LHS announces substantial double-digit revenue and profit increase in 2007
Frankfurt am Main (euro adhoc) -
Expected results exceeded, consistent continuation of success strategy
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LHS, a leading provider of telecom billing and customer care systems across the wireless, wireline, and IP telecom markets worldwide, today announced its 2007 fiscal year results for the period ended December 31, 2007. The audited results were prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). They include the following key figures for fiscal 2007:
- In fiscal 2007, LHS' revenue grew to EUR 98.2 million. This is an increase of approximately 37 percent year-on-year. At the beginning of 2007, the corporation expected revenues between EUR 86 million and EUR 89 million.
- The adjusted EBITDA increased in fiscal 2007 by approximately 69 percent from EUR 12.1 million to EUR 20.4 million.
- In 2007, the adjusted income for the period under review grew 69 percent from EUR 7.8 million in the previous year to EUR 13.1 million.
- The adjusted earning per share in the year under review was EUR 0.93 (undiluted) and EUR 0.90 (diluted).
- LHS' free cash flow reached EUR 15 million in fiscal 2007. The increase of more than 300 percent compared to 2006 highlights the high-performance cash generation power and the strong financial situation of the corporation.
Customer and employee base expanded LHS increased its revenue and expanded its market positioning in Europe as well as in the emerging markets. The corporation signed contracts for 15 new projects, of which six were with new customers. At the end of 2007, LHS had a total of 125 installations. Approximately 95 million postpaid end customers were billed with software systems by LHS. This means that the company was able to increase its global market share of the billing of postpaid mobile communication users to 9.2 percent. If regions such as North America, Russia and China, which were not among its target markets in 2007, are excluded from the calculation, this share even increases to 21.3 percent.
A key factor for this success was LHS' network of infrastructure providers, technology partners and system integrators. For quite some time now, LHS has been cooperating with global partners, including Ericsson, Nokia, Siemens Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, Atos Origin, Accenture or the CapGemini Group, which provide it with extensive global market access. In 2007, LHS gained additional important partners, such as Deloitte, Bull or Kvazar Micro.
LHS created 168 new jobs in 2007, of which 59 were at its home location in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, 12 in the newly established subsidiaries in Madrid, Athens and Prague, 47 in Sao Paulo, 10 in Dubai, and 40 in Kuala Lumpur. On December 31, 2007 LHS had 671 fulltime employees around the world.
"We are very satisfied with our development in 2007", said Wolfgang Kroh, Chief Executive Officer of LHS Aktiengesellschaft. "This success is once again the result of the hard work of our committed employees, as well as the intensive and trustful cooperation with our customers and partners," he added.
Goals for 2008 In the current and future years, LHS will continue to expand its customer base and continuously improve its profit-earning capacity. Therefore, the corporation expects in 2008 revenue of around EUR 115 million. In addition to further revenue increases, other goals include increasing the EBITDA at least proportionally, as well as further improving profitability, similar to the previous year.
Ericsson majority shareholder since July 2007 Another important event of fiscal 2007 for LHS was the entry of Ericsson as a majority shareholder. The EU commission released the public takeover offer of July 9, 2007 at EUR 22.50 per share on September 13, 2007. Ericsson held around 84 percent of shares after the terms for acceptance ended on October 8, 2007. On October 25, Ericsson had purchased an additional 3.5 percent of the company's shares, so that Ericsson now holds approximately 87.5 percent of total LHS shares. LHS welcomes the new majority shareholder, since the close cooperation with Ericsson provides LHS with the opportunity of strengthening and further expanding the market position of the LHS Group as a leading corporation in the area of convergent customer rating and billing systems in the long term.
Annual Report 2007 The 2007 annual report will be available for download from the Internet as of March 5.
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LHS Herriotstrasse 1 60528 Frankfurt/ Main Phone: +49 (0)69-2383 3000 Fax: +49 (0)69-2383 5710
Commercial Register: Amtsgericht Frankfurt/Main - Registration Number HRA 42727 Personally Liable Partner: LHS Management GmbH - Registration Number HRB 77913 Amtsgericht Frankfurt/Main Management Board: Wolfgang Kroh, Axel Barta, Dr. Jens Troetscher
end of announcement euro adhoc
Further inquiry note:
LHS
Arnaud Lassalle
Vice President Marketing & Communications
Herriotstrasse 1
60528 Frankfurt am Main
Phone: +49 (0)69-2383 3000
Fax: +49 (0)69-2383 5710
E-Mail: enquiries@lhsgroup.com
Branche: Software
ISIN: DE000LHS4000
WKN: LHS400
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