In Q1 2009 Atea generated revenue of MNOK 3 504 representing a growth of 8.7%. Services revenue reached MNOK 790 and continued with exceptional growth of 21.4%. Software revenue increased by 9.4% and hardware revenue increased by 4.3% compared with same period last year.
“I am very pleased to see continued revenue growth in all three product segments in a tough market where market analysts expect negative growth within the hardware market and a slightly positive growth within software and services. It really shows that our business model, our increased market pressure and attack plans are creating positive results,” says Claus Hougesen, CEO of Atea.
According to IDC the total Nordic IT infrastructure market targeted by Atea called “Atea Blue Box”, is expected to decline by 1.6% in 2009. Hardware sales are forecasted to decline by 6.4%, software growth of 2.7% and services growth of 2.1% in value. Preliminary market numbers for Q1 2009 from market analysts indicate a continuing double digit drop in sales of commercial desktops, notebooks and servers.
“We have been able to increase our hardware revenue during Q1 2009, while the hardware market has declined substantially in the Nordic and Baltic markets. This means that we are gaining market share in all segments and we are selling more to new customers as well as existing customers. This creates an even stronger platform for growth once the crisis is over,” says Claus Hougesen.
Going forward Atea expects challenging market conditions during 2009 but probably more stable market conditions during second half of 2009. Atea has approximately 50% of the sales to the public sector and expects to continue strengthening the position as the absolute market leader within IT infrastructure in the Nordic and Baltic region.
Atea maintains the financial strength during the economic crisis due to a strong and stable cash flow. Net interest bearing debt was reduced with MNOK 76 to MNOK 602 as of March 31, 2009 compared to the beginning of the year. Equity as of March 31, 2009 was MNOK 2 618 and the solidity was 40.0%.
Due to the challenging market conditions Atea launched a cost reduction programme in the beginning of 2009. The program has a defined cost saving target for the Group of MNOK 130 for the full year 2009 based on the run rate going into 2009. This represents a cost reduction of 4.0%. Atea reports that cost savings are being realised according to plan.
“We believe in thinking long-term also in tough times and are investing in new business areas and sales initiatives. Atea will continue to actively pursue interesting acquistions in order to gain market share and to attract attractive competencies to strengthen our organisations,” says Claus Hougesen.
In April 2009, Atea launched Ateadirect, a focused business model for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in Denmark. Ateadirect enables the user to purchase in a user friendly environment, either by web, telephone or by email. The plan is to roll out this concept in the other Nordic countries and the Baltics, as part of the strategy to achieve an even stronger presence in the SME market.
Atea is clearly focused on reaching the corporate target 20:11:1, which means that we expect to reach NOK 20 billion in revenue and 1 billion in EBITDA in 2011.
For further information, please contact:
Claus Hougesen, CEO Atea ASA, mobile + 45 25 43 51 62
Rune Falstad, CFO Atea ASA, mobile + 47 90 61 44 82
About Atea
Atea is the leading Nordic and Baltic supplier of IT infrastructure with approximately 4500 employees. Atea is present in 71 cities in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The Group deliver IT products from leading vendors and assist our customers with specialist competencies within IT infrastructure services. Atea has an annual revenue about NOK 15 billion and is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange.