BULL : Strong business growth in first quarter
04/26/2012| 01:05am US/Eastern

Recommend:
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6.7% increase in order intake, to ?334.4 million
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Revenues of ?286.5 million, up 5.8%, with all business activities
contributing positively
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Book-to-bill ratio of 1.17
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Medium-term objectives confirmed
Regulatory News:
Following a meeting of the Board of Directors on 25 April 2012, Bull
(Euronext Paris: BULL) today announces its revenues for the first
quarter of 2012.
Key figures for the first quarter of 20121
Over the first three months of 2012, order intake was ?334.4 million,
representing a significant increase compared to the first quarter of
2011 of 6.7%. The book-to-bill ratio for the period was 1.17. Revenues
for the first quarter were ?286.5 million, up by 5.8%. Organic growth in
revenues - at like-for-like business scope2 and constant
exchange rates - was 3.9%.
Business by division breaks down as follows:
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Q1 2012 revenues (?m)
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Variation vs. Q1 2011
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Book-to-bill ratio
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Innovative Products
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11.3
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+8.3%
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0.93
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|
|
Computing Solutions
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175.6
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+6.3%
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1.21
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|
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Business Integration Solutions
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73.7
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+4.1%
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1.03
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|
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Security Solutions
|
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25.9
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+5.8%
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1.35
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Total
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286.5
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+5.8%
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1.17
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Philippe Vannier, Bull's Chairman and CEO, commented: "I am
pleased with the Group's performance in the first quarter. Our growth
has accelerated strongly compared with 2011, in a highly competitive
environment. All our teams have been mobilized to achieve technological
successes at an international level, such as the installation of a new
Petascale supercomputer at Rokkasho in Japan in well under a year. This
means Bull is very well positioned in the very promising Cloud computing
market, which requires an excellent alliance between power and security
in the highly sensitive area of critical systems."
Business activities in the first quarter of
2012: order intake and revenues by Business Line
Innovative Products
Order intake for the Business Line was ?10.5 million, up by 20.3% thanks
most notably to its Extreme Computing offerings. Revenues also grew, by
8.3% to ?11.3 million. Once again, Extreme Computing, along with the
bullion family of enterprise servers, underpinned that growth. The
book-to-bill ratio for Q1 was 0.93, due to the significant
variations caused by the supercomputer contract in Japan, which was
installed at the end of 2011 and whose acceptance was finalized in Q1
2012. Nevertheless, the strong prospects for this business indicate that
this book-to-bill level is not representative of that expected for the
2012 financial year.
Computing Solutions
The signing of some significant contracts early in the year contributed
to the satisfactory level of orders, at ?213.2 million, for the first
three months. The contract with the French Post Office, La Poste,
is especially symbolic of the way the Group's offerings are changing and
moving towards Cloud computing. It involves providing access to a secure
hosting infrastructure for an initial period of 6 years. Revenues for
the Business Line over the quarter were up 6.3% at ?175.6 million, led
mainly by infrastructure and maintenance services, especially for
customers of the Group's Extreme Computing offerings. Order intake
represented 121% of revenues for the period. However, order intake fell
slightly (down 1.3%) compared with the high level of orders recorded in
Q1 2011 when two major contracts (for the University of Aachen and the
Rokkasho supercomputer) were concluded.
Business Integration Solutions
Order intake grew strongly, by 18.0% thanks to very strong commercial
momentum internationally, especially in Benelux, Poland and Morocco, as
well as in France. In particular, Bull signed a multi-year contract with
O Boticário - one of the leading Brazilian cosmetics companies - to
provide a global turnkey communications solution along with telecoms
operator Embratel. Revenues for the Business Line were ?73.7 million, up
4.1%.
Security Solutions
The Business Line posted a very strong increase in order intake of
43.7%, due to the momentum of its offerings, especially in the transport
market. Most notably, Bull is to supply the SYTRAL group with a dynamic
passenger information solution for the region in and around the French
city of Lyon. Orders for the quarter were ?35.1 million and the
book-to-bill ratio was 1.35. Security Solutions recorded revenues
of ?25.9 million during the first three months, an increase of 5.8%
thanks in particular to the continued success of activities with short
sales cycles. The senior management structure of this Business Line was
also consolidated in April 2012.
Group financial position
The Group's financial position is healthy. Operating cash demonstrates a
similar pattern to previous years, in line with the level of business
acitivity which is traditionally weaker in the early part of the year.
Outlook
The Group is confirming its medium-term objectives published on 9
December 2010 as part of the unveiling of BullWay 2011-2013, its
strategic plan for growth.
Please find copies of recent publications at http://www.bull.com/investors/ :
Group
profile 'Bull Today'
2011 registration document (French only)
Notice of meeting: Annual General Meeting of
shareholders to be held on 8 June 2012 (French only)
Conference call
Philippe Vannier, Chairman and CEO of the Bull Group, will host a
conference call to comment on these results on 26 April 2012 at 8:30am
(Central European Time). The dial-in number is +33 (0)1 7099 3212. A
presentation will also be available for download at www.bull.com.
It is possible to pre-register for the conference call at: https://eventreg2.conferencing.com/webportal3/reg.html?Acc=440149&Conf=208122
Glossary:
Book-to-bill ratio: Represents the ratio of new orders to
revenues for the period.
Organic growth: Represents growth at like-for-like business scope
and constant exchange rates.
Order intake: Represents definite contracts signed during the
period. The total value of contracts corresponds to the contractual
commitments made by customers, on which the management may need to make
a judgment for long-term contracts or those with no fixed end date (for
example, those renewed by tacit agreement).
About Bull
Bull is an Information Technology company, dedicated to helping
Corporations and Public Sector organizations optimize the architecture,
operations and the financial return of their Information Systems and
their mission-critical related business processes.
Bull focuses on open and secure systems, and as such is the only
European-based company offering expertise in all the key elements of the
IT value chain
For more information visit: http://www.bull.com/
http://www.facebook.com/Bull
http://twitter.com/bullworld
Financial calendar
-
8 June 2012: The Annual General Meeting of shareholders will take
place at 3:00pm, in the Salon d'Honneur of the Palais Brongniart,
75002, Paris. More information can be found on the Bull Group Web site.
-
26 July 2012: Half-year results 2012
-
25 October 2012: Revenues for the third quarter of 2012
Order intake and revenue evolution by Business
Line (unaudited data):
|
First quarter of 2012
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(? millions)
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Innovative Products
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Computing Solutions
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Business Integration Solutions
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Security Solutions
|
|
Total
|
|
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Order intake
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|
24.2
|
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213.6
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79.6
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37.3
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354.6
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|
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Inter-BL orders
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(13.7)
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(0.4)
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(3.9)
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(2.2)
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(20.2)
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Consolidated order intake
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10.5
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213.2
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75.7
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35.1
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334.4
|
|
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Variation compared with 2011
|
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+20.3 %
|
|
-1.3 %
|
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+18.0 %
|
|
+43.7 %
|
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+6.7 %
|
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Revenues
|
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37.7
|
|
176.9
|
|
75.5
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27.6
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|
317.6
|
|
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Inter-BL revenues
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(26.5)
|
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(1.3)
|
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(1.7)
|
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(1.7)
|
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(31.1)
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Consolidated revenues
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11.3
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175.6
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73.7
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25.9
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286.5
|
|
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Variation compared with 2011
|
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+8.3 %
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+6.3%
|
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+4.1 %
|
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+5.8 %
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+5.8 %
|
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Book-to-bill ratio
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0.93
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1.21
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1.03
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1.35
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1.17
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Numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
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Geographic breakdown of revenues (unaudited data):
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|
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Q1
|
|
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? millions
|
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2011
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2012
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Variation
|
|
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France
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149.7
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166.9
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+11.5 %
|
|
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Europe excluding France
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86.3
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79.9
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-7.4 %
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Rest of the world
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34.8
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39.8
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+14.4 %
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Total
|
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270.8
|
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286.5
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+5.8 %
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
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Numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
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Disclaimer
This Press release includes and is based, inter alia, on forward-looking
information and statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties
that could cause expected results to differ.
Although Bull believes that its expectations and the information in this
Press release were based upon reasonable assumptions at the time when
they were made, it can give no assurance that those expectations will be
achieved or that the expected results will be as set out in this Press
release.
Neither Bull nor any other company within the Bull Group is making any
representation or warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy,
reliability or completeness of the information in the Press release, and
neither Bull, any other company within the group nor any of their
directors, officers or employees will have any liability to you or any
other persons resulting from your use of the information in the Press
release.
1 Unaudited data. Comparisons are made with data from
the equivalent period in the previous financial year.
2 Businesses acquired in 2011 contributed ?5.1 million to
revenues for Q1 2012.

Investor Relations:
Bull:
Peter Campbell: Tel: +33 (0)1
58 04 04 23
peter.campbell@bull.net
Press
Relations:
Bull:
Barbara Coumaros: Tel: +33 (0)6 85 52 84
84
barbara.coumaros@bull.net
© Business Wire 2012
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