Trading update AND International Publishers NV

AND realized a profit in the first four months of 2015 and is on schedule to substantially expand its digital maps

Capelle aan den IJssel, 12 May 2015 - AND International Publishers NV realized a profit in the first four months of 2015. Revenue and profit decreased compared to the same period in 2014. The development of the high quality premium navigation map of North-America will be completed in the third quarter. The navigation map of the United States will already be available in the second quarter.

AND Chief Executive Officer Hugo van der Linde: "Again during the first four month of 2015 AND realized a profit. AND expects the enriched navigation map of North-America to be completed within a couple of months."

Course of events
During the first four months AND further invested in the development of a high quality premium navigation map of North-America. The upgrade and enrichment program which started in 2014 is in an advanced stage and will be completed in the third quarter of 2015. The navigation map of the United States will already be available in the second quarter. The coverage of navigation maps from AND will be more than doubled.

In addition AND has executed several customized services and concluded license agreements. For example, together with its client Barloworld Supply Chain Software, part of Barloworld (BAW.JSE), AND has delivered a map in the format of Barloworld. This map can be connected without further editing with the software from Barloworld. As a consequence Barloworld is saving time and costs for development. With the software from Barloworld optimal routes are calculated by which costs and CO2 emission can be limited.
Within another project AND worked together with Ordina and the Dutch Inspectorate of Education to support the search function for their website by using accurate geocodes from schools.
Also AND executed customized services for which AND accepted full confidentiality with regard to client, content and financials and as such cannot provide further information.

Revenue decreased significantly during the first four months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. Revenue from the contract for the creation of the navigation map of North-America contributed substantially to the revenue realized.

As a result of the development of the navigation map of North-America AND's operating expenses increased considerably. Costs spent on this development were capitalized and represent an important part of AND's total operating expenses. As a result net operating expenses decreased strongly compared to 2014. AND realized a profit in the first four months of 2015. Net profit showed a marked decrease compared to the same period in 2014.

As reported earlier AND currently investigates opportunities to enter the automotive market and further expand its digital map coverage.

Outlook for 2015
The economic conditions, market developments and business models in the market for digital maps are still highly uncertain. The results will depend among others on the strength of economic recovery, the developments in the market for navigation and location-based services. Also AND is still highly dependent on a few large customers and new orders to be acquired. In the course of 2015 AND expects to complete the enriched map of North-America and to execute test and pilot projects with prospects and therefore expects a more substantial contribution to its revenues from this enriched map no earlier than 2016. AND is positive regarding new opportunities within the current fast changing technology and market developments.

AND expects to realize a profit during the first half of 2015, but expects revenue and profit to be lower compared to same period in the previous year. AND is positive about the second half of 2015 but does not provide a financial outlook for 2015.

Strategy
AND is the independent company in the global map market for digital maps for location based services. This offers opportunities and AND will continue to improve and extend its existing maps more effectively. In addition AND will increase its added value by offering its maps and data as customized services.

The qualifications used in this press release are based on the terminology from the scale of Mock

This is a translation of the Dutch press release. In the event of any discrepancy, the Dutch version will prevail. 

 

For more information
Contact: Hugo van der Linde, Tel. [phone], or check www.and.com.

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Source: AND International Publishers via Globenewswire

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