Bechtle AG — Earnings Release 2007

Aug 10, 2007

News Details

Corporate | 10 August 2007 07:30

Bechtle AG: Another considerable increase in revenue and earnings in the 2nd quarter

Bechtle AG / Quarter Results/Half Year Results

Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory
AG.
The issuer / publisher is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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Increase in revenue of 13 per cent / 66 per cent growth in EBT

Neckarsulm, 10/08/2007 – In Q2 2007, Bechtle AG continued the dynamic from
the first quarter and increased both revenue and earnings. Up 13% to 319.6
million Euros, the 2nd quarter numbers for the IT services and retail
company group revenue increased from those of last year (283.8 million
Euros). The group earnings before taxes (EBT) at 9.2 million Euros was up
from the previous year by 66 per cent (previous year: 5.5 million Euros).
The EBT margin increased in the 2nd quarter to 2.9% (previous year: 2.0 per
cent). The earnings per share were 0.27 Euros compared to 0.17 Euros from
the same period last year.

Based on the midyear, Bechtle achieved a revenue of 631.5 million Euros
(+10 per cent). The earnings before tax amounted to 22.4 million Euros in
the first six months, which is a margin of 3.5 per cent. 'We are very happy
with what we achieved in the first six months. Especially noticeable was
the increase in willingness to invest in our core segment – medium-sized
businesses. Furthermore, we are starting to profit from the course we set
last year', said Ralf Klenk, Chairman of the Executive Board of Bechtle AG.

IT System House Segment anew with an EBIT Margin Improvement

With a revenue of 204.9 million Euros, the IT system house segment lies 8
per cent over the previous year (189.4 million Euros). Accumulated, the
midyear revenue rose to 398 million Euros (previous year: 379.9 million
Euros), an increase of 5 per cent. The increased willingness to invest was
particularly noticeable in the second quarter. The recruitment of new sales
team members also had a positive effect. Further development and expansion
of the Managed Services sector continues to be a focus of the sales
measures.

The EBIT of the IT system houses rose by 156 per cent, from the previous
year's 1.7 million Euros to 4.3 million Euros in the second quarter. The
EBT margin improved from 0.9 to 2.1 per cent. The reason for this is,
besides a pickup in demand for services, mainly a rise in productivity
related to the restructuring measures from last year. In midyear, the EBIT
of the IT system houses increased by 175 per cent, from 3.7 to 10.1 million
Euros. The EBT margin improved from 1.0 to 2.5 per cent. In addition to the
aforementioned reasons, positive one-off effects from the first quarter,
amounting to 2.6 million Euros, are also noticeable.

IT E-commerce Segment continues to be a Growth Driver

The IT e-commerce segment was a main contributor to the revenue growth in
the second quarter. At 114.6 million Euros, it was 22 per cent higher than
the previous year's quarter (94.4 million Euros). Thus, the growth rate
from the first quarter 2007 of 18 per cent was exceeded. At midyear the
revenue was 233.4 million Euros (previous year: 194.9 million Euros) and
thus 20 per cent in plus. As in the first quarter, in IT e-commerce,
recruitment and training of the sales teams was noticeable.

The EBIT of IT e-commerce rose by 25 per cent, from 3.8 to 4.7 million
Euros in the second quarter. The EBIT margin increased slightly, compared
to the previous year, from 4.0 to 4.1 per cent. Based on the first midyear,
the Earnings before interest and tax grew by 13 per cent from 10.5 to 11.9
million Euros. The margin was reduced from 5.4 to 5.1 per cent.

Balance Sheet Structure Remains Sturdy

The equity ratio was 62.9 per cent on June 30th, 2007 compared to 60.0 per
cent on December 31st, 2006. Cash and cash equivalents, including
securities, sank to 36.3 million Euros by June 30th (December 31st, 2006:
39.4 million Euros). This is above all due to the acquisitions made in 2007
and the distribution of dividends on June 22nd. Together with free credit
lines in the amount of 43.7 million Euros, on June 30th, 2007 Bechtle had a
comfortable cash reserve of 80 million Euros.

The cash flow from operating activities has grown compared to the first
half year of 2006, mainly due to a higher EBT and a smaller increase in net
working capital including provisions compared to the previous year and
amounted to 18.1 million Euros (previous year: 8.4 million Euros). The free
cash flow in the first 6 months increased from 2.3 to 14.2 million Euros.

Rise in Employee Numbers

As of June 30th, 2007, the Bechtle group had 4080 employees up from 3888 at
the end of 2006. The increase was as much a consequence of the acquisitions
as it was additions to the sales team in the e-commerce branch. Personnel
expenses for the half-year are up 3% to 101.4 million Euros (previous year:
98.3 million Euros) and have therefore risen disproportionally to revenue.
The personnel cost quota sank from 17.1 to 16.1 per cent.

Positive forecast for the year

After the pleasant course of business in the first half year, the Bechtle
AG Executive Board raised its EBT prognosis for 2007 in an ad-hoc notice
from July 20th, 2007. Presupposing a constantly good economic situation and
a strong 2007 fourth quarter, they expect an EBT of around 55 million
Euros. As for turnover, the Executive Board stands by their March prognosis
with a target range of 1.30 to 1.35 thousand million Euros.

'Our earnings show that the measures introduced in the previous year were
the right thing to do and by doing so, we optimally used the economic
advances. In the remaining months of the current year, we will take
advantage of the economic incentives and continue to focus our efforts on
the further expansion of our company structure', said Ralf Klenk.

Quarter and midyear numbers in overview

th. Euros Q2/2007 Q2/2006 Changes in Quarter
Revenue 319 582 283 756 + 12.6%
Domestic 203 494 185 520 + 9.7%
Abroad 116 088 98 236 + 18.2%
IT System House 204 937 189 374 + 8.2%
IT e-commerce 114 645 94 382 + 21.5%
EBITDA 12 161 8674 + 40.2%
EBIT 9055 5482 + 65.2%
IT System House 4337 1692 + 156.3%
IT e-commerce 4718 3790 + 24.5%
EBT 9195 5547 + 65.8%
Earnings After Tax 5800 3541 + 63.8%
EPS (in Euros) 0.27 0.17 + 63.5%

th. Euros 1st Midyear 1st Midyear Change over
'2007 '2006 Midyear
Revenue 631 469 574 756 +9.9%
Domestic 404 660 376 731 +7.4%
Abroad 226 809 198 025 + 14.5%
IT System House 398 047 379 905 + 4.8%
IT e-commerce 233 422 194 851 + 19.8%
EBITDA 28 261 20 478 + 38.0%
EBIT 21 977 14 144 + 55.4%
IT System House 10 115 3675 + 175.2%
IT e-commerce 11 862 10 469 + 13.3%
EBT 22 410 14 324 + 56.5%
Earnings After Tax 14 831 9330 + 59.0%
EPS (in Euros) 0.70 0.44 + 58.8%
Equity Ratio (%) 62.9 62.9 0.0%
No. of employees on 4080 3861 + 5.7%
30/06

The complete interim report is available for download in both English and
German, at www.bechtle.com/qb.

Contact:
Bechtle AG
Martin Link
Investor Relations
Phone: +49 (0) 7132/981-4149
Fax: +49 (0) 7132/981-4116
martin.link@bechtle.com

DGAP 10.08.2007

Language: English
Issuer: Bechtle AG
Bechtle Platz 1
74172 Neckarsulm
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)71 32/ 9 81-0
Fax: +49 (0)7132/ 9 81 - 80
E-mail: ir@bechtle.com
Internet: www.bechtle.com
ISIN: DE0005158703
WKN: 515870
Indices:
Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr
in Berlin, Hannover, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München, Stuttgart

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