Ad hoc Report in accordance with §15 WpHG
Stuttgart, 30 March 2009 –CENIT AG’s final financial statement for 2008 is defined by a solid balance-sheet structure that protects our customers’ future investment decisions. The past business year was also characterized by a 13 percent increase in staffing and significant 32% growth in incoming orders, to a total of 105 m €. CENIT expects stable business development during the 2009 business year. Against the backdrop of the global economic crisis, securing the financial independence of CENIT Group remains a core challenge.
Annual Financial Statement 2008
During the 2008 business year, CENIT Group achieved consolidated sales of 83.4 m EUR (2007: 77.1 m EUR/ 8%). Gross profit amounted to 61.1 m EUR (2007: 58.4 m EUR/ 5%). EBITDA reached 6.2 m EUR (2007: 9.5 m EUR/ -35%). During the reporting period, EBIT were down 43% from 8.4 m EUR to 4.8 m EUR. 2008 ended with EBT of 5.3 m EUR (2007: 9 m EUR/ -41%) and consolidated EPS of 0.40 EUR (2007: 0.73 EUR). A significant slowdown of investment in our customer segments, resulting from the overall downturn of the global economy, already became evident in mid-2008. Customers failed to place important orders in the software and service sectors when expected. After the largest order in CENIT AG’s history was signed by EADS in May, the launch date of the service contract was postponed to July 2008. As a result, our business again picked up speed during the second half of the year. On 31 December 2008, the number of employees Group-wide was 721 (2007: 636) – a satisfactory 13% increase in view of the shortage of skilled professionals.
Asset and Financial Situation
The conservative financial policies pursued by CENIT Group during past years are now paying off. The Group’s financial position is secure and stable. On the balance sheet date, equity capital amounted to 25.4 m EUR (2007: 26.2 m EUR), while bank deposits and short-term securities totalled 13.2 m EUR (2007: 18.3 m EUR). In addition to liquid assets, the Group continues to have sufficient current account lines at its disposal. Accounts receivable and accounts payable both reflect the business trend. CENIT’s financial independence permits internal financing appropriate to the business trend. Under the aspect of restrictive credit approval by lending institutions, this constitutes a competitive advantage for the future of CENIT Group and offers our customers the investment security they need.
Proposal on the Allocation of Profit
At the general shareholders’ meeting on 29 May 2009, the managing and supervisory boards will propose that the net profit be allocated to retained income. The prime focus is on assuring long-term liquidity and preserving financial independence. As a result, our business finances rest on a secure, sustainable foundation despite the unfavourable framework conditions brought on by the global financial crisis. The available liquid assets give CENIT Group the opportunity to continue acting as required by the interests of the enterprise and its shareholders, and thus to keep participating in the growth of the markets we target. Among these efforts is the expansion of our service and software activities in the aerospace industry. But we also need capital input to offer the right technological and software responses to newly arising topics. A further way to maintain a decisive competitive edge is to continue investing in employee training. Our employees’ expertise in highly complex technical fields is a basic prerequisite for the success of CENIT Group, and we intend to hold on to this advantage. Against this background, our financial strategy remains targeted at preserving positive, long-term solvency. To this end, the prime objective of CENIT’s financial management is to secure adequate short- and medium-term liquidity. Ultimately, the positive financial condition of CENIT Group also gives us a crucial competitive advantage in terms of order intake. This in turn gives our customers the security they need when making investment decisions, e.g. in favour of services provided by CENIT Group. As soon as the overall economic situation permits, we shall return to the dividend policy practised in previous years.
Incoming Orders
Orders received by CENIT Group during the past business year 2008 totalled 105 m EUR (2007: 79.6 m EUR/ +32%). Orders in hand as at 31 December totalled 30.2 m EUR (2007: 16.9 m EUR/ +78%).
Breakdown of Consolidated Sales by Business Segment
CENIT’s PLM business segment achieved sales of 57.9 m € (2007: 48.6 m €/ +19%). The EIM business segment attained sales of 25.4 m € (2007: 28.5 m €/ -11%).
Sales in the service sector increased against the previous year by 14% to 52.56 m € (2007: 46.18 m €). This made the service sector the largest contributor to overall sales, with a share of almost 63%. Sales of CENIT software totalled 9.25 m € during the past business year (2007: 9.18 m €/ 1%). Sales of proprietary software thus accounted for approx. 11% of total sales. Sales of third-party software grew by 46% to 18.47 m € (2007: 12.61 m €), accounting for 22% of overall sales. Hardware sales (now outsourced) decreased as expected by 66% to 3.10 m € (2007: 9.09 m €), or approx. 4% of total CENIT sales.
Holdings
During the past business year, CENIT (Switzerland) AG achieved sales exposure of 4.9 m EUR (2007: 3.9 m EUR), at EBIT of 2.4 m EUR (2007: 2.2 m EUR).
CENIT North America attained sales of 6.1 m EUR (2007: 5.9 m EUR), accounting for EBIT of –0.1 m EUR (2007: 0.5 m EUR).
CENIT SRL Romania achieved total sales of 0.7 m EUR (2007: 0.4 m EUR) at EBIT of 0.2 m EUR (2007: 0.06 m EUR).
During the 2007 business year, CENIT established a subsidiary in France. The company remains in the start-up phase and primarily supports our customer EADS Airbus in Toulouse. With sales totalling 0.3 m EUR (2007: 0.06 m EUR), CENIT France SARL achieved EBIT of 23 K EUR (2007: -3 K EUR).
On 27 December 2007, CENIT AG succeeded in acquiring cad scheffler, our long-term PLM competitor and highly successful Dassault Systèmes Partner. The company was integrated into CENIT Group effective 1 January 2008. As a provider of PLM system solutions, cad scheffler GmbH, based near Chemnitz, is a specialist for the Dassault Systèmes PLM product CATIA. Since 2008, the company has reinforced our joint top position in the PLM consulting and software market both nationally and internationally. Cad scheffler achieved sales of approx 2.4 m EUR in 2008, accounting for EBIT of 0.3 m EUR.
Outlook
For the 2009 business year, we expect stable development of sales and results. However, the increasing uncertainties abounding in the financial and real markets currently preclude quantifiable projections. More specific commentary on the current business year will be provided as part of our quarterly reporting. For 2010/2011, we expect that the global economy will emerge from its recession phase and again achieve moderate growth. Unless our business is adversely affected by a further, prolonged economic downturn, we plan to return to our path of long-term growth and expect increasing sales and improved results in 2010/2011. Against the backdrop of the global economic crisis, the prime focus must be on securing the financial independence of CENIT Group. Ultimately, this also gives CENIT a decisive competitive advantage: More than ever, our customers value a solid balance sheet and a high equity ratio, and these we intend to preserve. With a forward-looking strategy aimed at acquiring new customers and exploiting important market opportunities, but also at the continued portfolio expansion vital to a high-tech enterprise, we plan to successfully position and strengthen CENIT Group in the months to come.
About CENIT:
Since 1988, the Company has been active as a specialist for product lifecycle management, enterprise content management solutions and application management outsourcing. CENIT is listed on the Prime Standard of Deutsche Börse and currently employs more than 720 staff. Among others, CENIT serves clients such as Allianz, BMW, Daimler, EADS Airbus, LBS, Metro and VW. It also numbers many medium-sized enterprises among its customers, particularly from the automotive industry and mechanical engineering, e.g. Dürr, Georg Fischer, Leoni or Webasto.
http://www.cenit.com
Please contact:
CENIT AG Systemhaus
Prime Standard Listing - ISIN DE0005407100
Fabian Rau
Vice President Investor Relations & Marketing
Industriestraße 52-54, D-70565 Stuttgart
Tel.: +49 711 7825-3185
Fax:+49 711 782544-4185
E-Mail: info@cenit.de
Additional information:
This press/ad hoc report may contain future-oriented statements regarding the business, financial and earnings situation of, as well as profit projections for, CENIT. Such future-oriented statements are characterized by terms or statements such as "the company may" or "the company will", "expects", "assumes ", "is considering", "intends to", "plans", "believes", "will continue to" and/or "estimates", as well as similar terms and statements. Such statements contain no guarantee that the projections will in fact be achieved. Rather, such statements involve risks, imponderables and assumptions that are difficult to predict and, in addition, are based on assumptions as to future events which may prove to be incorrect. For this reason, actual events may diverge significantly from the assumptions contained in the above statement. In a future-oriented statement by which CENIT expresses expectations or assumptions with regard to future events, these expectations or assumptions are made in good faith, and shall be assumed to have been made upon an appropriate basis; however, it cannot be guaranteed that the said statements, expectations or assumptions shall indeed occur, be attained or fulfilled. The actual operative result may diverge significantly from such future-oriented statements and is subject to certain risks. In this regard, please refer to the Business Report of CENIT AG Systemhaus.
