DGAP-News: CHG-MERIDIAN AG: positive outlook for technology investments in 2013
(firmenpresse) - DGAP-News: CHG-MERIDIAN AG / Key word(s): Final Results/Strategic
Company Decision
CHG-MERIDIAN AG: positive outlook for technology investments in 2013
07.02.2013 / 17:38
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- Growth trajectory remains strong, particularly in international markets
- Additional hiring in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 2013
- New IT trends in companies: larger server solutions, smaller
end-devices
CHG-MERIDIAN AG, a non-listed portfolio manager specializing in technology
finance solutions and headquartered in Weingarten (Baden-Württemberg,
Germany), saw its gross profit rise significantly in 2012, despite a
decline in new business. Lease originations totaled EUR 804 million (2011:
EUR 858 million; a drop of 6.4 percent), which was lower than expected.
Although total gross profit advanced by 11.3 percent to EUR 131 million
(2011: EUR 118 million), lease originations in the main market, Germany,
decreased by 7.6 percent to EUR 413 million (2011: EUR 446 million) despite
gross profit going up by 12.1 percent to EUR 90 million (2011: EUR 81
million).
The Federation of German Leasing Companies (BDL) expects there will be a
return to habitual capital investment cycles - accompanied by stronger
growth in technology investments - following a period in 2012 and before in
which companies had been reluctant to invest as a result of the crisis in
the euro zone.
Business in southern Europe was more positive. The foreign subsidiaries in
Italy, Spain and France generated an impressive volume of new business with
lease originations of EUR 114 million in 2012, a year-on-year gain of 18.5
percent (2011: EUR 96 million), as announced by Jürgen Mossakowski,
Chairman of the Management Board, at the Company's annual press conference
in Weingarten.
CHG-MERIDIAN is a technology portfolio manager in the areas of IT,
industrial and healthcare technologies. Its services encompass everything
from initial advice and concept development to the procurement of equipment
and its installation in the workplace and the ultimate disposal or
reconditioning and resale of used equipment. CHG-MERIDIAN has
state-of-the-art technology - servers, computers, monitors, printers,
industrial machinery, and medical equipment - worth EUR2.5 billion on its
books, which it rents and leases to companies and public-sector clients in
19 countries.
Boost to international market position: Mexican joint venture integrated
into the Group
CHG-MERIDIAN continued to pursue a strategy of international growth last
year. Among other strategic measures, the Company fully integrated its
joint venture in Mexico into the CHG-MERIDIAN Group, spending more than
EUR 26 million to increase its stake in CHG-MERIDIAN México S.A.P.I. de C.V
to 100 percent in June 2012. The Mexican entity employs around 70 people.
CHG-MERIDIAN has been operating in Mexico since 2009. In November 2012 the
Company was able to open a new credit line of EUR 12 million with
International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank, in order to
fund green investments in Mexico.
Attainment of new record: remarketing of used equipment climbs
substantially
Reconditioning business - the secure data erasure and remarketing of used
equipment - performed particularly encouragingly in 2012. Remarketing at
CHG-MERIDIAN's Technology and Service Center near Frankfurt resulted inthe
resale of around 448,000 items of technical equipment in 2012 (2011:
415,000 items; a rise of 7.7 percent). This is the highest number achieved
since CHG-MERIDIAN started offering remarketing services at the end of the
technology lifecycle. The services offered include secure data erasure for
PCs, laptops, and data center equipment in accordance with procedures
certified by DEKRA and TÜV. CHG-MERIDIAN securely erased data from some
88,000 hard disks for customers in 2012 (2011: 73,617 hard disks; an
increase of 19.8 percent).
Increase in share capital and expansion of solid funding base
CHG-MERIDIAN further improved its funding situation in 2012. The Company
had already sustainably expanded its funding base in 2011 by launching
special syndicated loan programs. This new type of cooperation continued
last year. Loans totaling EUR 105 million were arranged with 26 savings
banks and credit cooperatives as part of the syndicated loan programs in
2012. Last year CHG-MERIDIAN raised a total of around EUR 810 million
(2011: EUR 794 million) in funding from approximately 3,000 transactions
worldwide.
The risk was spread among 69 funding partners around the world.
'We have created a broad and therefore secure base of funding partners,'
said Mossakowski. He explained that the reasons for this situation included
the upturn in the capital markets, which had settled down again following
the uncertainty seen between 2009 and 2011.
The family-owned Company's sound financial health was underlined by the
increase in share capital, which grew by EUR 25 million to EUR 75 million
in
2012. 'The shareholders are thereby demonstrating their confidence in our
Company and the long-term strategy that we are pursuing,' stated
Mossakowski. As the funding base remains very strong, CHG-MERIDIAN was able
to maintain a significant level of cash and cash equivalents at the end of
2012, he added. CHG-MERIDIAN's capital strength is enabling it to maintain
its long-term growth strategy.
Workforce expansion: additional hiring planned for 2013
CHG-MERIDIAN is one of the largest employers in the sector, with 469
employees in Germany and 774 employees worldwide. At the annual press
conference, Mossakowski announced that the number of employees is expected
to increase to 623 in Germany and to over 900 worldwide by 2014 in view of
the planned global growth and the Company's move from being purely a
leasing company to an integrated technology portfolio manager. The
workforce is to be expanded by offering additional traineeships, including
the provision of four instead of two places on the study partnership scheme
with the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW) for students
starting at CHG-MERIDIAN in 2013. 'We intend to offer a total of 12
traineeships in 2013,' said Mossakowski. 'As our business model is fairly
complex, we need to train and develop our employees ourselves.'
CHG-MERIDIAN has set up its own academy specifically for this purpose.
New IT trends in companies: mobile technology takes over from desktops
Looking ahead to CeBIT in early March, CHG-MERIDIAN is risking a
technological prediction, which it has based on the technology usage of
over 8,000 B2B customers worldwide. On the one hand, companies are
increasingly investing in mobile devices such as laptops and tablet PCs.
Classic PCs are gradually losing their importance as essential desktop
hardware. On the other hand, CHG-MERIDIAN is seeing far higher investment
in powerful server infrastructures aimed at creating self-contained,
private cloud solutions. Together these two factors are leading to a shift
in spending and to an overall increase in volume. 'The number of mobile
devices such as tablets that CHG-MERIDIAN finances for companies climbed by
around 150 percent in 2012, while the volume of investment in thin clients
grew by more than 40 percent,' said Mossakowski. 'This is a clear sign to
us that a sea change in technology is taking place, one that we look upon
favorably.'
Willingness to invest: companies demonstrate optimism at the start of the
year
In the words of the chairman of the Management Board, CHG-MERIDIAN has
started this year with a lot more confidence than it did last year.
'Conditions have calmed down considerably, and companies are showing
slightly more inclination to invest,' stated Mossakowski. He therefore
expects the economic recovery to be followed by a higher volume of lease
originations. 'But we are not simply waiting for the market. We will
generate further organic growth in 2013 through our equipment leasing
subsidiary, by expanding our service and product portfolio throughout the
lifecycle of the technologies we manage, by enlarging our Management Board,
and by focusing on new, lucrative international markets,' concluded
Mossakowski.
Further information can be found at:
www.chg-meridian.com
About CHG-MERIDIAN
Large and medium-sized companies and public-sector entities in 19 countries
worldwide have entrusted CHG-MERIDIAN with their advisory, financing, and
other service needs in the field of technology portfolio management. With a
total workforce of more than 700 people - most of them employed at six
locations in Germany - the company, which is headquartered in Weingarten in
south-west Germany, has leased assets worth approximately EUR2.5 billion
under management. What distinguishes CHG-MERIDIAN is its non-captive status
with respect to banks and manufacturers, enabling it to provide expert
independent advice and financing solutions for technology portfolio
management throughout the entire lifecycle.
Contact:
Matthias Steybe
Head of Communications und Marketing
CHG-MERIDIAN AG
Franz-Beer-Straße 111
D-88250 Weingarten
Tel. +49 751 503-248
Fax. +49 751 503-7248
Email. matthias.steybe(at)chg-meridian.de
End of financial news
The picture belonging to this press release can be found here:
http://newsfeed2.equitystory.com/meridian/200912.html
Caption: Jürgen Mossakowski
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200912 07.02.2013
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Datum: 07.02.2013 - 17:38 Uhr
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