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EVS Broadcast Equipment (EVBEF: PINKSHEETS) * Record 2Q08 revenue of EUR 34.4 million, +47.7% vs. 2Q07 (+52.2% at constant exchange rate) * Strong traction from big sporting events, and major contract signed with Presteigne Charter for EUR 5 million * Europe up 127.9%, Asia & Pacific up 56.3%, America down 27.1% (16.1% at constant exchange rate) over 2Q07 * Open order book at July 1, 2008 of EUR 23.2 million, +41.2%, including EUR 6.5 million rentals for the Olympics in China and overseas * Studio represents 53.4% of that order book * New 2008 guidance: double-digit growth, driven by big sport events and studio acceleration
Liège (Belgium), July 17, 2008, EVS Broadcast Equipment S.A. (Euronext Brussels: EVS.BR) (Pinksheets: EVBEF), the leader in Professional Digital Video applications for Live, Near-Live and Studio TV Production, today reported its revenue for the second quarter ("2Q08") and the first half ("1H08) of 2008.
Key Highlights
Pierre L'Hoest, CEO of EVS said: "The company experiences a strong momentum during this summer due to our strong involvement inside major sporting events. We are proud about the performance realized by our teams for the UEFA EURO2008TM. This kind of event is the achievement of a long process, including the design of the workflow, the development of the appropriate hardware and software, the set up of the media server in Vienna, the training of hundreds of new operators, and the support to the UMET and the different UEFA broadcast partners present during the event. This prefigures the huge system we are currently deploying with our customers for the Olympics, that is three times bigger."
Commenting on the new guidance, Jacques Galloy, CFO added: "Based on the strong ongoing order intake, we have increased our guidance to a double digit growth year. This summer's big sporting events have catalyzed our business over the last 12 months but we feel that this good business trend should continue. For instance, diversified studio segment sales are expected to exceed 40% growth this year."
Revenue
EVS Broadcast revenue reached EUR 34.4 million in 2Q08, an increase of 47.7% at actual exchange rates (+52.2% at constant exchange rate). In the outside broadcast segment, sales grew by 13.6% to EUR 21.1 million. The studio sales jumped by 181.6% to EUR 13.3 million, which represented 38.7% of total 2Q08 sales, compared to 20.3% in 2Q07.
(1) Refer to the geographical segmentation in annex.
Europe, Middle-East and Africa ("EMEA") revenue increased by 127.9% in 2Q08 to EUR 18.9 million. This confirms the steady developments of the European market, including Eastern Europe. This strong performance of 2Q08 has benefited from the momentum around this summer's big events, especially the EUR 2 million rental agreement for the UEFA EURO2008(TM) soccer cup. Feedback from the broadcasters present at the UEFA EURO2008(TM) was very positive, and the EVS solutions have played a key role in the success of the tournament broadcast operations through the UEFA's LIVEX(TM) concept. The second quarter has also benefited from the large equipment sale agreement with Presteigne Charter for about EUR 5 million, which was split between the EMEA and the APAC regions. Studio sales grew significantly for various applications like drama production, live entertainement shows and near-live programming. Sales in EMEA are clearly supported by a lot of HDTV initiatives that are being launched by various broadcasters, IPTV, cable, or satellite players across Europe, around the European Soccer Finals and Beijing 2008.
America's revenue ("NALA") decreased by 27.1% (-16.1% at constant exchange rate) to EUR 6.9 million, representing 20.2% of group sales in 2Q08. The replacement cycle of Outside Broadcast trucks migrating to HDTV remains a key sales driver, together with important studio project wins with premium customers. For instance, a major network bought additional EVS solutions to expand their studio broadcast center and add more HD equipment for the next football season. Full year 2008 sales in NALA expressed in USD are expected to remain stable compared to 2007. EVS revenue increased by 56.3% in Asia & Pacific ("APAC") to EUR 8.6 million, partially due to the major contract signed with Presteigne Charter only a few weeks ago. APAC represents 24.9% of group revenue. EVS teams are prepared to support the Beijing Olympics with more than 700 XT servers and hundreds of applications like Live Slow Motion, IPDirector or CleanEdit, in China but also overseas in the home facilities of many broadcasters that have to manage significant time zone shifts and produce so much content in a quick process.
Outlook 2008
The open order book (to be invoiced in 2008) as of July 1, 2008 reaches EUR 23.2 million, incl EUR 6.5 million for 3Q08 big event rentals, which is +41.2% compared to EUR 16.5 million on the same date one year ago (hence to be invoiced in 2007). Studio orders have a longer leadtime and represent 53.4% of the total EUR 23.2 million open order book while they represent 36.5% of the total order intake over the first 6 months of 2008.
In addition to the EUR 23.2 million of order book to be mainly invoiced in 3Q08 but also in 4Q08, EVS has already orders for EUR 2.3 million that will be invoiced in 2009.
Even if the visibility remains limited as usual and the weak dollar is not a favorable factor, based on current market conditions, the Board remains impressed by the overall business drive and expects 2008 to be a double digit growth year, driven in particular by the Euro2008 in Q2, the Olympics in Q3 and studio segment acceleration. The launch of HDTV in Europe, the growing presence of EVS inside TV studios, the worldwide globalization of sporting events and the simulcast and catch up of live events on new media are the main growth drivers for the future.
All numbers within this press release have not yet been audited.
Corporate Calendar: Thursday 4 September 2008: 2Q08 revenue & earnings 12-16 September 2008: IBC TradeFair in Amsterdam (NL) Thursday 13 November 2008: 3Q08 revenue & earnings
For more information, please contact: Jacques GALLOY, Director & CFO Geoffroy d'OULTREMONT, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications Manager EVS Broadcast Equipment S.A., Liege Science Park, 16 rue du Bois Saint-Jean, B-4102 Ougrée (Liège), Belgium Tel: +32 4 361 70 14. E-mail: corpcom@evs.tv; www.evs-global.com
Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to the business, financial condition, and results of operations of EVS and its affiliates. These statements are based on the current expectations or beliefs of EVS's management and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or performance of the Company to differ materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties relate to changes in technology and market requirements, the company's concentration on one industry, decline in demand for the company's products and those of its affiliates, inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and applications, and loss of market share and pressure on pricing resulting from competition which could cause the actual results or performance of the company to differ materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements. EVS undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
About EVS Group EVS Group designs, develops and markets professional digital equipment for Television (EVS Broadcast) and Cinema (XDC). The Group employs over 220 persons for broadcast equipment in 12 countries and sells its products to professionals of the video and audio sectors in more than 90 countries. EVS is a public company traded on Euronext Brussels: EVS, ISIN: BE0003820371. For more information, refer to www.evs-global.com EVS Broadcast is the world leader for Live TV Production Digital Disk Recorders and Related Software Applications, especially in the field of sports. The company's dedicated hardware and software suite offer a complete production platform: live slow motion (LSM), high speed slow motion, replay only, clips generation, quick clips editing, real-time SD/HD video files transfer, time delay, multi-camera recording, metadata association, graphics storage and play-out, digital transmission, multi-format ingest and play-back, audio record & edit, webcasting, mobile phone clipping. Main software applications like the "IP Director®" are running on the dedicated robust and flexible hardware the "XT[2]® Platform". The world's leading broadcasters, such as NBC, BSkyB, FOX, RTL, NHK, CANAL+, ABC, ESPN, TF1, CCTV, PBS, CBS, BBC, ZDF, TVE and many others use EVS' solutions. EVS 47,20% affiliate XDC is pioneering Digital Cinema Logistics and Play-out and operates between the movies distributors and exhibitors. XDC has installed more than 280 digital screens throughout the world in China, Germany, Sweden, Brazil, the United States, France, Belgium, etc.
