Stuttgart, 28 February 2011 – International IT company GFT Technologies AG (GFT) today announced its preliminary and unaudited financial figures for the financial year 2010. The company posted record figures for both revenue and pre-tax earnings (EBT). At EUR 248.26 million, total revenue was 15 percent above the corresponding prior-year figure of EUR 216.81 million; EBT grew by 47 percent to EUR 11.55 million (prior year: EUR 7.86 million). “Both business divisions made encouraging progress in 2010 and enjoyed steady growth throughout the year,” says GFT’s CEO Ulrich Dietz. “We now intend to drive the company’s international growth over the next few years. With our innovative IT solutions, we already provide solutions for the latest future topics – especially in the financial services sector. In addition, our global network of experts enables customers to react flexibly to growing demand for highly skilled personnel. We see tremendous growth potential for both divisions and have therefore set a revenue target of EUR 500 million for 2015.”


Revenue: strong demand from finance sector in UK, Spain and USA

The gradual return to stability of the financial sector was reflected in the positive development of revenue generated by the GFT Group in 2010. Consolidated revenue rose to EUR 248.26 million, corresponding to growth of 15 percent (previous year: EUR 216.81 million). This increase resulted from the positive development of the Services segment. The business division benefited from resurgent demand in the financial sector which raised segment revenue by 27 percent to EUR 116.47 million (previous year: EUR 91.35 million). Over the course of the year, demand was particularly strong for IT solutions for corporate and investment banking in the USA and UK, as well as outsourcing services in Spain. GFT posted strong growth rates in these countries: in the UK, revenue was increased by 62 percent, in Spain by 47 percent and in the USA by 46 percent.


Earnings: Services segment enjoys strong growth in earnings

Earnings before taxes were up 47 percent on the previous year to reach EUR 11.55 million (previous year: EUR 7.86 million). The Services division made the largest contribution with earnings of EUR 9.40 million (previous year: EUR 6.21 million). In addition to the increased revenue volume, the high utilisation rate of the division’s development centres had a positive impact on its operating result.


Outlook: positive trend set to continue in 2011

“We made key investments in important innovation topics during 2010, thus laying an excellent foundation for further growth,” says Ulrich Dietz. “Our ‘touch banking’ solution for modern investment advice has tapped into an exciting growth market. We aim to develop further mobile banking applications at our Mobile Finance Competence Centre over the coming years. We see considerable growth potential for our innovative and secure solutions in this field during 2011. Our Resourcing division aims to exploit a further growth market by placing a growing number of highly skilled mechanical engineers in future, in addition to IT specialists. We are optimistic about the future and confident of reaching revenue of EUR 275 million and pre-tax earnings of EUR 13 million in our financial year 2011,” forecasts GFT’s CEO.

The GFT Group sees its corporate strategy confirmed by these developments. Ulrich Dietz states: “We are now pursuing our target of EUR 500 million consolidated revenue by 2015 with great energy. By means of organic growth and strategic acquisitions, we aim to continually develop the GFT Group internationally and strengthen our positioning as a strategic IT partner.”


Increased dividend

Against the backdrop of the company’s encouraging performance, the Executive Board will propose to the Supervisory Board to make a proposal to the Annual General Meeting to raise the dividend for financial year 2010 by 50 percent to EUR 0.15. This corresponds to a total dividend payout of EUR 3.95 million.


Additional key data

The Services division enjoyed strong growth in 2010. The segment benefited from increased demand from the financial sector and accounted for EUR 9.40 million (previous year: EUR 6.21 million) of total earnings. This corresponds to an increase of 51 percent. There was also encouraging growth in segment revenue, which was up 27 percent to EUR 116.47 million (previous year: EUR 91.35 million). This revenue was mainly generated by IT solutions for corporate and investment banking in the growing markets of the UK and USA, where business also benefited from the proximity to GFT’s development centre in Brazil.

The Resourcing division, which generates a significant proportion of its revenue with clients in the industrial sector, felt a noticeable improvement in the general economic situation during the past financial year. Although demand for freelance IT specialists was still weak in the first half of 2010, the recovery of the industrial sector began to gather speed in the further course of the year. This upswing in the manufacturing industry resulted in stronger demand and had a significant impact on segment revenue. All in all, the division generated revenue of EUR 131.77 million (previous year: EUR 125.45 million) and posted pre-tax earnings of EUR 2.99 million (previous year: EUR 2.75 million). In France, the acquisition of new customers helped raise revenue by 33 percent.

The Software division was discontinued in May 2010. In accordance with IFRS regulations, it is therefore no longer included in these key financial figures.

The return to stability in the financial and industrial sectors had a positive impact on revenue and earnings in the fourth quarter. In the last three months of the year under review, the GFT Group posted revenue of EUR 69.52 million (previous year: EUR 57.91 million) and earnings before taxes of EUR 2.79 million (EUR 2.21 million).

In its financial year 2010, the GFT Group increased headcount by 19 percent to 1,300 employees as of 31 December (previous year: 1,096). This rise was largely due to the takeover of personnel as part of an outsourcing project started in 2009, as well as to the high capacity utilisation of the Services division. New employees were recruited at the Group’s development centres in Spain and Brazil. Headcount in Germany increased by 38. Approximately 100 new employees are expected to be recruited world-wide during 2011.
 
On 31 December 2010, the GFT Group held cash, cash equivalents and securities of EUR 40.32 million; EUR 2.62 million more than in the previous year. Net income increased by 33 percent to EUR 8.25 million (prior year: EUR 6.19 million). Basic earnings per share rose from EUR 0.23 in 2009 to EUR 0.31 in the period under review.

In EUR million	01.01.-31.12.2010	01.01.-31.12.2009
Revenue	248.26	216.81
EBITDA	12.05	8.54
Total depreciation	-1.18	-1.21
EBIT	10.88	7.34
Earnings before taxes (EBT)	11.55	7.86
Net income from continued operations	8.25	6.19
Net loss from discontinued operations	-0.47	-1.44
Net income	7.77	4.74
Earnings per share acc. to IAS 33 in EUR	0.31	0.23
Equity ratio in percent	56	58
Employees, absolute figure at year-end (excluding Software division)	1,300	1,096

*Deviations possible due to rounding differences