Contact:
Christoph Stockert, CFO
Phone: +43 (1) 863 53 - 0
E-Mail: christoph.stockert@topcall.com
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Vienna, Austria (pts005/27.02.2003/09:00) - TOPCALL International AG (Vienna Stock Ex-change, Prime Market and NASDAQ Europe: TOPC) today announced its final results for the financial year 2002 ended on December 31. According to the company, reve-nues for the period amounted to Eur 30.061 million (prev. year: Eur 30.4 mill.*). The positive EBIT totaled Eur 2.301 million according to the figures released by the company (Eur -5.322 mill.*). As a result, the company was able to increase EBIT in 2002 to 7.7 percent in re-lation to total revenues. In the financial year 2002, earnings per share amounted to 13 cents (- 41 cents*). In the last financial year, the company was able to increase cash assets to Eur 15.442 million (Eur 8.494 mill.). With a growth of 4,8 percent in revenues, the TOPCALL Group has substantially exceeded the market expectations of the renowned market research institute IDC. IDC had predicted a 2.3 percent downturn in IT investments for 2002.
TOPCALL was able to grow revenues in its product business area to Eur 12.848 million, represent-ing an increase of 5 percent compared to the previous year (Eur 12.190 mill.). Revenues generated through the company's maintenance business also rose by 5 percent to Eur 12.256 million (Eur 11.703 mill.). According to TOPCALL, revenues from the consulting division amounted to Eur 626 000 (Eur 1.859 mill.*). The company was also able in particular to significantly grow revenues from the dealer network. Revenues rose by 22 percent, totaling Eur 2.959 million (Eur 2.433 mill.).
Herbert Blieberger, CEO of TOPCALL International AG, explained: "Despite the protracted tight global economic situation, we were able to further extend our leading position in the international Unified Communication markets in the last financial year. Contrary to the forecasts issued by mar-ket research institutions, which had predicted a decline in revenues for IT companies in 2002, our figures bear out that the TOPCALL Group was not affected by this trend and was able to show positive revenue growth. We are confident to maintain this positive performance also in the cur-rent financial year." Particularly noteworthy according to Blieberger is the company's performance in the Asia/Pacific sales markets, where TOPCALL was able to record significant revenue growth of more than 50 percent. The company had also achieved double-digit percentage increases in a number of European countries.
Within the course of the successful implementation of its cost-cutting program, the TOPCALL Group was able to decrease personnel expenses by 11 percent in the financial year 2002 to Eur 14.935 million (Eur 16.785 mill.*). At year-end, the company employed a total of 202 staff worldwide. In the last financial year, other expenditure was reduced by an impressive 21 percent to Eur 7.877 million (Eur 9.965 mill.*).
Christoph Stockert, CFO at TOPCALL International commented: "In the last financial year we were able to achieve a successful turnaround. In addition to the increases in revenues, the cost-cutting program implemented last year was a further significant contributory factor in the improvement of the company's liquidity. In the financial year 2002, we were able to increase liquidity by 81 percent to Eur 15.442 million. We will use some of our financial resources to fund the company's share buy-back program which started in December 2002. Another milestone was the listing of our shares in the prime market segment of the Vienna Stock Exchange in December 2002. Taken altogether, these measures have put the TOPCALL Group on course for a continued positive performance in 2003."
* The figures for the financial year 2001 have been partly influenced by depreciation arising from the disposal of A-Consult (September 1, 2001) as well as one-time bad debt charges and provisions.
A telephone conference has been scheduled for February 27, 2003 at 5.00 PM (CET), with ques-tions being taken by Herbert Blieberger, CEO and Christoph Stockert, CFO at TOPCALL Inter-national AG. If you would like to participate in the conference, please contact Mrs. Berg on +43 1 863 53 - 171 or Mrs. Trivun - 190 to obtain the appropriate telephone number and access code.
Additional information in respect of the telephone conference can be found at:
http://www.topcall.com/invest/presentation.html
The financial results of the TOPCALL Group can be downloaded from: http://www.topcall.com/invest/reports.html
The TOPCALL Server is a one-stop solution for business communications. The extremely reliable server architec-ture allows companies to integrate, to archive and to manage all communications from a single server. This single server architecture simplifies network management and eliminates the need for additional client software. Specific solutions are available for Unified Messaging, Network and Production Faxing, Interaction Management and Com-puter Telephony (CTI / IVR). In addition, TOPCALL offers ASP-ready solutions and functionality that allows compa-nies to turn Call Centres into Multimedia Contact Centres.
TOPCALL (Vienna Stock Exchange and NASDAQ Europe: TOPC) is a worldwide provider of mission-critical Unified Communication (UC) solutions. The Company delivers UC solutions that allow customers to leverage their existing IT investments (such as ERP and CRM systems), to simplify and/or streamline business processes and achieve better results as well as a rapid return on investment. With 25 years of experience and an impressive Fortune 500 customer list, the company has a proven ability to integrate all types of media in any kind of IT environment and subsequently optimize business processes through communications. To date, TOPCALL has installed over 4,000 UC solutions worldwide, offering global support and consulting services. TOPCALL is represented worldwide through a network of 24 direct sales and support offices and 18 dedicated distributors. The company is listed in the Prime Market segment on the Vienna Stock Exchange (since December 19, 2002) as well as on NASDAQ Europe (since July 11, 1997) under the ticker symbol TOPC. The ISIN-number is: AT0000848809. The headquar-ters of TOPCALL are located in Vienna, Austria. Further information is available at http://www.topcall.com.
For further information, please call:
TOPCALL International AG
Christoph Stockert, CFO
Talpagasse 1, A - 1230 Vienna
Tel.: +43 (1) 863 53 - 0
Fax: +43 (1) 863 53 - 8103
Email : christoph.stockert@topcall.com
http://www.topcall.com
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