Nocom AB (publ): Interim Report January-March 2003 (summary)

Nocom AB (publ): Interim Report January-March 2003 (summary) · Turnaround in the Company's profit provides strong position · Profit increased considerably in comparison with the same period the previous year. Profit after financial items totaled SEK 2.1 (-17.9) million · The second consecutive quarter with a positive operating profit before depreciation. · Operating profit before depreciation totaled SEK 5.0 (-9.8) million · Sales totaled SEK 36.9 (40.7) million · Cash flow from current operations totaled SEK 1.6 (-8.6) million, despite being burdened with SEK 4 million attributable to the action plan from the fall of 2002 · In April CEO Stefan Skarin became the new principal owner of Nocom and holds 13.2 percent of the capital and 34.2 percent of the votes A Few Words from the CEO The first quarter of 2003 entailed a turnaround for Nocom's profit trend and strengthened our position with regard to our work towards long-term profitability. We fulfilled our promise of continued result improvement and see positive effects from the Company's repositioning and the action plan we implemented. Despite the fact that the market is characterized by reduced IT investment and a recessionary trend, we reported a positive result and a six percent operating margin. This is our best quarterly result in five years. We also achieved a positive cash flow for the second consecutive quarter, despite charges attributable to the action plan from the fall of 2002. During the first quarter we worked very intensely with sales and marketing activities. The response has been positive, and it is our opinion that our efforts will provide us with increased sales during the coming quarters. Our business during the period consisted of a large number of minor and a few major deals in the form of more users at existing customers. Business of a more intermediate size is now rare and our assessment is that IT investments are subject to comprehensive and time consuming decision-making processes at a much lower level than was previously the case. The largest contracts during the quarter concerned host computer access (integration technology), where our long-standing distribution of WRQ's products gave us a market-leading position. Integration will continue to be our largest technology field, but the fields of analysis, security, and development tools also showed growth during the period. The difficult market situation has led to increased competition within the distribution chain, which has benefited us since we have both product expertise and lengthy experience, an attractive product portfolio, and a large number of established partners and retailers. We currently receive more enquiries from leading suppliers who are seeking an established distributor with a competent service offering. Travelutions developed well during the quarter, despite the fact that the travel market was hard hit with major cutbacks among many of the industry's major companies. Nocom e-channel center has achieved earning stability and has during the period received increased commitments from existing customers. In our ambition to refine our offering, we divested our holdings in the affiliated company MR Mobile Relations AB to Europolitan Vodafone. In conjunction with this deal, Vodafone signed a three-year hosting and service agreement with Nocom, for the Vodafone SMS Pro corporate service. An important part of our continued streamlining is complementing our product portfolio with new suppliers and increasing our expertise within growing technology fields, both within the Company and among our partners. The product portfolio was complemented during the quarter with software within the security and development tools technology fields. In order to strengthen our support and training offering to our customers, partners, and retailers, we will certify more people within the security, analysis, and development tools technology fields. Our positive result further strengthens our position as a long-term distributor for our suppliers. We are continuing our investments in sales and marketing and skills development for our employees. We are continuing to work to attain profitability, a long-term approach, and refinement of our offering. Uppsala, Sweden, Thursday, May 15, 2003 Nocom AB (publ) Stefan Skarin, CEO Dates for Financial Reports Interim Report, January-June August 21, 2003 Interim Report, January - September November 4, 2003 For further information, please contact Stefan Skarin, Chief Executive Officer tel: +46 708 65 10 05 e-mail: stefan.skarin@nocom.se Stefan Ström, Chief Financial Officer tel: +46 708 65 10 68 e-mail: stefan.strom@nocom.se This report is available in Swedish and English. The English version is virtually the same as the Swedish report. If deviations between the Swedish and the English version occur, the Swedish version should apply. Nocom AB (publ) is an innovative IT company with an offering aimed directly at client companies, as well as at partners and resellers. The Company is focused on IT solutions for use within integration, security, analysis, development tools, and infrastructure. Our offering encompasses market-leading software with support, maintenance, professional services, and training. Our e-channel center offers advanced hosting solutions for critical business systems. The group also includes Travelutions, IT and management consultants with a focus on the travel industry. Clients are found primarily among large and medium size companies in the Scandinavian market. Nocom has about 80 employees and is represented in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. The company was founded in 1985 and has been quoted on the Stockholmsbörsen's O-List (NOCM B) since 1999. Read more at www.nocom.com ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/05/22/20030522BIT00870/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/05/22/20030522BIT00870/wkr0002.pdf The full report