Ad-hoc | 9 May 2007 08:38
CENIT AG Systemhaus / Quarter Results Release of an Ad hoc announcement according to § 15 WpHG, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CENIT Software increases EBIT margin to over 17% Stuttgart, May 9, 2007 – CENIT started 2007 with an extremely successfully first quarter, essentially influenced by the development of their software business. In the meantime, 19% of the total revenue is achieved through the sales of CENIT software. At the same time, the hardware sales dropped as expected by 62% to 1.6 million € (2006: 4.6 million €), thus enabling CENIT to take a decisive step towards their goal of a massive development of their software business. As a result, the EBIT margin improved by 13.6% in 2006 to over 17% in the first quarter of 2007. In the first quarter, CENIT achieved consolidated sales of 17.6 million € (2006: 19.2 Mio. € /-9). The decline in sales can be attributed to the hardware business. The gross profit thus increased by 5% to 15.6 million € (2006: 14.8 million €). The EBITDA achieved 3.3 million € (2006: 2.9 million € /3%). The result of the operational business operations before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose in the reporting period from 2.6 million € in 2006 by 16% to 3.0 million. The EBT (result before taxes) was 3.1 million € (2006: 2.4 million € /30%) and the consolidated result in the first quarter is 2.0 million € (2006: 1.97 million €). The group EPS (earnings per share) was 0.24 € (2006 adjusted: 0.23 €), showing that CENIT started the year on an extremely positive basis. This very favorable growth in earnings is positively affecting the group’s financial standing. At the balance sheet date, the equity capital is 26.4 million € (2006: 24.3 million €) and the equity ratio is 68% (2006: 62%). The balance of bank deposits and securities of the current assets is 20.6 million € (2006: 18,6 Mio. €) at the balance sheet date. The operational cash flow is 3.4 million € (2006: 2.2 million €) and the free cash flow reached 2.0 million € (2006: 1.3 million €). Breakdown of Revenue The sales volume with CENIT Software increased by 9% to 3.3 million €, meaning that 19% of the total revenue was achieved with CENIT’s own software. In the previous year it was around 16% of the total revenue, with 3.0 million €. Business with other vendors’ software also increased by 6.2% to 1.6 million € (2006: 1.5 million €). The sales volume in the Services sector again rose by 8.5% to 11.0 million € (2006: 10.1 million €). Hardware business dropped as expected significantly by 62% to 1.6 million € (2006: 4.6 million €). Order Situation The orders balance as of March 31, 2007 in the group is 27,7 million € (12/2006: 18,2 million €) and the incoming orders amount to around 31,7 million € (2006: 31,2 million €). The share of new customers increased in total to 3% in the first quarter. Prospects CENIT is aiming at increasing the total revenue share of proprietary software by up to 30% over the next three years. Based on this successful start to the fiscal year 2007, we are confident to continue the tendencies in the software business. A high workload in the consulting business and the sustained positive economic development support our positive expectations for 2007. We are underscoring our reputation in the aerospace industry through the foundation of a subsidiary in Toulouse and expect this to yield additional positive impulses in the consulting business. The international character of CENIT’s business is also increasing in significance through the further consistent development of the subsidiaries in the US and Romania. Given our optimized product portfolio and our competitive range of consulting services, we are confident that CENIT will also profit from the general economic growth. Queries to: CENIT AG Systemhaus ISIN:DE0005407100 Fabian Rau Vice President Investor Relations & Marketing Industriestraße 52-54, D-70565 Stuttgart Tel.: +49 711 7825-3185 Fax: +49 711 782544-4185 E-Mail: f.rau@cenit.de About CENIT: The company has been active since 1988 as specialists for Product Lifecycle Management, Enterprise Content Management solutions and Application Management Outsourcing. CENIT is listed in the Prime Standard of the German Stock Market and currently has over 570 employees. CENIT works for customers such as Allianz, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, EADS, Airbus, AXA, Metro, VW and numerous medium-sized companies. http://www.cenit.de Additional explanations: This press release/ad hoc announcement may contain future-oriented statements about the company, as well as the financial and profit situation and earnings forecast of CENIT. These future-oriented terms or statements may include, for example, 'the company can', or 'the company will', 'expects', 'assumes', 'is considering', 'intends', 'plans', 'believes', 'continues' and 'estimates', as well as similar terms and statements. These statements do not guarantee that any forecasts that might have been made will be achieved. These statements are rather, in fact, associated with risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to anticipate and are also based on assumptions regarding future events that might prove to be unfounded. For these reasons, the actual results could vary considerably from the assumptions expressed here. In a future-oriented statement, in which CENIT expresses expectations or assumptions with regard to future results, these expectations or assumptions are made in good faith and it is to be assumed that these have an appropriate basis in fact; however, it cannot be guaranteed that the statement, expectations or assumptions will be reached, achieved or fulfilled. The actual operating profit might vary considerably from these future-oriented statements and is subject to certain risks. In this regard, we refer to the annual report of CENIT AG Systemhaus. DGAP 09.05.2007 ----------------------------------------------------------------------