Corporate | 12 November 2002 11:30

SHS Informationssysteme english

SHS operative further positive – group loss characterised by high amortization Corporate-news announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– SHS operative further positive – group loss characterised by high amortization Munich, November 11, 2002 – SHS Informationssysteme AG (ISIN DE 005072409) announces today its results for the third quarter and the first nine months 2002. Within the expired nine months SHS has reached a total output of EUR 23,.05 mill (previous year EUR 24.24 mill.), whereof EUR 7.5 mill. (previous year EUR 8.5 mill.) accounted for the third quarter. Hence the total output felt back to previous year value by 5%. This is basically due to the clearly worse macroeconomic framework in Germany. A major share of this downturn could be balanced with the very good performance of the Spanish subsidiary SHS Polar, which meanwhile has a share of 64% of the group total output (previous year 49%). “Just in this times our strategy to diversify geographically, especially to Spain, is advantageous. The same positive effects has our sales strategy, we were able to broaden our customer basis and in particular enforce our engagement within financial service providers. Here our product GUARDEAN generates high interest, as again visible on our product presentations.” explains Dr. Ansgar Gründler, “However, very important tasks are still ahead. Our most important goal is to arrive from the current imbalance between Spain and Germany with a reinforcement of Germany at dimensions that reflect the respective target market sizes.” In the nine month period SHS has reduced external material costs by 84.6% to EUR 0.3 mill. as well as other operating costs by 17% to EUR 4.6 mill. With an increase of personnel costs – according to the good development in Spain – to EUR 18.0 mill in the nine month period SHS group has reached a EBITDA of EUR 0.7 mill. and thus a slight raise to previous year period by 10% (previous year EUR 0.6 Mio.). With this SHS was able to achieve a cost structure adjusted to the decreased total output. With the three month period a slight reduction of EBITDA to the strong previous year period 2001 of EUR 0.4 mill. to EUR 0.3 mill. could be assessed. Altogether in the third quarter 2002 a EBITDA as high as in the first two quarters together could be earned. On this basis the company expects to gain a doubling of the actual EBITDA in the fourth quarter As of July 01, 2002 the probable final purchase price instalments of the following two years were, according to the modalities of the acquisition plan and the now prepared merger of the Spanish subsidiaries to one legal entity, capitalised. Through this the goodwill increased by EUR 6.4 mill. and as a result amortization raised. Hence after scheduled depreciation of EUR 0.9 mill (previous year EUR 0.8 mill.) as well as amortisation of EUR 2.3 mill (previous year 0.7 mill.), financing costs of EUR 1.1 mill. (previous year EUR 0.6 mill.), and taxes the group earnings amount to EUR -4.2 mill. (previous year EUR -1.5 mill.) and thus reflect, in comparison to previous year, a significant increase in expenditures for amortisation and financing. Compared to previous year period the number of employees within the group has been increased by 8% to 539. According to the different situations in the single companies the number of employees in Spain could be increased again, while in Germany the personnel capacities have been reduced. The complete quarterly report is available by 12.November 2002 on the web at http://www.shs.de. ———————————————————————– Background information SHS at a glance: The internationally active SHS Informationssysteme AG is among the leading consulting firms for Information Technology (IT) in the European market. The company, established in Munich and today with more than 550 employees, maintains altogether four companies with 11 locations in Germany, Spain, France and Italy. SHS provides customized IT solutions with a main focus on optimizing customer and sales oriented business processes; furthermore, with its software GUARDEAN, it offers its own standard solution for credit risk and customer value management. Especially in the telecommunications, financial services, media and retail industries, SHS has earned an international reputation with GUARDEAN. As customers, SHS can name T-Mobile, e-plus and O2 – nearly all big German cellular phone network providers – as well as France telecom, Telefónica, amena and Vodafone in Europe. In addition, SHS sees to well-known financial service providers such as SüdLeasing, BARCLAYCARD, Banco Central Santander Hispano (BSCH) and CCF. Shares from SHS (Security Code No.: 507240) have been quoted on the Neuer Markt of the German Stock Exchange in Frankfurt on Main since 19 May 1999. Available for queries: SHS Informationssysteme AG Investor Relations Christian Angerer phone: +49 – 89 – 74 72 57-18 fax: +49 – 89 – 74 72 57-10 e-mail: info@shs.de web: http://www.shs.de end of message, (c)DGAP 12.11.2002 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 507240; ISIN: DE0005072409; Index: Listed: Neuer Markt in Frankfurt; Freiverkehr in Berlin, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart 121130 Nov 02