Actualités

PSI with 8 % Increase in Sales in First Six Months

08.08.2018

New orders increased by 22 % compared to previous year, EBIT increased by 8 % to 6.2 million euros, group net result by 41 % to 4.3 million euros, Strong growth in energy grids and recovery in Southeast Asia.

PSI Group increased its new orders by 22 % to 135 million euros in the first six months of 2018 (30 June 2017: 111 million euros). The order book volume on 30 June 2018 was, with 165 million euros, 11 % above the value for the previous year (30 June 2017: 148 million euros). The group sales improved by 8 % to 94.6 million euros (30 June 2017: 87.6 million euros), primarily as a result of the strong growth in the electrical grids business. The EBIT increased by 8 % to 6.2 million euros (30 June 2017: 5.7 million euros), the group net result improved by 41 % to 4.3 million euros (30 June 2017: 3 million euros) as a result of significantly improved financial earnings and lower deferred taxes.

Energy Management, which, as of the first quarter of 2018 consists of the areas, energy grids, energy trading, public transportation and the South-Asian business, achieved 12 % higher sales of 46.9 million euros (30 June 2017: 41.9 million euros) in the first six months. The EBIT for the business improved compared to the previous year to 2.5 million euros (30 June 2017: 2.2 million euros). The electrical grids business won other major contracts, especially from regular German customers like the Deutsche Bahn, and had a strong increase in new orders and sales. The gas and oil business completed the pilot project Upgradeability of Gas Control Systems and won rollout orders from regular central European customers. In the energy trading systems business, PSI won key accounts from a competitor who left the market. The PSI subsidiary in Southeast Asia provided a positive EBIT with increasing new orders and sales. In the field of public transportation, PSI won an important initial pilot order for depot/charging infrastructure management and in July 2018 acquired the planning software manufacturer Moveo Software GmbH.

Sales in Production Management (raw materials, industry, logistics), which as of the first quarter also includes the Polish business, were, with 47.6 million euros, 4 % (first quarter −1 %, second quarter +10 %) above the figure for the previous year (30 June 2017: 45.7 million euros). The EBIT improved slightly to 4.3 million euros (30 June 2017: 4.2 million euros). In the metal industry, PSI management expects increased new orders from shifting production as a result of the new tariffs as well as investments in quality and is therefore doubling the size of the team in the USA. The automotive and mechanical engineering business completed demanding development jobs in the first six months, amongst which were the pilot developments for the production planning system that was migrated to the PSI Java platform, the integration of the sequential optimization and the new Business Process Management (BPM) based production control for the e.GO mobile electrical vehicles. Logistics won a major airport logistics contract and invested in an expansion of capacity. By moving into a building that allows for growth, the EBIT was slightly encumbered by the costs of moving and lost working hours. To take advantage of the boom in Internet trading that is occurring not only in Germany and Poland, the logistics sales and services are also being expanded to the PSI sites in Great Britain and Southeast Asia.

The number of employees on 30 June 2018 had increased to 1,722 (30 June 2017: 1.626). The focus on new hires was again in Germany and other industrialized countries in Europe and North America. The cashflow from normal operations was characterized by the changes in the working capital and improved significantly to 5.0 million euros (30 June 2017: –5.7 million euros). Despite the higher dividend, liquidity increased slightly to 35.8 million euros (30 June 2017: 34.6 million euros). PSI continues to be interested in manageable and suitable acquisitions.

The transformation to a product-upgrade-based business model and the rollout of the PSI Java platform made progress in the second quarter. PSI invested in open-source, powerful and inexpensive databases (PostgreSQL), to become more independent and increase margins. With the investment in the expansion of capacity and in view of the current general conditions, the PSI board expects sales of 200 million euros for 2018. Although one-off costs in sales (prototypes) and in development (support of US standards) must be accomplished, the board corroborated the expectations of an EBIT of more than 15 million euros.