GFT Technologies SE — Earnings Release 2007

Mar 27, 2008

News Details

Corporate | 27 March 2008 08:07

GFT Technologies AG sees record revenues and results in 2007

GFT Technologies AG / Final 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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• Revenues rose by €73.4m to €247.1m
• Rise of pre-tax results by 85 per cent to €12.4m
• Blockbuster for e-mail archiving
• National and international acquisitions planned
• Growth by more than 40 per cent until 2010

Stuttgart, 27 March 2008 – During the 2007 financial year, GFT Technologies
AG (GFT), leading international IT service provider, was able to
significantly increase revenues as well as earnings before taxes (EBT).
'For the GFT Group, 2007 was by far the most successful year in the
company’s history,' said Ulrich Dietz, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GFT
Technologies AG, on Thursday during the presentation of the company balance
sheet in Stuttgart.

At €247.1m, the overall revenues were up by 42 per cent compared with the
previous year. The forecast, which was increased to €230m during the course
of the year, was thus exceeded once again. Earnings before taxes (EBT) rose
correspondingly: the GFT group generated €12.4m, 85 per cent more than in
2006. As expected, the result margin was at around five per cent. At the
end of the previous year, it was still at 3.8 per cent.

Further international expansion

GFT’s CEO has set himself ambitious goals. He is hoping to achieve the
target for 2011, of €350m in revenue, at least one year early. Further
international expansion is also planned. During the current financial year,
the national and international positioning of the GFT Group in the Services
and Resourcing business areas will be further expanded through targeted
acquisitions.

Ulrich Dietz: 'There are interesting prospects for the Services business
area in South and North America. The strategic partnership with Software AG
provides a solid basis for taking optimum advantage of these opportunities.
We are looking towards Eastern Europe as a further target region for
Resourcing and negotiations are currently underway.'

Positive development despite challenging market conditions

The market conditions for the financial sector continue to be a challenge.
With its international software development network, the GFT Group is able
to respond flexibly and take advantage of the opportunities that emerge
from these new challenges. Ulrich Dietz’s forecast is thus positive: 'In
the 2007 financial year we have shown that the GFT Group is excellently
positioned to benefit from growth opportunities in attractive markets and
to further develop the business internationally.' For financial year in
2008, the GFT CEO is forecasting continued positive development. Revenues
and results will be up from the previous year. 'This means that we are on
our way to grow by more than 40 per cent by 2010,' Ulrich Dietz continues.

Further key figures

At €140.4m, the Resourcing business area generated the highest revenue.
This further increased the business area’s share in the overall revenue,
now at around 57 per cent (previous year: 49 per cent). In 2007, GFT
expanded its activities in this business area to include its locations in
London and Zurich. The rising shortage of skilled manpower in the IT
market, as well as the continuing trend to outsource IT projects to
freelance specialists, means that the market environment continues to grow
dynamically in this segment.

In the Services business area too, the GFT Group experienced significant
growth in 2007: up by 22 per cent to €100.8m. The determining factor was
the development of business with existing clients in the financial sector.
The inclusion in the American FinTech 100 Ranking confirmed the company’s
leading position among IT service providers in the financial services
sector. GFT ranked 57 worldwide among the one hundred best IT service
providers in this sector. Due to the tense situation in the financial
services industry and the capital markets, the fourth quarter of 2007 saw a
slight decline in investments in new projects for the first time.

Revenues in the Software business area fell short of expectations at €5.9m,
a reorientation towards the area of email archiving has been undertaken.
'Our archiving solution, inboxx, is among the best technology solutions
worldwide. With this integrative archiving architecture we are addressing a
market which is worth billions and opening up extraordinary growth
opportunities. inboxx offers the potential to be blockbuster in this
market. We will strengthen and develop our position in Europe through
significant sales and marketing investments' Ulrich Dietz explains.

On 31 December 2007, the GFT Group had a total of 1,087 members of staff –
ten more than on 30 September 2007 and 30 more than in the previous year.
72 per cent of employees work outside Germany.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, the GFT Group generated revenues of €70.8m.
The earnings before tax (EBT) in this period were around €3.7m. On 31
December 2007, the balance sheet of the GFT Group showed liquid assets and
securities valued at €28.7m. The group’s equity ratio was at 52 per cent.

A payout of dividends is not planned for 2007 financial year.

The annual report of the GFT Group is available online at
http://www.gft.com/ir.

Andrea Wlcek
Head of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations
GFT Technologies AG
Filderhauptstraße 142
70599 Stuttgart
T +49 711 62042-440
F +49 711 62042-301
andrea.wlcek@gft.com
www.gft.com

27.03.2008 Financial News transmitted by DGAP

Language: English
Issuer: GFT Technologies AG
Leopoldstraße 1
78112 St. Georgen/Schwarzwald
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)7724 / 9411-0
Fax: +49 (0)7724 / 9411-883
E-mail: ir@gft.de
Internet: www.gft.de
ISIN: DE0005800601
WKN: 580060
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr
in Berlin, Stuttgart, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf

End of News DGAP News-Service

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