BRAIN FORCE HOLDING AG (Vienna Stock Exchange: BFC, Reuters: BFCG), a leading IT service company with business operations in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Slovakia and the USA announces a revenue growth of 16% for the first quarter 2011/12 (October 1 to December 31, 2011). Herewith the company achieved a growth in revenues for the fourth consecutive quarter, showing two-digit growth rates in the prior nine months.

The Group’s revenues in the first three months increased by € 2.76 million to € 19.81 million, whereby all regions reported a growth. However, the positive performance development of the prior two quarters could not be repeated. The operating EBITDA amounted to € 0.30 million compared to € 0.76 million in the previous year, the operating EBIT decreased from € 0.21 million to € -0.23 million. “We had to report a negative operating result for the first time since the second quarter 2010/11.This is due to the competition and price pressure encountered by the operating companies on the one hand; on the other hand sales activities to acquire new customers were intensified, thus increasing selling expenses”, explains Michael Hofer, Chief Executive of BRAIN FORCE HOLDING AG. Additionally restructuring costs in the amount of € 0.68 million burden the result for the first quarter 2011/12. The Group EBITDA amounts to € -0.38 million compared to € 0.76 million in the previous year, the Group EBIT turned from € 0.21 million to € -0.91 million.

In Germany (50% of Group revenues) revenues increased by 4% to € 9.98 million, the operating EBITDA decreased from € 0.67 million to € 0.32 million; the operating EBIT amounted to € 0.13 million compared to € 0.47 million in the previous year.Additionally restructuring costs in the amount of € 0.68 million arose in the FINAS area, whereby an EBITDA of € -0.35 million and an EBIT of € -0.54 million were generated. “Although the area FINAS had developed positively because of license sales and short-term work in the previous fiscal year, the management had to reduce staff by the end of December to further enable a sustainable positive development” explains Michael Hofer. In Italy (30% of Group revenues) revenues increased by 12% to € 5.84 million. Despite the difficult market environment also the performance increased. The operating EBITDA (€ 0.34 million) was slightly above prior year’s level, whereby the operating EBIT increased by 15% to € 0.17 million.

In the Netherlands (16% of Group revenues) revenues were more than doubled by € 1.64 million to € 3.19 million. The operating EBITDA increased by 64% to € 0.22 million, the operating EBIT increased from € 0.01 million to € 0.10 million.

In the Central East Europe region revenues increased by 19% to € 0.80 million. The operating EBITDA increased by 63% to € 0.04 million, the operating EBIT increased to € 0.02 million. In the segment Holding and Other expenses rose by approximately € 0.24 million in the first quarter 2011/12 compared to the previous year resulting in an EBIT of € -0.65 million. This was mainly due to the premature termination of the Management contract of Thomas Melzer.

The financial result declined slightly by € 0.06 million to € -0.21 million, which is related to higher financing costs due to factoring. The result from associates (SolveDirect Service Management GmbH) amounted to € -0.61 million, compared to €-0.64 million in the previous year. In total the Group achieved a pre-tax result in the amount of € -1.73 million compared to € -0.58 million in the previous year. The loss after tax amounted to € 1.56 million compared to a loss after tax of € 0.65 million generated in the first quarter 2010/11.

For fiscal year 2011/12 BRAIN FORCE focuses on a further revenue growth and an improvement of the operating result. “The target to achieve a growth in revenues was confirmed by the increase of 16%. For the future we expect an increase of profitability and consequently an improvement of the operating result by the measures implemented to strengthen sales and expand the Network Performance Channel activities”, recapitulates Michael Hofer.

The detailed report on the first quarter 2011/12 is available for download here.

1) adjusted for restructuring cost

Download Quarterly Report 01 2011/12