Cision AB (publ) Interim report January-March 2009, May 6 2009


Cision AB (publ) Interim report January-March 2009, May 6 2009

Weak quarter for divested Nordic units
• The Group's operating revenue amounted to SEK 460 million (443). Organic
growth was negative at -8 percent (-4). Exchange rate effects increased revenue
by   SEK 62 million.
• Operating profit amounted to SEK 9 million (31), and profit before tax was SEK
-19 million (17). Earnings per share were SEK -0.41 (0.10).
• Operating profit excluding restructuring costs amounted to SEK 18 million
(37), and the operating margin was 3.9 percent (8.4). Exchange rate effects had
a positive impact on operating profit by SEK 9 million. Excluding the Nordic
business units divested during the quarter, the Group's first quarter operating
profit
excluding restructuring costs would have been approximately SEK 32 million.
• Operating cash flow amounted to SEK 27 million (18). Free cash flow amounted
to SEK -8 million (-18).
• Increasingly, the recession impacted most of Cision's markets, resulting in
negative organic growth for the quarter.
• During the quarter, Cision renegotiated some of the terms for its syndicated
loan facility, adjusting some of the loan covenants and reducing the facility
limit.

Comment by Cision CEO Hans Gieskes:
“During the first quarter of 2009, the Monitor and Analyze businesses in
Denmark, Norway and Sweden experienced further decline in demand with
significant losses as a result. We successfully divested these business units
during the quarter and the remaining Nordic business units were all profitable.
We therefore
expect the Nordic region to return to profitability for the rest of the year.
Moreover, excluding the Nordic business units divested, the operating profit
before restructuring charges for the group would have been approximately SEK 32
million for the first quarter.

In our largest European markets, Germany and the UK, the impact of the recession
increased with weak quarterly results as a consequence. In order to improve
profitability in these markets, we will continue to focus our efforts on
reducing costs while rolling out CisionPoint to strengthen the competitiveness
of our offering.

In North America, we also noted a decrease in demand compared with the previous
quarter, which particularly hurt our transaction-related revenue from Monitor
services. Therefore, significant cost reductions have been implemented to
protect our margins during the rest of the year. We believe that improved cost
efficiency as well as continued successful migration of current clients to
CisionPoint will allow us to mitigate the effects
of the recession in North America during 2009.”

For further information, please contact:
Hans Gieskes, President and CEO, telephone +46 (0)8 507 410 10
e-mail: hans.gieskes@cision.com
Erik Forsberg, CFO, telephone +46 (0) 8 507 410 91
e-mail: erik.forsberg@cision.com

Cision AB (publ)
SE-114 88 Stockholm, Sweden
Telephone: +46 (0) 8 507 410 00
www.cision.com

Cision empowers businesses to make better decisions and improve performance
through its CisionPoint software solutions for corporate communication and PR
professionals. Powered by local experts with global reach, Cision delivers
relevant media information, targeted distribution, media monitoring, and precise
media analysis. Cision has offices in Europe, North America and Asia, and has
partners in 125 countries. Cision AB is quoted on the Nordic Exchange with a
turnover of SEK 1.8 billion in 2008.

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