DGAP-News: CENIT AG / Key word(s): Final Results CENIT concludes successful 2015 business year: EBIT growth of approx. 14%; Management Board proposes dividend of EUR 1.00 per share 29.03.2016 / 07:55 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stuttgart, March 29, 2016 - CENIT AG has concluded a successful 2015 business year. The software company again achieved EBIT growth of approx. 14 percent. Overall sales revenue fell short of the projected increase of 3 percent. In the proprietary software field, CENIT was able to boost sales by over 25 percent on-year. Based on the annual financial statement of CENIT Aktiengesellschaft, Stuttgart, the Management and Supervisory Boards will propose to the Annual Meeting of Shareholders on May 6, 2016 that a dividend of EUR 1.00 be disbursed per share. During the 2015 business year, CENIT Group achieved total sales revenues of EUR 121,479 k (2014: EUR 123,394 k/-1.6%). Sales of CENIT's proprietary software amounted to EUR 15,949 k, a significant increase of 25.3% over the previous year (EUR 12,728 k). Sales revenues from CENIT Consulting and Services totaled EUR 50,862 k and thus decreased by 5.7% on-year (EUR 53,943 k). Sales of third-party software also contracted slightly (-3.3%) to EUR 54,391 k (2014: EUR 56,251 k). In 2015, gross profits (operating performance less cost of materials) totaled EUR 76,379 k (2014: EUR 75,200 k), an increase of 1.6%. CENIT achieved EBITDA in the amount of EUR 12,696 k (2014: EUR 11,662 k/8.9%) and EBIT of EUR 10,601 k (2014: EUR 9,328 k/13.6%). Earnings per share were EUR 0.87 (2014: EUR 0.76/14.5%). Order Intake During the 2015 business year, orders received by CENIT Group totaled EUR 124,901 k (2014: EUR 122,552 k). Orders in hand on December 31, 2015 amounted to EUR k 37,914 (2014: EUR 34,578 k). Asset and Financial Situation CENIT has no liabilities in relation to credit institutions, whether short-term or long-term. On the balance-sheet date, the company's equity capital was EUR 39,843 k (2014: EUR 39,352 k), representing an equity ratio of 59.6% (2014: 58.8%). On the balance-sheet date, bank deposits and liquid assets totaled EUR 33,941 k (2014: EUR 33,250 k). Operative cash flow amounted to EUR 9,465 k (2014: EUR 9,401 k). In 2015, cash flow was influenced by a dividend payment to shareholders in the total amount of EUR 7,531 k and investments in the amount of EUR 1,643 k. Employees On December 31, 2015 CENIT Group employed 628 staff worldwide (2014: 659). Consolidated personnel expenditures during the reporting period were EUR 48,554 k (2014: EUR 49,129 k). CENIT currently provides training for 43 young professionals in a variety of occupations. Trainees include informatics and economics students from the Dual University of Baden-Württemberg (DHBW) and vocational trainees in the field of information technology. Dividend The Management and Supervisory Boards will propose to the General Meeting of Shareholders on May 6, 2016 that a dividend of EUR 0.50 per share, as well as the base dividend of EUR 0.50 per share announced during the previous year, be disbursed from CENIT AG's unappropriated profit in the amount of EUR 8,437 k. Outlook An equity ratio of well over 50% places CENIT on very secure footing. This lets CENIT act as a strong and reliable partner to its customers. For the current business year, CENIT Group anticipates sales growth of up to 5% and an increase in operating results (EBIT) in the high single digits. The complete 2015 Annual Report is available in German and English on the CENIT homepage: www.cenit.com/reports. About CENIT: CENIT has been successfully active for more than 25 years as a leading consulting and software specialist for optimizing business processes in the fields of Digital Factory, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), SAP Solutions, Enterprise Information Management (EIM), Business Intelligence (BI) and Application Management Services (AMS). CENIT supplements standard solutions by strategic partners such as Dassault Systèmes, SAP and IBM with well-established proprietary software development. These include the FASTSUITE product family for software solutions in the digital factory sphere, cenitCONNECT for SAP PLM-related processes, cenitSPIN as a high-performance PLM desktop, as well as CENIT ECLISO for efficient information management. The enterprise employs about 700 staff worldwide, serving customers e.g. from the automotive, aerospace, mechanical engineering, tool and mold construction, financial services, commercial and consumer goods industries. www.cenit.com Please address queries to: CENIT AG Investor Relations Industriestrasse 52-54, D-70565 Stuttgart Tel.:+497117825-3320 Fax:+49711782544-4320 Email: [email protected] Additional Information: This press release/ad hoc report may contain future-oriented statements regarding the business, financial and earnings situation of, as well as profit projections for, CENIT. Such future-oriented statements are characterized by terms or statements such as "the company may" or "the company will", "expects", "assumes", "is considering", "intends to", "plans", "believes", "will continue to" and/or "estimates", as well as similar terms and statements. Such statements contain no guarantee that the projections will in fact be achieved. Rather, such statements involve risks, imponderables and assumptions that are difficult to predict and, in addition, are based on assumptions as to future events which may prove to be incorrect. For this reason, actual events may diverge significantly from the assumptions contained in the respective statement. In a future-oriented statement by which CENIT expresses expectations or assumptions with regard to future events, these expectations or assumptions are made in good faith, and it shall be assumed that they are made upon an appropriate basis; however, it cannot be guaranteed that the said statements, expectations or assumptions shall indeed occur, or be attained or fulfilled. The actual operative result may diverge significantly from such future-oriented statements and is subject to certain risks. In this regard, please refer to the Annual Report of CENIT AG. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 29.03.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: CENIT AG Industriestraße 52 - 54 70565 Stuttgart Germany Phone: +49 (0)711 78 25 - 30 Fax: +49 (0)711 78 25 - 4000 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.cenit.com ISIN: DE0005407100 WKN: 540710 Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 448879 29.03.2016