidiary companies are all incorporated in England and their results have been consolidated in these 
financial statements.
14. Inventories
 Group Company
    
   2009 2008 2009 2008 
   £000 £000 £000 £000
Consumables   105 89 — —
Work in progress   1 6 — —
   106 95 — —
15. Trade and other receivables
 Group Company
    
   2009 2008 2009 2008 
   £000 £000 £000 £000
Trade receivables   2,953 3,935 — —
Other receivables   23 6 — 31
Prepayments and accrued income   215 383 18 —
   3,191 4,324 18 31
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43
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Notes to the financial statements
16. Borrowings
Group borrowings comprise finance leases with repayments due as follows:
  Present value 
 Minimum lease of minimum lease 
 payments payments
    
   2009 2008 2009 2008 
   £000 £000 £000 £000
Within one year    64 101 63 90
After one but not more than five years   89 159 87 149
   153 260 
Less finance charges allocated to future years   (3) (21)
Present value of finance lease borrowings   150 239 150 239
17. Trade and other payables
 Group Company
    
   2009 2008 2009 2008 
   £000 £000 £000 £000
Trade payables   1,121 1,548 — —
Other taxes and social security   284 346 — —
Other creditors   280 233 2 —
Accruals   979 1,264 21 133
Owed to group companies   — — 3,169 1,810
   2,664 3,391 3,192 1,943
18. Provisions
 Group Company
    
   2009 2008 2009 2008 
   £000 £000 £000 £000
At 1 March   333 500 333 500
Settled in the year   (167) (167) (167) (167)
At 28 February   166 333 166 333
 Group Company
    
   2009 2008 2009 2008 
   £000 £000 £000 £000
Analysed as       
Current liabilities   166 167 166 167
Non-current liabilities   — 166 — 166
   166 333 166 333
Provisions are for the estimated cash consideration that the directors expect to be paid for the acquisition 
of C360 UK Limited. The amount provided is the maximum amount payable under the purchase agreement.
19. Deferred tax
 Group Company
    
   2009 2008 2009 2008 
   £000 £000 £000 £000
At 1 March   39 — — —
Movement in the year   (11) — — —
On acquisition   — 39 — —
At 28 February   28 39 — —
The deferred tax liability is from accelerated capital allowances.
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T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Notes to the financial statements
Notes to the financial statements continued
for the year ended 28 February 2009
20. Financial instruments 
The group’s financial instruments comprise cash, liquid resources and various items, such as debtors and creditors 
that arise directly from its operations. 
The main risk arising from the group’s financial instruments is interest rate risk. The group monitors its interest 
rate risk primarily through monthly cash flow forecasting. 
Interest rate risk
The group finances its operations through funds raised from shareholders, retained earnings and finance lease 
borrowings. Throughout the year the group’s exposure to interest rate fluctuations was on its cash deposits and 
finance leases.
Foreign currency risk
The group policy is to match foreign currency payments and receipts where possible and to ensure by hedging 
if necessary to avoid a material foreign currency risk.
Credit risk
The group’s policy is that customers who wish to trade on credit terms are subject to credit verification procedures. 
In addition, receivable balances are monitored on an ongoing basis with the result that the group’s exposure 
to bad debts has not been significant. Credit risk arising from other financial assets, which comprise only cash 
deposits, the group’s exposure has been minimised by only placing deposits with banks with high credit ratings.
Liquidity risk
The group operates a cash-generative business, holds net funds, has an undrawn overdraft facility of £1m. 
The risk of a shortage of funds is therefore low.
Capital management
The group ensures that the capital structure maintains a strong credit rating, a low reliance on debt and resources 
that enable the group to make small scale acquisitions quickly if desired.
Interest rate risk profile of financial assets and liabilities
The interest rate profile of the group’s financial assets and liabilities was:
    Floating rate  Floating rate 
   Fixed rate financial Fixed rate financial  
   financial assets/ financial assets/ 
   liabilities (liabilities) liabilities (liabilities) 
   2009 2009 2008 2008 
   £000 £000 £000 £000
Cash balances   — 2,801 — 2,664
Finance leases   (1) (149) (23) (216)
   (1) 2,652 (23) 2,448
Interest on cash is based on short term floating rates linked to money market rates. The average rate of interest 
on floating rate liabilities is 0.87% above bank base rate. The average rate of interest on fixed rate liabilities is 4.58%.
Fair value of financial instruments
The group’s financial instruments, which comprise cash and short term deposits, variable rate finance leases, 
receivables and payables are carried at amortised cost, which is also considered to be equivalent to their 
fair value.
Borrowing facilities
Tangent has agreed a £1m overdraft facility at a rate of 1.75% over base rate secured by cross guarantees 
and debentures. The overdraft facility has never been drawn but having the facility improves the financial flexibility 
of the group. The finance lease liabilities as set out in note 16 are all secured on the assets against which the 
borrowings were provided.
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45
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Notes to the financial statements
21. Share capital
 Number of shares Nominal value
    
   2009 2008 2009 2008  
   £000 £000 £000 £000
Authorised      
At 1 March    225,000 142,670 2,250 1,427
Increase on 23 March 2007   — 82,330 — 823
Increase on 17 January 2008   — 743,016 — 7,430
Decrease on 17 January 2008   — (743,016) — (7,430)
At 28 February   225,000 225,000 2,250 2,250
 Number of 
 ordinary 1p shares Nominal value
    
   2009 2008 2009 2008  
   £000 £000 £000 £000
Allotted and fully paid      
At 1 March    165,967 111,780 1,660 1,118
Issued in the year   4,167 54,187 42 542
At 28 February   170,134 165,967 1,702 1,660
On 6 August 2008 4,166,667 ordinary shares of 1p each were allotted at 12p per share as part of the contingent 
consideration for the acquisition of C360 UK Limited.
22. Share‑based payments
The movements in share options and corresponding weighted average exercise prices (WAEP) are 
summarised below:
 2009 2008
    
   Number WAEP Number WAEP 
   000 Pence 000 Pence
At 1 March    14,871 5.19 13,525 4.44
Granted   771 1.00 1,540 9.63
Lapsed   (332) (9.69) (194) (11.98)
At 28 February   15,310 5.30 14,871 5.19
For the share options outstanding at 28 February 2009 exercise prices ranged between 1p and 13.25p per share 
and the weighted average remaining contractual life was 6.43 years. 
Fair values
The fair value of share options granted in the year was calculated using a Black-Scholes option pricing model. 
The volatility, measured as the standard deviation of expected share price return, is based on statistical analysis 
of the Tangent share price from July 2005 to the date of grant, which resulted in an assumed volatility of 25%. 
The other key inputs were a risk free interest rate of 5.0%, a dividend yield of 4%and an expected life of 5 years.
The total share-based payment charge for the year was £229,000 (2008: £402,000) in accordance with the 
requirements of IFRS 2 on share-based payments. The charge relates principally to the share options granted 
to directors in September 2005, as disclosed in the remuneration report on pages 25 and 26.
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T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Notes to the financial statements
Notes to the financial statements continued
for the year ended 28 February 2009
23. Other reserves
 Group Company
    
   2009 2008 2009 2008 
   £000 £000 £000 £000
ESOP reserve   (3) (3) (3) (3)
Share-based payments reserve   1,180 951 1,180 951
Capital reserve   499 999 499 999
Restructure reserve   1,161 1,161 — —
   2,837 3,108 1,676 1,947
The ESOP reserve represents the cost of Tangent shares held by the employee share ownership trust. 
At 28 February 2009 the employee share ownership trust held a total of 1,428,340 (2008: 1,428,340) 
ordinary shares, with a market value of £36,000 (2008: £168,000). 
The share-based payment reserve represents the value of share-based payments recognised in the income 
statement to date less any transfers to retained earnings that arise from the shares issue on the exercise 
of options.
The capital reserve represents the future share capital and the associated merger reserve that is expected to 
result from the proposed issue of 4,158,333 ordinary shares at 12p each as contingent share consideration 
(note 13).
The restructure reserve represents the consolidated capital reserve which arose when the group restructured 
and floated on AIM in May 2000.
24. Cash generated from operations
     2009 2008 
Group     £000 £000
Profit before tax for the year      523 2,094
Depreciation     519 487
Loss/(profit) on sale of plant and equipment     5 (18)
Net interest income     (72) (58)
Share-based payment charge     229 402
(Increase)/decrease in inventories     (11) 24
Decrease/(increase) in trade and other receivables     1,133 (243)
Decrease in trade and other payables     (726) (136)
Cash generated from operations     1,600 2,552
     2009 2008 
Company     £000 £000
Loss before tax for the year      (1,080) (1,146)
Share-based payment charge     229 402
Decrease/(increase) in trade and other receivables     14 (13)
Increase in trade and other payables     1,247 736
Cash generated from operations     410 (21)
25. Analysis of net funds
      At 
    At 1 March Cash 28 February 
    2008 flows   2009  
    £000   £000   £000 
Cash    2,664 137 2,801
Finance leases    (239) 89 (150)
Net funds    2,425 226 2,651
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47
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Financial statements
Notes to the financial statements
26. Operating lease commitments
     2009 2008 
     £000 £000
Minimum lease payments under operating leases recognised as an expense in the year  1,822 1,927
Future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows:
     2009 2008 
     £000 £000
Within one year     1,637 2,164
After one but not more than five years     3,195 5,230
After five years     1,529 1,805
     6,361 9,199
27. Related party transactions
Compensation of key management personnel
Key management personnel of the group are defined as those persons having authority and responsibility for the 
planning, directing and controlling the activities of the group, directly or indirectly. Key management of the group 
are therefore considered to be the directors of T angent Communications plc. There were no transactions with the 
key management, other than their emoluments, which are set out in the remuneration report on pages 25 and 26.
28. Post balance sheet events
On 2 June 2009 the directors recommended payment of a dividend which is subject to approval at the 2009 
annual general meeting. Details are set out in note 9.
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T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Notice of annual general meeting
Notice of annual general meeting
T angent Communications plc
Notice is hereby given that the 2009 annual general meeting of the company will be held at the offices of 
Pinsent Masons LLP , CityPoint, One Ropemaker Street, London EC2Y 9AH on T uesday 28 July 2009 at 2.30pm 
for the following purposes:
Ordinary business
1.  T o receive the accounts and the reports of the directors and the auditors for the financial year ended 
28 February 2009.
2.  To declare a final dividend for the financial year ended 28 February 2009 of 0.2p per ordinary share.
3.  T o re-elect Piers Caldecote as a director who is retiring by rotation in accordance with the company’s articles 
of association. 
4.  T o re-elect Graeme Harris as a director who is retiring by rotation in accordance with the company’s articles 
of association.
5.  T o re-appoint UHY Hacker Young LLP as auditors of the company from the conclusion of this meeting until the 
conclusion of the next general meeting at which accounts are laid before the shareholders and to authorise 
the directors to fix the auditors’ remuneration. 
Special business
T o consider and, if thought fit, pass the following resolutions which will be proposed, as to resolution numbered 6, 
as an ordinary resolution and, as to resolution numbered 7 as a special resolution:
6.  That, as an ordinary resolution, (in substitution for all subsisting authorities) the directors be and they are 
hereby generally and unconditionally authorised to exercise all powers of the company to allot relevant securities 
(within the meaning of section 80 of the Companies Act 1985) up to an aggregate nominal amount of £548,664 
for the period expiring on 27 July 2014 (unless previously renewed, varied or revoked by the company in 
general meeting) but the company may, before such expiry, make an offer or agreement which would or 
might require relevant securities to be allotted after such expiry and the directors may allot relevant securities 
in pursuance of that offer or agreement as if the authority conferred by this resolution had not expired. 
7.  That, as a special resolution, subject to the passing of resolution 6, the directors be and they are hereby 
generally empowered pursuant to section 95 of the Companies Act 1985 (the “ Act”) to allot equity securities 
(within the meaning of section 94(2) to section 94 (3A) of the Act) for cash pursuant to the authority conferred 
by resolution 6 as if section 89(1) of the Act did not apply to the allotment. This power is limited to:
 (a)  the allotment of equity securities where such securities have been offered (whether by way of a rights 
issue, open offer or otherwise) to holders of ordinary shares in the capital of the company made in 
proportion (as nearly as may be) to their existing holdings of ordinary shares but subject to the directors 
having a right to make such exclusions or other arrangements in connection with the offering as they deem 
necessary or expedient: 
  (i)  to deal with equity securities representing fractional entitlements; and
  (ii)  to deal with legal or practical problems under the laws of any territory or the requirements of any 
regulatory body or stock exchange; and
 (b)  the allotment of equity securities for cash otherwise than pursuant to paragraph (a) up to an aggregate 
nominal amount of £85,066 and will expire on 27 July 2014 but the company may, before such expiry, 
make an offer or agreement which would or might require equity securities to be allotted after such expiry 
and the directors may allot equity securities in pursuance of that offer or agreement as if the power 
conferred by this resolution had not expired. 
  This power applies in relation to a sale of shares which is an allotment of equity securities by virtue of section 
94(3A) of the Act as if in the first paragraph of this resolution the words “pursuant to the authority conferred 
by resolution 6” were omitted.
By order of the board 
Graeme Harris Registered office:
Secretary 84–86 Great Portland Street
2 June 2009 London W1W 7NR
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T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Notice of annual general meeting
Notes
1.   A member entitled to attend and vote at the meeting is also entitled to appoint a proxy or proxies to attend, 
speak and vote instead of him or her. A member may appoint more than one proxy in relation to the 
meeting, provided that each proxy is appointed to exercise the rights attached to a different share or 
shares held by that member. A proxy need not be a member of the company. Appointment of a proxy 
will not preclude a member from attending and voting in person at the meeting. 
2.   T o be effective, the instrument appointing a proxy and any power of attorney or other authority under 
which it is executed (or a notarially certified copy of such power or authority) must be deposited at the 
offices of the company’s registrars, Capita Registrars, The Registry, 34 Beckenham Road, Beckenham, 
Kent BR3 4TU no later than 2.30pm on 26 July 2009. A form of proxy is enclosed with this notice.
3.    In the case of joint holders of a share the vote of the senior who tenders a vote, whether in person or by 
proxy, shall be accepted to the exclusion of the votes of the other joint holders. For this purpose seniority 
is determined by the order in which the names of the holders stand in the register of members in respect 
of the joint holding. 
4.    CREST members who wish to appoint a proxy or proxies throught the CREST electronic proxy appointmnet 
service may do so by using the procedures described in the CREST Manual. CREST Personal Members 
or other CREST sponsored members, and those CREST members who have appointed a voting service 
provider(s), should refer to their CREST sponsor or voting service provider(s) who will be able to take the 
appropriate action on their behalf.
5.    In order for a proxy appointment or instruction made using the CREST service will be valid, the appropraite 
CREST message (a “CREST Proxy Instruction”) must be properly authenticcated in accordance with 
Euroclear UK & Ireland Limited’s (“Euroclear UK & Ireland”) specifications and must contain the information 
required for such instructions, as described in the CREST Manual. The time of receipt of a proxy 
appointment or an instruction to a previously appointed proxy will be taken  to be the time (as determined 
by the timestamp applied to the message by the CREST Applications Host) from which the issuer’s agent 
(CREST ID RA10) is able to retrieve the message by enquiry to CREST in the manner prescribed by CREST .
6.    Copies of all directors’ service contracts and letters of appointment are available for inspection during 
normal business hours at the registered office for the company (public holidays excluded) and will also 
be available for inspection at the place of the annual general meeting from 2.15pm untill its conclusion.
7.    Pursuant to Regulation 41 of the Uncertificated Securities Regulations 2001, the time by which a person 
must be entered on the register of members in order to have the right to attend and vote at the annual 
general meeting is 6pm on 26 July 2009 (being not more than 48 hours prior to the time fixed for the 
meeting) or, if the meeting is adjourned, such time being not more than 48 hours prior to the time fixed for 
the adjourned meeting. Changes to entries on the register of members after that time will be disregarded 
in determining the right of any person to attend or vote at the meeting.
8.    In order to facilitate voting by corporate representatives at the meeting, arrangements will be put in place 
at the meeting so that (i) if a corporate shareholder has appointed the chairman of the meeting as its 
corporate representative with instructions to vote on a poll in accordance with the directions of all of the 
other corporate representatives for that shareholder at the meeting, then on a poll those corporate 
representatives will give voting directions to the chairman and the chairman will vote (or withhold a vote) 
as corporate representative in accordance with those directions; and (ii) if more than one corporate 
representative for the same corporate shareholder attends the meeting but the corporate shareholder 
has not appointed the chairman of the meeting as its corporate representative, a designated corporate 
representative will be nominated, from those corporate representatives who attend, who will vote on 
a poll and the other corporate representatives will give voting directions to that designated corporate 
representative. Corporate shareholders are referred to the guidance issued by the Institute of Chartered 
Secretaries and Administrators on proxies and corporate representatives – www.icsa.org.uk – for further 
details of this procedure. The guidance includes a sample form of representation letter if the chairman 
is being appointed as described in (i) above.
9.    Persons who are not shareholders in the company will not be admitted to the meeting unless prior 
arrangements are made with the company.
10.  Explanatory notes in relation to the resolutions to be proposed at the meeting are set out in the following 
Explanatory notes.
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50
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Notice of annual general meeting
Notice of annual general meeting continued
T angent Communications plc
Explanatory notes
Resolution 1: Reports and accounts
The directors are required to present to the meeting the audited accounts and the reports of the directors 
and the auditors for the financial year ended 28 February 2009. 
Resolution 2: Declaration of dividend
Final dividends must be approved by shareholders but cannot exceed the amount recommended by the directors. 
Resolution 3: Re‑election of director
Under the company’s articles of association directors are obliged to retire by rotation every three years. This year 
Piers Caldecote is retiring and seeking re-election, his biographical details are set out on page 18 of the annual report.
Resolution 4: Re‑election of director
Under the company’s articles of association directors are obliged to retire by rotation every three years. This year 
Graeme Harris is retiring and seeking re-election, his biographical details are set out on page 18 of the annual report.
Resolution 5: Re‑appointment of auditors
The company is required to appoint auditors at each general meeting at which accounts are laid before the 
company, to hold office until the end of the next such meeting. This resolution proposes the appointment and, 
in accordance with standard practice, gives authority to the directors to determine the remuneration to be paid 
to the auditors.
Resolution 6: Authority to allot shares
This resolution authorises the directors to allot ordinary shares up to an aggregate nominal amount of £548,664. 
This is equivalent to 32% of the issued ordinary share capital of the company as at 2 June 2009. The authority will 
expire on 27 July 2014. Although the directors have no present intention of exercising this authority, it is considered 
prudent to maintain the flexibility it provides.
This resolution complies with institutional investor guidelines and will replace the authority given to the directors 
at the annual general meeting in 2008.
Resolution 7: Dis‑application of pre‑emption rights
If equity securities are to be allotted for cash, section 89 (1) of the Companies Act 1985 requires that those equity 
securities are offered first to existing shareholders in proportion to the number held by them at the time of the 
offer and otherwise in compliance with the technical requirements of that Act. However, there are occasions 
when it may be in the interests of the company for the directors to allot shares other than to shareholders 
in proportion to their existing holdings, or otherwise than strictly in compliance with those requirements.
This resolution would renew the authority of the directors to allot equity securities for cash without first being 
required to offer such securities to existing shareholders. The authority relates to allotments in respect of rights 
issues and similar offerings (where technical difficulties can arise in relation to fractional entitlements and overseas 
shareholders) and also generally in relation to other allotments up to £85,066 of nominal capital, being approximately 
5% of the issued ordinary share capital of the company as at 2 June 2009. The authority will expire on 27 July 2014.
This resolution complies with institutional investor guidelines and will replace the authority given to the directors 
at the annual general meeting in 2008.
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51
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Form of proxy
Form of proxy
For use by ordinary shareholders for the annual general meeting to be held on 28 July 2009.
I/we (block capitals) ...................................................................................................................................................
of................................................................................................................................................................................
being (a) holder(s) of ordinary shares in the company, hereby appoint the chairman of the meeting or (note 1)
...................................................................................................to vote  ......................... number of shares (note 1)
as my/our proxy to vote for me/us and on my/our behalf at the annual general meeting of the company to be held 
on 28 July 2009 and at any adjournment thereof.
I/We direct my/our proxy to vote as indicated by an  in the appropriate column (note 2).
If you wish to appoint multiple proxies please see note 2.
Resolutions For Against Vote withheld
1. T o receive reports of the directors 
and the accounts.
2. T o declare a final dividend.
3. T o re-elect Piers Caldecote 
as a director of the company.
4. T o re-elect Graeme Harris as a director 
of the company.
5. T o re-appoint UHY Hacker Young LLP 
as auditors of the company and to 
authorise the directors to fix the 
auditors’ remuneration.
6. To authorise the directors to allot 
securities up to a specified amount.
7. T o give the directors limited power to 
allot securities for cash without making 
an offer to shareholders.
Signature....................................................................................................................................................................
Date ...................................................................................................................................................................2009
Notes
1.  T o appoint as a proxy a person other than the chairman of the meeting, cross out the words “the chairman of 
the meeting” and write the full name in the space provided. The change should be initialled. If you wish your 
proxy to make comments on your behalf you will need to appoint someone other than the chairman and give 
them relevant instructions directly. A proxy need not be a member of the company. If the proxy is being 
appointed in relation to less than your full voting entitlement, please enter in the space provided the number 
of shares in relation to which they are authorised to act as your proxy. If left blank your proxy will be deemed 
to be authorised in respect of your full voting entitlement.
2.  You may appoint one or more proxies of your choice to attend, vote and speak at the meeting and any 
adjournment thereof, provided each proxy is appointed to exercise rights in respect of different shares. 
T o appoint more than one proxy (an) additional proxy form(s) may be obtained by contacting the Registrars 
or you may photocopy this page indicating on each copy the name of the proxy you wish to appoint and 
the number of shares in respect of which the proxy is appointed. All forms must be signed and should 
be returned to Capita Registrars in the same envelope.
3.  Unless otherwise instructed the proxy will vote as they think fit or, at their discretion, abstain from voting. 
4.  The form of proxy must arrive not later than 48 hours before the time set for the meeting at Capita Registrars, 
The Registry, 34 Beckenham Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 4TU. You may also deliver by hand to the same 
address during usual business hours.
5.  A corporation must execute the form of proxy under either its common seal or the hand of a duly authorised 
officer or attorney.
6.  The “vote withheld” option is to enable you to abstain on any particular resolution. Such a vote is not a vote 
in law and will not be counted in the votes “For” and “Against” a resolution.
7.  Shares held in uncertificated form may be voted through the CREST Proxy Voting Service in accordance with 
the procedures sert out in the CREST manual.
_0_tan_ar09_back.indd   32 22/06/2009   14:49:32 business reply style
Business Reply
Licence Number
MB122
Capita Registrars
The Registry
34 Beckenham Road
Kent BR3 4BR
first fold
second fold
third fold and tuck in
_0_tan_ar09_back.indd   33 22/06/2009   14:49:35 _
T angent is a leading 
integrator of technology, 
data and marketing strategy.
US/
Who we are
What we do
_
Our companies combine  
world-class technical and creative 
skills with marketing expertise 
to deliver highly personalised and 
bespoke digital communications 
for leading brands. 
Our companies provide services 
that integrate seamlessly with 
each other and allow us to provide 
end-to-end digital and direct 
marketing strategies. We call 
this our ‘Network of Experts’.
  01 highlights
 02 Our structure
 04 chairman’s statement
 06 Business review
   06 Joint chief executives’ review
  16 Financial review
 18 gO vernance
  18 Board of directors
  20 Directors’ report
  23 corporate governance statement
  25 remuneration report
  27 independent auditors’ report
 28 Financial statements
  28 consolidated income statement
  29  c onsolidated statement of 
changes in equity
  30 consolidated balance sheet
  31 	 Consolidated 	 cash 	 flow 	 statement
  32  company statement of changes 
in equity
  33 company balance sheet
  34 	 Company 	 cash 	 flow 	 statement
  35 	 Notes 	 to 	 the 	 financial 	 statements
 48  nOtice OF annual general 
meeting
 51 FOrm OF prO xy
 IBC Financial calenD ar
Financial calendar
28 July 2009  Annual general meeting
26 August 2009  Dividend payment (subject to shareholder approval)
31 August 2009  Financial half year end
November 2009  Interim results announcement
28 February 2010  Financial year end
May 2010  Annual results announcement
_0_tan_ar09_cover.indd   2 22/06/2009   14:50:00 TANGENT 
/
PLC
T angent Communications plc
84–86 Great Portland Street 
London W1W 7NR
www.tangentplc.com
T angent Communications plc
Annual report and accounts 2009
Intelligent marketing 
and technology
Tangent Communications plc Annual report and accounts 2009
_0_tan_ar09_cover.indd   1 22/06/2009   14:50:00