CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

8 March 2005

Financial News

ESI Group FY2004 sales: up 19% to EUR 58.3m in line with expectations License sales: up 26%

ESI Group solution provider in virtual prototyping and manufacturing processes, announced its consolidated turnover for the fourth quarter and fiscal year, ended January 31st, 2005.

Change in consolidation structure:

•  EASi SW has been consolidated since September 2003.

•  CFDRC SW has been consolidated since February 2004.

Breakdown of Q4 sales

                                                                                                            Fiscal year closed on 31 January

As expected, Q4 accounted for 37% of consolidated annual sales, in line with the seasonality observed in previous years.

Breakdown of annual sales

                                                                                                            Fiscal year closed on 31 January

FY2004 sales came to EUR 58.3 million, up 19% from the year before. This significant performance was achieved despite the negative impact of exchange rates. Organic growth came at 9% at constant exchange rates, significantly up from the 3% recorded the previous financial year.

Accounting for 10% of the Group's sales, acquisitions effectively continued to boost overall growth. The breaking continued into new sectors: the "Manufacturing industries and energy" offer now accounts for 29% of the annual booking, the "Electronic Components, Defense and Aerospace Industries" offer for 14%. Transportation currently accounts for 45% of annual orders.

Alain de Rouvray, ESI Group's Chairman and CEO, commented: "These results are in line with our expectations. They not only reflect growing interest in our digital simulation solutions in various sectors with high growth potential but also our capacity to respond with highly flexible and open-ended solutions."

The License business turned in strong growth of 29% at constant exchange rates. Organic growth was 12%, helped by an evenly balanced contribution from all geographical areas. The annual performance reflects stronger growth throughout the second half (13.2%).

Renewal rate of license sales, which is an important indicator of ESI Group's activity, remained at a stably high level of 87% on organic perimeter, driving a significant increase of the recurrent installed base, up 24% from FY2003.

The trend of the Service business turned around in the second half, helped by a growing order backlog on the back of two new pluri-annual casting projects co-financed by the European Economic Community and the Swiss Confederation, in addition to the projects signed in the third quarter in the United States and Europe (regarding Vibro-Acoustic and management of simulation processes).

Overall sales broke down as follows: America: 18%; Asia: 35%; Europe: 47%. Organic growth in Asia generated a 13% increase in sales volumes, demonstrating the relevance of the Group's international strategy, inter alia reflected in its new subsidiaries in China and India.

The available cash position on 31 January 2005 remains at a high level at EUR 16.7millions.

Alain de ROUVRAY, ESI Group's Chairman and CEO, concluded: "2004 ushered in a new period of maturity for ESI Group, reflected first in the return to significant organic growth. Despite a persistently negative currency effect, ESI Group was able to make the most of an improving economic environment, high recurrent license sales and a very strong position with major customers. The new version of its PAM-CRASH and PAM-SAFE products remained a growing success with users, more than ever showing ESI Group's global leadership in the safety segment of the transportation market. Helped by the impact of synergies, the emerging products resulting from the recent acquisitions (VASci and ProCAST) turned in strong, higher-than-average growth. Confirmation of two innovative new projects tweaked the turnaround of the Services business in the second half. Lastly, IBM's strong interest in virtual simulation and the gradual adoption of our products in new sectors are significant confirmation of the relevance the Group's strategy as a multi-discipline specialist in virtual simulation and the credibility of our medium and long-term objectives."

ESI Group provides digital simulation software for prototyping and manufacturing processes that take into account the physics of materials. ESI Group has developed an entire suite of coherent, industry oriented applications to realistically simulate a product's behavior during testing, to fine-tune the manufacturing processes in accordance with the desired product performance, and to evaluate the environment's impact on product usage. ESI Group's products represent a collaborative, virtual engineering solution, known as the Virtual Try-Out Space (VTOS), enabling virtual prototypes to be improved in a continuous manner. ESI Group is listed on the Nouveau Marché of Euronext Paris, and generated sales of €60m in 2004. The company employs almost 500 specialists worldwide, and covers more than 30 countries. For further information, visit http://www.esi-group.com .

FY2004/05 results will be released on25 May 2005(after close of trading)

 

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