Rotterdam, 31 August 2010- - AND International Publishers NV has realized strong growth in turnover in the first half of 2010. The company realized an increase in net profit in the first half of the year. Thanks to a good second quarter and commercial successes at the beginning of the second half of 2010 the company expects turnover in 2010 to increase with at least 34% to a minimum of € 6.7 million. At that level of turnover AND expects an after-tax profit of at least € 2.3 million.
AND CEO Maarten Oldenhof: "We are very pleased that the growth of more than 30% in 2009 will continue in 2010. In May we have shaken up the market for mobile navigation together with Geolife. Under the Navmii GPS Live label we offer turn-by-turn navigation for a very low price for the iPhone.
Furthermore, we are very pleased with the start of the second half of 2010, as we closed new contracts for our navigation maps of Western Europe. For that reason we expect that turnover this year will amount to at least € 6.7 million compared to a turnover of € 5.0 million in 2009."
Course of events for the first half of 2010 Western Europe is now almost covered with high quality navigation maps. In the second quarter of 2010 two countries were added to the map database, namely the maps of Italy and Norway. Next to the maps for Western Europe AND released a map for the United States, this digital map is optimized for geocoding.
This year AND prepared for a lawsuit because of a dispute for the delivery of maps of the United Kingdom. However a settlement has been arranged. Turnover includes a material amount for this settlement.
As reported in the trading update on May 18 AND will reduce its cost base in 2010. This reduction of costs already has been realized in the first half of 2010. Personnel costs have been decreased to € 1.5 million during the first half of 2010 compared to € 3.2 million in the first half year of 2009. AND expects a decrease in total operating expenses of € 2.5 million for 2010. Total operating expenses will decrease from € 7.4 million to € 4.9 million.
This year AND closed a contract with the British Navmii for navigation on the iPhone and iPad. By now, maps for Italy, Denmark and Sweden have been added for the iPhone meaning that this mobile app is now available for ten countries. Further, three countries optimized for the iPad are meanwhile available.
Shortly after the earthquake in Haiti AND released a digital map of the island which is freely available to all parties who assist in relief efforts, recovery and rebuilding. This map is available as raw data in Shape format, via the Internet (Map 2.0) and as an app for the iPhone.
The free iPhone application AND launched last year for viewing football scores in the Dutch Eredivisie remains popular. Overall, this app has been downloaded more than 75,000 times. For the new football season AND updated iVoetbalstanden and this program is available through the iTunes store.
Financial position
As was the case at the end of 2009, AND has no bank debts. Equity amounted to 84.5% of total assets at the end of June 2010. In the first half of 2010 total operating expenses decreased by € 2.1 million. This is mainly explained by the previously announced reduction of the personnel costs. Most of these costs relate to the development of the database and consequently these cost are capitalized. Therefore, the capitalized development costs in the first half of 2010 are € 1.8 million lower than in the first half of 2009. Savings to the net operating expenses amounts € 0.3 million.
For the year 2010 AND expects to save approximately € 2.5 million on total operating expenses compared to 2009. Savings on operating expenses are mainly visible in the first half of 2010 as the costs of accelerating investments in the maps of Western Europe took particularly place in the first half of 2009. Since the development of the database of Western Europe is nearly complete, the costs of maintenance will increase slightly. For 2010 AND expects this will result in an increase in net operating expenses by € 0.3 million as maintenance cannot be capitalized.
Market developments
AND has recently achieved commercial success thanks to the opportunities seen in the market for digital maps. Besides a strong continuing growth of smartphones with GPS, players in the online market try to capture a position on the mobile internet through location-based services. These developments have turned navigation and location based services into a commodity and created a mass market for them. This offers great opportunities for AND.
Strategy
AND is the third largest supplier in its market, but the only independent one. Strengthened by its success to date, the company will continue to focus on creating long-term value for shareholders by providing digital maps for location-based services. The company focuses on the further development of its advanced database to position itself even more effectively in the market. The company joined forces with EMG (China) and Orion (Dubai). The companies carry out a feasibility study to create a Global Digital Mapping Alliance (GDMA).
Outlook for 2010
AND expects a turnover for the full year 2010 of at least € 6.7 million as compared to € 5 million in 2009, with an after-tax profit of at least € 2.3 million.
Risks
For a detailed description of the risk factors that apply to AND International Publishers NV and its subsidiaries, you are referred to page 12 of the annual report for 2009.
Declaration from the Board of Directors The Board of Directors hereby declares that, to the best of their knowledge:
- the consolidated, interim financial report, which have been prepared on the basis of IAS 34, Interim financial reporting, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and the result of AND International Publishers NV and the companies included in the consolidation as a whole; and
- the half year report from the Board of Directors includes a fair review of the information required pursuant to section 5:25d, subsection 8 and 9 of the Dutch Financial Markets Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht)

