Dortmund, 28.08.2014

adesso AG increases sales and earnings year on year in the first half of 2014

DGAP-News: adesso AG / Key word(s): Half Year Results

28.08.2014 / 08:08

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adesso AG increases sales and earnings year on year in the first half of
2014

* Sales up 15 % to EUR 74.6 million
* EBITDA increases by 13 %, from EUR 2.9 million to EUR 3.3 million
* Earnings per share EUR 0.12 (previous year: EUR 0.19) influenced by tax
effects

With its Half-year Report adesso affirms the previously published
preliminary figures. adesso Group increased sales in the first half of 2014
by 15 % year on year to a new high of EUR 74.6 million. All of this growth
related to the organic expansion of existing business activities as well as
new solutions and services. adesso once again had a higher growth-rate than
the market. Consulting and tailor-made software development in Germany were
chiefly responsible for this growth as well as services in the area of
enterprise mobility. In a market environment that remains mainly positive,
adesso won a great many significant orders in core markets as well as in
new ventures. A second insurance customer for the highly innovative
management solution for claims handling was obtained, doubling the amount
of claims handled by 100,000 per year. In the first half year a new
milestone in developing the adesso insurance solutions was reached by
starting to develop a new contract management system for health insurance
companies on a contractual basis. In the USA additional license deals were
closed with new customers for the high-end content management system
FirstSpirit. Sales in Austria and in Switzerland stayed only level though.

Investing in internationalisation of the product business in the USA,
Switzerland and England continued. Although sales increased, higher cost
for intensified sales efforts still put pressure on earnings. In Turkey
ramping up staff for a new country organisation has led to a continued
negative earnings impact although order intake increased. Operating
earnings (EBITDA) overall increased due to sales growth by 13 % year on
year in the first half of 2014 to EUR 3.3 million. The second quarter with
an EBITDA of EUR 0.6 million fell short to the first quarter due to the
lower number of working days, less licence sales, higher costs for some
fixed price projects and investment in solutions for the insurance
industry. While pre tax profits rose by 27 % year on year to EUR 2.1
million, consolidated earnings fell by 17 % to EUR 1.0 million. The main
reason is a high imputed tax quota of 54 % due to negative earnings of
several legal entities of adesso Group not accounted for by deferred taxes.
In this light Earnings per share amounted to EUR 0.12 after EUR 0.19 in the
previous year despite higher pre tax earnings.

On 30 June 2014, adesso held liquid assets of EUR 12.3 million (previous
year: EUR 13.3 million; 31 December 2013: EUR 21.6 million); net liquidity
(liquidity less interest-bearing liabilities) amounted to EUR 7.9 million
(previous year: EUR 6.7 million; 31 December 2013: EUR 13.7 million). The
drop in the first half of 2014 was due to the planned payment of variable
salary components for the previous year as well as to dividend and
redemption payments. Equity increased to EUR 35.8 million (previous year:
EUR 34.6 million; 31 December 2013: EUR 36.0 million) and the equity ratio
rose from 48.0 % on 31 December 2013 and 47.5 % in the previous year to
48.7 %.

As expected, earnings in the first half of 2014 are less than half of the
forecast for the full year due to the seasonality in the product business
in particular as well as to the lower number of working days. In the second
half of the year higher turnover coming from more working days, enlarged
work force and the new solutions for the insurance industry is expected.
Together with normally rising license sales revenues especially in the
fourth quarter and in light of the current capacity utilisation and order
situation, the company rose its sales forecast to the corridor between EUR
153 and 158 million while publishing its preliminary half-year figures.
EBITDA forecast of EUR 8.5 to 9.0 million for the full year is maintained.

The complete Half-year Report and an overview of the key performance
figures in table form are available under Investor Relations on the adesso
website: http://www.adesso-group.de/en/investorrelations/.

The Executive Board


Contact:
Martin Möllmann
Manager Investor Relations
Tel.: +49 231 930-9330
E-Mail: ir@adesso.de



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Language:    English                                             
Company:     adesso AG                                           
             Stockholmer Allee 24                                
             44269 Dortmund                                      
             Germany                                             
Phone:       +49 (0) 231 930-9330                                
Fax:         +49 (0) 231 930-9331                                
E-mail:      ir@adesso.de                                        
Internet:    www.adesso-group.de                                 
ISIN:        DE000A0Z23Q5                                        
WKN:         A0Z23Q                                              
Listed:      Regulierter Markt in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt  
             (General Standard), Hamburg, Stuttgart              
 
 
End of News    DGAP News-Service  
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