PARIS, October 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
- Core Business Activities[1] Grew by 0.6% Over the First Nine Months of
the Year
- Third-quarter Revenues Down by 8% (7% at Constant Currency) Reflecting
Greater Seasonal Variation Than in Previous Years
Key figures for third quarter of 2009 (unaudited):
- Consolidated revenues of EUR221.2 million; in line with
expectations, revenues decreased by 7.3% at constant exchange rates
compared with Q3 2008
- Revenues for the first 9 months of 2009 stood at EUR779.8
million, representing a slight decline (-1.5%) compared with the same
period in 2008; at constant exchange rates, revenues were down by 0.3%
- Refocusing on the Group's core offerings1 continues: these
offerings which represented 93% of Group revenue over the first 9
months of the year, recorded growth of 0.6% for the period
Outlook: Bull confirms its target EBIT (see glossary) for the year; this was revised in July 2009 to a level "in excess of EUR25 million".
Bull (Euronext Paris: BULL) - expert in open, flexible and secure information systems and one of Europe's leading players in the IT industry - today announces that its revenues for the third quarter of 2009 were EUR221.2 million, representing a decrease of 8.1% compared with the same period in 2008. The decline in revenues is 7.3% at constant exchange rates. Revenues of EUR779.8 million have been recorded for the first nine months of the year, down 1.5% compared with the year-ago period. At constant exchange rates, revenues declined by 0.3% for the period.
"We have undertaken a refocussing of our business which has put Bull in a favorable position in the current environment. The new solutions that we are offering to our customers are enabling them to cut costs now and put in place their future growth drivers," commented Didier Lamouche, Bull's Chairman and CEO.
"Business activity in the third quarter - marked this year by a more unfavorable seasonal effect - is not representative of the trend we anticipate for the full year. Therefore, the results to the end of September mean that we are able to confirm our objectives for the financial year 2009. The resilience of our core offerings - which have recorded growth in revenues year-to-date, and each outperformed its market - demonstrates that we have made the right strategic decisions," Didier Lamouche continued.
Third quarter business activity: order intake and revenues by business segment
Comparisons are made with respect to published figures for the prior-year period, except where a recast is specifically indicated.
Hardware & Systems Solutions: a soft quarter; recovery expected in the fourth quarter
Business activity in the Hardware & Systems Solutions segment reflects both a highly adverse seasonal effect, in line with the rest of the IT industry, and the fact that certain private sector customers are delaying some investments in IT. As a result, order intake decreased by 22.1% and revenues were 16.6% lower, after five consecutive quarters of growth. However, a strong pipeline of qualified deals means that a strong recovery in order intake is expected during Q4, as well as a stabilization of revenues compared with the same period in 2008. Over the first nine months of the year, revenues from this business segment grew by 6.1% compared with the same period in 2008, led in particular by the Group's strategic growth offerings. These solutions are positioned in niche areas that are out-performing the overall server market. 'Extreme Computing', which is one of these key growth offerings, continued to record an increase in revenues for Q3.
Services & Solutions: slight decrease in revenues
Revenues from the Services & Solutions segment were EUR105.9 million for Q3, representing a slight organic decline of 1.8%. Order intake was down by 6.7%, reflecting the difficult economic environment which is affecting telco customers in particular. Nevertheless, the Group continued to record a level of performance ahead of the market, with a 2.4% organic increase in revenues since the start of the year, thanks to the quality of its customer portfolio, particularly in the public sector.
Maintenance & PRS: a solid business, thanks to new offerings
Revenues from Maintenance & PRS activities proved resilient at EUR46.4 million, representing a very slight decrease of 0.9%. The success of the Group's new offerings, most notably linked to infrastructure, has limited the erosion of this business despite a decline in traditional maintenance activities. For the first nine months of the year, the erosion of revenues was -3.3% compared with the same period in 2008.
Fulfillment & Third-Party Products
Revenues from Third-Party Products fell sharply by 17.3% to EUR13.0 million, as a result of the Group's deliberate decision to concentrate its resources on its core offerings. For the first nine months of the year, the overall decline was 22.5% compared with the same period in 2008.
Revenue by business segment (unaudited):
Third quarter
EUR millions 2008 2009 variation
Revenues 240.7 221.2 100% -8.1%
of which Services & Solutions* 111.1 105.9 47.9% -4.7%
of which Hardware & Systems
Solutions 66.9 55.8 25.2% -16.6%
of which Maintenance & PRS 46.8 46.4 21.0% -0.9%
of which Fulfillment & Third-Party
Products 16.0 13.2 6.0% -17.3%
*When recast to reflect the sale in 2008 of the Group's Medicaid solutions activities in the US, the decline in revenues is 1.8%.
Numbers may not add up precisely to the total due to rounding.
Geographic breakdown of revenues (unaudited):
Third quarter
EUR millions 2008 2009 Variation Organic
vs published variation*
figures
France 126.9 117.5 53% -7.4% -6.7%
Western Europe excluding
France 61.1 66.5 30% +8.8% stable
Eastern and Central Europe 16.4 9.1 4% -44.7% -36.6%
Americas 19.8 13.3 6% -33.2% -8.9%
Rest of the World 16,6 15.0 7% -9.6% -9.4%
Total 240.7 221.2 100% -8.1% -7.3%
* at constant exchange rates and structure
The acquisition of s+c in Germany in particular explains the increase in revenues for Western Europe excluding France. The difficulties in the Telecoms business contributed to the decrease in revenues in France. Adverse developments in exchange rates contributed to the decline in business in Eastern Europe. The sale of the Group's Medicaid-related business activities in the USA and the fall in the value of the dollar largely explain the lower revenues from the Americas.
Group financial position
The Group's financial position remains healthy. The cash position reflects seasonal variations, as in previous years. The end of September habitually marks a low point in the cash position, mirroring the trend in revenues, which is unevenly split between the two quarters of the second half of the year.
Outlook
Taking the results for the first nine months of the year into account, Bull is confirming its profitability target for the 2009 financial year, which was raised in July and represents EBIT (see glossary) in excess of EUR25 million.
Key highlights of the third quarter 2009
In the third quarter of 2009 Bull continued its program of designing and implementing the solutions, services and technologies it has developed to help its customers in the public and private sectors come out stronger from the current economic crisis.
For Bull, computer simulation is key to future innovation in Europe. Bull further strengthened its position as a supplier of reference in Europe, with the launch of bullx(TM), opening the way towards 'Extreme Computing'.
- Following a European invitation to tender issued to all the major
suppliers of High-Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructures, the
University of Cologne chose a bullx(TM) system, from the Group's new
family of environmentally-efficient, ultra-dense and ultra high-
performance supercomputers launched just before the summer. The
bullx(TM) system, which delivers 100 Teraflops of power and features a
highly flexible architecture, supports an extremely wide spectrum of
applications. Its ease of use, combined with low electricity
consumption and reduced floor-space requirement, were decisive factors
in the University's choice.
- Petrobras has chosen Bull and a bullx(TM) supercomputer for its
research center, CENPES, the largest research center in Latin America,
with more than 200 laboratories. This new system which delivers more
than 250 Teraflops will be the most powerful system in Latin America at
the time of its installation in December 2009.
Bull offers its customers increasing competitive solutions to help them tackle the key challenges they face, particularly when it comes to balancing the power/energy consumption equation.
- Bull and the Joseph Fourier University in France have joined forces to
implement an active policy in this area, from initial audits to the
implement of low carbon footprint computing facilities. The central aim
is to achieve a 50% reduction in the electricity consumed by the
university's data centers in the coming three years.
- Combining flexibility, high-performance and an optimum carbon
footprint, the Groups' Bio Data Center(TM) offering has proved to be an
innovative way of helping organizations to fulfill their sustainable
development policies.
Bull has once again demonstrated how attractive its service offerings are when it comes to supporting enterprise development projects and responding to the challenges of modernizing public sector information systems at local and national level.
- French State Financial IT Agency (AIFE) renewed for a further 16 months
its contract related to hosting the infrastructure for Chorus, the
state's core financial application, which is further proof of the
quality of Bull's relationships within the public sector.
- EDF has also renewed its functional operation and production
engineering contract with Bull, covering the SAP applications used in
its finance department, for a further three years.
- The Ambatovy project is the largest mining project ever undertaken in
Madagascar (aimed at extracting 60,000 metric tonnes of nickel and
5,600 tonnes of cobalt a year). Numerous supply infrastructures are
being built to support the project, including extensions to port
facilities, roads and railroads, an electricity generating plant...
Ambatovy has turned to Bull to implement the latest-generation Infor
Baan LN6 integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, as
part of its information system, designed to co-ordinate all its
business activities.
- The Open World Forum, co-founded by Bull, was successfully held for the
second time this year, bringing together 1,200 decision-makers and
experts to discuss and explore the technological, economic and social
impact of Open Source.
- SERPRO (Servico Federal de Processamento de Dados), the largest
State-owned IT agency in Brazil, has signed a new co-operation
agreement with Bull to jointly develop innovative Open Source
technologies for on-line public services and e-government.
- The regional council of Languedoc Roussillon has chosen Bull to help it
modernize, rationalize, secure and operate its IT infrastructures, as
well as develop and evolve a number of its key applications.
- Following a comprehensive analysis of the impact of disasters or other
incidents on its business activities, the regional council of Calvados
chose Bull to renew its information systems. The entire range of
resources was reviewed, with a redistribution of systems at the main
site, the creation of a new IT site which will eventually host business
recovery hardware, and the formalization of a new set of business
continuity procedures and resources to be implemented.
As European leader in identity and access management (IAM), Bull Evidian recorded a number of excellent successes
- Winchester City Council in the UK has implemented Bull Evidian's
Enterprise SSO (Single Sign-On) to simplify access to its numerous
applications by staff members, while at the same time improving
security. Evidian Enterprise SSO eliminates the risks posed by the
Council's employees having to memorize many different passwords to
access critical applications.
- RTL Group has also chosen Evidian Enterprise SSO to provide secure user
access for its 'holding' company. The 600 employees and journalists at
its Luxembourg site will now have easy and completely secure access to
their applications, once they have completed the single authentication
process provided by the Bull Evidian software.
Glossary:
EBIT: Earnings before Interest and Taxes, non-operating and non-recurring items and contribution of equity affiliates.
About Bull, Architect of an Open World (TM)
Bull is an Information Technology company, dedicated to helping Corporations and Public Sector organizations optimize the architecture, operations and the financial return of their Information Systems and their mission-critical related businesses.
Bull focuses on open and secure systems, and as such is the only European-based company offering expertise in all the key elements of the IT value chain.
Financial calendar
- 23 November 2009: analyst and investor conference, Paris
- 11 February 2010: publication of 2009 full-year results
Appendix
Published quarterly revenues for the financial years 2009 and 2008
(unaudited data):
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Full year
EUR millions
2009 Services &
Solutions 111.1 129.9 105.9 - -
Hardware &
Systems
Solutions 74.7 105.9 55.8 - -
Maintenance & PRS 45.0 50.5 46.4 - -
Fulfillment &
third-party
products 19.0 22.5 13.2 - -
Total 249.8 308.8 221.2 - -
2008 Services &
Solutions 106.6 133.4 111.1 143.2 494.3
Hardware &
Systems
Solutions 58.1 97.9 66.9 115.2 338.1
Maintenance & PRS 48.6 51.4 46.8 51.0 197.8
Fulfillment &
third-party
products 21.2 33.4 16.0 32.2 102.7
Total 234.5 316.1 240.7 341.5 1,132.8
Numbers may not add up precisely to the total due to rounding.
Disclaimer
This press release includes and is based, inter alia, on forward-looking information and statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause expected results to differ.
Although Bull believes that its expectations and the information in this press release were based upon reasonable assumptions at the time when they were made, it can give no assurance that those expectations will be achieved or that the expected results will be as set out in this Press release. Neither Bull nor any other company within the Bull Group is making any representation or warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability or completeness of the information in the Press release, and neither Bull, any other company within the Bull Group nor any of their directors, officers or employees will have any liability to you or any other persons resulting from your use of the information in the Press release. ---------------------------------
[1] Bull's core activities include Hardware & Systems Solutions; Maintenance & PRS and Services & Solutions. In the aggregate they represent 94% of third quarter 2009 revenues.
For more information visit: http://www.bull.com
Investor relations contact:
Bull: Peter Campbell: Tel: +33(0)1-30-80-32-36 - peter.campbell@bull.net
Press relations contact:
Bull: Barbara Coumaros: Tel: +33(0)6-85-52-84-84 -
barbara.coumaros@bull.net
SOURCE Bull
For further information: Investor relations contact: Bull: Peter Campbell: Tel: +33(0)1-30-80-32-36 - peter.campbell@bull.net; Press relations contact: Bull: Barbara Coumaros: Tel: +33(0)6-85-52-84-84 - barbara.coumaros@bull.net
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