With today's publication of the consolidated financial statements, adesso AG confirmed the increase in its profit guidance announced on 27 January 2015. With pure organic sales growth of 16 % to EUR 157 million and a 26 % increase in the operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 9.8 million, adesso set new records and clearly beat its targets. The Executive Board and Supervisory Board will propose a 19 % higher dividend of EUR 0.25 per share to the General Meeting. Against the backdrop of adesso's growth initiatives, further increases in sales and earnings are targeted in 2015.

Purely organic growth of 16 % to EUR 157 million demonstrates adesso Group's ability to develop new business activities and expand existing operations. With a broad and integrated service and product offering, adesso has since positioned itself in the digitalisation process for its customers' business operations. e-commerce and Mobile Solutions contributed disproportionately to sales growth and generated the highest earnings contributions to date. The internationalisation of business operations will continue beyond 2014. The focus will be on establishing the adesso national subsidiary in Turkey and cultivating the US market in terms of sales with the in-house content management system "FirstSpirit." Related investments together totalled EUR 1.3 million in 2014. adesso currently has 30 employees in Turkey, and has subsequently reached a size where it can acquire suitable projects in Turkey as well as in Germany through a mixed nearshore model. In the USA, adesso exceeded its customer acquisition targets.

adesso achieved a major milestone in 2014 with an order to develop and implement a new application environment for a German insurance group. In addition to the completed PSLife solution in the life insurance division, adesso designed solutions for the health and non-life insurance divisions, for which it retains the development and marketing rights. With the completion of the project adesso has positioned itself as a provider of innovative core products for the insurance industry regarding the adesso insurance solutions. All components of the comprehensive in|SURE product suite are based on a standardised platform and use common functions. Both the basis and the segment solutions are modular, releasable standard software systems. The comprehensive solution represents an innovation in the German insurance product landscape and ensures that in|SURE can be implemented at other insurance customers in the coming years.

Despite investments in the internationalisation of the business, new records were set in terms of the operating result (EBITDA) (EUR 9.8 million; up 26 % year on year) and consolidated earnings (EUR 4.0 million; up 32 % year on year). The operating margin increased to 6.2 %. The positive development in the e-commerce and Mobile Solutions segments and the improvement in earnings at adesso Austria were largely responsible for this development. adesso met all its financial targets in 2014. Cash and net liquidity each increased by EUR 2 million, to EUR 24 million and EUR 18 million respectively, on the back of high operating cash flow. Earnings per share amounted to EUR 0.59 in 2014 (previous year: EUR 0.48; up 23 %).

For 2015, adesso targets organic growth of between 6 % and 9 % to EUR 166 million to EUR 171 million, which again outpaces expected market growth. The creation of a new adesso core industry, Automotive & Transportation, should provide an impetus for growth. This new organisational unit combines the ongoing business activities of existing customers and will secure continued sales success thanks to a portfolio tailored to this market. The PS|Life solution for life insurance companies as part of the in|SURE product suite offers additional potential. The company will invest in the regional expansion of the e-commerce and Mobile Solutions segments in 2015 and investments in the internationalisation of the business will remain high. In view of this, the operating result (EBITDA) is expected to amount to EUR 9.8 million to EUR 10.5 million combined with sales growth. Earnings contributions in the second half of the year are expected to be considerably higher again due to the higher number of working days in the second half of the year and the generally higher license share in the fourth quarter. Opportunities for acquisitions will continue to be screened and evaluated.

The annual report and a table comparing key performance figures over previous years are available at www.adesso-group.de/en/ in the Investor Relations section.