EQS-News: PSI with strong industrial business and one-time expenses in the Electrical Networks business in the first half-year

PSI with strong industrial business and one-time expenses in the Electrical Networks business in the first half-year
- New orders 12.7% above half-year figure 2022 at 167 million euros
- Sales increase by 2.4% to 119.3 million euros
- EBIT significantly impacted by non-recurring expenses and risk provisioning

Berlin, April 27, 2023 - The PSI Group increased sales by 2.4% to 119.3 million euros in the first half of 2023 (June 30, 2022: 116.5 million euros). The operating result (EBIT) was impacted by non-recurring expenses in the context of the change in the Executive Board and the change in the legal form to a European Stock Corporation (Societas Europaea, SE), consequential charges from Redispatch 2.0 projects as well as risk provisions and value adjustments in legacy projects in the Electrical Grids business, resulting in a significant reduction to 5.4 million euros (June 30, 2022: 8.2 million euros). Group net income deteriorated accordingly to 8.7 million euros (June 30, 2022: 4.4 million euros). At 169 million euros, new orders were 12.7% higher than in the same period of the previous year (June 30, 2022: 150 million euros). At 197 million euros, the order backlog at June 30, 2023 exceeded the prior-year figure by 4.8% (June 30, 2022: 188 million euros).

The Energy Management segment (energy grids, energy trading, public transport) achieved 5.7% lower sales of 57.8 million euros (June 30, 2022: 61.3 million euros) and a significantly deteriorated operating result of 8.2 million euros (June 30, 2022: 0.9 million euros). In the Electrical Grids business unit, a new management team was established effective July 1, 2023, which is working at full speed to clear the risks from old projects and to get the acceptance of the Redispatch 2.0 projects planned for 2023, with initial progress being made. Furthermore, important, lucrative new orders were won, which are subject to an adjusted process for order acceptance that minimizes risks from order processing. Among them is a major contract from a leading European transmission system operator, which PSI won at the beginning of the third quarter. In Southeast Asia, the strong order trend of the previous quarters strengthened once again. Here PSI continues to profit from the increased gas price and was able to significantly improve new orders, sales and earnings.

Sales in the Production Management segment (metals, industry, logistics) increased by 11.5% to 61.5 million euros (June 30, 2022: 55.2 million euros). The segment's operating profit improved by 4.5% to 8.1 million euros (June 30, 2022: 7.8 million euros). In particular, the metals producing industry, logistics and automotive segments continued to develop positively and increased sales and earnings significantly. PSI Poland won a major contract to supply warehouse logistics software for a leading distributor of vehicle parts. Sales generated via the cloud-based PSI App Store increased by 35% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year.

The number of employees in the Group increased slightly to 2,273 (June 30, 2022: 2,266). Cash flow from operating activities improved year-on-year to 1.9 million euros (June 30, 2022: 3.0 million euros). At 51.5 million euros, cash and cash equivalents were roughly on a par with the previous year (June 30, 2022: 50.5 million euros), they are offset by higher current liabilities from short-term financial liabilities of 20.1 million euros (June 30, 2022: 4.7 million euros).

In the Production Management segment, PSI continues to benefit from growth in the North American business and the increasing demand for optimization solutions with industrial artificial intelligence, which make an important contribution to the transformation to sustainable industrial production. In the Energy Management segment, PSI has recorded increased inquiries in the area of smart grid solutions for intelligent and transparent low-voltage networks since the law to restart the digitalization of the energy transition came into force in May 2023.

For the full year 2023, the PSI Executive Board continues to expect that that the planned year-on-year increases in new orders and sales of 10% can be achieved. With regard to the operating profit, the outlook has been reduced by non-recurring expenses to a budgeted figure of between 5 and 7 million euros. Corresponding the operating profit achieved in the 1^st half of the year, the Production Management segment will slightly exceed its full-year targets at 18 million euros. In the long term, the management is maintaining its growth strategy for the PSI Group.

The PSI Group develops software products for optimizing the flow of energy and materials for utilities (energy grids, energy trading, public transport) and industrial companies (metals production, automotive, mechanical engineering, logistics). As an independent software producer, PSI has been a technology leader since 1969 for process control systems that ensure sustainable energy supply, mobility and production by combining AI methods with industrially proven optimization methods. The innovative industry products are sold both directly and via the cloud-based PSI App Store. In fiscal year 2022, PSI generated annual sales of just under 250 million euros with more than 2,200 employees in 17 countries. www.psi.de

Contact:

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

Tel. +49 30 2801-2727
Email: KPierschke@psi.de