|
| USU Software AG reports figures for Q2 and first half-year 2008 |
Möglingen, 15.08.2008
Möglingen, August 15, 2008 - With Group-wide sales of EUR 8.3 million (Q2/2007: EUR 7.4 million), USU Software AG and its subsidiaries generated organic growth of 12.3% in the second quarter of 2008. This was primarily driven by strong licenses business which more than doubled against the equivalent period to EUR 1.9 million (Q2/2007: EUR 0.9 million). While the maintenance business increased slightly year-on-year to EUR 1.6 million (Q2/2007: EUR 1.6 million), in the reporting quarter the consulting business at EUR 4.6 million (Q2/2007: EUR 4.9 million) generated a lower sales contribution than achieved in the second quarter of 2007. Decisive here were not only targeted investments in training the consulting team, which resulted in the relevant sales losses during the trainee periods, but also additional unscheduled investments of consulting in a large fixed-price project. It was not only consultancy resources, but also freelance employees who were deployed here. The additional expenditure in combination with a higher cost basis resulted in EBITDA in the second quarter declining year-on-year to EUR 0.5 million (Q2/2007: EUR 0.7 million). In the reporting quarter, EBIT totaled EUR 0.2 million (Q2/2007: EUR 0.3 million). In the second quarter of 2008, net interest income totaled EUR 0.1 million (Q2/2007: EUR 0.1 million). Last year there was tax income of EUR 1.9 million as a result of a non-recurring effect from capitalizing deferred tax assets at USU Software AG, while in the reporting period there were tax expenses of EUR 0.1 million. In the second quarter of 2008, USU generated net income of EUR 0.2 million (Q2/2007: EUR 2.3 million).
In the six month period, the USU Group generated Group sales of EUR 15.7 million (Q1-Q2/2007: EUR 15.0 million). This represents a year-on-year sales upturn of 4.5%. In the reporting period, USU Group strongly improved licenses sales, by 43.4% to EUR 2.5 million (Q1-Q2/2007: EUR 1.7 million) and advanced maintenance revenues by 3.4% to EUR 3.2 million (Q1-Q2/2007: EUR 3.1 million), consulting sales at EUR 9.6 million were 4.4% down year-on-year (Q1-Q2/2007: EUR 10.0 million).
The increase in Group costs in the first half-year of EUR 7.9 million (Q1-Q2/2007: EUR 6.9 million) largely reflects the targeted expansion of the internal consulting team, additional deployment of freelancers in the consulting business of the two operating segments Service Business and Product Business, as well as investments in additional training for the Group workforce.
In the first half year of 2008, due to the non-recurring effect from the consulting business, EBITDA in the USU Group totaled EUR 0.8 million (Q1-Q2/2007: EUR 1.3 million). After taking into account the depreciation and amortization of EUR 0.6 million (Q1-Q2/2007: EUR 0.8 million), USU generated an EBIT of EUR 0.2 million in the reporting period (Q1-Q2/2007: EUR 0.6 million). In the first six months of 2008, net interest income totaled EUR 0.2 million (Q1-Q2/2007: EUR 0.2 million). In the same period, income taxes totaled EUR -0.1 million, while in the previous year there was tax income of EUR 1.9 million due to capitalized deferred tax assets. This decisively impacted the earnings after tax figure. In the first half year of 2008, the USU Group generated net income after taxes of EUR 0.3 million (Q1-Q2/2007: EUR 2.7 million). With an average of 10,276,126 shares (Q1-Q2/2007: 10,281,054), earnings per share amounted to EUR 0.03 (Q1-Q2/2007: EUR 0.26).
After the successful development of the licenses business in the second quarter of 2008, and the non-recurring charges for the consulting business no longer applying from the middle of the third quarter of 2008, the USU Software AG Management Board forecasts a sales and earnings upturn against the first half year of 2008 in which is generally a stronger second half of the year. For the whole year, the Management Board expects sales growth to be above the average of the relevant market segments, with EBITDA after the charge on earnings in the second quarter being approximately at the level of the previous year. On the German domestic market, the next quarters operating business should expand, and especially licenses revenues, also due to the launch of the two SME versions of Valuemation Express und KnowledgeCenter Express and the new Valuemation 3.5 version. In this connection, the international partner business is another factor contributing to success. USU also expects maintenance and consulting business to advance. Thus to June 30, 2008, orders on hand throughout the USU Group increased 24.4% year-on-year to EUR 12.9 million (June 30, 2007: EUR 10.3 million). In view of the above forecasts, the Management Board confirms its guidance for 2009 that the USU Group will achieve sales growth above the level of the market, with EBITDA moving up more strongly.
From August 18, 2008, the full 6-month report for 2008 is available for downloading at www.usu-software.de.
The Management Board
|
|
|
|
NewsUSU AG advances international business
Sven Wilms to become new member of Board of Management responsible for global sales
 more
USU Software AG reports figures for the first nine months of 2008 and announces addition to the Management Board of the subsidiary USU AG as part of global expansion strategy
more
|
