With markets braced for the worst following bad news from other companies in the ravaged TMT sector, Misys shares staged a brief rally to £2.88 after being marked down to £2.17 in advance of yesterday's trading statement.

By mid-day today the company was trading at £2.31, close to the previous day's close.

In the statement, released in advanced of the full-year results on 18 July, Misys reports that market conditions in its core banking and securities division appeared to have stabilised. Divisional profits are anticipated to be about 30% lower than last year, within the range of market expectations.The company says it is encouraged by a number of larger contracts signed in the latter months.

The financial services division was also judged to have delivered a satisfactory performance in the face of adverse market conditions in the UK. Profits for this dvision, before before exceptional costs and goodwill amortisation are anticipated to be between 25% and 30% ahead of last year.

Within banking and securities, initial licence fee (ILF) order intake at £87m is 11% below last year but the closing ILF order book is up 31% at £31m from the position at the start of the year. The £8m increase in the order book this year compares with a reduction of £15m in the previous year.

There was a noticeable switch in demand by segment in the second half, says the vendor. The weakness in securities & asset management continued into the second half, but further extended into the investment banking segment to cause a year-on-year reduction in the treasury & capital markets division as well. However, the improved demand seen in retail banking at the time of the interim results continued strongly; total ILF orders in this segment are nearly twice the level of the previous year. There was also a notable performance by the Midas product with new licenses in the full year significantly higher than the previous year.