euro adhoc: ComBOTS AG
quarterly or semiannual financial statement
ComBOTS
AG (formerly WEB.DE AG) with profitable Q3/05, the last quarter to include
WEB.DE Portal business - New Product to be launched on or before July 12, 2006
Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
22.11.2005
ComBOTS AG (formerly WEB.DE AG; ISIN: DE 000 529 650 3) had a successful and profitable third quarter in FY 2005. In its first reporting under its new name, ComBOTS AG posted a record net profit per quarter of 2.4 million Euro (Q3/04: -3.7 million Euro), adding up to 6.4 million Euro for the FY to date (Q1-Q3/04: -3.5 million Euro). This net profit takes into account the growing R&D expenses for the new ComBOTS products. The quarter ended up with a liquid asset position of 103.7 million Euro which, together with the proceeds of the sale of the Portal business (to be accounted for in Q4/05) after all costs, transaction effects and taxes, adds to an amount of more than 390 million Euro. This provides ComBOTS AG with the financial strength to pursue its mission to become the most successful global player for Personal Digital Communication. The new ComBOTS product will be launched on July 12, 2005, at the latest, ready for an immediate worldwide start. In the coming quarters the company will focus all efforts on the quality of the product and its worldwide scalability as well as preparing the organisation for an accelerated global growth.
The comprehensive alliance with United Internet, transferring the WEB.DE Portal business together with all employees, technologies, fixed assets as well as brands and licenses to the partner, has taken economic effect as of end of Q3/05, whereas legal closing took place on October 31, 2005. Thus, the international accounting principle IFRS 5 concerning "non-current assets held for sale and discontinued operations" was applied to the financial reporting, with the already known major impact on the classification and reporting obligations in the financial statements.
Based on the application of IFRS 5, the company generated during Q3/05 in the Personal Digital Communication business line (formerly called Web-Telecommunication) which is still in its building phase, revenues in the amount of 0.2 million Euro, that were on prior year level (Q3/04: 0.2 million Euro). The operating expenses for the reporting period encompassed marketing and advertising, general administrative expenses as well as research and development, which are marked by the development efforts for the ComBOTS product. Operating expenses added up to a total of 4.0 million Euro in Q3/05.
Overall, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) amounted to -3.8 million Euro in Q3/05. During the comparative prior year period, the EBIT was -2.4 million Euro. With a financial result of 0,7 million Euro, the income for the period Q3/05, based on continued operations, amounts to -3.1 million Euro (Q3/04: Euro -5,3 million).
The FY to date result from the discontinued Portal business added to + 13.4 million Euro (Q1-Q3/04: 4.4 million Euro). In accordance with IFRS 5, regular depreciation of assets belonging to the discontinued Portal business of 4.1 million Euro were eliminated from January 1, 2005 with a profit-increasing impact. For the comparative value of Q3/04 this elimination of the corresponding depreciation in accordance with IFRS 5 has not been made.
In order to ensure comparability of the development of earnings with previous reporting periods, a so-called "as if" income statement is prepared based on the assumption that the Portal operations had been continued on group level. This view shows a very positive development of business including the Internet Portal in Q1-Q3/05 on group level: with revenues of 41.8 million Euro (Q1-Q3/04: 30.9 million Euro) and a gross margin, which amounted to 75.4% during the reporting period, the "as if" group generated EBIT of 0.5 million Euro (Q1-Q3/04: -2.4 million Euro). The "as if" result for the reporting period hence amounted to 3.0 million Euro so that the margin on group level rose to 7.2%. The "as if"-EBITDA on group level in Q1-Q3/05 even reaches 5.8 million Euro, so that an EBITDA margin of 13.9% was generated on a group level.
Annex: Table
Group Group
Q1-Q3/05 Q1-Q3/04
(in mln. Euro) IFRS 5 IFRS 5
Revenues 0.5 0.5
Cost of sales -0.1 -0.1
Gross profit 0.5 0.4
Marketing + Advertising -0.3 -0.4
General administration costs -1.3 -1.0
Research + Development -8.3 -5.9
Operating result (EBIT) -9.4 -6.9
Financial income 2.4 2.9
Result continued operations -7.0 -7.9
Result discontinued operations 13.4 4.4
Net result for the period 6.4 -3.5~
Portal Group Group
"as if" "as if" "as if"
(in mln. Euro) Q1-Q3/05 Q1-Q3/05 Q1-Q3/04Revenues 41.2 41.8 30.9 Cost of sales -10.2 -10.3 -7.7 Gross profit 31.0 31.5 23.2 Marketing + Advertising -10.2 -10.5 -9.5 General administration costs -1.7 -3.0 -2.1 Research + Development -9.1 -17.4 -13.9 Operating result (EBIT) 9.9 0.5 -2.4 Financial income 0 2.4 2.9 Income from participations -3.9
Result continued operations 9.9 3.0 -3.3
end of announcement euro adhoc 22.11.2005 07:40:36
Further inquiry note:
Silvia Teschner
Junior Referentin IR
Tel.: +49 (0)721 5160 0
E-Mail: silvia.teschner@combots.com
Branche: Online
ISIN: DE0005296503
WKN: 529650
Index: TecDAX, HDAX, Midcap Market Index, Prime All Share, CDAX
Börsen: Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse / regulated dealing/prime
standard
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