Strong Q1 profit at State Printing House Plc

In terms of profit, State Printing House finished one of the strongest first quarter of its history. The Company’s net income increased by 7% to HUF 257 million in the first three months of 2008 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. Export sales also rose compared to the corresponding 2007 period. According to the objectives in connection with the effectiveness increasing programme, EBITDA margin rose to 15% from 12.6%.

The net income increased by 7% to HUF 257 million in the first three months of 2008 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. EBITDA reached HUF 469 million with a growth of HUF 30 million (7%). The EBITDA margin rose significantly by 2.4% to 15%. Concerning the income, State Printing House has finished the most successful first quarter of its history. The Company posted net sales of HUF 3.1 billion which is 10 % lower than the 2007 figure. The change in net sales was partly caused by the seasonal drop in document orders in the first quarters and the decrease in the sales revenue of traditional business printing products. At the same time, export sales grew slightly, it amounted to 310 million in Q1 2008. As a result of portfolio adjustment, production of traditional printing products decreased further while the ratio of higher value added product segments in sales revenue stabilized on 90%.

General Manager Gábor Zsámboki commented:
‘My predecessor, Mr György Gyergyák has left me a remarkable heritage, among others an innovative product portfolio. Our task is to develop these products into solutions that meet the criteria of information security and in this way personal and product identification can be made more secure in the future. We expect dynamic sales growth for the second quarter. The strategy focusing on effective growth ensures that we will meet the at least HUF 900 EPS objective set for this year.’’

State Printing House Plc