Press Releases

EQS Group AG starts 2015 very well / Investments in geographic expansion begin bearing fruit

Munich - May 29, 2015

EQS Group AG (ISIN: DE0005494165) has started its new business year successfully, markedly growing its business both domestically and internationally in the first quarter. Investments in geographic expansion are bearing fruit. Between January and March, the group achieved revenues amounting to EUR4.207 million, representing 27% growth over the same period the previous year. The EBIT before amortisation of the acquired customer assets and before acquisition costs (Non-IFRS) rose by 75% to EUR.481 million as a result of our scalable business model. The adjusted earnings totaled EUR.37 million. The adjusted result per share for the current first quarter rose from the previous year's first quarter from EUR.07 to EUR.32.

The EQS Group's dynamic international expansion has become increasingly more important due to Germany's shrinking equity market. After successfully integrating the TodayIR-Group in 2014, EQS has gained a strong foothold in Asia's key growth markets, in particular China. The launch of the EQS COCKPIT for Asia in February 2015 underscores this positive development. In the first quarter alone, EQS Group distributed 205 financial news announcements of Asian clients within Asia, as well as to Europe and the U.S.

Achim Weick, CEO of EQS Group AG: "We're very pleased with the start of the 2015 business year. The investments we made in international expansion last year are showing very satisfying initial results. And we're also profiting domestically from our strong market position: we're all the more motivated to continue building EQS Group into a leading global provider."

The Regulatory Information & News segment, in which mandatory news and news distribution is bundled, increased its news volume by 2% to 4,788. Revenues decreased by 5% to EUR1.392 million as the first news distributed in Asia were still included in existing service contracts of most clients.

The Products & Services segment, which offers a broad portfolio of digital corporate communications solutions, grew considerably in all three business divisions in the first quarter. Segment revenues rose 49% to EUR 2.918 million. The Website and Platforms division profited particularly from Asian expansion, increasing by 76% to EUR 1.213 million. The Reports & Webcasts division (+25% to EUR 1.206 million) as well as XML-Reports provided particularly strong impetus for growth. The third division of the Segment, Distribution & Media, almost doubled revenues to EUR 0.397 million in the first quarter after the collapse of the market in the first quarter of the previous year, profiting from the recovery of German small cap bond offerings.

Forecast confirmed

The EQS Group Management Board expects continued revenue increases of between 10-15% to EUR18 - EUR18.8 million for the current business year. We expect a decrease of 5-10% to EUR3 - EUR3.15 million in Non-IFRS EBIT due to higher expenditures, particularly for expansion into China's markets. EQS Group expect 2016 to see new records in revenue and adjusted EBIT.

Management will comment on results today beginning at 11:00 a.m. (CET) via teleconference which will be streamed live online at www.eqs.com.
 

*Non-IFRS performance indicators before amortisation on acquired customer assets & acquisition costs

 

Further Comments:

First quarter 2015 figures are unaudited.

The complete quarterly report can be found and downloaded at www.eqs.com in Investor Relations in an interactive version.

Receive EQS Group AG corporate news immediately and free of charge on your mobile device or directly on your AppleWatch via the DGAP News App (http://newsapp.dgap.de/) as well as via text message and download. Register at www.eqs.com in the Investor Relations section.

About EQS Group

The EQS Group is a Munich-headquartered leading international provider of digital corporate communications.

Since its founding in 2000, the EQS Group has grown to be a leading global provider of digital solutions for investor relations and corporate communications. Its solutions and services enable over 7,000 companies worldwide to fulfill complex domestic and international corporate information requirements securely, timely and efficiently.

EQS Investor Relations and EQS Corporate Communications disseminate financial and corporate news, develop corporate websites and apps, produce online financial as well as sustainability reports, and execute audio and video broadcasts. EQS Financial Markets & Media and ARIVA.DE (25.44%) are active in financial marketing, data and content delivery as well as the development of financial portals. Through its DGAP service, the EQS Group is the institution by which companies fulfill mandatory regulatory news dissemination requirements.

The EQS Group is headquartered in Munich, with a further domestic office in Hamburg. The international growth strategy has led to subsidiaries in Zurich, Moscow, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Singapore, Taipei, and Kochi. EQS Group currently has over 170 employees.