Francotyp-Postalia Improves its Result in Third Quarter 2009
Francotyp-Postalia Holding AG improved its profitability during the third quarter of 2009, despite the continuing economic difficulties facing the sector it operates in. While revenues were lower at 30.4 million euros against 33.4 million for the same quarter last year, EBITDA for the third quarter of 2009 improved to 4.7 million euros for the worldwide service provider for outbound mail. EBITDA for the same quarter last year came to 4.5 million euros. These figures show that the visible improvement made over the last quarters is continuing. In the first nine months of the current business year, the FP Group achieved an EBITDA of 14.2 million euros, almost identical to the previous year (Q1-Q3 2008: 14.3 million euros), although revenues were down by 8.3 percent to 97.3 million euros.
High Stability of Recurring Revenues
As in the previous quarters, revenues for the FP Group took two directions in the third quarter of 2009. Recurring revenues proved highly stable, while new revenues of franking and inserting machines were lower due to the poor economy. As a result, overall revenues for the Mailroom segment in the third quarter were lower at 26.4 million euros, compared to 29.6 million for the same quarter last year. Taken over nine months, revenues reached 85.4 million euros, compared to 94.8 million euros for the same reporting period of the previous year. Recurring revenues, mainly from service contracts for the Company’s worldwide installed base of 262,000 franking machines, increased slightly during the period to 60.5 million euros, compared to 60.4 million euros for the first nine months of last year.
The FP Group’s software solutions and mail management business also mainly comprised recurring revenues. Revenues in the Mailstream segment rose both for the quarter, as well as for the full nine-month period. In the third quarter of 2009, revenues came to 4.0 million euros, compared to 3.8 million euros for the same quarter last year, while the nine-month figure for 2009 came to 11.9 million euros, compared to 11.3 million euros for the same period last year. “Expanding our offerings at an early stage to provide software solutions and mail management services for outbound mail is paying off. Here, too, we are generating recurring revenues based on stable customer relations,” commented Andreas Drechsler, member of the Management Board of the FP Group.
Tough Cost Management Strengthens Earning Power
Restructuring measures, largely completed in 2009, together with tough cost management strengthened the Company’s earnings power over the first nine months of the current business year. As a result, the FP Group managed to stabilise EBITDA at the same level of last year, despite the downturn in revenues. Consequently, the EBITDA margin rose to 15 percent in the third quarter of 2009, compared to 13 percent for the same period last year. Q3 net earnings for the Group also improved to -1.6 million euros, compared to -2.4 million for the third quarter of 2008. Net earnings for the Group for the first nine months came to -6.5 million euros, compared to -7.0 million for the same period of the previous year. “Over the last few quarters, we have tightened up our processes and significantly lowered costs,” said Hans Szymanski, member of the FP Management Board.”That puts our Company in a good position to further increase its earnings power in the coming upturn.”
Economic Environment Remains Difficult in 2009
The economic environment continues to remain difficult in the current business year. Industrialised countries – the FP Group’s main revenues markets - are only slowly beginning to recover from what is proving to be the worst global recession of the post-War era. In view of this, the Company is planning for total annual revenues at the lower end of the 133 to 136 million euros range advised in August 2009. However, due to the increased earnings power of the FP Group, EBITDA excluding restructuring costs is expected to reach between 19 million to 21 million euros; restructuring costs are now predicted to come to no more than around 2.0 million euros.
