Berlin, 29 October 2012 – PSI Group increased its sales by 8 % to 126.7 million Euros in the first nine months of 2012 (30 September 2011: 117.3 million Euros). The EBIT was increased by 20 % to 7.5 million Euros (30 September 2011: 6.3 million Euros), the Group net result improved by 65 % to 5.5 million Euros (30 September 2011: 3.4 million Euros). New orders increased compared to the same period last year by 5 % to 145 million Euros (30 September 2011: 138 million Euros), the order book volume as of 30 September 2012 increased by 6 % to 132 million Euros (30 September 2011: 124 million Euros).
In Energy Management (electricity, gas, oil, heat) the electrical energy business currently brings the new control system core to the market and continues to invest into the expansion of international sales. The use of group resources in Poland and important acceptances in complex export projects had a positive effect. The development of smart telecontrol units of a new type and reduced replacements of remote communication units caused encumbrances. The gas and oil business continued the good development and expects important orders in the 4th Quarter. Energy trading, which is only active in the German speaking countries, invested in its product base and has additional investment needs (Energy Data Management) as well as cost reduction potential. Overall the sales of Energy Management dropped by 5 % to 44.5 million Euros in the first nine months (30 September 2011: 47 million Euros). Despite the higher number of sales of licenses compared to the previous year, the EBIT for the segment was, at 2.1 million Euros, still well below the figure for the previous year (30 September 2011: 3.1 million Euros).
Sales in Production Management (raw materials, industry, logistics) increased in the first nine months by 15 % to 64.2 million Euros (30 September 2011: 56.1 million Euros). The EBIT was improved by 25 % to 4.5 million Euros (30 September 2011: 3.6 million Euros). The business units of metals and sequence optimisation again provided a major contribution to the earnings and obtained further orders from large international customers.
Infrastructure Management (transportation and safety) increased sales by 26 % to 18 million Euros (30 September 2011: 14.2 million Euros). The segment’s EBIT more than doubled to 2 million Euros (30 September 2011: 1 million Euros). The largest contribution to earnings in this segment was again provided by the international PSI subsidiaries in Poland and Southeast Asia. In Southeast Asia PSI won a number of important contracts and attained important acceptances in demanding pilot projects in the third quarter.
The number of employees in the Group increased to 1,577 as of 30 September 2012 (30 September 2011: 1,466) primarily due to the expansion of capacity in the export markets. The cash flow from operating activities was, for project reasons, negative at –4.4 million Euros (30 September 2011: 6.6 million Euros), which is why liquidity decreased to 24.2 million Euros (30 September 2011: 29.6 million Euros).
The German energy market is experiencing a growing investment backlog. PSI is strengthening international activities in the area of electrical energy so as to become less dependent on the German market in the mid-term. Production Management has a large order book volume and expects the dynamic development to continue despite the cool-down in the steel industry. To improve productivity and ergonomics, increased investments in the migration of software applications of additional business units to the new, group-wide uniform software basis will continue to be made in the coming quarters.
The management expects, as in the previous years, a strong fourth quarter and continues to aim for the annual targets of 190 million Euros for new orders, close to 180 million Euros for sales and about 13 million Euros for the EBIT.
On the basis of its own software products, PSI AG develops and integrates complete solutions for energy management (electricity, gas, oil, heat), production management (metals, automotive, mechanical engineering, mining, logistics) and infrastructure management for transport and safety. PSI was founded in 1969 and employs more than 1,500 persons worldwide.
