CENIT: DS, PLM drove 2010 success

CENIT AG today gave further details about its performance in 2010 and a hint of where it sees 2011 going, now that we’re 1/4 of the way into the year. The main facts from the February announcement (summarized here) are essentially unchanged, although audited revenue is about €1 million higher than was reported earlier.

Total revenue for 2010 was €93 million, up 8% from 2009. Standouts were the VAR business, which recorded software revenue of €32 million (up 26%), with sales of Dassault Systèmes products singled out by CENIT as major contributors to this success. Sales of CENIT’s proprietary software products such as FileNet System monitor, ecliso, FAStSUIte and cenitCONNeCt, rose 2% to €10 million. Revenue from the company’s services and consulting business fell 1% to €51 million. Gross profits totaled €61.2 million, up 3%, while earnings per share were €0.36, up 9% — though not all businesses were profitable for the year.

The company attributes its overall success in 2010 to “increased customer willingness to make IT investments, particularly during the last months of the year“ and “reflect the development of Germany’s economy at large. Gross domestic product grew significantly in 2010, and the economic research institutes expect continued growth for 2011.” Forward-looking economic data for its end-markets lead the company to forecast revenue growth of about 10% for both 2011 and 2012. In addition to boosting utilization of its services capacity the company intends to “sound out new opportunities in the Pacific and East Asia regions. Aside from acquiring new customers, a prime focus will lie on growth in the relevant market segments. We will sustainably continue our collaboration with our partners Dassault Systèmes, IBM and SAP so as to position ourselves as a long-term strategic partner of these enterprises.”

CENIT reports that its PLM business grew 8% to €66 million in 2010 and that 89% of total sales were generated in Germany. One troubling factoid is that 18% of revenue in 2010 came from a single PLM customer (22% in 2009). Being beholden to one supplier (DS) and one unnamed customer for significant proportions of revenue, and in one geography, is a scary prospect. CENIT is seeking to remedy this in 2011 by diversifying its product portfolio, services offering and geographic reach.