Ad-hoc | 8 November 2007 08:18
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.
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Pre-tax earnings (EBT) virtually unchanged at 7.06 m €
3rd Quarter figures influenced by staff growth and consultancy business.
Stuttgart, 8 November 2007 – During the 3rd Quarter, CENIT continued to
advance the strategically important internationalization of its business.
CENIT currently employs a total of 602 staff worldwide (2006: 563). The
numerous recruitment activities and the related investments thus form a
focal point of CENIT’s further growth. Staff numbers in Romania have risen
more quickly than anticipated, with now 17 staff working at the Iasi
premises. Expansion in the USA, with 23 staff currently employed, is
developing according to plan. The rise in staff costs by 0.7 m € to approx.
26.3 m € reflects a wide-ranging shortage of qualified staff. Turnover and
earnings from CENIT’s product business have increased particularly with
regard to the sales cooperation with IBM/FileNet, as demonstrated by the
very good results achieved by CENIT Switzerland. The most important months
for the software business are still ahead, which makes a clear-cut
evaluation difficult. However, we expect that CENIT’s software earnings
will see strong growth during the decisive 4th Quarter.
OVERVIEW OF 3rd QUARTER FIGURES
After 9 months, Group-wide sales have contracted by 5% to 55.55 m €
(09/2006: 58.33 m €/-5%) as a result of decreasing hardware sales. The
gross surplus increased slightly to 43.61 m € (09/2006: 43.51 m €). EBITDA
attained 7.31 m € (09/2006: 8.0 m €/-9%). EBIT during the reporting period
amounted to 6.51 m € (09/2006: 7.28 m €/-11%). The pre-tax result
(EBT)remained virtually unchanged at 7.06 m € (09/2006: 7.05 m €). A
significantly higher tax rate of 35% (2006: 20%) led to a consolidated
result of 4.6 m € (09/2006: 5.6 m €). The tax burden alone rose by over 1 m
€. The consolidated EPS (earnings per share) result thus derives to 0.55 €
per share (09/2006 adjusted: 0.67 €). The operative cash flow was 7.35 m €
(09/2006: 7.67 m €). On the balance-sheet date, the total of bank deposits
and securities incl. current assets amounted to 15.7 m € (2006: 18.7 m €).
RESULTS FOR 3rd QUARTER
During the 3rd Quarter, CENIT Group achieved sales totalling 17.5 m €
(09/2006: 20.9 m € /-16%). The decrease is due largely to the slowdown in
the hardware business, which as anticipated amounted to approx. 3 m €
on-year. Gross profits totalled 14.12 m € (09/2006: 14.52 m €/-3%). EBITDA
reached 2.10 m € (09/2006: 2.74 m €/-23%). The result of operative business
before interest and taxes (EBIT) during the 3rd Quarter is 1.83 m €
(09/2006: 2.53 m €/-28,0%). EBT (earnings before taxes) amount to 2.11 m €
(09/2006: 2.52 m €/-16%), and the Group result for the 3rd Quarter is 1.49
m € (09/2006: 2.11 m €). Group EPS (earnings per share) are at 0.18 €
(09/2006 adjusted: 0.25 €).
BREAKDOWN OF EARNINGS
The sales volume in the services sector increased by 2% to currently 33.2 m
€ (09/2006: 32.5 m €), making it the strongest contributor to sales with a
share of 60%. During the first 9 months of the current business year, CENIT
software sales amounted to 8.6 m € (09/2006: 8.8 m €/-2%). Thus, approx.
16% of total sales can be attributed to CENIT’s proprietary software. Sales
of non-CENIT software decreased by 5% to 6.2 m € (09/2006: 6.5 m €), thus
accounting for 11% of total sales. The hardware business contracted by 28%
to 7.6 m € (09/2006: 10.4 m €), equalling approx. 13% of CENIT’s total
sales.
HOLDINGS – FOREIGN SUBSIDIARIES
CENIT (Switzerland) AG achieved highly satisfactory results, achieving
sales proceeds of 2.5 m € (09/2006: 2.0 m €), with a disproportionately
high EBIT increase of 62% to 1.36 m € (09/2006: 0.86 m €).
CENIT North America Inc. achieved sales totalling 3.8 m € (09/2006: 3.0 m
€/+27%), accounting for an EBIT of 0.34 m € (09/2006: 0.30 m €).
CENIT SRL accomplished sales of 0.2 m € and an EBIT of 0.02 m €.
The CENIT company in Toulouse, France remains in the start-up phase and
thus did not yet achieve sales.
NEW ORDERS
As at 30 September 2007, Group-wide orders on hand had increased by 10% to
20 m € (09/2006: 19.0 m €). Incoming orders amounted to approx. 61 m €
(9/2006: 61 m €). By now the total share of new customers is 4%.
OUTLOOK FOR THE 4th QUARTER 2007
The future development of CENIT will be influenced significantly by
software sales via our sales cooperation with IBM, SAP and Dassault
Systèmes. We are striving to further expand and enhance these collaborative
efforts. We are optimistic with respect to the future development of CENIT,
both in the short and the long term. The decisive product earnings are
expected for the traditionally strong 4th Quarter.
Regarding the announcement of the 3rd Quarter Report Mr Fabian Rau is
presenting the figures at the 'Commerzbank Technology Conference' in
Frankfurt today at 11:15 o'clock.
Send 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: Since 1988, the company has been active as a specialist for
product lifecycle management, enterprise content management solutions and
application management outsourcing. CENIT is listed on the Prime Standard
of Deutsche Börse and currently employs more than 600 staff. Among others,
CENIT serves clients such as Allianz, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, EADS, Airbus,
AXA, Metro, VW, as well as numerous medium-sized businesses.
http://www.cenit.de
Additional information: This press/ad hoc report may contain
future-oriented statements regarding the business, financial and earnings
situation of as well as profit projections for CENIT. Such future-oriented
statements are characterized by terms or statements such as 'the company
may' or 'the company will', 'expects', 'assumes ', 'is considering',
'intends to', 'plans', 'believes', 'will continue to' and/or 'estimates',
as well as similar terms and statements. Such statements contain no
guarantee that the projections will in fact be achieved. Rather, such
statements involve risks, imponderables and assumptions that are difficult
to predict and, in addition, are based on assumptions as to future events
which may prove to be incorrect. For this reason, actual events may diverge
significantly from the assumptions contained in the above statement. In a
future-oriented statement by which CENIT expresses expectations or
assumptions with regard to future events, these expectations or assumptions
are made in good faith, and it shall be assumed that they are made upon an
appropriate basis; however, it cannot be guaranteed that the said
statements, expectations or assumptions shall indeed occur, be attained or
fulfilled. The actual operative result may diverge significantly from such
future-oriented statements and is subject to certain risks. In this regard,
please refer to the Business Report of CENIT AG Systemhaus.
08.11.2007 Financial News transmitted by DGAP
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Language: English
Issuer: CENIT AG Systemhaus
Industriestraße 52 - 54
70565 Stuttgart
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)711 78 25 - 30
Fax: +49 (0)711 78 25 - 4000
E-mail: aktie@cenit.de
Internet: www.cenit.de
ISIN: DE0005407100
WKN: 540710
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), Stuttgart;
Freiverkehr in Berlin, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf
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