Sustained growth coupled with high profitability – cloud business expands rapidly

ATOSS Software AG has increased the pace of growth and is now recording sustained success for the thirteenth year. The robust development in business is not only proof of the role played by ATOSS as a leader in technology and innovation in the market for demand-oriented personnel resource planning. It also confirms the continuously increasing importance of workforce management as a corporate instrument.

Software sales in the period from January to September were 12 percent higher at EUR 28.4 million (previous year: EUR 25.3 million), equating to 63 percent of the Group’s overall turnover. Software licenses accounted for sales of EUR 9.3 million (previous year: EUR 9.2 million). The development in the cloud business has been particularly dynamic with sales totaling EUR 2.9 million, more than double last year’s figure. The consistent positive trend in software maintenance over many years has also been sustained, with sales climbing 10 percent to EUR 16.2 million (previous year: EUR 14.7 million). As a result the proportion of recurring sales (maintenance and cloud business) increased to 42 percent (previous year: 40 percent) of overall turnover. Turnover in consulting, too, at EUR 12.9 million (previous year: EUR 10.8 million) was up by 19 percent, well above the figure for the same period last year and continuing a trend that has been evident for some years. Hardware sales and other revenues amounted to EUR 3.0 million (previous year: EUR 2.7 million) and EUR 1.1 million (previous year: EUR 0.9 million) respectively.

ATOSS is still setting new records, and not just in sales: Operating profits (EBIT) have also increased substantially despite significant investments in R&D and the sales organization, coming in 18 percent higher at EUR 12.0 million (previous year: EUR 10.2 million). Based on EBIT, the return on sales came in at 27 percent, slightly above the Management Board forecast of 25 percent for financial year 2018. ATOSS recorded earnings per share of EUR 2.02 in the first three quarters, compared with EUR 1.67 in the year before.

The market for workforce management continues to offer substantial potential for growth. The continuing trend towards digitization, new work concepts and an increasingly individualized society are bringing profound and continuous changes to the world of work. As a consequence the demand for workforce management solutions is growing unabated. As a key player in such a market environment, ATOSS is excellently positioned to record continuing success. This is demonstrated not least by the successful transition to cloud solutions. Based on orders received for software licenses and the software component of cloud subscriptions, the cloud business accounted for 30 percent of orders received, compared with 14 percent in the year before. The order book for cloud solutions valued at EUR 14.4 million (previous year: EUR 8.1 million) and software licenses at EUR 4.6 million (previous year: EUR 5.8 million) provides a first-class starting point for further success. Taking into account proposed investments to access new markets and the high level of expenditure of around one fifth of sales revenues for research & development, the company continues to expect an EBIT margin for the financial year 2018 of at least 25 percent.