- Current operating income 2009 held up well at 3,8%
- Pick-up in turnover growth and margins in the second half.
| In million euro – IFRS Norms – audited figures | 1st halfyear 2009 | 2nd halfyear 2009 | 2009 | 2008 |
| Turnover | 46,8 | 47,4 | 94,2 | 92,4 |
| Current operating income | 1,6 | 2,0 | 3,6 | 4,4 |
| % of turnover | 3,4% | 4,2% | 3,8% | 4,8% |
| Other revenues and operating expenses | (0,0) | (0,6) | (0,6) | (0,4) |
| Operating income | 1,6 | 1,4 | 3,0 | 4,0 |
| Taxes and financial expenses | (0,3) | (0,0) | (0,3) | (1,2) |
| Net profit | 1,3 | 1,4 | 2,7 | 2,8 |
| en % du chiffre d’affaires | 2,8% | 3,0% | 2,9% | 3,0% |
Consolidated Figures
Micropole-Univers, a European consulting and engineering company specializing in the areas of Business Intelligence, Web and IT, ERP and CRM, achieved an operating income of €3.6 Million in 2009, amounting to 3.8% of turnover. In a tough economic climate, the current operating income has slipped by 16% in comparison with the €4.3 million attained in 2008.
2009 turnover, up 2% on financial year 2008 as closed on December 31st, has produced an operating income of €3 million. Net income held steady at 2.7 million, practically the same level as in 2008, this being mainly due to the reduction in debt costs, down by two-thirds over this period.
Second half-year 2009
The second half-year 2009 showed the beginning of a pick-up in business, notably in Business Intelligence. The 2nd half-year 2009 turnover stood at €47.4 million, up 3% like for like on 2008, which stood at €46.2 million. This positive development should be viewed in the light of significant improvement in the company’s margins. In fact , if the drop in current operating income year-onyear was 27% over the first half 2009, this figure shrinks to 4.7% over the second half, signifying the firming-up of margins over the last months of the year, a tendency set to continue in 2010.
A healthy financial position
At year-end 2009, Group capital stood at €53.1 million euro, with indebtedness of €1.1 million as opposed to 2.3 million in the previous year. At year–end, the Group had a €16.2 million treasury, its operating activities having generated a treasury flow of almost €2.4 million. Moreover, the raising of €8 million through an Obsaar (redeemable share purchase warrants) operation in December 2009 has provided the necessary funding for the groups’ pursuit of external growth operations. At the same time, confident in its ability to generate cash over the coming years, a share buyback operation has been launched since the start of this year. Through this measure, the Group intends to preempt possible dilution and thus support future net share income.
2009 highlights
All group offers performed well in spite of the crisis which affected our business with a peak in disruption noticeable in the second quarter. The Web & IT business, which covers e-business and business applications, performed well, both in France and in Switzerland through our subsidiary Cross Systems. E-business, data repository (MDM) and Business rule management (BRMS) projects largely sustained this performance.
Regarding the ERP segment, the buyout of the Isartis Company on the 22nd of April 2009 has enabled the strengthening of the Group’s SAP ERP business. The goals defined were attained over the second half-year 2009: for its first financial year within the Group, Isartis showed strong growth at 62%.
Business Intelligence, representing almost 50% of Group business, dipped slightly in 2009, while clearly picking up towards the end of the year, this improvement being sustained by compensation management and budget development planning projects.
Group development continued throughout all regions in France, in particular with the strengthening of the Rhone-Alpes agency where business has shown over 16% growth.
Lastly, the training business has grown by 10%, confirming the relevance of its’ offer in Business Intelligence and project partnering (specific training and e-learning projects), the latter offer being a major contributor to growth in 2009.
2010 Prospects
In the current context a real rebound is still uncertain, and if the rate of resource utilization is back to normal levels (while still high for certain teams) the sales price has undergone severe pressure from key account clients, resulting in rate cuts of up to 2 to 3%, the effects of which will be measurable over the 2010 financial year. However, in line with Syntec forecasts, Micropole-Univers is anticipating a return to organic growth higher in 2010 than that of 2009, on account of several strong points:
- The maintenance of its positioning as a multi-specialist and a leader in high-added-value solutions.
- A diversified and balanced client portfolio spread over several business sectors, with a majority of clients in the most profitable sectors: Public Sector, Energy/Utilities and Banking/Insurance (source: Syntec April 1st 2010). It is noteworthy that the biggest client of the group represents no more than 9% of our total turnover.
- The deployment of its ERP, Life Sciences and MDM offers, but also new innovative and profitable offers such as Sustainable IS, extended Business Intelligence and Search Based Applications (SBA).
- International external growth remains a Group priority. Several files are under consideration, more specifically relating to German-speaking Switzerland and Germany. Although finalising an acquisition remains an unpredictable and sensitive operation, the groups’ management are confident about bringing ongoing discussions to a positive conclusion
- Lastly, the Groups’ solid financial structure enables it to face market uncertainties and the financing of upcoming external growth operations fearlessly.
« We forecast significant organic growth in 2010. The slight upturn in the economy over these last months coupled with the progress in most of our performance indicators have confirmed the validity of our positioning strategy : client proximity, continuation of our focus on high value-added business, our traditional partnerships with vendors and lastly our ability to attract and retain talented staff. We are therefore feeling confident, and we shall pursue our business development by reinforcing our position both in France and internationally » specifies Christian Poyau, CEO of Micropole-Univers.
