EANS-News: asknet AG asknet publishes business figures for the first nine
months of the year
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Corporate news transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer/originator is solely
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9-month report
Subtitle: *** Sales and gross profits down year-on-year in the first nine months
of 2011
*** EBT of 0.5 million euros in the third quarter due to a one-off effect
*** Organizational structure streamlined
*** Result expected to develop positively in the fourth quarter
Karlsruhe, San Francisco, (euro adhoc) - November 15, 2011 - asknet AG, a
leading supplier of global eCommerce solutions for software and digital media
companies, has announced its business figures for the first nine months of 2011.
In the reporting period, the Group generated sales revenues of 47.4 million
euros, around 8 percent below the previous year´s figure. Gross profits, which
represent the growth of the Group, were almost 5 percent down year-on-year to
7.2 million euros, of which 5.1 million euros was contributed by the
eDistribution segment and 2.1 million euros by ePortals. asknet Group´s
operating result (EBIT) was -1.3 million euros. The result in the first nine
months of 2011 was negatively impacted by the company´s weak business
performance as well as one-off costs for streamlining its organizational
structure. After interest and taxes, asknet made a loss of 1.3 million euros.
Growth in the eDistribution segment declined due to weaker business with
existing top-selling customers and a lack of new customer agreements with large
software publishers. The ePortals segment, on the other hand, developed
positively. In the third quarter, new contracts were concluded with the
University of Cologne, RWTH Aachen University and Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.
Overall, however, ePortals could not fully compensate for the decrease in
eDistribution. Due to overall weaker business performance, asknet considerably
streamlined its organizational structure in the past quarter. The Group´s
workforce was cut by six to 93 employees in the third quarter; the Executive
Board was reduced from three to two members; and the Supervisory Board was
reduced from six to three members. These measures enable asknet to increase
efficiency in the long term with reduced structural costs.
The reversal of provisions to the amount of 763 thousand euros, which had been
set aside in the previous quarter for a notification of interest charges issued
by the tax authorities, had a positive effect on the result in the third quarter
of 2011. The Group does not expect its result to be impacted by these events any
longer as the tax authorities have suspended the execution of interest charges
and the company is also covered by insurance. As a result, asknet Group
generated earnings before taxes of 0.5 million euros in the third quarter of
2011. The Executive Board of asknet AG anticipates the positive business trend
to continue in the fourth quarter of this year, one of the reasons being the
implemented savings measures.
"We see good growth prospects for our business arising from the ongoing
expansion of the ePortals segment in Switzerland and Austria. The positive
development regarding some medium-sized customers also makes us confident that
we will get back on our path to growth in the eDistribution segment in the
medium term," said Michael Konrad, Co-CEO of asknet AG.
The quarterly report 3/2011 of asknet AG (german version only) is available as
from today on the company website at www.asknet.com.
About asknet: asknet offers its clients customized outsourcing solutions for
global software sales via the Internet. Founded in 1995 as a spin-off of the
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, formerly the University of Karlsruhe),
the company has become a leading independent global provider for electronic
software distribution. In addition to its fully integrated shop solutions for
software publishers, the company develops and maintains portals for software
distribution such as softwarehouse.de, one of Europe's largest platform for
downloads of standard software. In 2010, asknet posted sales of approximately
EUR 72.7 million. asknet´s clients include numerous providers of specialty
software such as F-Secure, IS3, Nero, NetObjects, Norman, and Panda Security.
The company also supplies software products to around eighty percent of German
universities.
Further inquiry note:
Martina Oerther
VP Corporate & Vendor Marketing
Tel.: +49 (0)721 96 458-6369
Email: martina.oerther@asknet.com
end of announcement euro adhoc
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company: asknet AG
Vincenz-Priessnitz-Str. 3
D-76131 Karlsruhe
phone: +49 (0)721 96 458 6369
FAX: +49 (0)721-96 45899
mail: info@asknet.de
WWW: http://www.asknet.de
sector: Electronic Commerce
ISIN: DE0005173306
indexes:
stockmarkets: free trade: Berlin, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, München, Open Market /
Entry Standard: Frankfurt
language: English