- EBIT increased by 47 percent to 1.3 million euros
- Group sales below previous year as a result of smaller hardware portion
- Volume of orders increases by 9 percent auf 86 million euros
Berlin, 24 April 2008 – The PSI Group increased its EBIT in the first quarter of 2008 to 1.3 million euros (1st quarter 2007: 0.9 million euros). The pre-tax profit increased to 1.0 million euros (1st quarter 2007: 0.6 million euros), the Group annual EBIT to 0.8 million euros (1st quarter 2007: 0.4 million euros). Sales decreased to 27.4 million euros primarily as a result of the sale of the government business in mid-2007 and the more than 2 million euros smaller hardware portion (1st quarter 2007: 32.6 million euros). The volume of new orders was, with 36 million euros, about the same level as the same quarter of the previous year, which contained about 2 million euros from the government business (1st quarter 2007: 38 million euros). The order book volume increased to 86 million euros (31 March 2007: 79 million euros). The operating cash flow was positive at 2.7 million euros (1st quarter 2007: –1.2 million euros), liquid funds increased to 21.4 million euros (31 March 2007: 13.9 million euros).
The Energy Management segment (electricity, gas, oil, heating, water) had sales of 12.2 million euros (1st quarter 2007: 12.8 million euros). The EBIT was, with 0.9 million euros, slightly above the previous year (1st quarter 2007: 0.8 million euros). In the fields of electrical energy and gas, PSI expects new important export orders in the coming quarters.
Sales in the Production Management segment (industry, logistics) were, with 11.6 million euros, below the figure for the same quarter of last year (1st quarter 2007: 13.4 million euros). Here, sales for goods and services delivered decreased while the volume of new orders increased. The EBIT improved significantly compared to the previous year to 0.4 million euros (1st quarter 2007: 0.1 million euros). The steel industry business developed best, continuing to solidify its position internationally.
In Infrastructure Management (transport, safety, telecommunications), sales decreased to 3.6 million euros (1st quarter 2007: 6.5 million euros) as a result of a smaller portion of hardware and the sale of the government business. The EBIT was, at 0.1 million euros, at the level of the previous year (1st quarter 2007: 0.1 million euros).
The number of employees decreased slightly to 1,030 compared to the same quarter of the previous year (31 March 2007: 1,052). PSI is planning to hire new staff by the end of the year, the focus being on export.
For 2008, PSI foresees a good climate for investments in rationalization in Germany and a continued dynamic development of the strong growth in the countries in eastern Europe and Asia. In the export markets, the focus of investment is shifting increasingly from initial equipping to modernization of existing facilities (retrofitting). For PSI, this represents an increase in the accessible market potential. With the increased volume of orders and other growth opportunities resulting from large contracts in export, the starting position for targeted growth in sales for the year and the increase of the EBIT to at least 5 million euros has continued to improve. For the second quarter, PSI expects a higher volume of new orders than in the prior-year quarter and a better EBIT than in the first Quarter of 2008.
PSI AG develops and integrates individual solutions, on the basis of its own software, for the management of energy networks (electricity, gas, oil, water, heat), cross-company production management (steel, mechanical engineering, automotive, logistics) and infrastructure management for telecommunications, transport and safety. PSI was founded in 1969 and currently employs more than 1,000 persons in the group.