- Stable operating income
- Strong improvement in net cash position
| In millions of euros - IFRS(under audit) | S1 2020 | S1 2019 |
| Sales figures | 57,7 | 55,9 |
| Current operating income | 2,0 | 2,1 |
| As a % of sales | 3,5% | 3,8% |
| Non-operating income and expenses | (0,5) | (0,7) |
| Operating income | 1,5 | 1,5 |
| As a % of sales | 2,6% | 2,7% |
| Financial result | (0,5) | (0,4) |
| Taxes | (0,5) | (0,6) |
| Net income from continuing operations | 0,5 | 0,5 |
| As a % of sales | 0,8% | 0,9% |
| Net income from discontinued operations | -0,2 | 0 |
The Board of Directors of Micropole, meeting on September 22, 2020, approved the consolidated accounts for the first half of 2020. The accounts have been subject to a limited review by the Statutory Auditors, and their reports are being issued.
Good resilience of profitability in an exceptional context
Micropole, an international consulting and innovative technology group specializing in Data & Digital Experience, reported revenues of €57.7 million in the first half of 2020, compared with €55.9 million in the same period of 2019, up 3.3%. On a like-for-like basis, revenues were up 1.9%.
Current operating income amounted to EUR 2.0 million in the first half of 2020, representing 3.5% of revenues, compared with EUR 2.1 million in the first half of 2019, or 3.8% of half-year revenues in 2019. In the context of the 2020 health crisis, this stability in current operating profitability confirms the Group's strong resilience.
- In Europe (Group excluding China), operating income recurring was 3.8%.
- In China, business was impacted by a sharp slowdown in the local market, but this region now represents only 0.3% of consolidated revenues.
Operating profit was stable at EUR 1.5 million after EUR 0.5 million in non-current expenses (of which 0.1 related to the Covid measures).
Net income from continuing operations was stable at EUR 0.5 million.
Net income from discontinued operations consists solely of the loss realized on the sale of the Training business in February 2020.
A solid financial structure
At June 30, 2020, the Group had a solid financial structure, with cash and cash equivalents of 21.2 million euros and net financial debt of 2.8 million euros (excluding IFRS 16 rental debt), compared with 9.5 million euros at the end of December 2019, for shareholders' equity up to 52.6 million euros. This substantial improvement in the financial structure includes the effects of the deferral of payment of "Covid" social security contributions for 6.1 million euro. 5 million in state-guaranteed loans have been concluded with the Group's main banking partners, further securing the Group's financial position.
Continued commercial recovery
From the start of the Covid-19 crisis, priority was given to protecting the health of employees, by deploying all necessary preventive measures, and to ensuring continuity of service. Micropole has therefore suffered the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic but has demonstrated its ability to absorb the shock of the crisis, both operationally and financially. The resilience of the Group's operational capacities, the expertise of its teams and the quality of its positioning enabled it to continue to serve its Clients with efficiency and agility.
In order to cope with the sudden slowdown in activity and to partially mitigate the cost of the under-activity of its teams, Micropole resorted to partial activity measures from March onwards, but gradually reduced the use of these measures as projects recovered.
During the first half of the year, the Group pursued its differentiation strategy based on added value and innovation:
- Micropole's strong expertise in all digital and data-related issues corresponds exactly to the investment objectives of all companies faced with the undeniable acceleration of the digitalization of the economy.
- On AWS: the Group launched its "Lucy in the Cloud" brand in June, and recently obtained the "Advanced Consulting Partner" level as well as the Data and Analytics Competency certification issued by AWS.
- On Salesforce: the Group launched its "Albert Agency" brand and the first commercial successes were recorded.
- In the area of cybersecurity, the Group launched its new "Go Cloud & Security" offering, with a very satisfactory start to the business.
Business trend for the second half of the year
Sales activity is still marked by a wait-and-see attitude on the part of customers, which is much more marked in the French Regions, although some segments are more dynamic, particularly around Cloud offerings. Order intake, which was severely disrupted in April and May, has improved since June but remains less sustained than before the crisis. Third quarter revenues will therefore also be down. However, the Group still expects a gradual return to the previous level of activity in the last quarter and is putting its plans in place to achieve this, while continuing to adapt its cost structure to the new economic context.
The Micropole Group's positioning remains more than ever in line with the investments planned by its Clients. With this in mind, Micropole is maintaining its medium-term ambitions, particularly in terms of profitability, but has not formulated any annual financial objectives for 2020.
