Gross margin +19.6% EBIT +38.8% Net profit +42.4% Dividend per share 0.80

Transcription

1 IMAGE RECOGNITION INTEGRATED SYSTEMS GROUP S.A. (short form I.R.I.S. Group) Embargo until Thursday 20 th March 2008, 17:45 pm Annual results 2007 Gross margin +19.6% EBIT +38.8% Net profit +42.4% Dividend per share 0.80 I.R.I.S. mission Increase our customers productivity and knowledge through helping them better manage their documents, data and information I.R.I.S. Products & Technologies Develops technologies and products for Intelligent Document Recognition and markets its portfolio on a worldwide basis through strong partnerships I.R.I.S. Professional Solutions Enables companies and administrations to find in one company the innovative expertise and hi tech solutions to efficiently manage documents, information flows and IT infrastructure More than 500 specialists at your service at our sites: Louvain la Neuve and Vilvoorde (Belgium) Orly (France) Windhof (Luxembourg) Amsterdam and Maastricht (The Netherlands) Aachen (Germany) Delray Beach (United States) I.R.I.S. GROUP SA Financial statements as at 31 December 2007 Press release Page 1

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3 Etienne Van de Kerckhove, CEO: In 2007, I.R.I.S. saw its operating income grow 16% to 95.9 million. The gross margin (the key indicator used to measure I.R.I.S. s growth) was up 19.6% to 47.3 million. Income from operations (EBIT) grew 38.8% to 8.1 million thanks to good cost control. Lastly, the net profit was up 42.4% to 5.7 million. Our new subsidiaries in Germany and the Netherlands contributed only very marginally to these figures, given their acquisition in November We note that I.R.I.S. is responding ever more effectively to market demand, which itself is growing continuously. In 2007 we conducted outstanding integrations of solutions for large public and private accounts and announced some very promising new products. We took on more than 120 new staff, making I.R.I.S. one of the biggest international players in its sector. Pierre De Muelenaere, President & CEO: Our Professional Solutions division delivered many systems for document recognition, automated invoice processing, electronic document management and electronic archiving. These applications provide our customers with considerable added value, thereby increasing their productivity. Our team specializing in optimization of IT infrastructures carried out major projects with very demanding large accounts. Also worth noting is the strong growth in our business for European institutions. The Products & Technologies division signed new international licensing agreements and saw its sales grow 9.1% (in euros). This was an excellent result, obtained despite the sharp fall in the US dollar when half of sales are realized in the United States. For the P&T division, you no doubt recall that 2006 enjoyed an exceptional first half year. 2007, in contrast, showed growth that was particularly strong in the second half. I.R.I.S. GROUP SA Financial statements as at 31 December 2007 Press release Page 3

4 Tax on profits totalled 2.5 million, representing an effective tax rate (tax paid/book profit before tax) of 31% against 33% in The group s net cash at the yearend was 19.3 million. Moreover, I.R.I.S. has undrawn credit facilities for an amount of 10.5 million. The company s only borrowings relate to the acquisition of buildings in Louvain la Neuve and Vilvoorde. Consolidated shareholders equity ( 49.2 million) is up 16.2 million on 2006, mainly due to the capital increase carried out on 15 June 2007 ( 10 million), the profit for the year and the use of the company s own shares when acquiring a subsidiary in Germany. Our balance sheet structure and cash position are therefore robust. Pierre De Muelenaere, President & CEO: 2007 was a year packed with important events for the Group. We saw two major waves of new product launches. In February: the new ihqc hyper compression technology, and IRISCapture Pro 8 for Invoices for Microsoft Dynamics NAV. And in November: the new IRISCard 4 and IRISPen 6. In June, Compagnie Nationale à Portefeuille (CNP) and Ackermans & van Haaren (AvH) subscribed our capital increase, each taking 6% of our capital and thereby strengthening our Belgian shareholder base. At the beginning of November, we acquired MorningStar Systems in the Netherlands, which is a leading integrator of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) on the Dutch market. And at the end of November, we finalized the acquisition of Docutec, which is a German market leader in invoice recognition and document classification. We are entirely satisfied with these two acquisitions. We achieved our ambitions for the year and exceeded our financial targets, making 2007 a source of great satisfaction. Etienne Van de Kerckhove, CEO: I.R.I.S. has prepared the ground for future growth. The ambitious investment policy has been confirmed. At the 2008 IRIS annual event, we announced in particular the launch of IRISPowerscan, our new integrated professional scanning platform. We also launched IRIS I.R.I.S. GROUP SA Financial statements as at 31 December 2007 Press release Page 4

5 Virtual Desktop, an architecture based on a thin client connected to a virtualized server that greatly optimizes the management and cost of IT servers and workstations. These internal initiatives and our new subsidiaries in Germany and the Netherlands will contribute to our growth in Our prospects are excellent and we believe that 2008 will again see growth in our gross margin and earnings. Proposed dividend Given the results for the 2007 financial year and the favorable outlook for 2008, the Board of Directors will submit a proposed gross dividend of 0.80 per share (vs last year) for approval by the Annual General Meeting to be held on 20 May Auditor s report The auditor has confirmed that his audit work has not revealed any significant matters requiring adjustments to the information included in this press release. IFRS accounting standards All figures are based on IFRS accounting standards. These figures are a summary of the detailed financial results as presented in the annual report to be released at the end of April Financial calendar and financial information Annual General Meeting: 20 May 2008 at 9 a.m. Annual report due out: last week of April 2008 Publication of the half year results: 29 August 2008 Consult our financial data by clicking the Investors section on our website this section provides access to all press releases, financial reports and other useful information. You may also register to receive a regular copy of the I.R.I.S. investors newsletter. For more information: Denis Hermesse, CFO IMAGE RECOGNITION INTEGRATED SYSTEMS GROUP S.A. Rue du Bosquet 10, Parc Scientifique de Louvain la Neuve, B 1435 Mont Saint Guibert Tel Fax investors@irislink.com I.R.I.S. GROUP SA Financial statements as at 31 December 2007 Press release Page 5