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EVS Broadcast Equipment (EBR:EVS) * Record 2Q08 revenue of EUR 34.4 million, +47.7% vs. 2Q07 (+52.2% at constant exchange rate), thanks to strong traction from big sporting events, and a 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) compared to 2Q07 * Stable EBIT margin of 64.0% * Summer order book of EUR 38.5 million, +32.9% * Studio represents 47.1% of that order book * Acquisition of Dwesab BVBA, small Belgian company specialized in service and software R&D for operating workflows and management of TV stations * 2008 guidance: good double-digit growth, driven by big sport events and studio acceleration
Liège (Belgium), September 4, 2008, EVS Broadcast Equipment S.A. (Euronext Brussels: EVS.BR, Bloomberg: EVS BB, Reuters: EVSB.BR) (Pinksheets: EVBEF), the leader in Professional Digital Video applications for Live, Near-Live and Studio TV Production, today reported its results for the second quarter ("2Q08") and the first half ("1H08") of 2008.
Key highlights
Pierre L'Hoest, CEO of EVS said: "We are proud about our teams. What they have achieved this summer for the UEFA EURO2008TM and for the Olympics in Beijing is fantastic. In Beijing, our industry had never seen such a deployment of technologies and workflows for one single event. Our teams, in close cooperation with our clients have successfully taken up this challenge. Everything went well and we have received great feedback from the broadcasters at both events. We are now ready to capitalize on the momentum and we will make sure that our successes in Beijing are only the beginning of a new era for EVS, with further penetration in the studio market."
Commenting on the results and perspectives, Jacques Galloy, CFO added: "In this second quarter, despite the US dollar weakness, both sales and profit were again at a record level. Note that the EUR 6.9 million rental agreements for the Olympics are being booked on 3Q08. We are continuing to reinforce the EVS team in a way to expand our business in our new niches and increase our overall service skills. The summer order intake has been good and the feed-back from our operations in Beijing leads us to confirm our revised guidance of Mid-July: a good 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."
(unaudited) IFRS - EUR millions, (reviewed) except earnings per share 2Q08 2Q07 2Q08/2Q07 expressed in EUR 1H08 1H07 1H08/1H07 34.4 23.3 +47.7% Revenue 59.8 43.2 +38.6% 22.0 14.8 +49.0% Operating profit - EBIT 39.1 27.7 +41.0% 64.0% 63.5% +0.5pp Operating margin - EBIT 65.4% 64.2% +1.2pp % -0.6 -0.6 +2.6% Contribution from 47% -1.4 -1.0 -43.9% XDC affiliate 15.2 9.6 +59.4% Net profit - Group share 26.9 18.1 +48.6% Net profit from 16.4 10.6 +55.0% operations, excl. XDC - 29.0 19.9 +45.7% Group share (1) 1.12 0.70 +59.5% Basic earnings per share 1.98 1.33 +48.3% Basic earnings per share 1.21 0.78 +55.1% from operations, excl. 2.13 1.46 +45.4% XDC (1)
(1) The net profit from operations, excl. XDC, is the net profit (share of the group) excluding non operating items (net of tax) and the XDC contribution. Refer to Annex 6.3: use of non-gaap financial measures.
Corporate Calendar: 12-16 September 2008: IBC TradeFair in Amsterdam (NL) Thursday 13 November 2008: 3Q08 revenue & earnings Thursday 19 February 2009: FY2008 revenue & earnings Thursday 14 May 2009: 1Q09 revenue & earnings Tuesday 19 May 2009: Ordinary Shareholders Meeting
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.
