Regulatory News:

ESI Group (Paris:ESI):

Further buoyant growth of 10.2%

  • Sales for the first 9 months: ?54.2 million
  • Consolidation of 2 months of IC.IDO's activity

Alain de Rouvray, ESI Group's Chairman and CEO, comments: "Our third quarter confirms the persistence of the positive trend recorded since the start of the year. Despite an especially strong performance in the same period last year, we recorded an increase in both new business and installed base over the quarter. Moreover, Europe delivered a dynamic performance driven by buoyant demand in Central Europe and by our successful diversification. These elements show the offensive and defensive quality of our activity and attest to the high degree of innovation that we bring to our business."

3rd quarter and 9-month sales

The Group's FY ends on January 31st

In ? millions

  Q3 2011/12*   Q3 2010/11   ? % (euros)   ? % (cer*)   9 months 2011/12   9 months 2010/11   ? % (euros)   ? % (cer*)

Licenses

11.5 10.6 +8.8% +8.1% 36.4 33.4 +9.0% +9.1%
Services 6.1 5.4 +12.7% +14.2% 17.8 15.8 +12.3% +14.2%
Total 17.6 16.0 +10.2% +10.2% 54.2 49.2 +10.1% +10.7%

*cer: constant exchange rates

Breakdown of quarterly sales

The Group's FY ends on January 31st

In ? millions

  Q3 2011/12*   Q2

2011/12

  Q1

2011/12

  Q3

2010/11

  Q2

2010/11

  Q1

2010/11

Licenses

11.5 13.3 11.6 10.6 11.9 11.0
Services 6.1 6.0 5.7 5.4 5.5 4.9
Total 17.6 19.3 17.3 16.0 17.4 15.9

Reminder: the seasonal nature of ESI Group's License sales usually translates into a larger proportion of full-year revenues being recorded over the fourth quarter of the year.

* The 3rd quarter of 2011/12 includes the consolidation of 2 months of IC.IDO's activity, the company being consolidated from August 24th 2011.

3rd quarter sales

Sales for the 3rd quarter of 2011/12 totalled 17.6 million euros, up +10.2% in actual terms and at constant exchange rates compared to the 3rd quarter of the previous financial year. This quarter notably incorporated the consolidation of IC.IDO, a company whose acquisition was announced on August 16th. On a constant scope basis (excluding the acquisition), sales for the 3rd quarter totalled 16.9 million euros, up +5.8% in actual terms, against a particularly strong 3rd quarter of 2010, for which a year on year growth of 15.5% was recorded.

License sales totalled 11.5 million euros, up +8.8% in actual terms (+8.1% at constant exchange rates). License activity represented 65.3% of total sales, compared to 66.1% over the 3rd quarter of the previous financial year. The main indicators were positive over the quarter: the installed base increased by +13.2% in actual terms and +2.3% at constant scope, totalling 7.2 million euros; the repeat business rate remained high at 77.9%; New Business Licenses (new products, new clients) increased by +6.6% to 3.1 million euros and represented 29.9% of License sales.

Services activity increased by +12.7% in actual terms (+14.2% at constant exchange rates) and totalled 6.1 million euros. On a constant scope basis, Services sales were up +6.2%.

The change in the geographical distribution of sales notably reflects strong growth in Europe (+26.6%), +16.8% of it organic, thanks notably to sales in Central Europe and Germany.

9-month sales

Over the first 9 months of the 2011/12 financial year, the Group recorded sales of 54.2 million euros, up +10.1% in actual terms (+10.7% at constant exchange rates). On a constant scope basis, growth came to +8.6%.

License activity increased by +9.0% in actual terms (+9.1% at constant exchange rates) to 36.4 million euros and represented 67.2% of total sales. The installed base recorded growth of +6.7% in actual terms and +3.7% at constant scope, totalling 25.0 million euros. The repeat business rate remained high at 80.6%. New Business recorded buoyant growth of +18.8% at 9.0 million euros, and thus represented 26.5% of License sales.

Services activity was also up, increasing by +12.3% in actual terms (+14.2% at constant exchange rates) to 17.8 million euros.

In geographical terms, there was an increase in Europe (+19.1%) and Asia (+7.6%), whilst the American zone continued to be affected by a negative exchange rate effect (-0.6% in actual terms and +6.3% at constant exchange rates).

By industrial sector, the first 9 months of the year notably saw an improvement in orders taken in the Automotive and Transportation (+5.7%), Aeronautics and Space (+24.2%) and Education (+57.9%) sectors, confirming the financial year's positive trends.

About ESI

ESI is a pioneer and world-leading player in virtual prototyping that take into account the physics of materials. ESI has developed an extensive suite of coherent, industry-oriented applications to realistically simulate a product's behaviour during testing, to fine-tune manufacturing processes in accordance with desired product performance, and to evaluate the environment's impact on product performance. This offer represents a unique collaborative and open environment for Simulation-Based Design, enabling virtual prototypes to be improved in a continuous and collaborative manner while eliminating the need for physical prototypes during product development. Present in over 30 countries, ESI employs some 850 high-level specialists throughout its worldwide network. ESI Group is listed on compartment C of NYSE Euronext Paris.

For further information, go to www.esi-group.com.

ESI is on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

ESI is the leader and a pioneer in virtual prototyping solutions.

Stock market information

Listed on compartment C

of the NYSE Euronext Paris

ISIN FR 0004110310

FTSE 977

Bloomberg ESI FP

Reuters ESIG.LN

Granted

"entreprise innovante"

(innovative company) certification on January 20, 2000 by OSEO,

ESI Group is eligible

for inclusion in FCPI

(venture capital trusts

dedicated to innovation

Financial schedule

Press release

2011/12 annual sales:

March 15th 2012

(after market)

Our Press section

can be found at

www.esi-group.com

ESI Group
Corinne Romefort-Régnier
Tel: +33 (0)1 53 65 14 14
investors@esi-group.com
or
NewCap.
Emmanuel Huynh
Axelle Vuillermet
Tel: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 94
esi@newcap.fr