Net operating cash flow increased to €166 million in the 2012 first quarter, compared to €134 million in the year-ago first quarter, reflecting principally growth in net income and a working capital improvement.
In the 2012 first quarter, the Company received cash of €33 million for stock options exercised, made additions to property, equipment and intangibles of €14 million and completed cash acquisitions and other investing activities of €23 million, net of cash acquired.
The Company’s net financial position, comprised of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments less long-term debt and less the €200 million debt which has become short term as of December 31, 2011, was €1.29 billion at March 31, 2012, compared to a net financial position of €1.15 billion at December 31, 2011. At March 31, 2012 compared to December 31, 2011, the Company’s cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled €1.56 billion compared to €1.42 billion and total debt was €292.7 million compared to €301.3 million.
Cash Dividend Recommendation and Annual Shareholders’ Meeting Date
The Board of Directors has scheduled the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting for June 7, 2012 and is recommending a 30% increase in the annual cash dividend per share equivalent to €0.70 per share for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, compared to €0.54 per share for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010. The dividend is subject to approval by shareholders at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. Since 2009, the Company has raised its annual cash dividend per share by 52%.
Summary Business, Technology and Corporate Highlights
PSA Peugeot Citroën improves powertrain digital manufacturing efficiency with Dassault Systèmes solutions. On February 16th, Dassault Systèmes announced that PSA Peugeot Citroën has deployed DELMIA in its powertrain division, extending Dassault Systèmes’ footprint in the digital manufacturing domain. Replacing solutions from the competition, DELMIA now supports assembly simulation, painting, factory layout, stamping and powertrain. PSA Peugeot Citroën works with the same tools and methodologies in all major departments of the group.
As announced in a separate press release today, Dassault Systèmes has created a new brand, GEOVIA, which aims to model and simulate the planet. As a first step in this initiative, Dassault Systèmes and Gemcom Software International, a leading software company in the mining industry, signed a definitive agreement pursuant to which Dassault Systèmes will acquire Gemcom Software International for cash consideration of approximately USD360 million. The completion of the acquisition is subject to normal closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to be completed in July 2012. Gemcom should be accretive to Dassault Systèmes non-IFRS earnings and neutral to its non-IFRS operating margin.
Other Corporate Information
On March 29, 2012, Dassault Systèmes filed its 2011 Document de référence with the French Autorité des marchés financiers. The 2011 Document de référence as well as an English language translation of this document are available on the Company’s website.
On June 15, 2012, Dassault Systèmes will organize on its Vélizy Campus its Capital Markets Day. The event will be webcasted and available for replay on the Company’s website following completion of the event.
Business Outlook
Thibault de Tersant, Senior Executive Vice President and CFO, commented, “Our very healthy new licenses revenue results benefited from our industry and geographic diversification strategies. During the first quarter, we saw broad growth across new industries and a strong dynamic in high growth countries.
Looking ahead, we anticipate a continued good trend in the second quarter. With respect to the second half of 2012, while we remain optimistic on our business, we believe it is appropriate to maintain our cautious stance given the volatility of the economic environment. Therefore, we are updating our 2012 fiscal year financial objectives for the full amount of the first quarter over-performance, and are updating our currency assumptions. We are leaving unchanged our underlying revenue growth assumptions in constant currencies for the remainder of the year in total.
We will incorporate Gemcom in our financial objectives closer to the anticipated time of completion of the acquisition, which is expected to occur in July. Based upon its revenue growth and profitability, we anticipate Gemcom will be accretive to our non-IFRS earnings as well as having a neutral impact on our non-IFRS operating margin.”
The Company’s updated 2012 financial objectives are as follows:
- Second quarter 2012 non-IFRS total revenue objective of about €470 to €480 million, non-IFRS operating margin of about 28%; non-IFRS EPS of about €0.68 to €0.72;
- 2012 non-IFRS revenue growth objective range of about 6% to 8% in constant currencies; (€1.905 to €1.935 billion based upon the 2012 currency exchange rate assumptions below);
- 2012 non-IFRS operating margin of about 30%;
- 2012 non-IFRS EPS range of about €3.10 to €3.20, representing growth of about 6% to 10%;
- Objectives are based upon exchange rate assumptions for the 2012 second quarter of US$1.36 per €1.00 and JPY115 per €1.00 and full year of US$1.35 per €1.00 and JPY112 per €1.00.
