| Performance indicators (TEUR) | 1 Jan. – 30 June 2017 | 1 Jan. – 30 June 2016 | Change |
| Sales | 87,568 | 85,102 | +2.9 % |
| EBIT | 5,684 | 4,534 | +25.4 % |
| Group net result | 3,043 | 2,414 | +26.1 % |
| Earnings per share (EUR) | 0.19 | 0.16 | +18.8 % |
Berlin, 27 July 2017 – PSI Group increased new orders by 11 % to 111 million euros in the first six months of 2017 (30 June 2016: 100 million euros), the order backlog was, with 148 million euros on 30 June 2017, 3 % above the value of the previous year (30 June 2016: 144 million euros). Group sales increased primarily as a consequence of the industry business by 3 % to 87.6 million euros (30 June 2016: 85.1 million euros). The EBIT was increased by 25 % to 5.7 million euros (30 June 2016: 4.5 million euros), the group net result improved by 26 % to 3 million euros (30 June 2016: 2.4 million euros).
Energy Management (energy networks, energy trading) achieved, despite the regulatory “shadow year”, slightly increased sales of 32.2 million euros (30 June 2016: 32 million euros) in the first six months. The EBIT for the segment improved to 3.1 million euros compared to the previous year (30 June 2016: 2.6 million euros). The Electrical Grid Business received an important milestone acceptance in a major distribution grid project, obtained an entry into the US market with two small initial contracts and expanded its position in the domestic market with additional upgrade contracts. The Gas and Oil Business increased its volume of new orders, primarily on the basis of upgrade orders from its existing German customers and received the acceptance for the software provided by PSI for the central Gazprom control system in Russia.
In Production Management (raw materials, industry, logistics) sales grew by 8 % to 44.8 million euros in the first six months (30 June 2016: 41.5 million euros). The EBIT was increased by 27 % to 3.5 million euros (30 June 2016: 2.8 million euros), which includes a risk prevention for a project at an Indian steel producer that has liquidity problems. The segment profited from the end of the investment backlog in the steel industry after the week metal prices in 2015/2016 and the beginning of a new growth phase in mechanical engineering and logistics. Now that all of the products in the business have been converted to the group java interface, the software products can be integrated better into cross-corporate process chains. This includes, in particular, the automatic supply of machines with supplies, materials and spare parts on the basis of machine data transmitted via Internet-of-Things chips. The Metals Business will obtain an important new order from a Chinese customer in the third quarter.
In Infrastructure Management (transportation and security) sales decreased by 8 % to 10.6 million euros (30 June 2016: 11.5 million euros), the EBIT improved to –0.2 million euros (30 June 2016: –0.3 million euros). The segment is suffering under the weak economic situation of the general contractors in oil and gas-dependent countries of Southeast Asia and the Arab Gulf. PSI has significantly reduced the working capital tied to the region in the last 24 months, even avoiding business opportunities and instead invested in the training of software specialists at the Malaysian site who are intended to assume development and overnight testing tasks. Many oil and gas-dependent economies are now privatising vertically integrated energy utilities to reduce prices, subsidies and costs. PSI has the right software and many references for all stages of this unbundling process.
The number of employees in the Group on 30 June 2017 was, with 1,626, below the number for the previous year (30 June 2016: 1,650). The growth initiative with 50 new hires in Europe counteracts negative effects from increased retirements and last year’s adjustments in capacity in the Southeast Asian hardware business. The cash flow from operating activities was characterised by changes in working capital and decreased –5.7 million euros (30 June 2016: 0.2 million euros). With 34.6 million euros liquidity was at about the same level as the previous year (30 June 2016: 34.8 million euros), despite the higher dividend payment.
In general, PSI saw a growth in demand in every business segment. In the energy business the major German utilities, following company spin-offs and reorganisations, concentrated once again on growth and developing new digital business models. The group technology platform has been migrated to the graphic standard JavaFX, which allows for support of modern user concepts such as gesture control. Other development highlights are the hardening of software products and greater independence from the price policy of operating system and database providers. The ISO 27001 information security certification held since 2016 was extended to other subsidiaries in the group in the first six months of the year. The demand for cloud installations for demonstration, training, data collection, tests and backups continued to develop equally well as the current upgrading business.
Despite the encumbrances from the reduction of market risks in Asia, the management continues to remain optimistic of achieving a target in the upper range of the EBIT target corridor of 12 to 15 million euros. After major investments in technology, great attention is now being paid to further growth.
On the basis of its own software products, PSI Group develops and integrates complete solutions for energy management (energy networks, energy trading), production management (mining, metals, automotive, mechanical engineering, logistics) and infrastructure management for transport and safety. PSI was founded in 1969 and employs more than 1,600 persons worldwide.