OREANDA-NEWS. Revenue and profit of AND International Publishers NV sharply increased in the first half of 2016 compared to 2015. AND realized a revenue of € 6.1 million and a profit of € 3.2 million in the first half of 2016, which resulted in earnings per share of € 0.85. In May 2016 a dividend of € 0.15 was paid from the 2015 results to the shareholders.

AND CEO Hugo van der Linde: "The first half of 2016 has been excellent, also thanks to the big order which was acquired in February this year. I am excited that we can welcome Barry Glick as a new member of the Supervisory Board. Barry is American and has an impressive track record within our sector as executive at Mapquest, Webraska, Navteq and ALK. His knowledge, experience and network is also a valuable contribution to our plans to grow further in the United States."

Course of events for the first half of 2016
In January the production of the high quality premium navigation map of Canada was completed. This completes the upgrade and enrichment program for high quality premium navigation maps of North America. AND more than doubled the coverage of AND's navigation maps.

In February, AND entered into a material agreement to license mapping data with one of the largest European internet companies. The license agreement includes AND's worldwide digital maps.

In April, AND announced a licensing agreement with CycloMedia. This empowers AND's capability to deploy data generated by cars in its digital maps. In 2016 AND starts a pilot project. This step enhances AND's growth prospects in the automotive sector, which is on the brink of new developments driven by technology and an important user of digital maps.

In addition, AND announced that it has been enrolled as a member of ADASIS, a platform for car manufacturers and map makers to standardize interface between in-vehicle ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) applications and map data sources. Partners of ADASIS include car manufacturers (like BMW, Daimler, FORD, Honda, Renault, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo) and map makers (like HERE and TomTom).

End of June 2016 AND announced to extend the Supervisory Board to three members. The very well experienced American Barry Glick, with much experience in the mapping and navigation sector is nominated to strengthen the Supervisory Board. At 10 October an extraordinary general meeting of Shareholders will be held. On the AND website the invitation and agenda for this meeting is available.

On operational level AND has executed several custom orders. Together with the Dutch police a so called tile server is delivered with specific point of interests. Also, AND started, worked on and successfully completed various custom projects which  involved  accepting  total  confidentiality  with  respect  to  the  client, the work  involved  and  the financials of  the  project  and  is  therefore  unable  to  disclose  any  further details

Financial position
Revenue in the first half of 2016 more than tripled from € 1.8 million to € 6.1 million. Revenue from the signed license agreement in February contributed substantially to the revenue in the first half of 2016. AND is highly dependent on a few large customers and new orders to be acquired and the timing within the financial year. For this reason, revenue during a certain period can strongly fluctuate compared to the same period in the previous financial year.

Total operating expenses increased from € 2.0 million to € 2.2 million and decreased sharply as a percentage of revenue. 

In 2015 AND invested substantially in the upgrade and enrichment program of a high-quality map of North America. This program is finalized in January 2016 and consequently capitalized development costs decreased from € 0.9 million to € 0.3 million. Net operating expenses amounted € 1.9 million in the first six months of 2016 compared to € 1.1 million in the same period in 2015.

The cash position is further strengthened in the first half of the year. Net cash flow amounted € 3.2 million positive resulting in a total balance of cash and cash equivalents of € 7.7 million as per end of June 2016.

AND solvency remains strong. Shareholders' equity of € 20.7 million amounts 93% of total assets. As in previous years AND has no bank debts.