GFT Technologies SE — Earnings Release 2009

Nov 5, 2009

News Details

Corporate | 5 November 2009 07:42

GFT profits from rising demand in the financial sector and again improves earnings

GFT Technologies AG / Quarter Results

05.11.2009

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• Pre-tax earnings rose compared to the previous year for the second time
  running and amounted to EUR 4.35 million

• Consolidated revenue at EUR 162.25 million is 9 percent below that of
  the previous year

• Services division maintains its success in the financial sector and
  achieves revenue level with the previous year

• Revenue and earnings forecast confirmed for the entire year of 2009

Stuttgart, 5 November 2009 - GFT Technologies AG (GFT) attains a positive
balance sheet for the first nine months of the current year. Against the
background of a continually demanding market environment the international
IT company has been successful in increasing its earnings before taxes
(EBT) to slightly above that of the previous year for the second quarter
running. For the period ending 30 September 2009, the EBT amounted to EUR
4.35 million (previous year: EUR 4.34 million). Consolidated revenue at EUR
162.25 million declined from a comparable level in the previous year (EUR
177.45 million). 'Business development in the third quarter was still
characterised by a restraint in demand among our customers. Nevertheless,
the Services division was able to maintain the previous year's revenue
level. This shows that our IT solutions, which support customers to
increase their efficiency while reducing costs, are in demand even during
periods of crisis,' summarises Ulrich Dietz, CEO of GFT.

Earnings: Slight increase from the previous year; considerable increase
from the previous quarter

Despite declining revenue, the GFT Group was able to slightly improve
earnings before taxes in the first nine months of the current fiscal year,
compared to the same period in the previous year, from EUR 4.34 million to
EUR 4.35 million. Of this, EUR 2.07 million was earned in the third
quarter. This means a significant increase of 36 percent compared to the
second quarter (EUR 1.31 million). The Services division contributed the
most to the operating income with EUR 4.60 million (previous year: EUR 5.22
million). The Resourcing division contributed EUR 1.74 million to the
consolidated earnings (previous year: EUR 2.30 million). The Software
division generated a loss of EUR -1.23 million for the period ending 30
September 2009, which was an improvement compared to the previous year's
loss of EUR 1.65 million (previous year: EUR -2.88 million).

Revenue: The globally difficult economic conditions resulted in a 9 percent
decline

For the first nine months of the current fiscal year the GFT Group
generated revenue of EUR 162.25 million, thereby showing a drop in revenue
by 9 percent from that of the comparable period of the previous year. In
contrast to the second quarter, in which revenue was EUR 52.92 million, the
revenue for the third quarter 2009 rose by EUR 1.85 million to EUR 54.77
million.

The Services division was able to produce favourable results regardless of
the economic difficulties and achieved revenue of EUR 66.02 million, which
nearly matched that of the previous year (EUR 67.15 million). In the
company's Resourcing division, revenue fell by 13 percent in comparison to
the previous year to EUR 92.88 million. The cause of this fall was
primarily the decreased demand in the lower margin area, Third Party
Management. The hesitant demand for freelance IT specialists across all
industries and countries was still noticeable in the third quarter. The
licensing revenue generated in the company's Software division of EUR 3.36
million was 18 percent lower than that of the previous year's EUR 4.02
million.

Further key data

The GFT Group achieved a net income for the nine months ending 30 September
2009 of EUR 3.04 million after deduction of all expenses. This corresponds
to a growth of 18 percent in comparison to the same period of the previous
year (EUR 2.58 million).

The earnings per share for the reporting period improved to EUR 0.12
against EUR 0.10 in the same period of the previous year.

The number of employees rose by 46 from the previous year. This can be
attributed above all to the good personnel capacity utilisation in the
Services division that led to an increase in personnel. The GFT Group,
including part-time employees on a proportionate basis, employed 1,061
individuals as of the record date on 30 September 2009 (previous year:
1,015).

Outlook: Forecast for the entire year 2009 confirmed, further positive
stimuli expected amid the background of a stabilising market environment

'We are assuming that the trend towards economic recovery will continue to
have a positive effect on our business. A quick stabilisation of the
financial sector could, at the same time, stimulate the demand for IT
services more strongly than expected,'says Ulrich Dietz. Nevertheless,
according to Dietz, the business environment will still remain challenging
this year. For this reason, the GFT Group embraced measures early on to
lower costs and increase efficiency and remains firmly committed to its
forecast for the entire year of 2009. Further, the GFT Group adheres to the
revenue forecast of EUR 220 million and expects pre-tax earnings of between
EUR 6 and EUR 8 million.

The GFT Group's quarterly financial report is available on the Internet at
http://www.gft.com/ir.

The GFT Group's figures at a glance:

About GFT:
The GFT Group, based in Germany, is an international provider of innovative
IT solutions and services. More than 20 years of experience make the
company a reliable and strategic IT partner. With creative ideas, GFT
supports clients in three divisions to optimise their business processes
through intelligent IT systems and specialists and thus sustainably improve
their competitive positions.
GFT is among the world's leading IT service providers in the financial
services sector. For the development, implementation and maintenance of
customised IT solutions, the company combines established technology
experience with a wide range of industry expertise (Services division).
GFT recruits and places IT freelancers for businesses in all branches and
also takes care of the complete management package for their IT service
providers. The basis for this is a worldwide reserve of experts consisting
of over 180,000 freelance IT specialists (Resourcing division).
With the software environment inboxx, GFT provides a new generation of IT
solutions that make it possible to manage all archiving tasks within a
company via a uniform central infrastructure (Software division).

Ulrich Dietz founded GFT in 1987 and is now CEO of the Group that in 2008
achieved revenues of around 242 million EUR. It has more than 1,000
employees at locations in seven countries. GFT shares are listed on the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Prime Standard: WKN 580 060, GEX).

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

05.11.2009 Financial News transmitted by DGAP

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Language: English
Company: GFT Technologies AG
Filderhauptstr. 142
70599 Stuttgart
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)711/62042-0
Fax: +49 (0)711/62042-301
E-mail: Investor-Relations@gft.com
Internet: www.gft.com
ISIN: DE0005800601
WKN: 580060
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr
in Berlin, München, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Hamburg

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