adesso SE

Earnings Release • Nov 13, 2009

News Details

Ireland | 13 November 2009 09:33

adesso AG boosts sales and earnings in the third quarter significantly compared to the preceding quarters; favourable values of the prior year once again reached at the quarterly level

adesso AG / Release of an announcement according to Article 37x of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act]

13.11.2009

Interim report according to Article 37x of the WpHG, transmitted by
DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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adesso AG boosts sales and earnings in the third quarter significantly
compared to the preceding quarters; favourable values of the prior year
once again reached at the quarterly level

• Third quarter sales of EUR 18.3 million and EBITDA of EUR 2.5 million
  exceed prior year levels; operating margin back in the double digits at
  13.6 %

• EBITDA and consolidated earnings in the third quarter higher than in
  the entire first six months

• Consolidated sales revenues increased by 6 % to EUR 50.9 million in the
  first 9 months; 4 % organic growth in a difficult market environment

• Sales and earnings forecast for 2009 is confirmed; operating margin
  objective raised from 5 % to 7 %

adesso AG was able to significantly increase its sales and earnings in the
third quarter compared to the first and second quarter of 2009. While costs
remained nearly stable, increasing capacity utilisation and higher license
sales for in-house solutions resulted in a sales increase to EUR 18.3
million in the third quarter (second quarter: EUR 15.9 million). The
9-month values for 2009 with sales of EUR 50.9 million (prior year: EUR
47.9 million) and EBITDA of EUR 3.8 million (prior year: EUR 6.7 million)
are within the expected range.

As the market environment begins to brighten, positive business
developments at adesso continue: Capacity utilisation for consultants and
developers in the service segment has steadily climbed back up to the
favourable values of the prior year since the low in March and April. This
was achieved by increasing sales. The number of employees grew slightly to
573 in the third quarter. Capacity utilisation also recovered noticeably
for the subsidiaries in Switzerland and Austria. Contrary to the market
expectations that sales in the banking sector will fall, adesso has been
able to continue increasing its sales in this segment.

License sales for adesso content management, mobilisation and content
migration solutions as well as special applications for health insurance
companies increased significantly in the third quarter, so that the margin
of the Solutions segment improved from 10 % in the first six months to 14 %
for the first nine months. In spite of these positive developments, the
segment remains below budget for 2009.

Over the course of the third quarter, adesso continued to pursue the
strategy of addressing the more demanding market environment by increasing
its investments in sales and business development. Marketing, customer
events and continuing education for employees were consistently promoted at
a high level. While this caused the operating margin to drop to 4.1 % in
the first two quarters of 2009, adesso has already seen the benefits of
these investments in the third quarter as sales increased and the margin
recovered to 13.6 %. The EBITDA margin for the first three quarters is 7.5
% (prior year: 14.0 %).

Regular depreciation and amortisation, in particular on balance sheet items
from company acquisitions, amounting to EUR 1,893 thousand as well as
positive financial earnings of EUR 188 thousand and tax earnings of EUR 108
thousand resulted in consolidated earnings of EUR 2,230 thousand in the
first three quarters of 2009 (prior year: EUR 3,527 thousand).

                   Q1/2009   Q2/2009   Q3/2009   Q3/2008   +/- in %

Sales revenues 16,638 15,888 18,331 17,033 + 8 %
EBITDA 1,048 292 2,486 2,484 +/- 0 %
EBITDA margin 6.3 % 1.8 % 13.6 % 14.6 % - 1.0 pp
Consolidated earnings 276 414 1,541 1,352 + 14 %
Employees (FTE) 567 567 573 514 + 11 %
Net cash 7,708 5,404 8,104 9,636 - 16 %

                            9M/2009       9M/2008       +/- in %

Sales revenues 50,856 47,863 + 6 %
EBITDA 3,826 6,669 - 43 %
EBITDA margin 7.5 % 14.0 % - 6.5 pp
Consolidated earnings 2,230 3,527 - 37 %
Earnings per share EUR 0.39 EUR 0.62 - 37 %

The portfolio of liquid assets increased by EUR 2.4 million to EUR 13.0
million in the third quarter (prior year: EUR 12.7 million), mainly due to
positive cash flow from operating activities. Interest-bearing financial
liabilities fell to EUR 4.9 million in the third quarter due to regular
payments so that the net cash position increased by EUR 2.7 million to EUR
8.1 million. Cash flow for the first three quarters amounted to EUR -5.7
million due to the planned payment of variable salary components for 2008
totalling EUR 5.1 million, the net payment of EUR 0.8 million for the
acquisition of beiT Consulting GmbH in Austria and the increase in working
capital by EUR 4.1 million. The equity ratio increased to 53% as of 30
September 2009 (31 December 2008: 45%).

Based on the successful third quarter and the continuous improvement in
capacity utilisation, a significant increase in sales and earnings compared
to the first six months of 2009 is expected for the coming months. As a
result, the Executive Board is confirming the annual forecast with sales
revenues of EUR 68 to 70 million for 2009 (prior year: EUR 66.8 million).
The EBITDA margin objective has been increased from 5 % to 7 %.

The Executive Board

13.11.2009 Financial News distributed by DGAP. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de

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Language: English
Company: adesso AG
Stockholmer Allee 24
44269 Dortmund
Deutschland
Internet: www.adesso-group.de

End of News DGAP News-Service

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