DGAP-News: PSI's Record New Orders Establish Basis for Continued Growth

PSI's Record New Orders Establish Basis for Continued Growth
- New orders increase by 14.2 % to 217 million euros
- Sales grow by 7 % in 2018 to 199.2 million euros
- Group EBIT increased by 15.6 % to 15.5 million euros

PSI Group increased its operating result (EBIT) to 15.5 million euros in fiscal year 2018 (31 Dec. 2017: 13.4 million euros). Due to tax effects, group net earnings increased only to 10.6 million euros (31 Dec. 2017: 9.5 million euros), earnings per share improved accordingly to 0.68 euros (31 Dec. 2017: 0.61 euros). Sales increased by 7.0 % to 199.2 million euros (31 Dec. 2016: 186.1 million euros). The main growth drivers were software products for energy networks and Industry 4.0. New orders increased by 14.2 % to a record value of 217 million euros (31 Dec. 2017: 190 million euros), the order book volume at the end of the year increased by 8.6 % to 139 million euros (31 Dec. 2017: 128 million euros).

Energy Management (energy networks, energy trading, public transport) increased sales by 8.8 % to 99.7 million euros (31 Dec. 2017: 91.6 million euros), while the segment's operating result improved by more than 50 % to 6.8 million euros (31 Dec. 2017: 4.4 million euros). The electrical networks and multi utility business further increased new orders, sales and earnings and will be strengthened in the New Year by 143 employees of BTC Smart Grid, which was acquired on 1 January 2019. The gas networks and pipelines business switched to upgradeable control systems during the period of the decline in oil prices and is now enjoying rollout orders from all transport network operators. In 2019, major orders from Russia are expected again and results are expected to recover significantly. The PSI subsidiary in Southeast Asia returned to a balanced operating result after numerous measures. The public transport sector doubled its new orders as the only supplier of software for electric bus depots at present.

Sales in the Production Management segment (raw materials, metal production, industry, logistics) grew by 5.3 % to 99.5 million euros (31 Dec. 2017: 94.5 million euros), operating profit increased by 1 % to 10.0 million euros (31 Dec. 2017: 9.9 million euros).
Automotive & Industry improved new orders, sales and earnings on the basis of Production Order Management (ERP), which had previously been converted to the PSI Java Framework. The rollout to existing customers will start in 2019. The metals production business stagnated in Europe from the middle of the year due to customs uncertainties. In North America, order intake and sales doubled. The logistics business in Germany, Poland and Russia continues to record strong demand for the software, which is also based on the Java Framework, and has invested in expanding its workforce to over 200 employees. PSI again achieved the highest margins and significant growth rates in the field of industrial artificial intelligence, which upgrades all PSI software products (network management, Fieldforce, bottleneck machines, serial production, swarm production, image recognition, etc.).

The number of group employees on 31 Dec. 2018 increased by 122 to 1,787 compared to the previous year (31 Dec. 2017: 1,665). Cash flow from operating activities, which had suffered somewhat from the switch to upgrade contracts, jumped to 19.0 million euros (31 December 2017: 1.2 million euros) due to increased new orders. The share of revenue accounted for by maintenance and upgrade subscriber contracts increased to 32 %. Despite the acquisition of Moveo Software and the higher dividend, cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year rose to 44.6 million euros (31 Dec. 2017: 38.1 million euros), so that PSI continues to have sufficient funds for targeted acquisitions. In agreement with the Supervisory Board, the Management Board will propose a dividend of 0.25 euros (previous year: 0.23 euros) to the Annual General Meeting.

In 2018, PSI continued its transformation into a software product company for the control and optimization of energy and material flows. After the conversion of around two-thirds of the products to the group technology platform, the now technologically uniform products will be combined into industry suites. The IT departments of large customers are increasingly using PSI Click Design technology for user interface adaptations and own extensions. More than 200 customer employees are already working in so-called "PSI Click Design Teams". Test customers have received the new WORA release of the PSI Click Design, with which Java-based PSI applications run completely identically on web browsers.

For 2019, PSI aims to increase sales by 10 % to 220 million euros and operating profit by 10 % to 17 million euros.

Based on its own software products, the PSI Group develops and integrates complete solutions for optimizing the flow of energy and materials for utilities (energy networks, energy trading, public transport) and industry (mining, metals production, automotive, mechanical engineering, logistics). PSI was founded in 1969 and employs more than 1.900 persons worldwide. www.psi.de

Contact

PSI Software AG
Karsten Pierschke
Head of Investor Relations and
Corporate Communication
Dircksenstraße 42-44
10178 Berlin
Germany

Phone +49 30 2801-2727
Fax +49 30 2801-1000
Email: KPierschke@psi.de