Strong growth continues as high profitability is sustained

ATOSS Software AG has continued its dynamic development from the first quarter and expanded its sales growth in the second quarter 2018. According to preliminary figures, sales at the Munich-based specialist for workforce management recorded double-digit growth of 11 percent in the first six months of 2018 to EUR 29.4 million. ATOSS once again underlined its profitability with a 12 percent increase in operating profits (EBIT) to EUR 7.5 million as well as an EBIT margin of 25 percent. Against the backdrop of the outstanding order situation, the Management Board has reiterated the sales and earnings forecast it made at the start of the year.

ATOSS Software AG has seamlessly sustained the trend of the last twelve record-breaking years and has underlined the success of its strategic approach with another set of outstanding results. Thanks to customer-oriented innovations and the successful development of cloud solutions, ATOSS has also succeeded in continually expanding its dynamic growth in the first half of the year.

This is highlighted particularly impressively by the orders received for software licenses and the software component of contracted cloud subscriptions during the first six months of the year, which rose by 20 percent from EUR 6.4 million to EUR 7.7 million overall.

Double-digit growth rates were also achieved in sales revenues. Software sales within the Group grew by 12 percent to EUR 18.5 million and therefore made up 63 percent of Group sales overall (previous year: 63 percent). Within software income, the largest driver of growth came from recurring sales from cloud solutions, which more than doubled to EUR 1.8 million (previous year: EUR 0.8 million). Sales from software licenses totaled EUR 6.0 million (previous year: EUR 6.1 million). The software maintenance business also enjoyed a successful first half of the year, sustaining the consistent positive development of past periods. Sales in this area rose by 11 percent to EUR 10.8 million. Sales from consulting services, which have grown continuously over past years, came in at EUR 8.5 million (previous year: EUR 7.1 million), representing a substantial rise of 19 percent over the previous year period. Hardware sales totaled EUR 1.8 million (previous year: EUR 1.9 million), while other sales came in at EUR 0.7 million (previous year: EUR 0.9 million).

Return on sales based on EBIT was recorded at the 25-percent level forecast by the Management Board for the financial year 2018, and that despite substantially higher expenditure year on year, particularly on research and development, as well as higher personnel expenses from the expansion of capacities in Sales and Customer Services. As of June 30, 2018, earnings per share increased by 14 percent to EUR 1.25 (previous year: EUR 1.10).

Even after the dividend payment of around EUR 1.17 per share (EUR 4.7 million in total) made on May 2, 2018, ATOSS still owns a respectable position of liquidity of EUR 25.9 million at the end of the first half of the year (previous year: EUR 23.7 million).

The sustained stability and profitability, in combination with the highly positive market forecasts, prove that the growth potential of ATOSS is still far from exhausted. In particular, the promising order pipeline provides an outstanding foundation moving forward, with orders on hand for software licenses of EUR 5.1 million (previous year: EUR 5.1 million) and cloud solutions valued at EUR 12.1 million (previous year: EUR 6.9 million).

As a result, the Management Board has reiterated the forecast it provided at the start of the year for a continuation of sales development on a par with the growth rates of the financial year 2017 within a +/- 3 percent corridor. The EBIT margin is expected to remain at around 25 percent despite the investments already made and further planned, particularly in developing new markets, and the continuing high level of expenditure on research & development amounting to around one fifth of sales.