|
|
|
NEWSWIRE
|
|
Niscayah's 1H results fall short of expectations |
By Steven Sachoff - 23.07.2008 
|
STOCKHOLM--Preliminary figures released on Monday by systems integration giant Niscayah, for the first six months of 2008, came in below expectations, a fact the company attributed to the slow pace of development in the UK and southern European markets.
Group sales did manage to rise by 8 percent year on year, with organic growth accounting for 5 percent of the total increase. In total, 1H sales reached SEK 3.74bn (EUR 396.8mln), up from SEK 3.46bn in the same period a year earlier.
STORY CONTINUES BELOWAdvertisement
Preliminary figures for operating income before amortization (EBITA) amounted to SEK 232mln, down from SEK 281mln the previous year, resulting in an EBITA margin of 6.2 percent, compared to 8.1 percent in 1H 2007.
In a statement, Niscayah president and CEO Juan Vallejo said the 1H results fell short of expectations "mainly due to a weaker than expected development in the UK and southern Europe." In addition, he said that "costs for rebranding and costs for the concluding phase of the project write-downs in the Norwegian operation" also weighed on the results.
The company expects the trend to continue in the second half of this year. "The weaker sales growth during the first half-year in combination with market insecurity within the customer groups banking and retail implies that previously communicated full-year outlook of total sales growth of over 10 percent and an EBITA margin around 9 percent most likely cannot be obtained," the statement said.
At the same time, other client segments are holding up for the time being, and the company's activities in a wide range of sectors should help to mitigate the slowdown in banking and retail. "So far, we haven't noticed any weakening development outside the [banking and retail] customer groups," Else Traegardh told Security Systems News Europe. "In many other countries we have a stronger position in other customer groups, which means that we have a diversification of customers, and a larger impact is not that likely," she added.
Traegardh said the company would not comment further on the full-year outlook until the publication of the full 1H interim report on August 5.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
