11/10/2014

QSC confirms preliminary figures for the third quarter of 2014

• Revenues reach € 106.6 million
• EBITDA totals € 8.8 million
• Free cash flow stands at € 3.7 million

Cologne, November 10, 2014. QSC's quarterly report published today does not contain any changes compared to the preliminary figures reported on October 16, 2014. Revenues totaled € 106.6 million following € 113.8 million for the same quarter the year before: Because of a noticeable downturn in the economy neither business with new ICT products nor IT Consulting and IT Outsourcing picked up discernibly following the summer vacation.

Since revenues in high-margin lines of business, in particular, remained below expectations and since QSC, from the current fiscal year on, will no longer benefit from the return of a deferred income line item in the amount of € 5.2 million per quarter, EBITDA of € 8.8 million in the third quarter of 2014 was down from the previous year's level of € 19.4 million. Consolidated net income was € -6.2 million following € 4.7 million for the same quarter the year before. Free cash flow stood at € 3.7 million, compared to € 6.5 million in the third quarter of 2013.

Dividend of at least 10 cents per share planned
In view of the final figures for the third quarter of 2014, QSC confirms the adjusted guidance for the 2014 fiscal year, which was presented on October 16, 2014. As expected, the company anticipates revenues of at least € 430 million, an EBITDA of at least € 40 million, and € taking into consideration a one-off negative working capital effect of some € 18 million - a free cash flow of not more than € -12 million. The company still intends to pay a dividend of at least 10 cents per share for the 2014 fiscal year.

QSC started to specifically strengthen its sales operations as early as the summer of 2014; as a result, order bookings of € 55.3 million were recorded in the third quarter of 2014 € the highest level in the past two years. The company has also been pushing the sale of new ICT products since autumn 2014, with an entire package of measures, including the development of an independent sales unit for the new products, a telesales team to directly address smaller and mid-sized businesses, and an onboarding team for the active transition of customers into the cloud age.

QSC to publish guidance for fiscal 2015 at the end of January 2015 already
These growth measures, alongside a comprehensive program to recover QSC's customary profitability, will have a positive effect in the course of 2015. To this end, QSC is currently scrutinizing all expense items and processes. These measures will be directly incorporated into the guidance for fiscal 2015, which QSC will already be publishing, together with the initial preliminary figures for the 2014 fiscal year, at the end of January 2015.

QSC's CEO Jürgen Hermann explains: "The course of business so far in 2014 has shown weakness primarily in the marketing of our comprehensive ICT service range. We therefore continue to work flat out at specifically strengthening sales. At the same time, the efficiency of service provision and cost awareness must be enhanced. On this basis QSC will recover profitability during the course of 2015."

In € million	Q3 2014	Q3 2013
Revenues	106.6	113.8
EBITDA	8.8	19.4
EBIT	-3.9	5.5
Consolidated net income	-6.2	4.7
Free cash flow	3.7	6.5
Capital expenditures	6.3	16.4
Workforce*	1,709	1,664

* As of September 30

Notes:
The 9-month report is available for download at www.qsc.de/en/qsc-ag/investor-relations.html. This corporate news contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and forecasts of future events by the management of QSC AG. Due to risks or mistaken assumptions, actual results may deviate substantially from those made in such forward-looking statements.

Further information is available from

QSC AG
Claudia Isringhaus
Head of Corporate Communications
Mathias-Brüggen-Str. 55
50829 Cologne, Germany
Fon: +49 (0) 221 6698-235
Fax: +49 (0) 221 6698-009
E-mail: presse@qsc.de