EANS-News: Beta Systems releases outlook and realigns its future portfolio to
Security & Compliance
GRC solutions
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Financial Figures/Balance Sheet
Berlin (euro adhoc) - Provisional key data confirmed and publication of the 2010 Annual Report Alignment of portfolio geared to Security & Compliance and GRC solutions Marginally positive EBIT and revenues of between EUR 45 and 47 million targeted in 2011 Significantly higher EBIT margin level and moderate revenues growth anticipated from 2012 on-wards Changeover to new fiscal year planned
Berlin, March 31, 2011 - Beta Systems Software AG (BSS, ISIN DE0005224406) today affirms the preliminary results already released for the fiscal year 2010 by presenting its audited, certified and adopted annual financial statements for the fiscal year 2010. Key factors of influence were the non-recurrent effects already known from the ECM disposal, provisions formed for reorganization and restructuring, and a decline in revenues from ad-justing the business model in continued operations. The aforementioned realignment is the response to the growing demand of many Beta Systems customers (e.g. large IT service providers) that the company support current trends in the market such as cloud computing or on-demand software and services through offering correspondingly flexible, modular subscription-based user and licensing models.
Outlook for 2011/2012 Management anticipates another temporary decrease in non-recurrent license revenues from realigning the Company´s business model. Consequently, the Management Board is expecting revenues to settle at between EUR 45 million and EUR 47 million in 2011. Moderate growth in revenues in the Group from aligning the portfolio more strongly towards Security & Compliance and GRC solutions can only be expected as from the next fiscal year. A major factor of influence on the earnings situation will, however, be cost optimization and the associated low-ering of breakeven. In this context, the Management Board anticipates a growing level of savings of up to EUR 2.5 million in operating expenses over the course of the year 2011 as compared with the fiscal year 2010. In sub-sequent years, a permanent savings effect on the whole Group is expected in the range of up to EUR 5.0 million a year. The sum total of these effects give rise to expectations that the Group may achieve a marginally positive EBIT and result in the fiscal year 2011. A significant improvement in profit and margin levels is anticipated from 2012 onwards.
Changeover of the fiscal year As most of the contracts acquired in Beta Systems' continued operations are customarily only signed in the fourth quarter of the year, there is now even greater seasonality of sales revenues, and thus of the course of business, in the wake of the sale of the ECM business. Given that the end of the fiscal year in customer com-panies and in Beta Systems coincides, these months are characterized by the greatest pressure on prices and negotiations which, in turn, tends to exert a negative impact on the level of margins when large contracts are signed. In order to counteract this impact more effectively within a fiscal year, the Management Board has de-cided to reschedule the fiscal year of Beta Systems to the period from October 1 until September 30 of the fol-lowing year. The relevant proposals for resolution will be presented to the shareholders at this year's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders for their decision, and implementation has been planned before the end of 2011.
Statement by the Management Board "In 2010, we paved the way in terms of cost optimization and restructuring. The uneven results in 2010 and the modest outlook for 2011 underscore the fact that we have not yet come to the end of this far-reaching process of change and that, despite an increasingly higher volume of savings, the effects are still likely to be felt in cur-rent fiscal year," stated Gernot Sagl, Chief Financial Officer of Beta Systems Software AG, and added: "The changeover to the new fiscal year is a cornerstone of this process. We intend to use the short fiscal year to forge ahead with the innovations planned in the portfolio underpinned by the now much leaner structure of our company. At the same time, we will be improving the accuracy of our forecasts and optimizing management and control options."
"The development of our revenues it clearly indicative of Beta Systems currently not being a high-growth com-pany," added Jürgen Herbott, Chief Executive Officer of Beta Systems Software AG. "We have con-sciously taken the path of self-restraint in all regions and areas of the portfolio and have separated from less profitable activities. This entails concentration on key market trends such as virtualization, cloud computing and agility in IT. For us this also means that achieving sustainable profitability and positive cash flows have gone to the top of the list and take precedence over the size of our company and giving way to the pressure of generat-ing quantitative revenue growth. This is the only way we can focus more concertedly on the expectations of our customers and enrich our development pipeline consistently through ground-breaking innovations encompass-ing the whole of IT security and GRC."
Online Annual Results Press Conference and more information More details will be released today at 11.00 a.m. and explained by the Management Board as part of an online Annual Results Press Conference. The complete Annual Report 2010 has also been published today and can be downloaded from the company website at http://www.betasystems.com under the Investor Relations/Financial Reports heading. This year's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders will take place on June 7, 2011, in Berlin.
End of the press release
Beta Systems Software AG Beta Systems Software AG (Prime Standard: BSS, ISIN DE0005224406) offers large corporations, mid-sized companies and organizations high-end infrastructure software and solutions which span sectors. These products enhance the perform-ance of a company´s IT in terms of its availability, scalability and flexibility. Data centers optimize their job and output man-agement. Moreover, especially companies with high numbers of users are supported in the automation of their IT user ad-ministration. Improved security also serves to fulfill the requirements placed on business operations in respect of govern-ance, risk management and compliance (GRC). Beta Systems was founded in 1983, has been a listed company since 1997, and has a workforce of around 350 employees. The company´s principal place of business is Berlin. Beta Systems operates in Germany and internationally through 14 subsidiaries and cooperations with numerous partner companies. Throughout the world more than 1,300 customers use the products and solutions of Beta Systems to improve their processes and security in more than 3,200 running installations. At present, Beta Systems generates 50 percent of its sales from international business.
More information on the company and its products can be found under www.betasystems.com.
You can also visit Beta Systems at www.twitter.com/BetaSystems and www.facebook.com/BetaSystems as well as www.xing.com/companies/betasystemssoftwareag
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Contact:
Press contacts
Company contact:
Beta Systems Software AG
Stefanie Frey
Investor Relations
Tel.: +49 (0)30 726 118-171
Fax: +49 (0)30 726 118-800
e-mail: stefanie.frey@betasystems.com
Agency contact:
HBI PR&MarCom GmbH
Alexandra Janetzko
Tel.: +49 (0)89 99 38 87-32
Fax: +49 (0)89 930 24 45
e-mail: alexandra_janetzko@hbi.de
Branche: Software
ISIN: DE0005224406
WKN: 522440
Index: CDAX, Prime All Share, Technology All Share
Börsen: Frankfurt / regulated dealing/prime standard
Berlin / free trade
Hamburg / free trade
Stuttgart / free trade
Düsseldorf / free trade