FRANCOTYP-POSTALIA ANTICIPATES POSITIVE REVENUE AND EBITDA DEVELOPMENT IN 2010

Francotyp-Postalia Holding AG, a global service provider for professional mail management, today presented its 2009 Annual Report. In it, the company confirms the provisional figures published in February 2010.

Despite a fall in revenues caused by the economic crisis to EUR 129.0 million after 142.4 million the previous year, the FP Group sustainably increased its earnings and financial power in 2009. Earnings before interest, tax, net financial income, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to EUR 20.6 million in the reporting year compared with EUR 18.2 million in 2008. Free cash flow, the sum of cash inflows from operating activities and cash outflows from investing activities, increased from EUR 3.5 million to EUR 9.8 million in this period.

In the most severe recession of the post-war period, the FP Group profited in 2009 from its high share of recurring revenue and the timely exploitation of promising service markets. Recurring revenue, which mainly comes from service agreements, leasing, teleporto and the sale of consumables for more than 260,000 franking machines worldwide, reached EUR 95.5 million in 2009 compared with EUR 96.6 million the previous year. Consolidation business in the Services segment also contributed to this high level of stability, with revenue rising to EUR 11.7 million as against EUR 11.2 million in 2008. The FP Group also generated higher revenues in software solutions for professional mail processing, with EUR 4.4 million after EUR 4.2 million in 2008.

Growth potential in Asia and in Services and Software

The hesitant economic recovery notwithstanding, the FP Group is assuming a positive trend in total revenue and EBITDA for the current financial year. Hans Szymanski, CFO of the FP Group, commented: “We will continue to focus on high-margin products and services to further improve the company’s earnings and financial power”. The Management Board sees good opportunities for growth, particularly in the Software and Services segments. The internationalisation of the software business is enabling the FP Group to tap new sales markets. The hybrid mail product FP webpost will be launched on the market in Great Britain in May 2010; other countries will follow. The FP Group is also specifically expanding its Asian business in 2010 with the aim of participating in the region’s anticipated growth. The recent certification of the ultimail franking machine for the Indian market is an important step in the planned expansion.