plenum AG / Final Results 31.03.2008 Release of an Ad hoc announcement according to § 15 WpHG, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ad hoc - Announcement plenum AG March,31 2008 plenum attains profit threshold in 2007 - promising outlook for 2008 plenum posts EBIT of EUR 0.2 m (PY: EUR -0.9 m) core business 'Management Consulting' again reports growth; 34.5% discontinued operations reduce total revenues plenum anticipates EBIT of EUR 1.2 m for 2008 Wiesbaden, March 31, 2008 plenum AG (Prime Standard, ISIN DE 0006901002) has returned to a profit zone according to preliminary figures for FY 2007 and the completion of the refocusing strategy. The emphasis of the refocusing strategy: 1. to successively exit the software development business (finalized as of December 31, 2006) 2. to sell the agency, stoll & fischbach (effective September 30, 2007) and 3. to extensively expand the core business in Management Consulting In Q4 2007 gross revenues of about EUR 4.7 m were reported; representing a plus of 38.2% over the prior year's comparative quarter (Q4 2006: EUR 3.4 m) and 17.5% over the prior quarter (Q3 2007: EUR 4.0 m). In all, Management Consulting generated gross revenues of approx. EUR 15.9 m in 2007 (PY: approx. EUR 11.8 m) thereby soaring by 34.7%. Based on the 26% expansion reported in consulting revenues between 2006 and 2005, management considers this as confirmation of their focusing efforts in the consulting business. Following the discontinuance and sale of business operations with weak margins or deficits, total revenues have therefore significantly declined for FY 2007 from EUR 26.5 m in 2006 to EUR 22.4 m (based on preliminary figures). The agency, stoll & fischbach, contributed revenues of EUR 9 m in 2006 and approx. EUR 5.1 m until its disposal in October. The software development business contributed about EUR 4.4 m to revenues in 2006; this loss of revenues could be fully compensated already in 2007 from the strong growth in the consulting business (EUR plus 4.1 m). Adjusted for the discontinued operations, revenues from the remaining business climbed 31.1% from EUR 13.2 m to EUR 17.3 m in 2007. The implemented business reorganization and the positive development in the core business have had a notable effect on plenum's earnings. Thus, the gross margin saw a jump from 17.0% in 2006 to 30.4% in 2007, which is now at the target level. Because of the new hires in the consulting business during the first half 2007, the rise in the gross margin has not yet had a full effect on the EBIT development. Overall, the EBIT for 2007 did however increase by EUR 1.1 m to EUR 0.2 m (PY: EUR -0.9 m). The net income for 2007 will be at approx. EUR 0.3 m based on the existing net tax loss carryforward and a slightly positive financial result. The positive effect on profit was evident in Q4 2007, which was the first quarter without the agency business, (stoll & fischbach): earnings (EBIT) climbed by about EUR 0.5 m from approx. EUR -0.3 m in Q4 2006 to approx. EUR +0.2 m; thereby reaching an EBIT margin of about 4.1%. The order backlog in consulting amounted to approx. EUR 4.7 m as of December 31, 2007 (PY: EUR 1.8 m) and is expected to rise to over EUR 5.5 m as of March 31, 2008. The positive development in the order backlog is mainly attributable to the continued consolidation process in the bank and insurance environment. The Company's cash and cash equivalents totaled approx. EUR 4.5 m as of the balance sheet date 2007 and form a solid basis for further business expansion. Based on the promising outlook for 2008, plenum AG anticipates growth in the consulting business of between 15% and 20% also for 2008. Consequently, revenues for the entire FY 2008 should amount to about EUR 20 m and the EBIT should reach approx. EUR 1.2 m (EBIT margin: approx. 6%). plenum expects revenues of approx. EUR 9.0 m and EBIT of approx. EUR 0.5 m for the first half 2008. The second quarter will be stronger than the first quarter due to seasonal business. for the following years plenum expects an annual organic growth rate of approximately 15% to 20%. The more favourable distribution of fixed costs together with a target gross margin of approximately 30%, which was already reached in 2008, gives the opportunity to increase the EBIT margin gradually to approximately 12%. The Company's consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2007 will be available on April 29, 2008. Interested parties can obtain the Company Annual Report via Internet under www.plenum.de or via eMail under aktie@plenum.de or directly from plenum Aktiengesellschaft, Investor Relations, Hagenauer Str. 53, 65203 Wiesbaden. Regarding plenum AG: plenum AG (Prime Standard, ISIN DE0006901001) is a leading German Management Consulting Firm focusing on solutions for strategic task completion as part of the industrialization of service providers, particularly financial service providers and energy suppliers. Its core competencies include marketing and communications, business process optimization and outsourcing, IT-Efficiency and IT-Outsourcing as well as Human Resources and Skill Management. The chain of services runs from strategy development right up to monitoring successful implementation. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Information and Explaination of the Issuer to this News: Information and comments from the issuer of this report: This report contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties due to current expectations, estimates, predictions and forecasts as well as the use of estimates by the management of plenum AG. Such forward-looking comments comprise the predictions of budgets, strategies and outlooks. Forward-looking statements can also be identified by words such as 'anticipates', 'expects', 'preliminary', 'plans', 'predicts', and similar terms. Forward-looking statements are no guarantees of future performance and the Company's actual results may differ significantly from the results discussed in this section. Regarding further information or inquiries, please contact: plenum AG Investor Relations Hagenauer Str. 53 65203 Wiesbaden Tel.: +49 (0)611-9882-0 Fax: +49 (0)611-9882-496 Email: aktie@plenum.de Internet: www.plenum.de Investor Relations FINREL GmbH financial relations Stefan Bülling Barnerstr. 14 22765 Hamburg Tel.: +49 (0)40-39834-641 Fax: +49 (0)40-39834-649 Email: info@finrel.de Internet: www.finrel.de DGAP 31.03.2008 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Issuer: plenum AG Hagenauer Straße 53 65203 Wiesbaden Deutschland Phone: +49 (0)611 9882-361 Fax: +49 (0)611 9882-496 E-mail: aktie@plenum.de Internet: www.plenum.de ISIN: DE0006901002 WKN: 690100 Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), Stuttgart; Freiverkehr in Berlin, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf End of News DGAP News-Service ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
DGAP-Adhoc: plenum AG:plenum attains profit threshold in 2007 - promising outlook for 2008
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