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| caatoosee increases group sales for the first six months by 296 percent |
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In the first six months of the current 2000/2001 fiscal year, , a specialist for information logistics and data networking, exhibited dynamic sales growth and significantly expanded its market position through acquisitions, strategic investments, and the formation of three joint ventures.
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As of September 30, 2000, the Group's sales increased by 296% from DM 2.7 million (first six months 1999/2000) to DM 10.6 million (first six months 2000/2001). recorded an increase of 143% to DM 6.5 million, whereas the subsidiaries recorded sales of DM 4.1 million. The caatoosee Group's dynamic growth is clearly documented by the business development in the second quarter of the period under review. Compared to the first quarter of the current fiscal year, sales in the second quarter (July to September 2000) grew by 39% to DM 6.2 million.
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The strong sales growth was due, in particular, to the growing demand for 's platform solutions and the successful business model of . For O-Rai GmbH, a member of the Bertelsmann Group, caatoosee supplied all the platform technology (with the exception of operating systems and data banks) for the event portal orai.de. By means of a transactional and user-based fee, will directly participate in the success of the O-Rai platform, which is planned to start public operation at the beginning of 2001. 's work on Deutsche Bank's online platform, db business-direct, was also completed according to plan. This marketplace officially opened at the end of the reporting period. At the end of the second quarter caatoosee gained another very promising customer, Datev eG. In the next few months will construct for Datev eG a platform for tax consultants that will provide various services. "With this major project, the company has advanced decisively towards becoming the leading supplier of vertical platforms," said Guido Alt, CEO of . "In future, we intend to extend our successful business model to international markets as well."
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| Improved efficiency in all functional areas |
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| In the first six months of fiscal year 2000/2001, the caatoosee Group reported EBITDA of DM -2.5 million (previous year: DM -0,1). With significantly increasing consolidated sales, the earnings situation was influenced by the increased costs basically due to a strong build-up in personnel. This action will increase the long-term efficiency of all functional areas. For example, caatoosee increased the prior-year number of production employees, 31, to 120. The caatoosee Group primarily expanded this area at the locations in Prague and Zagreb, and established an additional production site in Romania. To guarantee the optimal organization of the international production process, resource coordination was strengthened at . In addition, caatoosee significantly expanded its sales and marketing division in order to intensify its industry-oriented market coverage. Internationalization, an essential component of the Group's strategy, moved forward in the first half of the year. Accordingly, invested in the establishment and expansion of branch offices in Great Britain, Italy and the U.S. In addition, as the leader of a rapidly expanding group of consolidated companies, has since the beginning of the year assumed an increased degree of control and planning functions, which were organizationally anchored by building up and expanding corresponding resources. |
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Taking into account write-offs of DM 2.1 million (of which DM 1.6 million was goodwill amortization) resulted in EBIT of DM -4.6 million (previous year: DM -0.2 million). This loss was compensated for particularly by securities income. reached earnings before taxes (EBT) of DM 0.6 million (previous year: DM -0.3 million) and a net result for the period of DM 0.2 million (previous year: -0.2 million). This resulted in earnings per share of EUR 0.01.
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Since June 2000, the group of consolidated companies has included Edifact AG (Dübendorf, Switzerland), 100% of which was taken over at that time. In addition, effective August 1, 2000, acquired 100% of the shares of IT-Networks GmbH (Ludwigsburg). With the addition of the products and services of its new holdings, as well as with the formation of the contara AG, stratobyte AG and S-ConVia AG joint ventures, the caatoosee Group has further expanded its very good strategic positioning in the information logistics and data networking market.
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| Four foreign subsidiaries formed |
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| As an essential component of the Group's strategy, the internationalization of the caatoosee Group also moved ahead in the first six months of the fiscal year. In the second quarter of the current fiscal year, after had already established production subsidiaries in Prague (Czech Republic) and Zagreb (Croatia) in 1999, an additional development branch office was formed in Temeswar (Romania). caatoosee formed national marketing subsidiaries in Great Britain, Italy and the United States. The Company is confident that the international marketing subsidiaries will contribute to total sales during the second half of the year. During the reporting period the Company's plans for further expansion also shifted gears toward western Europe and Asia. |
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| R&D investment more than triples |
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| To secure and expand its technological lead, caatoosee, the net-business specialist, substantially increased its investment in research and development in the first half of fiscal year 2000/2001. In the first six months of the current fiscal year, invested DM 1.5 million for research and development, compared to the DM 0.4 million that was spent in the first half of 1999/2000. Central to this effort in particular, in addition to the integration of the acquisitions, was the further development of the caatoosee product family fast2find®. |
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| Strong build-up in personnel in all core functions |
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| Although the overall labor market in the area of information technology continued to tighten in the first half of the fiscal year, the caatoosee Group was able to recruit a large number of highly qualified IT specialists. For example, the number of production employees compared to the previous year increased from 31 to 120. Within the Group as a whole, caatoosee had 237 full-time employees as at 30 September 2000. This figure includes the employees of all consolidated subsidiary companies, although not the employees of joint ventures. |
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| Company-wide integration of products and services |
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| "In the remaining half of fiscal year 2000/2001, will further optimize its strategic orientation and integrate company-wide the product and service portfolio of the Group," comments CEO Guido Alt. "We expect to continue to pursue our expansion goals and the internationalization already begun." In the short time after the initial public offering, the Company carried out other important steps by completing the acquisitions of Tectum GmbH and Dialog Links Interactive GmbH in the third quarter. Additional international marketing locations in France and Singapore are under construction. The Company sees establishing a universal trademark as another of its essential tasks; will take the actions required for this in the second half of the year. |
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The Company expects to be able to continue its positive sales growth and reach the sales and earnings targets it has set.
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