CENIT: good Q1, cautious about year

CENIT, the Germany-based reseller and developer of PLM solutions, announced results yesterday for Q1. Like many in the engineering software space, it saw “clear growth” over 2010, continuing the upward trend that started in the latter half of last year. In fact, in Q1, software sales “increased markedly” while there was a slight uptick in services revenue. CENIT did sound a slightly cautious note in its forward guidance, saying that it “hope[s] to be able to close the coming quarters with solid growth as well,” “provided that economic recovery and positive industry sentiment continue”.

The details:
• Total revenue was up 17% to €24 million, driven by 45% growth in reseller revenue €9 million; sales of its own products were up 39% to nearly €2 million. Revenue from services and consulting was up 4% to €13.08 million.
• CENIT also breaks down its revenue by product type. Its PLM (DS and self-developed) segment reported revenue of €17 million, up 16%, while the EIM (enterprise information management, solutions from IBM) segment reported revenue of €7 million, an increase of 20%.
• The company is based in Europe, and reports the majority of revenue from Europe, especially Germany and France. Its second largest market is North America, where sales were up 68%, although to only €2 million.
• CENIT, like many resellers, reports on order intake as a measure of forward-looking progress. During Q1, incoming orders were €33 million, up 24% over last year.
• The company also a little bit of color on the geopolitical impact is customers face, writing in its quarterly report that “Economic developments in Germany, political and economic developments in North Africa and also the evolution of the financial situation in a number of Euro-Zone countries may have short-term effects on consumer confidence which cannot be assessed at this time.”

CENIT reiterated its guidance for 2011: “stable growth”. Analysts forecast revenue of about €99 million for the year, or an increase of just over 6%.