PARIS, Feb. 12, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Fi SYSTEM (Sicovam 6588), an integration and consulting company specialized in e-business and new technology projects, presents a financial year 2001 which has been marked by a slowdown in activity during the second and third quarters and is showing the first signs of an environment which should see a return to growth for 2002.
Balance Sheet for the Year 2001
Consolidated turnover for the Fi SYSTEM Group for Q4 2001 amounts to E9.5m, of which E9.4m for the Consulting and Integration activities, the balance being broken down between editing activities for multi-access solutions (Ubicco) and Call Center (EOS Contact Center).
Trading profit for Consulting and Integration activities for Q4 2001 is (E4.5m). Still marked by a low utilization rate for the teams at the end of the year, this rate has nonetheless improved by almost 10% in three months.
Total interim turnover for the whole of the financial year 2001 therefore amounts to E48m, broken down between Consulting and Integration activities (E47m, or 98% of total activity), the Ubicco activity of multi-access software editing (E0.2m) and the EOS Contact Center activity (E0.8m).
This 2001 perimeter does not include the activity of UOVO Ltd.
Consolidated figures for Consulting and Integration activities (excluding Ubicco and EOS Contact Center)
Q1 2001 Q2 2001 Q3 2001 Q4 2001
France 12.6 1O.5 6.8 7.0
Benelux 0.5 0.5 0.7 0.8
UK 2.1 1.6 1.5 1.4
Southern
Europe 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.2
Total
turnover 15.5 12.9 9.2 9.4
Sequential
Growth +8% -17% -29% +2%
For the whole of the year 2001, the interim trading profit for the Consulting and Integration activity is (E16.3m), heavily marked by the slowdown in activity during Q2 and Q3 2001. In accordance with the pursuit of the action plan announced on September 17th, a restructuring provision for E3.5m, has been entered under extraordinary allowances and so does not impact on the trading profit of December 31st, 2001.
Net profits before goodwill amortization is (E27.8m).
The Group decided to re-estimate the goodwill of the acquired companies on December 31, 2001, which would lead to an additional depreciation of goodwill over and above what has been accounted for by the Group in the form of amortization on a straight-line basis over 5 years. Based on the stock-market price / earnings ratio as of December 31, 2001, and applied to the companies acquired in 1999 and 2000, complementary amortization amounts to E12.2m.
As of December 31, 2001, Fi SYSTEM's cash flow stood at E19.5m. This amount includes the portion of own shares held by Fi SYSTEM (441,795 Fi SYSTEM shares), depreciated at E2. 2001 has proved to be a year of considerable repositioning towards consulting skills and steering major integration projects, brought about for two main reasons: accelerated evolution towards more technological projects and, since 2000, the disappearance of clients requesting interactive design services.
Demand has been reinforced by the markets for new generation technical solutions (J2EE & Microsoft platforms), as well as complex interactive solutions (portals, intranets and e-commerce sites).
For the whole of the financial year 2001, the first ten clients account for approximately 43% of turnover :
Company name: % of total turnover France Telecom 10% AGF 6% Alcatel 4% Michelin 4% European Commission 4% BNP Paribas 4% Hachette 3% Powergen 3% Heinz 2% SNCF 2% Total: 43%
2002 Objectives Recovery of sales growth in Q4, after 2 consecutive quarters of slowdown, as well as the first signs from January and February add to the recovery scenario of the activity for 2002. This recovery should be backed up for Fi SYSTEM through six key factors:
-- The success of the sales recruitment drive in Q3 2001. The Group
has a sales force of over 40 key account sales engineers at its
disposal in Europe today. This figure should be compared with the
first semester of 2001, when it was half the size and which could
not be strengthened at the start of 2001 because of an employment
market which was still difficult. The increased strength of this
sales force will provide reinforced growth capacity for 2002 and
2003.
-- The revival in demand for new technology services. Major companies
are now industrializing these systems into the core of their
information system. The Group's experience and expertise with new
technology should provide the basis for taking advantage of this
revival. Demand has been maintained for requirements such as
intranets, Sun J2EE and Microsoft .NET architectures, Content
Management infrastructures, company Portals and multi-channel
architectures.
-- The evolution in client demand towards integration and Third Party
Maintenance of new technology Applications. Positioned over the
past 3 years as an integrator, Fi SYSTEM, through the quality of
its technical and sales teams, has already been selected by
several major companies for their applicative maintenance
problems. These projects generate considerable recurrent trade
over the 2-3 years following their signing. The Group will
communicate these references to the financial markets as soon as
its clients grant authorization.
-- Strong resistance to falling sales prices. Even though prices are
expected to come under pressure during 2002, Fi SYSTEM's capacity
to commit itself to major technological integration projects with
a high added value should help contain this fall. For services
with lower added value, client-supplier relations are evolving
towards the negotiation of privileged partner lists ("framework
agreements" or purchase referencing), and some of them have
already selected Fi SYSTEM. These agreements allow a certain
volume of trade to be guaranteed, which compensates for the
decreasing daily intervention rates.
-- Higher profile relations with certain privileged partners such as
ATG, BEA, Colt, Compaq, Documentum, IBM, Instranet, Intel,
Microsoft, Oracle or Sybase. The growth in the requirement for
complex solutions (multi-level architectures, portals, intranets
and e-commerce sites) is ensuring the development of technological
and sales actions in partnership with these market leaders and is
generating supplementary growth to that which had been provided by
the already existing sales force.
-- The Company's client-base. More than 65% of CAC 40 companies and
30% of companies from l'Eurostox 50 are now calling on the skills
of the Fi SYSTEM teams. This confidence which has been shown by
the larger European companies, doubled together with the first
signs of a more positive business climate in Europe and indeed
worldwide, should sustain growth. Over the course of the past few
weeks alone, 5 new major companies have called on Fi SYSTEM's
teams - and all this on top of the recurrent nature of activities
with the Group's clients.
Based on all these elements and on the actions concerning reduction of staffing costs since the summer of 2001, the Group is confident of its capacity to continue increasing the utilization rate of its teams and to bring back quarterly sequential growth greater than 10%.
Achieving this growth rate again should help attain annual turnover for 2002 of E53-58m, with an operational profitability back in place of some 5% for Q4 2002, providing a positive cash flow situation as early as Q3.
Publication of the definitive audited results for 2001 will take place on April 22 after markets close.
Publication of the Q1 2002 results will take place on May 13 after markets close. An information meeting with analysts (SFAF - French Financial Analysts Company) will take place after that date.
Special line informations: 33 1 55 04 03 39
The skill centers of Fi SYSTEM's* European team-members encompass all aspects of the e-business process: Strategic Consulting, Web Engineering, Web Design, Marketing, PR and Communication. Founded in 1992, Fi SYSTEM's Internet, intranet and extranet services combine creativity and technological savoir-faire. Working with European Dotcoms and blue-chip clients, the company portfolio includes more than 550 B2B, B2C and B2E references, making Fi SYSTEM one of the frontrunners on the European market and allowing the company to put its on-and off-line teams' experience and responsiveness to the best possible use in keeping its clients ahead of the market.
Fi SYSTEM is present in France, the UK, Belgium and Italy. Listed on the Nouveau Marche of the Paris Stock Exchange (Sicovam: 6588; Reuters: FISY.LN; Bloomberg: FIS NM), Fi SYSTEM is member of the SBF 250, IT CAC 50 indexes and belongs to the SRD (deferred settlement).