BULL 
By PR Newswire/Les Echos/
Press Information
Bull: 2009 EBIT objective confirmed in excess of EUR25 million
Core business activities(1) grew by 0.6% over the first nine months of the year
Third-quarter revenues down by 8% (7% at constant currency) reflecting greater
seasonal variation than in previous years
Key figures for third quarter of 2009 (unaudited):
• Consolidated revenues of EUR221.2 million; in line with expectations,
revenues decreased by 7.3% at constant exchange rates compared with Q3 2008
• Revenues for the first 9 months of 2009 stood at EUR779.8 million,
representing a slight decline (-1.5%) compared with the same period in 2008;
at constant exchange rates, revenues were down by 0.3%
• Refocusing on the Group's core offerings1 continues: these offerings
which represented 93% of Group revenue over the first 9 months of the year,
recorded growth of 0.6% for the period
Outlook: Bull confirms its target EBIT (see glossary) for the year; this was
revised in July 2009 to a level "in excess of EUR25 million".
Paris, 29 October 2009: Bull (Euronext Paris: BULL) - expert in open, flexible
and secure information systems and one of Europe's leading players in the IT
industry - today announces that its revenues for the third quarter of 2009 were
EUR221.2 million, representing a decrease of 8.1% compared with the same period
in 2008. The decline in revenues is 7.3% at constant exchange rates. Revenues of
EUR779.8 million have been recorded for the first nine months of the year, down
1.5% compared with the year-ago period. At constant exchange rates, revenues
declined by 0.3% for the period.
"We have undertaken a refocussing of our business which has put Bull in a
favorable position in the current environment. The new solutions that we are
offering to our customers are enabling them to cut costs now and put in place
their future growth drivers," commented Didier Lamouche, Bull's Chairman and
CEO.
"Business activity in the third quarter - marked this year by a more un
favorable seasonal effect - is not representative of the trend we anticipate for
the full year. Therefore, the results to the end of September mean that we are
able to con firm our objectives for the financial year 2009. The resilience of
our core offerings - which have recorded growth in revenues year-to-date, and
each outperformed its market - demonstrates that we have made the right
strategic decisions," Didier Lamouche continued.
(1) Bull's core activities include Hardware & Systems Solutions; Maintenance &
PRS and Services & Solutions. In the aggregate they represent 94% of third
quarter 2009 revenues.
Third quarter business activitv: order intake and revenues bv business segment
Comparisons are made with respect to published figures for the prior-year
period, except where a recast is specifically indicated.
Hardware & Systems Solutions: a soft quarter; recovery expected in the fourth
quarter
Business activity in the Hardware & Systems Solutions segment reflects both a
highly adverse seasonal effect, in line with the rest of the IT industry, and
the fact that certain private sector customers are delaying some investments in
IT. As a result, order intake decreased by 22.1% and revenues were 16.6% lower,
after five consecutive quarters of growth. However, a strong pipeline of
qualified deals means that a strong recovery in order intake is expected during
Q4, as well as a stabilization of revenues compared with the same period in
2008. Over the first nine months of the year, revenues from this business
segment grew by 6.1% compared with the same period in 2008, led in particular by
the Group's strategic growth offerings. These solutions are positioned in niche
areas that are out-performing the overall server market. 'Extreme Computing',
which is one of these key growth offerings, continued to record an increase in
revenues for Q3.
Services & Solutions: slight decrease in revenues
Revenues from the Services & Solutions segment were EUR105.9 million for Q3,
representing a slight organic decline of 1.8%. Order intake was down by 6.7%,
reflecting the difficult economic environment which is affecting telco customers
in particular. Nevertheless, the Group continued to record a level of
performance ahead of the market, with a 2.4% organic increase in revenues since
the start of the year, thanks to the quality of its customer portfolio,
particularly in the public sector.
Maintenance & PRS: a solid business, thanks to new offerings
Revenues from Maintenance & PRS activities proved resilient at EUR46.4 million,
representing a very slight decrease of 0.9%. The success of the Group's new
offerings, most nota bly linked to infrastructure, has limited the erosion of
this business despite a decline in traditional maintenance activities. For the
first nine months of the year, the erosion of revenues was -3.3% compared with
the same period in 2008.
Fulfillment & Third-Party Products
Revenues from Third-Party Products fell sharply by 17.3% to EUR13.0 million, as
a result of the Group's deliberate decision to concentrate its resources on its
core offerings. For the first nine months of the year, the overall decline was
22.5% compared with the same period in 2008.
Revenue bv business segment (unaudited):
Third quarter
EUR millions 2008 2009 variation
Revenues 240.7 221.2 100% -8.1%
of which Services & Solutions* 111.1 105.9 47.9% -4.7%
of which Hardware & Systems Solutions 66.9 55.8 25.2% -16.6%
of which Maintenance & PRS 46.8 46.4 21.0% -0.9%
of which Fulfillment & Third-Party
Products 16.0 13.2 6.0% -17.3%
*When recast to reflect the sale in 2008 of the Group's Medicaid solutions
activities in the US, the decline in revenues is 1.8%.
Numbers may not add up precisely to the total due to rounding.
Geographic breakdown of revenues (unaudited):
Third quarter
EUR millions 2008 2009 Variation
vs published Organic
figures variation*
France 126.9 117.5 53% -7.4% -6.7%
Western Europe excluding France 61.1 66.5 30% +8.8% stable
Eastern and Central Europe 16.4 9.1 4% -44.7% -36.6%
Americas 19.8 13.3 6% -33.2% -8.9%
Rest of the World 16,6 15.0 7% -9.6% -9.4%
Total 240.7 221.2 100% -8.1% -7.3%
* at constant exchange rates and structure
The acquisition of s+c in Germany in particular explains the increase in
revenues for Western Europe excluding France. The difficulties in the Telecoms
business contributed to the decrease in revenues in France. Adverse developments
in exchange rates contributed to the decline in business in Eastern Europe. The
sale of the Group's Medicaid-related business activities in the USA and the fall
in the value of the dollar largely explain the lower revenues from the
Americas.
Group financial position
The Group's financial position remains healthy. The cash position reflects
seasonal variations, as in previous years. The end of September habitually marks
a low point in the cash position, mirroring the trend in revenues, which is
unevenly split between the two quarters of the second half of the year.
Outlook
Taking the results for the first nine months of the year into account, Bull is
confirming its profitability target for the 2009 financial year, which was
raised in July and represents EBIT (see glossary) in excess of EUR25 million.
###
Key highlights of the third quarter 2009
In the third quarter of 2009 Bull continued its program of designing and
implementing the solutions, services and technologies it has developed to help
its customers in the public and private sectors come out stronger from the
current economic crisis.
For Bull, computer simulation is key to future innovation in Europe. Bull
further strengthened its position as a supplier of reference in Europe, with the
launch of bullx(TM), opening the way towards 'Extreme Computing'.
• Following a European invitation to tender issued to all the major suppliers
of HighPerformance Computing (HPC) infrastructures, the University of Cologne
chose a bullx(TM) system, from the Group's new family of
environmentally-efficient, ultra-dense and ultra high-performance
supercomputers launched just before the summer. The bullx(TM) system, which
delivers 100 Teraflops of power and features a highly flexible architecture,
supports an extremely wide spectrum of applications. Its ease of use,
combined with low electricity consumption and reduced floorspace requirement,
were decisive factors in the University's choice.
• Petrobras has chosen Bull and a bullx(TM) supercomputer for its research
center, CENPES, the largest research center in Latin America, with more than
200 laboratories. This new system which delivers more than 250 Teraflops will
be the most powerful system in Latin America at the time of its installation
in December 2009.
Bull offers its customers increasing competitive solutions to help them tackle
the key challenges they face, particularly when it comes to balancing the
power/energy consumption equation.
• Bull and the Joseph Fourier University in France have joined forces to
implement an active policy in this area, from initial audits to the implement
of low carbon footprint computing facilities. The central aim is to achieve a
50% reduction in the electricity consumed by the university's data centers in
the coming three years.
• Combining flexibility, high-performance and an optimum carbon footprint, the
Groups' Bio Data Center(TM) offering has proved to be an innovative way of
helping organizations to fulfill their sustainable development policies.
Bull has once again demonstrated how attractive its service offerings are when
it comes to supporting enterprise development projects and responding to the
challenges of modernizing public sector information systems at local and
national level.
• French State Financial IT Agency (AIFE) renewed for a further 16 months its
contract related to hosting the infrastructure for Chorus, the state's core
financial application, which is further proof of the quality of Bull's
relationships within the public sector.
• EDF has also renewed its functional operation and production engineering
contract with Bull, covering the SAP applications used in its finance
department, for a further three years.
• The Ambatovy project is the largest mining project ever undertaken in
Madagascar (aimed at extracting 60,000 metric tonnes of nickel and 5,600
tonnes of cobalt a year). Numerous supply infrastructures are being built to
support the project, including extensions to port facilities, roads and
railroads, an electricity generating plant... Ambatovy has turned to Bull to
implement the latest-generation Infor Baan LN6 integrated Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) software, as part of its information system, designed to
co-ordinate all its business activities.
• The Open World Forum, co-founded by Bull, was successfully held for the
second time this year, bringing together 1,200 decision-makers and experts to
discuss and explore the technological, economic and social impact of Open
Source.
• SERPRO (Serviço Federal de Processamento de Dados), the largest State-owned
IT agency in Brazil, has signed a new co-operation agreement with Bull to
jointly develop innovative Open Source technologies for on-line public
services and egovernment.
• The regional council of Languedoc Roussillon has chosen Bull to help it
modernize, rationalize, secure and operate its IT infrastructures, as well as
develop and evolve a number of its key applications.
• Following a comprehensive analysis of the impact of disasters or other
incidents on its business activities, the regional council of Calvados chose
Bull to renew its information systems. The entire range of resources was
reviewed, with a redistribution of systems at the main site, the creation of a
new IT site which will eventually host business recovery hardware, and the
formalization of a new set of business continuity procedures and resources to
be implemented.
As European leader in identity and access management (IAM), Bull Evidian
recorded a number of excellent successes
• Winchester City Council in the UK has implemented Bull Evidian's Enterprise
SSO (Single Sign-On) to simplify access to its numerous applications by staff
members, while at the same time improving security. Evidian Enterprise SSO
eliminates the risks posed by the Council's employees having to memorize many
different passwords to access critical applications.
• RTL Group has also chosen Evidian Enterprise SSO to provide secure user
access for its 'holding' company. The 600 employees and journalists at its
Luxembourg site will now have easy and completely secure access to their
applications, once they have completed the single authentication process
provided by the Bull Evidian software.
###
Glossary:
EBIT: Earnings before lnterest and Taxes, non-operating and non-recurring items
and contribution of equity affiliates.
About Bull, Architect of an Open World (TM)
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
businesses.
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
Investor relations contact:
Bull: Peter Campbell: Tel: +33 (0)1 30 80 32 36 - peter.campbell@bull.net
Press relations contact:
Bull: Barbara Coumaros: Tel: +33 (0)6 85 52 84 84 - barbara.coumaros@bull.net
Financial calendar
23 November 2009: analyst and investor conference, Paris
11 February 2010: publication of 2009 full-year results
Appendix
Published quarterly revenues for the financial years 2009 and 2008 (unaudited
data):
EUR millions Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Full year
Services & Solutions 111.1 129.9 105.9 - -
Hardware & Systems Solutions 74.7 105.9 55.8 - -
2009 Maintenance & PRS 45.0 50.5 46.4 - -
Fulfillment & third- 19.0 22.5 13.2 - -
party products
Total 249.8 308.8 221.2 - -
Services & Solutions 106.6 133.4 111.1 143.2 494.3
Hardware & Systems 58.1 97.9 66.9 115.2 338.1
Solutions
2008 Maintenance & PRS 48.6 51.4 46.8 51.0 197.8
Fulfillment & third- 21.2 33.4 16.0 32.2 102.7
party products
Total 234.5 316.1 240.7 341.5 1,132.8
Numbers may not add up precisely to the total due to rounding.
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
Bull Group nor any of their directors, officers or employees will have any
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in the Press release.
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information. All information should be checked prior to publication.BULL REGPT : Bull: 2009 EBIT objective confirmed in excess of ?25 million
October 29, 2009 at 05:25 am EDT
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