CENIT affected by Investment Backlog

12.08.2008

Expected Revenue in 2008 at 75 m. € with 4 to 4.5 m. € EBIT

Stuttgart, August 7, 2008 – With this publication of the 6 Months Figures, we expect a turnover of 75 m. € for 2008 (2007: 77 m. €). We also expect an EBIT of 4 to 4.5 m. € (2007: 8.4 m. €). Due to the general cautious global economic cyclical trend our customer segment shows a strong investment decline. Thus, our customers did not finalize important expected software and service orders yet. Nevertheless, we could increase our incoming orders by 14% to approx. 52.3 m. € (06/2007: 46 m.). The biggest order in CENIT’s history was signed in May and thus the start date for the service order was set on July 2008. This start was successfully implemented. At the same time, the necessary international recruiting of new staff is going along as expected which leads to increased expenses for newly-hired qualified specialists. The number of employees Group-wide increased by 19% from 578 to 687. Thus, personnel expenditures increased by 1.4 m. € compared to the previous year. We also decided upon seizing our hardware business activities earlier then expected. CENIT’s declining hardware sector was fully restructured and outsourced to an experienced hardware distributor that will now offer these services to CENIT’s existing customers. On another note, our international subsidiaries show continuously positive development. And the newly acquired cad scheffler GmbH is well integrated after only 6 months as part of the Group and now contributes positively to the Group’s turnover and result.

6 Months Figures at a Glance

After 6 months, Group-wide sales contracted by 10% to 34.28 m. € (06/2007: 38.05 m. €). The gross profit decreased by 4% to 28.25 m. € (06/2007: 29.49 m. €). EBITDA attained 1,43 m. € (06/2007: 5.21 m. € / -73%). EBIT for the reporting period were at 0.87 m. € (06/2007: 4,68 m. € / -81%). The pre-tax result EBT reached 1.12 m. € (06/2007: 4.95 m. € / -77%). The net profit was 1.00 m. € (06/2007: 3.11 m. € / -68%). Group EPS (earnings per share) thus reached 0.12 € per share (06/2007: 0.36 € / -68%). The operative cashflow attained 1.47 m. € (06/2007: 6.26 m. € / -77%). On balance-sheet date, the total of bank deposits and securities including current assets amounted to 10.03 m. € (31.12.2007: 18.3 m. €) – after the deduction of the dividend distribution of 4.2 m. € and the acquisition of cad scheffler GmbH that totaled 2.43 m. €. The company is still clear of bank liabilities. Incoming orders increased by 14% to 52.3 m. € (06/2007: 46 m. €).

Holdings - Subsidiaries

CENIT (Switzerland) AG achieved sales of 1.9 m. € (06/2007: 1,6 m. €), with EBIT at 1.00 m. €  (06/2007: 0,8 m. €).
CENIT North America Inc. was able to achieve sales of 2.7 m. € (06/2007: 2,6 m. €), attaining EBIT of  0.1 m. € (06/2007: 0,4 m. €).
CENIT SRL attained sales amounting to 0.4 m. € and EBIT of 0.16 m. €.
CENIT France achieved sales of 0.13 m. € and EBIT of 0.02 m. €.
cad scheffler, the company integrated into CENIT Group in January 2008 has achieved sales of 1.29 m. € and EBIT of 0.24 m. €.

Breakdown of Earnings

The sales volume in the service sector showed a rise by 5% to a current 23.24 m. € (06/2007: 22.16 m. €), making it the strongest contributor to sales with a share of 68%. Sales of CENIT software amounted to 4.51 m. € (06/2007: 5.96 m. € / -24 %) during the first 6 months of the current business year. This means, approx. 13% of total sales can be attributed to CENIT’s own software. Sales of third party software increased by 16% to 4.66 m. € (06/2007: 4.03 m. €), thus amounting for 14% of total sales. Hardware business decreased by 68% to 1.88 m. € (06/2007: 5.90 m. €), equaling approx. 5% of CENIT’s total sales.

Tanja Marinovic
Tanja Marinovic
Marketing/ Investor Relations