Financial News

Financial Statement as at December 31st, 2008 and Distribution of a dividend of Euro 0.35 per share approved by the Shareholders' Meeting

29 April 2009

Revenues and marginality show an upward trend:

• Consolidated sales revenue achieved a 330.2 million Euros (+19,1% compared with 2007);
• EBITDA achieved 46.0 million Euros (42.3 million Euros in 2007);
• Net Income amounted to 18.9 million Euros (+20.4% compared to 2007).

The Shareholders’ Meeting of Reply S.p.A. – a company listed in the STAR segment of Borsa Italiana [REY.MI] – has approved today in Turin the Financial Statement FY 2008 and the distribution of a dividend of Euro 0.35 Euro per share in payment from 4th June 2009 with coupon detachable from 1st June 2009.

The results achieved in FY 2008 have shown an upward trend of all relevant economic-financial indicators. The Reply Group closed 2008 with consolidated revenues worth 330.2 million Euros (+19.1% compared with 2007), achieving a 46.0 million Euros EBITDA (42.3 million Euros in 2007) and a 41.2 million Euros EBIT (38.0 million Euros in 2007). The Net Income is 18.9 million Euros (+20.4% compared with the same value in 2007, e.g. 15.7 million Euros).

Today the Shareholders’ Meeting has also appointed 8 (eight) members of the Board of Directors and the Board of Statutory Auditors for years 2009-2011, basing on the list proposed by the ALIKA S.R.L. as majority shareholder.

In detail, the Board Members appointed during the Meeting are: Mario Rizzante (President), Sergio Ingegnatti, Tatiana Rizzante, Oscar Pepino, Claudio Bombonato, Fausto Forti, Marco Mezzalama and Carlo Alberto Carnevale Maffè.

It is moreover herewith stated that the Board Members Fausto Forti, Marco Mezzalama and Carlo Alberto Carnevale Maffè meet the requirements provided by Art. 148, paragraph 3 of L.D. no. 58/1998, as well as by Codice di Autodisciplina delle Società Quotate (Self-Regulation Code of Listed Companies) and are therefore eligible for being independent board members.

The Board of Statutory Auditors is composed of three Permanent Statutory Auditors and two Deputy Statutory Auditors: Cristiano Antonelli (President), Ada Alessandra Garzino Demo (Permanent Statutory Auditor), Paolo Claretta Assandri (Permanent Statutory Auditor), Alessandro Mikla (Deputy Statutory Auditor) and Alessandro Pedretti (Deputy Statutory Auditor).

The purchasing plan of company’s own shares, authorized by the Shareholders’ Meeting on June 12th, 2008, has closed today. This 18-month purchase program involved a maximum number of 738,493 ordinary shares. Currently, the Reply Group owns 231,499 company’s own shares (2.5101%): 169,499, resulting from the old plan, were already held in the share portfolio on June 2008. The remaining 62,000 shares have been purchased at an average market price of Euro 15.5105, equal to an equivalent of 961,651.42 Euros.

Moreover, the Shareholders’ Meeting has authorized a new purchasing program of company’s own shares aimed at issuing 18-month Share Incentive Plans (SIP) effective as of the deliberation date for a maximum number of 690,786 ordinary shares (amounting to 7.490% of the corporate capital) for a nominal value of Euro 0.52 per share and a total nominal value of maximum Euro 359,208.72 and anyway within the limit of a maximum financial commitment of 30 million Euros.

The program complies with the current regulations and laws in force, in particular:
• The purchasing price cannot exceed the official trading price reported by the MTA market on the day before the purchase and increased by 15%;
• Volumes cannot exceed 25% of the daily average volume of the traded shares;
• The company will timely inform the shareholders about the details concerning all the transactions carried out.

“In 2008, within a market scenario reporting moderate grow rates – has declared Mario Rizzante, Reply President, at the end of the Shareholders’ Meeting – our Group, with more than 330 million Euros, has succeeded in increasing by 19% its revenues compared with 2007, reporting in the meantime a grow rate higher than 20% as far as the Net Income is concerned”.

“The ongoing investments made, – continues Mario Rizzante – aimed at promoting the models enabled by the Net and supporting our customers in implementing new technologies, allows Reply to play a reference role in areas such as SOAs, CRM, Business Intelligence, Mobile and Wireless solutions, Security and the Web 2.0. These sectors are becoming crucial for redefining the enterprise business models”.

“The Reply Group - concludes Mario Rizzante – is today a solid financial reality, strongly innovation-oriented, characterized by a distinctive offering and a consolidated presence in all the major industries. Thanks to the objectives our Group has achieved, we can now face the future with the required confidence and security; even if the first, small signs of improvement are evident, the future is still encumbered with difficulties and crisis hitting the real economies showing a consumption reduction in nearly any industry and market”.

<< back