DGAP-News: vwd to pay its first dividend
(firmenpresse) - vwd Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste AG / Final Results
25.03.2010 08:03
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vwd to pay its first dividend
vwd releases its results for fiscal year 2009.
- Sales growth continues
- Finance crisis hurts profitability
- The company's earnings power enables the first dividend since the IPO
to be paid
- Business outlook for 2010 cautious
Frankfurt am Main, March 25, 2010 - vwd Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste AG
(regulated market, General Standard, ISIN DE0005204705) announces the
Group's financial results for fiscal year 2009.
Key financial figures
in thousand EUR 2009 2008 +/-In spite of the worst economic crisis experienced in Europe since the 1930s
Sales 79,232.5 73,357.3 8.0%
EBITDA 9,750.1 10,892.3 -10.5%
EBIT 5,806.6 8,276.1 -29.8%
Net income 3,125.3 4,439.5 -29.6%
EBITDA margin in % 12.3 14.4 -2.1
EBIT-margin in % 7.3 10.9 -3.6
Earnings per share in EUR 0.098 0.139 -29.5%
and the strongest business contraction in the history of post-war Germany,
the vwd group was able in 2009 to maintain and expand its strong market
position as a financial-industry partner.
As the leading European provider of tailored information, communication and
technology solutions for the strategic securities business, vwd succeeded
during the past fiscal year in increasing sales once again. Sales climbed
by 8 % to EUR 79.2 million from EUR 73.4 million in the previous year. In
the face of extremely challenging economic conditions, we set a new sales
record once again.
Despite this positive news, the vwd group was unable to completely escape
the grip of adverse global trends and approach the record results of the
previous year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortization (EBITDA) fell 10.5 % year on year, from EUR 10.9 million to
EUR 9.8 million. This performance was largely due to the contraction
process in the mutual-fund industry as well as to fund mergers and
closures, the extent of which had never been seen before in past crises. A
similar process occurred in the certificate market. This trend resulted in
setbacks in cross-media publication and communication services. Growth in
traditional B2B activities with banks and savings banks was unable to
completely offset this drop in earnings. The company noted that it was only
because of its balanced business model that earnings were not hit more
sustainably by changed market conditions.
Depreciation, amortization and impairment related to purchase-price
allocations totaling EUR 1.5 million (previous year: EUR 482 thousand)
caused depreciation, amortization and impairment to rise to EUR 3.9 million
(previous year: EUR 2.6 million). This also hurt consolidated EBIT, which
totaled EUR 5.8 million (previous year: EUR 8.3 million). As a result, net
income fell during the reporting period to EUR 3.1 million (previous year:
EUR 4.4 million). In the past, vwd had to reduce losscarry-forwards from
the merger. But, today, the company is in a position to pay a dividend
despite the problems caused by the financial crisis.
'To more closely live up to our commitment to be a value-focused company,
the Management Board has decided to recommend to the annual general meeting
that a dividend should be paid in 2009 and to use this payment as the
foundation for a stable dividend policy,' said Edmund J. Keferstein,
Chairman of the Management Board at vwd Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste AG.
Outlook: Uncertainties shape business prospects for 2010
As a result of the macroeconomic situation, vwd expects that 2010 will be
another challenging year. The cloudy economic outlook offers no reason for
any sustainable improvement in relevant sales markets. This expectation
applies in particular to the company's marketing and communication
services. Even though this most likely reached its bottom in 2009, future
demand continues to be characterized by uncertainties that are extremely
hard to estimate, Keferstein said.
For fiscal 2010, the vwd group believes it is well positioned, but expects
that the overall growth opportunities of its three business segments will
be limited. This expectation applies both to sales and income. The company
sees significantly increased growth opportunities in fiscal year 2011 as
part of an improved macroeconomic picture.
Segment Market Data Solutions (MDS)
In the face of challenging business conditions, sales in the MDS segment
climbed by 4.7 % to EUR 36.3 million (previous year: EUR 34.7 million). The
primary drivers of the increase were the successful implementation of the
DZ Bank project and other bank-related activities.
During the reporting period, the segment's EBITDA decreased by EUR 673
thousand to EUR 4.5 million (previous year: EUR 5.1 million). The decrease
in earnings resulted from increased material expenses associated with the
implementation of bank projects and the extension of support services as
well as the expansion of the development team. The segment's EBIT fell by
20.9 % to EUR 3.3 million (previous year: EUR 4.2 million).
Segment Technology Solutions (TS)
In the TS segment, the vwd group significantly boosted sales by 24.5 % to
EUR 19.9 million (previous year: EUR 16.0 million). This increase was
largely the result of the initial consolidation of vwd group Switzerland,
whose services in the area of business-process outsourcing for portfolio
management had a positive impact on sales. Furthermore, other cooperatively
organized banking projects began to contribute to the segment's sales
growth in mid-2009.
The segment's EBITDA rose by 37.2 % to EUR 2.6 million (previous year: EUR
1.9 million) and was thus significantly higher than sales. The increase
resulted primarily from the initial consolidation of vwd group Switzerland.
The segment's EBIT remains very positive despite a slight decrease of 2.5 %
to EUR 1.0 million (previous year: EUR 1.1 million). A major reason for
this development is depreciation, amortization and impairment of intangible
assets totaling EUR1.3 million identified during the purchase-price
allocation for vwd group Switzerland and vwd group Netherlands B.V.
Segment Specialised Marketing Solutions (SMS)
The financial crisis had its biggest impact on the SMS segment. Sales did
rise by 1.5 % to EUR 23.0 million (previous year: EUR 22.7 million) as a
result of the initial consolidation of the EDG Group. But the segment's
EBITDA fell by 30.4 % to EUR 2.7 million (previous year: EUR 3.9 million).
Sales generated particularly by the business with issuers of mutual funds
and certificates were much worse than was to be expected on the basis of
experience from previous crises. The drop in the segment's earnings
resulted from the dramatically changed market conditions for
advertising-focused communication and publication services. The EDG Group
that was consolidated as of May 2009 had a positive impact on the sales and
earnings of the SMS segment. Depreciation, amortization and impairment of
intangible assets of EUR 288 thousand resulting from the purchase-price
allocation for the EDG Group led to a 51.4 % drop in the segment's EBIT to
EUR 1.5 million.
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the
present views, expectations and assumptions of the vwd group and are based
on information available to the company at the time this press release was
prepared. Forward-looking statements are no guarantee that future events
and developments will actually occur. Rather, they are associated with
risks and uncertainties. Future performance by and developments at the vwd
group could differ materially from the expectations and assumptions
provided here as a result of many factors. In particular, changes in
economic conditions, new legal parameters, competition and trends in
financial markets could affect the company.
The Annual Report 2009 can now be downloaded at
http://www.vwd.com/vwd/investor_relations.htm.
Profile vwd group
vwd group offers customised information, communications and technology
solutions for the financial markets. As a leading European provider, it
specialises in meeting individual customer requirements in the areas of
asset management, retail banking, private banking and wealth management. It
offers innovative solutions for financial service providers, investors and
the media. vwd's business is driven by innovation, flexibility, customer
centricity and strong commitment to local needs. With around 430 employees
at 15 locations in 5 countries vwd is a public company, listed at the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The group's best-known brands are:
finanztreff.de, vwd fonds service, vwd market manager, vwd portfolio
manager, vwd PortfolioNet, TradeLink and Tai-Pan.
Further information:
Investor Relations
Carsten Scharf
Telephone: +49 69 50701-270
Fax: +49 69 50701-114
E-mail: investorrelations(at)vwd.com
vwd Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste AG
Tilsiter Straße 1
60487 Frankfurt am Main
www.vwd.com
25.03.2010 08:03 Ad hoc announcement, Financial News and Media Release distributed by DGAP. Medienarchiv atwww.dgap-medientreff.deandwww.dgap.de---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Language: English
Company: vwd Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste AG
Tilsiter Straße 1
60487 Frankfurt am Main
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)69 50701-316
Fax: +49 (0)69 50701-114
E-mail: cscharf(at)vwd.com
Internet: http://www.vwd.com
ISIN: DE0005204705
WKN: 520470
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (General Standard);
Freiverkehr in Berlin, München, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart,
Hamburg
End of News DGAP News-Service
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Datum: 25.03.2010 - 08:03 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 18031
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