Host Europe PLC is one of Europe's leading internet hosting providers to the SME market. Today’s interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2002 show strong growth with turnover up over 55% to £6.5 million and EBITDA of £929,000 against £60,000 in the first six months of last year.
Unaudited6 monthperiod ended30 June 2002£'000 Unaudited6 monthperiod ended30 June 2001£'000 Auditedyear ended31 December 2001£'000
Turnover 6,488 4,174 9,529
Gross Profit 4,860 3,164 7,312
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) 929 60 500
Retained loss for the period (207) (9,687) (34,232)
Net cash flow from operating activities 1,066 (16) 806
Loss per share (0.02)p (0.99)p (3.38)p
Cash at bank 1,453 946 937
§ Turnover increased by over 55% to £6.5m (2001: £4.2m) and included organic growth of 50%
§ Significant improvement in trading performance with EBITDA up from £60,000 to £929,000 and retained loss reduced from £9.7m to £0.2m as compared to the same six month period in 2001
§ Improved cash flow generation with £1.1m in operating cash inflow achieved during the six month period, contributing to an increase in cash balances of over £0.5m since the end of 2001
§ Significant improvement in key operating metrics since 31 December 2001 with dedicated/co-located servers hosted up from 3,200 to 3,900; shared server accounts from 64,000 to 68,500; domains under management up from 285,000 to over 350,000; and number of customers up from 55,000 to over 75,000
§ Dedicated server product range extended and enhanced with the launch of enterprise hosting solutions and the addition of easy-to-use server management software to all existing products
§ Product and customer cross-marketing efforts continued through an agreement with WorldPay and the launch of an easy-to-use web site builder product, broadband in Germany, a competitive dial-up connectivity service and low-cost e-mail services
§ Successful migration of German infrastructure to a 4,300 sq ft high quality data centre
Maurice Benisty, Chairman of Host Europe, said:
"This year we have concentrated on improving our business processes particularly in the areas of customer service, finance and administration and product development. At the same time we have been successful in driving growth in our UK and German businesses through a focused sales and marketing approach and the launch of new products and services. This has enabled the group to exceed expectations for sales and profitability over the reported period.
Going forward, our strong recurring revenues, compelling product range and focused strategy will enable us to further capitalise on the strong growth predicted for hosting services in Europe and I am confident about the prospects for the full year."
3 September 2002
443 words
Further Information:
www.hosteurope.com
Host Europe PLC
Stephen Halstead, Chief Financial Officer Tel: 020 8896 7500
E-mail: invest@hosteurope.com
Barnes and Walters
Alex Walters Tel: 020 7430 1600
E-mail: alex@barnesandwalters.com
Notes to Editors:
Host Europe PLC is an AIM listed company quoted on the London Stock Exchange, and owns and trades primarily under the following brands:
§ 'Dedicated Servers' (www.dedicated-servers.co.uk) - enterprise hosting and dedicated servers on multiple platforms, managed services and server co-location;
§ 'Magic Moments' (www.magic-moments.com) - Internet hosting services to the UK's SME market;
§ 'WebFusion' (www.webfusion.co.uk) - Internet hosting services to the UK's SME market;
§ '123-reg' (www.123-reg.co.uk) - low cost domain name and e-mail services; and
§ 'Host Europe' (www.hosteurope.de) - Internet hosting services to the SME sector in Germany.
Host Europe is one of Europe's leading dedicated Internet hosting companies. It provides a comprehensive range of services including enterprise hosting, dedicated servers, shared server hosting, managed services, server co-location, global domain name registration and a bespoke range of e-services, to SME businesses.
Its hosting solutions are all serviced from Host Europe's own facilities, with multiple connections to the Internet and 24/7 technical support ensuring industry leading levels of reliability and quality of service.
Host Europe is the clear leader in the European dedicated server and co-location market with over 3,200 machines hosted in its data centres. The Company also manages over 285,000 domain names and hosts over 64,000 virtual server accounts for over 55,000 customers (figures as at December 31 2001).
