Beta Systems achieves turnaround in the first half-year of 2007
Berlin (euro adhoc) -
For the first time since its IPO, the company generates positive half-yearly earnings before interest and tax (EBIT)
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finances/Half-yearly Financial Report
Berlin, August 6, 2007 - After a successful start to the year 2007, Beta Systems continued its uptrend in the second quarter as well. The Berlin-based software provider had thus already raised its result considerably by the end of the first half-year, achieving a significant improvement in the result which rose from EUR -19.0 to EUR 0.2 million and which marks the turnaround. Accordingly, Beta Systems posted a positive half-yearly EBIT, for the first time since its IPO. This success is all the more remarkable as revenue in the second half of the year is usually the strongest and, up until now, profit is generally generated towards the end of the year. This positive trend in the first half of 2007 was attributable to the growth of around 14% in the profitable license business and of almost 30% in the services segment, as well the optimization of the cost structure. The trend will be supported in future by ´Beta 4Agility´, the new product and sales strategy, which enables a more agile IT for large companies and providers of IT and financial services.
Key Financial Data in the First Half of 2007 - EBIT improves significantly to EUR 0.2 million (Q1-Q2/2006: EUR -19.0 million) - License revenues advances by 13.9% to EUR 11.3 million (Q1-Q2/2006: EUR 9.9 million) - Services revenues grows 29.3% to EUR 7.6 million (Q1-Q2/2006: EUR 5.9 million) - Great changes to the product and services mix with deliberate foregoing of the low-margin hardware business has led to the level of total revenue falling, as planned, to EUR 41.9 million (Q1-Q2/2006: EUR 45.3 million). - Cash flow of EUR 5.3 million from operating activities remains at a high level (Q1-Q2/2006: EUR 1.7 million) - Quarterly result increases to EUR 0.0 million / EUR 0.00 per share (Q1-Q2/2006: EUR -10.9 million / EUR -1.25 per share)
Key Financial Data in the Second Quarter of 2007 - EBIT climbs to EUR 0.9 million (Q2/2006: EUR -15.4 million) - License revenues remains stable at EUR 5.4 million (Q2/2006: EUR 5.5 million) and services revenue posts an increase of 39.8% EUR 4.0 million (Q2/2006: EUR 2.8 million) -Due to the scaling back of the low-margin hardware business (-85.1% year on year to EUR 0.5 million), total revenue has declined to EUR 20.9 million (Q2/2006: EUR 23.5 million) - Quarterly result increases to EUR 0.9 million/EUR 0.10 per share (Q2/2006: EUR -9.4 million/EUR -1.08 per share)
Statement by the Chief Executive Officer "Also in the second quarter of 2007 our company has delivered impressive proof of its successful new strategy. In the second quarter we achieved double-digit growth rates in sales in our profitable license and services business and have put our turnaround on a firm footing. Numerous medium-size orders and a number of major projects underscore the positive response to and greater confidence of our customers in our focused offer of comprehensive solutions for data and document processing and IT security and compliance", commented Kamyar Niroumand, Chief Executive Officer of Beta Systems Software AG.
He added the following statement: "In tandem with this enormous restructuring success, we are looking to our future and have recently announced an initiative called ´Beta 4Agility´ to our customers and shareholders. This initiative is intended to bolster our positive development in future. Gernot Sagl, Chief Financial Officer of Beta Systems Software AG, added the following: "In passing the breakeven threshold as early as the first half of 2007 we have reached an important commercial and financial milestone. We are confident that, with the optimized cost structure and our ´Beta 4Agility´ growth program, we have paved the way for future profitable growth by leveraging our own strength."
Outlook for the financial year 2007 reaffirmed Breakeven attained in the first half-year affirms the forecast released at the start of 2007 for a significant improvement in profit, with a single-digit EBIT margin for the financial year as a whole. The steady implementation of measures in the company´s sales operations in conjunction with the optimized cost structure affirms the Management Board's assumption that sales will rise slightly and profit improve significantly in the current financial year. In this context, management expects growth to persist in the software license and services business and the share of revenue from hardware to decline further.
More information on the first half-year of financial 2007 Our Investor Relations Team are at your disposal for any questions you may have on the results of the first half-year of 2007. They can be contacted under the telephone number +49 (30) 726 118-171 or by e-mail ir@betasystems.com.
The complete Half-yearly Financial Report 2007 has been posted on the company´s web site at www.betasystems.de under the "Investor Relations" heading.
End of the press release
Beta Systems Software AG - Agility Integrated Beta Systems Software AG Berlin (Prime Standard: BSS, ISIN DE0005224406) develops high-profile software products and solutions for the secure and efficient processing of large data volumes. The core businesses of Beta Systems comprise document processing as well as IT user management data processing in data centers and compliance solutions. In addition, the Beta 4Agility suite offers large companies new integration products to enhance their agility in IT and business processes. The products serve to simplify the automation of data and document processing and improve on the security and performance of IT.
Beta Systems, which has been a listed company since 1997, was founded in 1983 and has a workforce of more than 600 employees. The company´s principal place of business is Berlin. Beta Systems has Centers of Competence in Augsburg, Cologne and Calgary, as well as 17 subsidiaries worldwide and cooperations with numerous partner companies. With more than 3,000 running installations, it has a customer base of more than 1,300 major companies from the sectors of financial services and IT service providers and industry at large in Germany, Europe and the USA.
More information on the company and its products can be found under www.betasystems.com.
Contacts:
Company contact: Beta Systems Software AG Stefanie Frey Tel.: +49 (0)30 726 118-171 Fax: +49 (0)30 726 118-800 e-mail: stefanie.frey@betasystems.com
Agency contact: HBI PR&MarCom GmbH Alexandra Osmani, Alexandra Janetzko Tel.: +49 (0)89 99 38 87-0 Fax: +49 (0)89 930 24 45 e-mail:alexandra_osmani@hbi.de; alexandra_janetzko@hbi.de
end of announcement euro adhoc 06.08.2007 09:02:58
Further inquiry note:
Stefanie Frey
Telefon: +49 (0)30 726-118 171
E-Mail: stefanie.frey@betasystems.com
Branche: Software
ISIN: DE0005224406
WKN: 522440
Index: CDAX, Prime All Share, Technologie All Share
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