Corporate | 17 March 2004 12:31

ATOSS Software AG: Press release on accounts press conference – Part 2

Corporate-news announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– ATOSS Software AG: Press release on accounts press conference – Part 2 Good prospects for growth, particularly through new sales strategy ATOSS prepared early for the economic downturn and difficult conditions in its field of business. After a phase of high growth rates that lasted up to the year 2000, the corporate strategy in the last few years has been focused on strengthening the company’s earning power. During this period in which the business climate has been very negative, ATOSS has been able to post some growth in sales and significant increases in earnings. In the current financial year 2004, the foundations are now to be laid for further dynamic growth in sales in the coming years. Various measures are to be implemented with the aim of integrating sales processes more closely. In this connection the intention is also to intensify collaboration with partners and to enter into new cooperation activities. Andreas F. J. Obereder, Chairman of the Board of Directors, pointed out that for ATOSS, building special expertise in its business sector and developing distribution alliances have been very positive experiences. For example, following its previous successes with the “Medical” Business Unit, the company is now working specifically on special solutions for the wholesale/retail sector and for manufacturing industry. In addition, the company is to step up its efforts to establish close cooperation with companies where potential could be exploited over and above its own product range and customer base. In this context, Andreas F.J. Obereder calls attention to the cooperation with Bosch’s Safety Engineering division that is developing in an increasingly gratifying manner. However, the board sees the greatest impetus for the coming years in its intention to integrate the sales and service provision process more closely, and to target previously unworked customer segments in order to gain further market share in the market for working hour management and human resources planning. The growth area associated with all the issues pertaining to “flexible working time” and “human resources planning” is also to be serviced more comprehensively with products from ATOSS. For example, various studies have clearly identified that 94% of companies attach top priority to human resources deployment planning, and 63% are unable to react quickly to fluctuations in their order books in a manner that is flexible and does not add to costs. This underlines the great importance of these issues and the real need of companies to address it. “We have all the expertise in house in order to offer our customers a one-stop solution, from the consultancy addressing to working hour models, the underlying business processes and all the way through to the introduction of tailored software solutions. These strengths, paired with our broad range of software products covering all aspects of working hours management and human resources deployment planning, sets us off from competitors and ensures that we are capable of delivering consider-able benefits to every customer in our area of business”, Andreas F. J. Obereder explains. As Mr. Obereder emphasizes, the task is now to further develop and strengthen this existing differentiation. The intention is put greater emphasis on the sales process that will offer the company’s whole experience of process consulting with regard to widely diverging types of working hours models and avoiding overtime and idle time, while also responding more flexibly to customers’ demands for different product categories. Today, ATOSS is in a better position than ever to respond to widely diverging customer sizes and requirements, as to a wide variety of application scenarios. Closer integration of different areas of expertise within the company in the sales and service provision processes can now create considerable potential benefits for customers, thereby also creating good prospects for growth for ATOSS. Change in the Board of Directors There will be two changes to the board in the current financial year. After a 14-year tenure at the company Dr. Burkhard Scherf has informed the company that he will not be extending his director’s contract, which expires on 31.07.2004. Andreas F.J. Obereder will assume his areas of responsibility with immediate effect. Christof Leiber has been appointed to the board with effect from 01.04.2004 and he will be responsible for human resources, finance, legal matters and M&A. Mr. Leiber served as Head of legal affairs since 1999, added Investor Relations since 2001 and has been a member of the ATOSS CSD Software GmbH management team since 2002. Outlook for the financial year 2004 remains positive, a high dividend payment to shareholders will be proposed Overall, the board expects to see higher sales growth in the current year 2004, as well as a further increase in earnings. The very positive growth of the business over the last few years is thus set to continue. However, it must be considered that the first half of 2003 was particularly successful for ATOSS. It will scarcely be possible to exceed these high performance targets in the current year without some upwind from the reviving economy. The first quarter of the current financial year is therefore likely to come in under last year’s results. However, ATOSS expects that the introduction of its integrated sales process will take effect essentially from the second half of the year onwards and will generate growth. The pleasing growth of the business seen last year and the overall optimistic outlook from the board are also reflected in the proposal formulated in conjunction with the Supervisory Board to be made to the upcoming annual meeting of shareholders on 22.04.2004. The proposal envisages a very high dividend payment of Euro 1.50 per share. ATOSS recently paid Euro 1.50 per share on 30.12.2003, whereby the sum of Euro 5.7 m paid out to shareholders was almost equal to the amount gained by ATOSS since its flotation through positive operating cash flows. As ATOSS is expecting to maintain a high level of cash flow for the current financial year, the board does not believe that a further dividend will restrict it from pursuing its growth strategy given the company’s high liquidity. Upcoming events: 22.04.2004 Press release on provisional figures for Q1 2004 22.04.2004 Annual Meeting of Shareholders in Munich 14.05.2004 Publication of report on Q1 2004 23.07.2004 Press release on provisional figures for Q1-Q2.2004 13.08.2004 Publication of report for the period 01.01.-30.06.2004 End Part 2 end of message, (c)DGAP 17.03.2004 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 510440; ISIN: DE0005104400; Index: Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin- Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover und Stuttgart 171231 Mär 04