Berlin, 28 April 2021 – The PSI Group increased new orders by 9.4% to 105 million euros in the first quarter (31 March 2020: 96 million euros) and therefore booked more than one-hundred million euros in new orders in one quarter for the first time. The volume of orders on 31 March 2021 was, with 197 million euros, 5.4% over the figure of the previous year (31 March 2020: 187 million euros). Group sales improved by 10.3% to 56.1 million euros (31 March 2020: 50.9 million euros), with Production Management being primarily responsible for the growth after having been particularly hard hit by the Covid 19 pandemic last year. The EBIT leapt by 77% to 4.35 million euros (31 March 2020: 2.46 million euros), the group net result more than doubled to 3.1 million euros (31 March 2020: 1.5 million euros).
- New orders, with 105 million euros, for the first time over one-hundred million
- Sales increase of 10% to 56.1 million euros
- EBIT leaps by 77% to 4.4 million euros
| Performance indicators (KEUR) | 1 Jan. – 31 March 2021 | 1 Jan. – 31 March 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 56,138 | 50,888 | +10.3 % |
| EBIT | 4,351 | 2,459 | +76.9 % |
| Group net result | 3,139 | 1,512 | +107.6 % |
| Earnings per share (EUR) | 0.20 | 0.10 | +100.0 % |
Energy Management (energy grids, energy trading, public transport) achieved one-percent higher sales of 29.1 million euros (31 March 2020: 28.8 million euros) and a 42% higher EBIT of 1.7 million euros (31.3.2020: 1.2 million euros) in the first quarter. The grid business won major contracts from large existing distribution grid and rail electricity customers. The positive trend in public transport continued with additional contracts for electric bus depots; new orders stabilized at the Malaysian subsidiary PSI Incontrol.
Sales in Production Management (metals production, industry, logistics) in the first three months were, at 27.0 million euros, 22% above the previous year (31 March 2020: 22.1 million euros). The business segment, whose products are completely based on the group platform, doubled its EBIT to 3.0 million euros (31 March 2020: 1.5 million euros), although the target markets of the metals and automotive industries still struggled with the impacts of the corona crisis during the reporting period. The metals business won another major contract in the USA and contributed significantly to sales and earnings. The automotive segment also returned to growth following a drop in the previous year’s first quarter. Especially in logistics and in Poland, PSI invested in the cloud-based partner business and is seeing a further increase in demand.
The number of employees in the group increased to 2,086 (31 March 2020: 2,005) as a result of targeted hiring. The cash flow from current operations was, at 12.1 million, 41% above the value for the same quarter of the previous year (31 March 2020: 8.6 million euros). The cash and cash equivalents of 54.1 million euros (31 March 2020: 42.7 million euros) will be used for the recommended dividend and seasonal sales financing. Following the acquisition of the Prognos Energy GmbH and the NEPLAN AG last year, PSI is examining additional acquisitions in the core business.
PSI further accelerated investments in the rollout of the app-store and B2B multi-cloud technology in the first quarter. This will make it possible to deliver more and more PSI platform products not only in the PSI Cloud, but also in the more than 100 various private clouds of group customers. After delivery, the software products are adapted to the customer's operations by the customer's IT department and specialist departments, by partners and PSI consultants at runtime using intuitive workflow and dialog design tools, and then rolled out across all workstations and technical systems.
The demand from the steel and automotive industries is reviving from a low level, but remains behind the stable demand in the energy segment, which is marked by the ongoing electrification trend and the redispatch boom of the power distribution grids.
For the second quarter, PSI expects a continuation of the increasing results, especially in Energy Management and a high level of new orders in Production Management. The PSI Board remains confident of achieving its annual earnings goal of more than 20 million euros for the EBIT. This includes more than 30 million euros in expenses for energy and transport transition functionality and for the cloud and web rollout of the group platform.
The PSI Group develops its own software products for optimizing the flow of energy and materials for utilities (energy grids, energy trading, public transport) and industry (metals production, automotive, mechanical engineering, logistics). PSI was founded in 1969 and employs more than 2,000 people worldwide.
