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2014 half-year results(ENP Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ENP Newswire - 01 August 2014 Release date- 29072014 - Paris -The Board of Directors of Bull (Euronext Paris: FR0010266601 - BULL) met on 28 July 2014 to examine and approve its interim consolidated financial statements reviewed by the Company's auditors. Key figures 1st half (EUR millions) 2014 2013 Change Order intake 680.3 635.5 +7.1% Book-to-bill ratio 116% 105% Revenues 585.4 606.1 (2.6%)* Gross profit 125.8 121.8 Gross margin 21.5% 20.1% +140bp EBIT 14.4 11.4 +3.0 Under the 'One Bull' plan, a new operational structure has been introduced resulting in a new presentation of financial information. See the 'Presentation of financial information and glossary' section at the end of this press release for more details. The change in revenues is stated here at constant exchange rates. Philippe Vannier, Chairman and CEO of Bull, commented: 'The first half of 2014 has been one of the most important stages in the recent development of the Group, with the launch of the One Bull strategic plan and the proposed combination with Atos that will enable its accelerated implementation. Numerous initiatives relating to the plan have already been launched, with early results fully in line with our expectations and a further increase in the contribution expected in the second half. Successes achieved in cloud computing, security and supercomputers comfort us in our strategy and our ambitions in these promising areas.' During the first half of 2014: Order intake rose 7.1% to EUR680.3 million, driven by successes in supercomputers and the cloud, with a positive book-to-bill ratio of 116%; Revenues totalled EUR585.4 million, down 2.6% at constant exchange rates and down 3.4% at current exchange rates, with lower investment in traditional IT infrastructure whilst cloud computing saw strong growth; EBIT was EUR14.4 million, an increase of EUR3.0 million on the first half of 2013, driven by a 140 basis point increase in gross margin; Operating cash flow improved significantly, with an outflow of EUR74.6 million, from EUR108.4 million in the same period in 2013; The One Bull strategic plan for 2014-2017, which aims to double EBIT margin to 7% by 2017, was launched, with the activation of the three levers identified in the plan: Focus: a refocusing of businesses on the areas of the cloud and Big Data, with the beginning of a partial or selective withdrawal from certain business areas, offerings or geographic locations, considered non-strategic or dilutive; Efficiency: improvements in the efficiency of the Group through the introduction of a new operating structure. This simplifies the organisation, with a significant reduction in the number of operational units, and will result in a geographical regrouping of Bull worldwide, based on five regional clusters, thus beginning the process of optimising the structure of the Group's fixed costs; People: the overhaul of the enterprise-wide agreements has begun with the process of termination of the existing agreements and practice relating to the structure and working hours. Given the progress on these initiatives, the costs of implementing the One Bull plan were recognised in the income statement for an amount of EUR56.9 million, in line with the estimate given at the time the plan was announced. Net profit attributable to the Group was negative in the amount of EUR60.4 million, reflecting the inclusion of the costs of the One Bull 2014-2017 plan in first half figures. Outlook In January 2014, the Bull Group presented and launched the One Bull plan, which aims to position Bull as the trusted operator for enterprise data and to double EBIT margin to 7% by 2017. Group results Order intake rose 7.1% to EUR680.3 million, in the first half of 2014, taking the book-to-bill ratio to 116%. Success in the private cloud market and in the supercomputer field were the main drivers of this performance. Revenues totalled EUR585.4 million, down 2.6% at constant exchange rates and down 3.4% at current exchange rates, with contrasting trends in different business areas. Weak investment in traditional IT infrastructure hit the Data Infrastructure business, whilst successes in cloud computing, which enjoyed double-digit growth, pushed Data Management revenues higher. Gross margin was 140 basis points higher in the first half of 2014, at 21.5% of revenues. All Group business activities contributed to this improvement. The efforts made as part of the One Bull strategic plan helped bring about the start of a sequential reduction in fixed costs, which were lower at the end of the half than at the beginning. Moreover, after correction for favourable one-off of 2013, operating costs were lower in the first half of 2014. This illustrates the fact that the fixed cost structure also improved year-on-year. EBIT thus rose by EUR3.0 million over the first half of the year, to EUR14.4 million, with EBIT margin improving by 60 basis points. Restructuring costs recognised on the Group's income statement to 30 June 2014 came to EUR62.1 million. This amount consists of EUR56.9 million of costs relating to the 'One Bull' plan, including EUR7.8 million of costs incurred in the first half and EUR49.1 million in provisions against other costs of the plan. Total costs relating to the One Bull plan are in line with the estimates provided at the launch of the plan in January 2014. The charge for amortisation of intangible assets relating to acquisitions was EUR1.1 million. Income from disposals and other operating income and expenses represented an expense of EUR1.7 million in the first half of 2014, including EUR2 million in the partial amortisation of some goodwill. Income from associates produced a loss of EUR1.8 million, mainly arising from the Group's share in the results recorded by Numergy, whose initial investment phase is still in progress. Net financial expense came to EUR4.2 million, including a charge of EUR2.6 million for adjustments to retirement benefit liabilities. The tax charge, which included the Cotisation sur la Valeur Ajoutee des Entreprises (CVAE) tax in France, was EUR3.8 million. Net profit attributable to the Group was negative in the amount of EUR60.4 million, in the first half, compared to a loss of EUR5.5 million in the year earlier period, reflecting the inclusion of the costs of the One Bull 2014-2017 plan in first half figures. Cash flow and balance sheet Operating cash flow (see Appendix 2) was negative, as always at this time of year, but the outflow was significantly reduced, from EUR108.4 million in the first half of 2013 to EUR74.6 million this time around. This good performance was due to better management of working capital requirements. The total cash outflow during the first half of 2014 amounted to EUR94.0 million. As in previous years, net cash displayed a high level of seasonal fluctuation, and stood at EUR118.6 million at 30 June 2014. Gross cash meanwhile was EUR213.1 million at 30 June 2014. Segment information Data Infrastructure This segment covers activities dedicated to the modernisation of enterprise data storage and processing infrastructure. It brings together design, deployment and maintenance of infrastructure, data centres, servers and high-performance appliances together with supercomputers. 1st half (EUR millions) 2014 2013 Change Order intake 297.2 280.7 5.9% Book-to-Bill 113% 96% Revenues 262.4 291.7 (10.0%) Gross profit 66.5 69.0 (2.5) 25.4% 23.7% +170bp Operating expenses (44.8) (46.3) +1.5 Profit contribution 21.8 22.7 (0.9) 8.3% 7.8% +50bp In the first half, order intake in the Data Infrastructure business rose 5.9% to EUR297.2 million. This good performance was driven by successes in supercomputers (HPC), particularly at DKRZ, the German meteorological service's computing centre. Revenues in the first half of 2014 were EUR262.4 million, compared to EUR291.7 million in the same period of 2013. Weak levels of investment in traditional IT infrastructure, particularly in France and Western Europe, was the main reason for this change. In addition, the actively selective approach to dilutive business identified under the One Bull plan accentuated this phenomenon, resulting in a 10.0% drop in revenues over the period. Under these weak market conditions, the strong growth recorded in supercomputers and high-performance Bullion servers was particularly remarkable. Strict cost control on customer data centre construction projects coupled with a gradual withdrawal from non-strategic and dilutive product and service offerings under the One Bull plan helped improve gross margin by 170 basis points over the first half. This strategy, combined with work on the structure of fixed costs, not only helped limit the drop in the segment's profit contribution to less than EUR1 million, but also produced a 50 basis point increase in profit margin, to 8.3%. Data Management: This segment covers service activities in the use of enterprise data. It includes systems and applications integration and security solutions as well as private cloud management services. 1st half (EUR millions) 2014 2013 Change Order intake 383.2 354.8 +8.0% Book-to-Bill 119% 113% Revenues 322.9 314.4 +2.7% Gross profit 59.3 52.8 +6.5 18.4% 16.8% +160bp Operating expenses (47.1) (46.0) (1.1) Profit contribution 12.2 6.8 +5.4 3.8% 2.2% +160bp In the first half, order intake in the Data Management sector rose 8.0% to EUR383.2 million. This dynamic growth was driven by orders relating to private cloud operations and systems integration. Revenues were 2.7% higher at EUR322.9 million. Private cloud services saw double-digit growth, whilst there was a slight decline in systems integration and security revenues over the period. Gross margin rose by 160 basis points, driven by improvements in all three divisions. Operating costs rose by EUR1.1 million, but were stable as a percentage of revenues. Thus the profit contribution margin also rose by 160 basis points, with the contribution itself EUR5.4 million higher. Second-quarter 2014 (unaudited data) Second quarter (EUR millions) Revenues Order intake Q2 2014 Q2 2013 Change Q2 2014 Q2 2013 Change Data Infrastructure 146.8 167.1 (12.2%) 169.1 164.1 3.0% Data Management: 170.2 171.4 (0.7%) 238.3 234.3 1.7% Total 317.0 338.5 (6.4%) 407.4 398.4 2.3% Unlike in 2013, the second quarter of 2014 did not see a significant making up of lost ground in the infrastructure segment in the first quarter, with the result that revenues in infrastructure were down 6.4%. However, order intake was 2.3% higher over the quarter, most notably due to a recovery in systems integration services. Highlights One Bull 2014-2017 strategic plan On 20 January 2014, Bull presented 'One Bull', its strategic plan for the period from 2014 to 2017, under which the Group aims to doubt EBIT margin to 7% by 2017 and become the trusted operator for enterprise data. The One Bull plan has three action areas: a refocusing of business activities on the areas of the Cloud and Big Data, efficiency improvements and an overhaul of enterprise wide agreements. Takeover bid from Atos On 26 May 2014, Atos, an international information technology services company, and Bull, trusted partner for enterprise data, presented their friendly combination project, a deal that would create the #1 player in Cloud operations in Europe and a leader in Big Data and security. Atos has submitted a formal bid for all of the Bull shares in issue and in circulation together with the Bull Group's OCEANE bonds. Bull's Board of Directors gave its unanimous support to the bid and recommended that shareholders and holders of the OCEANE bonds accept the offer. This offer is made only in France and participation in the offer may be subject to legal restrictions outside France. The bid prospectus was approved by the French Financial Markets Authority (Autorite des Marches Financiers, or AMF) on 24 June 2014: The offer price is EUR4.90 for each Bull share and EUR5.55 including coupons for each Bull OCEANE bond; The offer opened on 27 June 2014 and will run until 31 July 2014 inclusive. The next steps of this combination project include: July 31, 2014: Closing of the Offer period August 11, 2014: Publication by the AMF of the notice of the result of the Offer August 18, 2014: Settlement and delivery of shares Further information is available at http://www.bull.com/investors/atos-takeover-offer.html. Cloud Computing As announced under the One Bull plan, the Group is continuing to expand its activities in Cloud Computing and has received approval from the French Ministry for Health and Social Affairs as a Personal Health Data Hosting Provider for its Le Cloud by Bull - Health Edition offering. This approval will also allow Bull to establish itself as an operator of services for tele-medicine and the archiving and sharing of medical images. Bull will offer these highly secure services under a SaaS model and will help support the healthcare professions as their new requirements in tele-medicine evolve. Le Cloud by Bull - Health Edition is part of a business model that adapts to client needs through a pay-as-you go pricing approach (press release of 24/03/2014). Big Data In line with the One Bull plan, the Group is developing appliances to help organisations meet the challenges of Big Data and has launched 'bullionDB', an appliance designed to modernise databases, which are coming under increasing pressure from the growth in data volumes (13/02/2014). Still in the field of Big Data, Bull is investing to be able to offer organisations full solutions in the area of the Internet of Objects (M2M). Thus the Group will be involved in the development of intelligent cities in China under an agreement with the well-respected Chinese company IZP Technologies. Bull was chosen for its experience in 'Smart Cities' with projects covering environmental management, management of water supply and intelligent transport. These services are built on technological platforms which combine real-time analysis and value extraction from Big Data and the use of intelligent connected objects (27/03/2014). Lastly, as an example of the clear fit between HPC and Big Data, Bull has supplied the National Genome Analysis Centre in Barcelona with a supercomputer with 2.7 petabytes of storage. Genome research generates huge quantities of data which require correspondingly large computing and storage capacity, for which Bull's HPC offerings are the ideal solution. The use of high-performance computing is allowing genomics to progress at a pace that opens up the possibility of personalised medicine. At stake is better healthcare and better quality of life (25/06/2014). HPC As the European leader in high-performance computing (HPC), Bull has supplied the Polish National Nuclear Research Centre with the country's largest supercomputer. The infrastructure designed by Bull will be cooled by the most energy efficient system in the world, which works with hot water. This technology will allow the Swierk computing centre to save EUR120,000 per year (18/03/2014). Having supplied Meteo France in 2013, Bull is now cooperating with DKRZ (Deutsche Klimarechenzentrum), the German climate research centre, in the area of modelling for climate research. An initial EUR26 million contract to supply a petaflops-scale computer covers the supply of the computing and storage systems (12/05/2014). Under the DKRZ contract, Bull has also signed a partnership agreement with Xyratex, one of the leading suppliers of data technologies, for solutions combining bullx and ClusterStor, which will offer 20 times the power and energy efficiency to HPC clients around the world (26/06/2014). In Japan, as part of the international research effort on controlled nuclear fusion (ITER project), the Helios supercomputer designed and operated by Bull has had its processing power increased to 2 petaflops, making it one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world (12/03/2014). Lastly, GENCI (the National Intensive Computing Centre) has followed on from its CURIE supercomputer and once again turned to Bull for its new machine, named OCCIGEN, which has been installed at CINES (Centre Informatique National de l'Enseignement Superieur), one of the three national computing centres. With 2.1 petaflops of processing power, OCCIGEN is France's most powerful supercomputer dedicated to research, and can carry out more than two million billion operations per second, giving researchers the resources to perform a variety of intensive calculations and thus supporting the competitiveness of French research (24/06/2014). Cybersecurity In the field of Cybersecurity, Bull continues to provide solutions that meet market requirements: the integration of the TrustWay Proteccio solution within the OpenTrust software suite provides organisations with a major technological innovation and an enhanced level of security (04/02/2014). The Identity & Access Manager solution from Bull subsidiary Evidian was recognised in Gartner's first 'Magic Quadrant for Identity Governance and Administration (IGA)' (03/02/2014). In the domain of mobile security, security on the Hoox secure smartphone has been further increased through a partnership with Pradeo, an IT security solutions provider specialising in the protection and management of mobile applications. With voice and data communications already fully encrypted and the device's physical ports protected, this agreement adds security for commercial Android applications and business applications developed by client organisations (08/04/2014). The Hoox smartphone has also received 'Restricted Information' approval from the National Information Systems Security Agency (ANSSI). This approval means that the Hoox smartphone can be used to transfer data classified as 'Restricted Information', one of the levels of protection of sensitive government information (24/06/2014). In the area of security for critical systems and electronic warfare, Bull has extended its BEN Marine product range with a new navigation device (12/06/2014). In the field of distribution of hi-tech products, Elexo, a Bull subsidiary, has announced a partnership with Durabook, global market leader in semi-rugged PCs (02/04/2014), and has launched SeahawkTM, a transportable multi-screen workstation with the processing power needed for critical applications (18/03/2014). IT modernisation In systems modernisation, Bull has launched a Service Assurance offering to help IT departments guarantee the quality of the services they deliver. Based around its Service Assurance Centre, an industrial scale platform, Bull offers a range of modular service packages to support operational excellence for IT departments (20/04/2014). Bull has also launched SI Connecte, an outsourcing solution for web-connected IT systems and applications, to help organisations meet the growing need for expertise in connected systems and applications (16/01/2014). Lastly, the city of Toulouse has installed a system, designed in collaboration with Bull, for real-time monitoring of polling trends. Bull was chosen by the city of Toulouse to design and build a business intelligence solution that could meet the challenges of modern elections. The solution consolidates and distributes, in real time, data from the counts at the city's 249 polling stations, thus providing instant data on trends for the election results (16/06/2014). Other information In the area of Innovation, a key part of the Group's DNA, Bull recognised 'Visual Pro', an intelligent information system combining 3D geolocation with augmented reality, for its innovative features as part of its internal Innovation Competition 2013 (31/01/2014). Lastly, the Group has also expanded LA TRIBULL, its 'company tribe', to incorporate recruitment activities. Initially launched internally, LA TRIBULL has been a runaway success. By extending it beyond its own offices, Bull plans to recruit new talent, by promoting contact between generations and mobilising the spirit of innovation (15/04/2014). Provisional financial calendar 30 October 2014 Third quarter 2014 revenues Disclaimer This press release includes and is based, inter alia, on forward-looking information and statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance to differ from expected results. Although Bull believes that its expectations and the information in this press release were based upon reasonable assumptions at the time when they were made, it can give no assurance that those expectations will be achieved nor that the expected results will be as set out in this press release. Neither Bull nor any other company within the Bull Group is making any representation or warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability or completeness of the information in the press release, and neither Bull, any other company within the Bull Group nor any of their directors, officers or employees will have any liability to you or any other persons resulting from your use of the information in the press release. Conference call Philippe Vannier, Chairman and CEO of Groupe Bull, will hold a conference call to discuss this press release today. time: 9.00am Paris time dial-in number: +33 (0)1 70 99 32 08 (France) +44 (0)20 7162 0077 (United Kingdom) +49 (0)695 8999 0507 (Germany) The presentation used during the conference call will be available for download from www.bull.com/investors. Analysts and investors may take part in the question and answer session that will follow the presentation using the same number. About Bull Bull is the trusted operator for enterprise data. It provides cloud and big data services, as well as integrating and managing high-performance systems and end-to-end security solutions. Bull helps its clients to process all information at their disposal and use it in new ways. Bull transforms organisations' data into value, in a fully secure manner. Bull currently employs around 9,200 people across more than 50 countries, with over 700 staff totally focused on R&D. In 2013, Bull recorded revenues of EUR1.3 billion. For more information, visit: www.bull.com www.facebook.com/Bull www.twitter.com/bullfr Investor Relations: Vincent Biraud - Tel: +33 (0)1 58 04 04 23 - [email protected] Press Relations: Aurelie Negro: Tel: +33 (0)1 58 04 05 02- [email protected] Appendix 1: Consolidated condensed financial statements Summary consolidated income statement (EUR millions) 1st half 2014 1st half 2013 Revenues 585.4 606.1 Cost of products and services sold (459.5) (484.3) Gross profit 125.8 121.8 Net R&D expenses (6.3) (5.7) Selling and administrative expenses (104.8) (104.1) Foreign exchange gains/(losses) on operating cash flows (0.4) (0.6) EBIT 14.4 11.4 Amortisation of intangible assets relating to acquisitions (1.1) (1.3) Income from disposals and other operating income and expenses (1.7) 0.4 Restructuring costs (62.1) (4.1) Operating profit (50.5) 6.4 Foreign exchange gains/(losses) on financial cash flows 0.0 (0.1) Net financial income/(expense) (4.2) (5.4) Tax expense (3.8) (5.4) Income from associates (1.8) (1.1) Net income/(loss) (60.3) (5.6) Minority interests (0.1) 0.1 Net income/(loss) (Group share) (60.4) (5.5) Basic earnings per share (euros) (0.50) (0.05) Diluted earnings per share (euros) (0.50) (0.05) Condensed consolidated balance sheet (EUR millions) 30 June 2014 31 December 2013 Intangible assets and property, plant and equipment 71.8 70.8 Goodwill 105.9 108.0 Non-current financial assets 31.4 33.3 Deferred taxes 16.2 16.1 Non-current assets 225.4 228.2 Inventories and work in process 67.4 65.6 Trade receivables 132.2 120.3 Other current assets 206.0 180.8 Guarantee deposits 6.9 6.2 Cash & cash equivalents 172.8 244.3 Current assets 585.2 617.2 Total assets 810.6 845.3 Equity - Group share 70.1 139.4 Minority interests 0.9 0.9 Total non-current liabilities (excluding equity) 219.5 226.8 Current liabilities 520.1 478.2 Total liabilities 810.6 845.3 Appendix 2: Cash flow statement Cash flow statement (EUR millions) 1st half 2014 1st half 2013 Full Year 2013 EBIT 14.4 11.4 47.5 Depreciation and amortisation 9.2 9.8 19.4 Capital expenditures (11.0) (11.9) (21.1) Change in WCR (87.3) (117.6) (56.1) Cash flow provided/(used) by operating activities (74.6) (108.4) (10.4) Net financial expenses paid (3.4) (2.4) (2.7) Taxes paid (6.5) (5.5) (12.2) Non-recurring cash flows (9.5) (7.9) (17.0) Cashflow (94.0) (124.2) (42.2) Increase/(reduction) in cash (78.2) (128.8) (32.6) (Increase)/reduction in debt (15.8) 4.6 (9.6) Change in net cash (94.0) (124.2) (42.2) Net Cash 118.6 130.6 212.6 Appendix 3: Geographic split of revenues Revenues analysed by geographical region (EUR millions) 1st quarter 2nd quarter 1st half 2014 France 148.7 178.8 327.6 Europe excluding France 88.0 95.2 182.7 Rest of the world 31.7 43.0 75.1 Total 268.4 317.0 585.4 2013 France 148.2 186.2 334.4 Europe excluding France 81.6 101.4 183 Rest of the world 37.8 50.9 88.7 Total 267.6 338.5 606.1 Variation at constant exchange rates France +0.4% (4.0%) (2.0%) Europe excluding France +6.9% (6.4%) (0.3%) Rest of the world (8.1%) (10.3%) (9.6%) Total +1.2% (5.6%) (2.6%) Variation at actual exchange rates France +0.4% (4.0%) (2.0%) Europe excluding France 7.0% (6.2%) (0.2%) Rest of the world (14.8%) (15.5%) (15.3%) Total +0.3% (6.4%) (3.4%) Appendix 4: Condensed income statement by segment Condensed income statement by segment 1st Half 2014 1st Half 2013 (EUR millions) Data Infrastructure Data Management Bull Data Infrastructure Data Management Bull Revenues 262.4 322.9 585.4 291.7 314.4 606.1 Gross profit 66.5 59.3 125.8 69.0 52.8 121.8 25.4% 18.4% 21.5% 23.7% 16.8% 20.1% Operating expenses (44.8) (47.1) (91.9) (46.3) (46.0) (92.3) Profit contribution 21.8 12.2 34.0 22.7 6.8 29.5 8.3% 3.8% 7.8% 2.2% Cross-divisional costs (19.2) (17.5) Exchange rate gains (losses) (0.4) (0.6) EBIT 14.4 11.4 Presentation of financial information and glossary: As announced on 20 January 2014 at the initial presentation of the 'One Bull' plan, a new operational structure has been introduced resulting in a new presentation of financial information. Financial information for 2013 that has been restated under this new presentation has been marked . The main changes made as part of this process were as follows: activities are grouped into two business segments; the share of support function costs not allocated to business segments, recorded as 'cross-divisional costs', has been reduced and certain costs have been transferred between income statement headings, most notably some pre-sale costs moved between cost of revenue and cales costs; EBIT corresponds to earnings before tax, other operating and financial income and expense, share of income from associates and, in order to be comparable with other companies in the sector, now excludes amortisation of intangible assets relating to acquisitions (EUR2.7 million for 2013). The book to bill ratio is the ratio of new orders to revenues for the period. Indebtedness: funding obtained from the assignment of receivables with recourse, bank loans and bonds, leases and derivative instruments. Operating cash flow: cash flow before financial expenses, tax expense with an impact on cash and non-recurring cash flows from operating activities. Capital expenditures: acquisition of assets by Bull for its own use or on behalf of customers under cloud and managed services contracts. Profit contribution/margin: for each business segment, Earnings Before Interest and Taxes, other operating and financial income and expenses, income from associates, amortisation of intangible assets relating to acquisitions and cross-divisional costs. Order intake represents the total value of definite contracts signed during the period. This total value of definite contracts reflects the contractual commitments of clients, on which the Group's management may make a judgement regarding long-term contracts or those which are not of a fixed period (automatic renewals for instance). Gross cash: cash and cash equivalents including marketable securities available for sale, deposits and guarantees. They also include time deposit accounts, for which cash is available on a daily basis, but which do not satisfy all the criteria, especially those related to their maturity, for presentation as cash equivalents. Net cash: gross cash less indebtedness. In the various tables, sums may not add up to 100% due to rounding. Contact Bull Aurelie Negro 5 Bd Gallieni - 92445 Issy Les moulineaux Cedex - France Phone: +33 1 58 04 05 02 E-mail: [email protected] (c) 2014 Electronic News Publishing - |