Earnings Release • Mar 3, 2010
Earnings Release
Open in ViewerOpens in native device viewer
Press release Paris, 3 March 2010
| In €m | Dec 2008 | Dec 2009 | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turnover | 846.3 | 857.1 | +1.3 % |
| * France | 624.0 | 593.7 | -4.9 % |
| * International | 222.3 | 263.4 | +18.5 % |
| Operating profit on activity | 97.2 | 65.5 | -32.6 % |
| As % of turnover | 11.5% | 7.6% | |
| Payment in shares | -4.4 | 0.6 | - |
| Operating profit before exceptionals | 92.8 | 66.2 | -28.6% |
| Non-recurring items | - | -23.1 | |
| Disposals of assets | -0.3 | 0 | |
| Goodwill impairment | -5.5 | -9.6 | |
| Operating profit | 87.0 | 33.4 | -61.6 % |
| As % of turnover | 10.3 % | 3.9% | |
| Profit attributable to Group | 54.5 | 18.5 | -66.0% |
| As % of turnover | 6.4 % | 2.2% | |
| Cash-flow | 103.1 | 51.9 | -49.6 % |
| Free cash-flow | 51.5 | 46.7 | -9.3 % |
| Headcount | 12,000 | 11,300 | -5.8 % |
Audit in progress
Business remained stable in 2009, thanks to acquisitions made at the beginning of the year. On a likefor-like consolidation scope, business fell by 9.5% (down 9.9% in France; down 8.3% internationally). The first half of 2009 was hardly affected by the sudden and harsh nature of the crisis on the engineering consultancy market (mainly the automobile sector).
Business stabilised in the second half, with the utilisation rate gradually increasing from 88.6% in the 1st half to 92.5% in the second half, giving 90.5% over the year.
Operating profit on activity rose to €65.5 million, or 7.6% of turnover, against 97.2 million or 11.5% of turnover in 2008. The impact of the economic crisis and the acquisitions had a very adverse effect on profit from operating activities in the first half of the year, which amounted to €25.6 million or 5.8% of turnover.
Alten quickly took the steps needed to restore the utilisation rate, promote transferability of skills, manage its resources, restructure its organisation and cut its costs, to adapt to the economic circumstances and the lower level of business.
In the second half, operating profit on activity grew sharply to €39.9 million or 9.6% of revenue.
After recognising income on payment by shares of €0.6 million, non-recurring expenses of €23.1 million and goodwill impairment of €9.6 million, operating profit came to €33.4 million (€6.6 million in the first half; €26.8 million in the second half).
This amounts to €18.5 million after deducting net finance expenses of €1.4 million and the income tax charge of €13.3 million.
Alten generated cash flows of €51.9 million with a free cash flow of €46.7 million as a result of reducing its Working Capital Requirement. The free cash flow generated financed the whole capital expenditure of €34 million and enabled the Group to reduce its borrowings.
The start of the year confirmed that business was stabilising, with even a slight rise in the number of projects.
Alten's positioning and its ability to support its clients in all types of innovative projects (from consulting through to fixed-price and structured contracts) should enable it to take advantage of the coming recovery, to consolidate its market share, and to continue improving its operating margin on activity. Its financial structure will speed its expansion through targeted external growth, in France and internationally.
As the European Leader in Technology Consulting and Engineering, ALTEN carries out design and research projects for the technical and IT divisions of major clients in industry, telecoms and services. ALTEN's stock is listed on 'compartiment B' of the Euronext Paris stock exchange (ISIN FR0000071946). It is part of the SBF 120, the IT CAC 50 and MIDCAP 100 indexes, and is eligible for the SRD.
For more information: www.alten.fr
Contact: Matthieu Roquet Montégon 06 16 92 80 65
Building tools?
Free accounts include 100 API calls/year for testing.
Have a question? We'll get back to you promptly.