Plenum AG

Earnings Release • Aug 3, 2006

News Details

Ad-hoc | 3 August 2006 08:18

plenum AG: Second Quarter Results Above Expectations, 2006 Forecast Raised

Ad hoc announcement transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— plenum AG: Second Quarter Results Above Expectations, 2006 Forecast Raised – Impact of Refocusing Strategy hits quicker than planned – Sales revenue in second quarter (EUR 6.5 million) again increased (previous quarter: EUR 6.2 million) – EBIT of minus EUR 0.3 million better than expected – Management raises sales forecast of EUR 25 million (previously: EUR 24 million) in 2006 and marks up EBIT forecast significantly to minus EUR 1 million (previously: minus EUR 1.0 million) Wiesbaden, July 3, 2006 – plenum AG (Prime Standard, ISIN DE 0006901002), a consultancy firm specialising in strategic solutions with a distinct IT focus on banking, insurance, logistics and utility companies, and supplemented by the communications business acquired in 2000, announces second quarter preliminary results. Based on preliminary figures, sales revenues in the second quarter of 2006 increased by 4.8 % to EUR 6.5 million compared to previous quarter (EUR 6.2 million). Having reached EUR 5.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2005, management considers turnaround to be achieved and assumes the company to be back on the growth track. According to the mid-term planning published in August 2005, sales revenues decreased by 20.7 % in comparison with the same period last year due to the withdrawal from low-margin software programming services. Thus, the percentage share of sales revenues of this segment dropped from 37 % down to 16 %. In contrast, sales revenues in both core businesses consulting and communications surged compared to the prior quarter (+12 % and +7.4 %, respectively) just as compared to the same period last year (+3.7 % and 11.5 %, respectively). The consequent translation of the Refocusing Strategy is also reflected on the company’s earnings. The EBIT of minus EUR 0.3 million in the second quarter of 2006 lies significantly above the original planning while onetime costs resulting from the cut-back of overhead jobs in June this year are fully included. Due to the positive development in the first two quarters of the current fiscal year, a substantial order backlog in the consulting business, and in consideration of the million EUR contract of Dubai in the communications business, the plenum AG management raises sales revenues forecast for 2006 by 4.2 % from EUR 24 million to EUR 25 million and the expected earnings (EBIT) for 2006 by 47.4 % from EUR minus 1.9 million up to EUR minus 1 million. The Refocusing Strategy, initiated at the end of 2004 comprising three major areas of action – concentration on the consulting business – positioning of the communications business – withdrawal from software-technical implementation tasks brings the company in its core business segments back to growth. The company’s consolidated financial statements for the quarter ended June 30, 2006 will be published on August 30, 2006. For further information or questions, 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 Issuers 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 state-ments 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 03.08.2006 ————————————————————————— 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 —————————————————————————