EANS-News: asknet AG
asknet publishes business figures for the first nine
months of the year
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Corporate news transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer/originator is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9-month report Subtitle: *** Sales and gross profits down year-on-year in the first nine months of 2011 *** EBT of 0.5 million euros in the third quarter due to a one-off effect *** Organizational structure streamlined *** Result expected to develop positively in the fourth quarter Karlsruhe, San Francisco, (euro adhoc) - November 15, 2011 - asknet AG, a leading supplier of global eCommerce solutions for software and digital media companies, has announced its business figures for the first nine months of 2011. In the reporting period, the Group generated sales revenues of 47.4 million euros, around 8 percent below the previous year´s figure. Gross profits, which represent the growth of the Group, were almost 5 percent down year-on-year to 7.2 million euros, of which 5.1 million euros was contributed by the eDistribution segment and 2.1 million euros by ePortals. asknet Group´s operating result (EBIT) was -1.3 million euros. The result in the first nine months of 2011 was negatively impacted by the company´s weak business performance as well as one-off costs for streamlining its organizational structure. After interest and taxes, asknet made a loss of 1.3 million euros. Growth in the eDistribution segment declined due to weaker business with existing top-selling customers and a lack of new customer agreements with large software publishers. The ePortals segment, on the other hand, developed positively. In the third quarter, new contracts were concluded with the University of Cologne, RWTH Aachen University and Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. Overall, however, ePortals could not fully compensate for the decrease in eDistribution. Due to overall weaker business performance, asknet considerably streamlined its organizational structure in the past quarter. The Group´s workforce was cut by six to 93 employees in the third quarter; the Executive Board was reduced from three to two members; and the Supervisory Board was reduced from six to three members. These measures enable asknet to increase efficiency in the long term with reduced structural costs. The reversal of provisions to the amount of 763 thousand euros, which had been set aside in the previous quarter for a notification of interest charges issued by the tax authorities, had a positive effect on the result in the third quarter of 2011. The Group does not expect its result to be impacted by these events any longer as the tax authorities have suspended the execution of interest charges and the company is also covered by insurance. As a result, asknet Group generated earnings before taxes of 0.5 million euros in the third quarter of 2011. The Executive Board of asknet AG anticipates the positive business trend to continue in the fourth quarter of this year, one of the reasons being the implemented savings measures. "We see good growth prospects for our business arising from the ongoing expansion of the ePortals segment in Switzerland and Austria. The positive development regarding some medium-sized customers also makes us confident that we will get back on our path to growth in the eDistribution segment in the medium term," said Michael Konrad, Co-CEO of asknet AG. The quarterly report 3/2011 of asknet AG (german version only) is available as from today on the company website at www.asknet.com. About asknet: asknet offers its clients customized outsourcing solutions for global software sales via the Internet. Founded in 1995 as a spin-off of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, formerly the University of Karlsruhe), the company has become a leading independent global provider for electronic software distribution. In addition to its fully integrated shop solutions for software publishers, the company develops and maintains portals for software distribution such as softwarehouse.de, one of Europe's largest platform for downloads of standard software. In 2010, asknet posted sales of approximately EUR 72.7 million. asknet´s clients include numerous providers of specialty software such as F-Secure, IS3, Nero, NetObjects, Norman, and Panda Security. The company also supplies software products to around eighty percent of German universities. Further inquiry note: Martina Oerther VP Corporate & Vendor Marketing Tel.: +49 (0)721 96 458-6369 Email: martina.oerther@asknet.com end of announcement euro adhoc -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- company: asknet AG Vincenz-Priessnitz-Str. 3 D-76131 Karlsruhe phone: +49 (0)721 96 458 6369 FAX: +49 (0)721-96 45899 mail: info@asknet.de WWW: http://www.asknet.de sector: Electronic Commerce ISIN: DE0005173306 indexes: stockmarkets: free trade: Berlin, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, München, Open Market / Entry Standard: Frankfurt language: English
Original content of: asknet AG, transmitted by news aktuell