Cision AB (publ) Year-end report January–December 2008

2/11/2009 2:38 AM EST

• The Group’s operating revenue amounted to SEK 1,783 million (1,873). Organic growth in local currency was negative in an amount of -3 percent (1). Exchange rate effects negatively impacted revenue by SEK 31 million.
• Operating profit, excluding goodwill impairments, amounted to SEK 68 million (179),and profit before tax was SEK -223 million (119). Earnings per share were SEK -3.66 (1.07).
• Excluding goodwill impairments, restructuring expenses and costs related to the takeover bid in 2008, operating profit for 2008 amounted to SEK 125 million (232),and the operating margin was 7.0 percent (12.4). Exchange rate effects did not impact profits.
• Excluding goodwill impairments and restructuring expenses, operating profit in the fourth quarter amounted to SEK 35 million (58), and the operating margin was 7.1 percent (12.7). Restructuring expenses during the quarter were SEK 21 million. Exchange rate effects in the fourth quarter had a positive impact on profits of SEK 8 million.
• Operating cash flow amounted to SEK 136 million (273). Free cash flow amounted to SEK 20 million (94).
• Cision North America’s operating margin for 2008, of 22.0 percent, was in-line with 2007, despite a more challenging market situation. CisionPoint continues to be well received by the US market.
• A new organizational structure was announced in December 2008, effective from 2009, where Cision’s European subsidiaries will form one division in order to improve cost-efficiencies and execution capabilities.
• On January 29 2009, Cision announced that it had divested its Danish subsidiary.
• The Board of Directors proposes that no dividend be paid for the fiscal year 2008.

Comment by Cision CEO Hans Gieskes:
“During the fourth quarter, Cision’s US operation experienced growth in CisionPoint sales. We expect this growth to continue in 2009 as we increase the pace of the migration of current clients to CisionPoint. In Europe, CisionPoint was launched to selected customers toward the end of the year. Strengthened by our new European organization, I expect to see the rollout of CisionPoint contributing to improved performance in Europe over the coming years.
In the Nordics and in the UK, results continued to be unsatisfactory. Further actions to reduce costs were implemented in the fourth quarter and will continue during 2009. In January 2009, we chose to divest our Danish Monitor and Analysis business, which has had unsatisfactory performance for a number of years.
Despite the uncertainties created by the economic development, I remain confident that the longer-term prospects for Cision are favorable. Cision has the right strategy, based on implementing software as a service business model, with CisionPoint as the platform. We will continue to focus our efforts on improving the execution of the transformation process we are in, to ensure improved growth and profitability.”