Mainz-based Aareon AG, a subsidiary of Aareal Bank AG and Europeâs leading consultancy and systems house for the property industry, ends the business year 2004 on improved performances in comparison to the previous year.
The groupâs net income after minorities is ⬠5.4 million (previous year: ⬠3.4 million). This corresponds to an increase of 59%. Moreover earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) improved to ⬠12.3 million (previous year: ⬠11.4 million), thus even slightly exceeding plan.
The major strenghts behind this positive development are both, the development of innovative products as well as the groupâs concerted efforts to increase efficiency which began in 2003. Developing the new and existing business sectors as well as expanding the activity on an international level led to a 5% increase within the human resources area; this bringing the total number of employees to now almost 1,100.
The groupâs turnover that amounts to ⬠159.7 million remains in accordance to the planned range, although slightly lower than the previous yearâs figure (⬠163.5 million). Such a decrease in turnover was expected and corresponds to the Aareal Bank Groupâs prospect. Whereas Aareon succeeded in increasing both its turnover of integrated services â" in particular due to energy metering services â" and its turnover of outsourcing and internet solutions.
The companyâs core product is Blue Eagle, the new software generation handling the residential and commercial real estate industryâs processes. The software has been developed since 2002 in cooperation with SAP. In January the second release was introduced on the German market and several real estate companies are using it already. In the course of the first quarter of 2005, more customer contracts for the 2.0 release or later versions have been concluded. With the new software Aareon is also preparing to expand its business within other European countries; plans for 2006 include the product launch on the French and Italian markets.
The new service Aareon Energy Management, introduced in May 2004, is an integrated full service for recording and billing consumption-based utility costs. The market has been very receptive to this new service which is already being used by customers.
âThe development of new products and services combined with our extensive restructuring efforts are still significantly influencing our results. We are wellequipped to reach our growth objectives especially with the successful launch of Blue Eagle. We are particularly glad that we were able to increase customer satisfaction, another essential requirement for growth,â says Dr. Manfred Alflen, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Aareon AG.
Source: Aareal Bank
