Plenum AG

Earnings Release • Nov 16, 2006

News Details

Ad-hoc | 16 November 2006 08:50

plenum AG: plenum resumes its growth course in the third quarter 2006 and attains break even earlier than expected

Ad hoc announcement transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— plenum AG: plenum resumes its growth course in the third quarter 2006 and attains break even earlier than expected – Sales revenues rise in Q3 2006 to EUR 6.8 million (prior quarter: EUR 6.5 million) – Sales revenues after refocusing are above the prior year’s quarter for the first time (PY: EUR 5.7 million, plus 19.7%) – Break Even reached earlier than expected Wiesbaden, November 14, 2006 – plenum AG (Prime Standard, ISIN DE 0006901002), a consultancy firm specialising in strategic solutions with a distinct IT focus for banks, insurance companies, logistics and utilities, and supplemented by the communications business acquired in 2000, successfully implements its refocusing strategy in Q3 2006 and is once again on a growth course. Based on the preliminary figures, sales revenues climbed to EUR 6.8 million in Q3 2006, thus representing a rise for the third time in a row (Q2 2006: EUR 6.5 million, plus 3.8%). For the first time since the discontinuance of the implementation business (refocus strategy), sales rose compared to the prior year’s quarter by EUR 1.1 million (PY: EUR 5.7 million) or by 19.7%. After nine months sales revenues amount to EUR 19.5 million (PY: EUR 22.3 million). The refocus strategy implemented at the end of 2004, which focused on: – concentration on consulting business – distinction in the communications business and – exit from the pure implementation business (programming) has brought the company back on a growth track by concentrating on the core business segments: consulting and communications. Consequently, sales from consulting climbed during the first nine months of 2006 by 16.6% compared to the prior year’s period. Within its customer projects the consulting could achieve important improvements in the IT-organisation of leading multinational banks during the current year. Sales from communications rose by 13.3% versus the first nine months of the previous year. The exit from the implementation business (still representing 50% of sales in 2004) was linked with considerable expenditures. But, since the refocus was placed on the consulting business yielding strong margins, the company was able to attain break even already in Q3 2006, which was faster than planned. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of EUR 0.0 million in Q3 2006 (Q2 2006: minus EUR 0.3 million) was substantially above the comparative prior period (Q3 2005: minus EUR 1.0 million). Based on this background, a very promising financial year awaits plenum AG in 2007, in particular, since the demand for high-quality management consulting services persists. The company’s interim financial report for the third quarter ended September 30, 2006 will be published on November 29, 2006. For further information or inquiries, please contact: plenum AG Investor Relations Hagenauer Str. 53 65203 Wiesbaden Tel.: +49 (0)611-9882-0 Fax: +49 (0)611-9882-496 Email: aktie@plenum.de Internet: www.plenum.de Investor Relations FINREL GmbH – financial relations – Stefan Bülling Barnerstr. 14 22765 Hamburg Tel.: +49 (0)40-39834-641 Fax: +49 (0)40-39834-649 Email: info@finrel.de Internet: www.finrel.de Information and Explanations for this Ad-hoc Announcement by the Issuer: This announcement contains future-oriented statements that are based on current expectations, estimates, predictions, and forecasts as well as on the assessments and assumptions of the management of plenum AG. Such statements include statements about plans, strategies, and outlooks. Words such as ‘expect’, ‘most likely’, ‘preliminary’ and similar expressions identify such future-orientated statements. These statements are not guarantees of future results and contain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are in part very difficult to foresee. Therefore, the actual consequences and results could deviate considerably from what has been stated in the future-orientated statements. (c)DGAP 16.11.2006 ————————————————————————— Language: English Issuer: plenum AG Hagenauer Straße 53 65203 Wiesbaden Deutschland Phone: +49 (0)611 9882-361 Fax: +49 (0)611 9882-496 E-mail: aktie@plenum.de WWW: www.plenum.de ISIN: DE0006901002 WKN: 690100 Indices: Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), Stuttgart; Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf End of News DGAP News-Service —————————————————————————