DGAP-News: SNP SE sees strong growth in order entry in the DACH-region in the first quarter of 2019

SNP | Corporate News

SNP SE sees strong growth in order entry in the DACH-region in the first quarter of 2019

- Order entry in the DACH-region: EUR 18.2 million (up 21% from the previous year)

- Group sales: EUR 28.8 million (previous year: EUR 31.6 million)

- Sales of SNP's own products, which generate higher margins: EUR 4.7 million (up 20% from the previous year)

- Operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA): EUR -1.3 million (previous year: EUR -1.4 million)

Heidelberg, April 30, 2019 - SNP Schneider-Neureither & Partner SE has had an auspicious start to the 2019 financial year. Despite a slight decrease in sales, the company is experiencing positive growth. Above all, the increase in order entry within the DACH-region, in excess of the planned amount, coupled with the increase in sales of SNP's own products, which generate higher margins, are both grounds for having an optimistic outlook across the entire year. The forecast for the financial year remains unchanged.

Dr. Andreas Schneider-Neureither, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of SNP SE:

"SNP is clearly on a positive trajectory. We have successfully concluded the restructuring of company management. With Michael Eberhardt we have gained an internationally recognized industry expert for our management team; as of July 1 he will assume the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO). In addition, as member of a group of investors and with excellent international links, Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld is a top-ranking candidate for selection as a Member of the Board of Directors of SNP SE. He will decisively enhance the skills profile of the board. Thus, both at the management level and on the Board of Directors, we have significantly strengthened our position. We were able to make real gains with the order entry and increase our high-margin business in particular. The project pipeline is clearly very positive. SNP is increasingly developing into a strategic partner for global enterprises with challenging transformation projects. In addition, digitization, the implementation of which has had huge momentum behind it, is having a positive effect on our business."

Sales and Earnings Performance

On the basis of subdued growth in incoming orders in the months January and February, following the end of the first quarter of 2019, groups sales were generated amounting to EUR 28.8 million. While the first two months of the year under review saw a decline in sales of EUR 2.7 million, the sales development improved in March thanks to a significant increase in incoming orders. SNP expects to see the most significant effects of this increase in incoming orders, in addition to a healthy pipeline, later on in the financial year.

Sales of SNP's own products, which generate higher margins, in the areas of Software, Cloud and SaaS increased to EUR 4.7 million. This corresponds to growth of around 20%.

As at March 31, 2019, the number of employees was at 1,272. This corresponds to a decrease of around 7%, which can largely be attributed to restructuring measures. Personnel costs were consequently reduced by EUR 0.9 million to EUR 20.5 million.

On the basis of these restructuring measures and despite the subdued sales development in the first quarter of 2019, the operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to EUR -1.3 million, compared to EUR -1.4 million in the same period of the previous year.

Order Backlog and Order Entry

At EUR 38.9 million, order entry as at March 31, 2019 lay slightly below the reference value for the previous year. However in the core DACH-market, we saw clear positive growth in order entry: EUR 18.2 million in the first quarter of 2019 means an increase here of around 21% in comparison to the previous year, which we are interpreting as a signaling effect. As at March 31, 2019, the order backlog amounted to EUR 49.0 million; compared to EUR 56.3 million as at December 31, 2018.

Forecast Unchanged for 2019

As in previous years, it is prudent to assume that in this year also sales will not be evenly distributed across all quarters and as such a considerably stronger performance can be expected for the second half of the year. In total, the management continues to expect group sales of between EUR 145 million and EUR 150 million for the 2019 financial year and is anticipating an operating EBIT margin (IFRS) in the low to mid single digit percentage range, in connection with a continuing positive trend.

The detailed interim report on the first quarter of 2019 published today can be found on the SNP web page at:

https://www.snpgroup.com/en/financial-publications

The dial-in details for the Investor Conference Call on Thursday, May 2, 2019, at 3:30 pm CET, are also available on the SNP website at:

https://www.snpgroup.com/en/investor-relations

About SNP

SNP SE supports organizations using individually developed solutions to adapt business models and exploit digitization opportunities. SNP's software and services simplify administrative or technical business changes to business applications and enable clients to implement these changes as automated solutions.

With the leading software suite for data transformations worldwide (CrystalBridge^(R) and SNP Transformation Backbone^(R) with SAP Landscape Transformation), the conditions have been established for setting an industry standard for automated data transformation. With SNP, changes in IT systems are automated, analyzed, implemented and tracked. This offers clear benefits with regard to quality, while at the same time significantly reducing the time and cost incurred by transformation projects.

The SNP group employs around 1,300 employees worldwide. The company, headquartered in Heidelberg, generated sales of around EUR 131 million in the 2018 financial year. Its clients include globally active enterprises from all industries. SNP was founded in 1994, has been a publicly traded company since 2000, and since August 2014 has been listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN DE0007203705). Since 2017, the company has operated as a European company (Societas Europaea/SE).

Further information available atwww.snpgroup.com

Contact partner for Investor Relations:

Marcel Wiskow
Telephone: +49 6221 6425-637
Fax: +49 6221 6425-470
E-mail: investor.relations@snpgroup.com
http://www.snpgroup.com/de/Investor-Relations/