SHS Viveon AG

Earnings Release • Oct 31, 2006

News Details

Corporate | 31 October 2006 08:00

SHS VIVEON AG: • Sales and earnings for 2006 influenced by special items • Merger of VIVEON AG into SHS VIVEON AG completed

Corporate news transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— Martinsried, October 31, 2006. The board of directors of SHS VIVEON AG announces the merger of the subsidiary VIVEON AG into SHS VIVEON AG. With the registration in the trade register as of October 23, 2006, the merger became legally valid. The rapidly advancing integration and organisational restructuring of the SHS VIVEON group is, as well, reflected in the business development of the current financial year. According to target figures, the management of the SHS VIVEON AG expects a total output in the financial year 2006 of around 41 mn EUR (incl. 4.2 mn EUR hardware sales). The total output of the core business is estimated at about 36.8 mn EUR and thus, among others due to acquisitions, 39% higher than in the previous year. The earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) will add up to around 1.0 mn EUR (previous year: 1.5 mn EUR). Within the core business the EBITDA target is set at 0.9 mn EUR, which is just under the 1.0 mn EUR compared to last year. Over all, the financial performance has been significantly influenced by one-off special items. For the financial year 2007, SHS VIVEON AG expects a clearly positive operational development as a result of the implemented integration measures. Due to the acquisitions in fall 2005 and February 2006, the current financial year is influenced by one-time effects in connection to the integration of the acquired subsidiaries into the new group structure. Since October 2006, sooner than anticipated, the company structure is divided into a product and project business division. The required measures for the reorganisation led to temporarily less intense marketing and sales activities. In addition to the accordingly lower output, one-time charges for the re-branding as well as for the merger of the VIVEON AG into the SHS VIVEON AG arose. These one-time effects reduce the groups´ EBITDA of around 0.8 mn EUR. With the successful completion of the integration measures, SHS VIVEON AG lays the foundation to significantly enhance the growth in the operative core business for the coming financial year. Compared to the previous year, the stable business development was also shaped by significant management decision at the Spanish subsidiary SHS Polar. The strategy to establish an additional business sector next to the existing IT-project business (so-called ‘Time & Material business”) was not successful. The limited financial resources of the subsidiary contributed to this, caused by the low sales in the opportunistically driven hardware business. Therefore, in the third quarter, the management made the decision to cease the activities to create a second business division and instead push the hitherto core business. The one-off charges for these developments, amount to around 1.1 mn EUR. Despite these special items, the SHS Polar will close its financial year 2006 with a positive operating result. Furthermore, the management is confident to successfully round up the negotiations with the IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG regarding the restructuring of SHS Polars’ long-term acquisition-loan and to reach a positive solution for the tax demands against the Spanish subsidiary. In total, the presented integration measures in combination with the business developments of the Spanish subsidiary, add up to one-time charges of around 1.9 mn EUR. Neverthelesse, the CEO Dirk Roesing positively looks ahead: ‘We are confident that the integration will be successfully completed within the current financial year in order to lay a stable foundation for the future. The signs, especially for our German-speaking core business, are promising, to reach clearly higher growth rates in output and earnings in the near future.” Martinsried-based SHS VIVEON AG (former SHS Informationssysteme AG) is listed on the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and operates subsidiaries in Spain and Switzerland. The IT services provider focuses on offering customer management and credit risk management solutions to companies with a broad customer base. In 2005, the company recorded revenues of EUR 41 million. The customers of SHS VIVEON AG include BMW Financial Services, Toyota Kreditbank, Ingram Micro, Crédit Agricole, T-Mobile, T-Online, SüdLeasing, Telefónica, amena, Barclaycard and other international companies in the automobile, information and financial services sector. For more information, see www.shs-viveon.com. SHS VIVEON AG Daniela Nase Tel.: +49 – 89 – 747257-37 Email:Investor.Relations@SHS-VIVEON.com cometis AG Ulrich Wiehle Tel: +49 – 611 – 205855-11 Email: wiehle@cometis.de (c)DGAP 31.10.2006 ————————————————————————— Language: English Issuer: SHS VIVEON AG Fraunhoferstraße 12 82152 Martinsried bei München Deutschland Phone: +49 (0)89 747-257-0 Fax: +49 (0)89 747-257-10 E-mail: investor.relations@shs.de WWW: www.shs.de ISIN: DE0005072409 WKN: 507240 Indices: Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, Stuttgart, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf End of News DGAP News-Service —————————————————————————