OREANDA-NEWS. The CREALOGIX Group invested millions in tomorrow's digital bank in the first half of the 2014/2015 financial year and vigorously implemented the expansion strategy as announced in autumn 2014 in order to develop future growth opportunities. In the process, the Group continued to expand its new sites, built an international sales organisation and worked even more closely with multinational implementation partners. The Group simultaneously created new jobs, raising the number of employees from 270 to 302.

CREALOGIX financed the highly focused investments with its own funds. It fully expensed the development work instead of capitalising it. This naturally affected profitability significantly, resulting in a Group loss of CHF 5.2 million. However, CREALOGIX is able to readily absorb the loss, thanks to its outstanding equity situation.

CREALOGIX in start-up mode

CREALOGIX currently finds itself at the most cost-intensive point of internationalisation, much like a start-up company in the global fintech market. The goal of this investment is to anchor CREALOGIX as a provider of solutions for “tomorrow’s digital bank” on an international level so that it can capitalise on the ensuing opportunities.

The Group is continuously and consistently implementing the business plan underlying the expansion. It is financing the entire initiative with its own funds. The development work is being fully expensed instead of capitalised, which naturally reduces this year's profits significantly. As announced in September 2014, sales will not begin to increase until the following autumn.

Perfect financial health

In the first half of the 2014/2015 financial year, CREALOGIX generated sales of CHF 23.9 million. This translates to growth of 1.2 per cent compared to the prior-year period (CHF 23.7 million). Profitability was greatly reduced by strategic investments in internationalisation. Operating loss (EBIT) amounted to CHF 6.8 million (first half 2013/2014: profit [EBIT] CHF 1.1 million). This resulted in CREALOGIX generating a consolidated loss of CHF 5.2 million compared to a consolidated profit of CHF 0.7 million in the first half of 2013/2014. Despite the massive investments in internationalisation, the CREALOGIX Group remains in perfect financial health: the equity ratio stood at 65.4 per cent as of 31 December 2014 (31 December 2013: 67.5 per cent).

CREALOGIX attracts international attention

The CREALOGIX Group's products are globally competitive, and it shows. For example, PBI (Private Banker International) presented the "Most Innovative Digital Offering" award to the CREALOGIX customer Coutts & Co in Singapore in October 2014. In addition, IDC Financial Insights named CREALOGIX one of the world's top 100 fintech companies for the first time in 2014. And, at the world’s most important fintech conference, Finovate in London in February 2015, CREALOGIX’s BankClip – on-demand video counselling for wealth management – was rated by Finews as one of the five top trends globally.

Outlook

The CREALOGIX Group is in the midst of becoming an internationally active fintech company of the next generation. Unlike most fintech start-ups, CREALOGIX offers innovative solutions for banks, helping them digitise their business models as quickly and efficiently as possible. CREALOGIX thereby enables banks to master their digital challenges.

CREALOGIX's business plan is demanding, and the necessary investments are high as expected. As highlighted in the previous year, sales in the second half-year will not yet improve, especially given the strong Swiss franc. Due to the investments made and the new sales organisation, we anticipate sales growth of 10 per cent or more starting in the 2015/2016 financial year and aim to return to a balanced result. Starting in the 2016/2017 financial year, we expect improving profitability in addition to further growth in sales.

About CREALOGIX

The CREALOGIX Group is an independent Swiss software house and the market leader for Digital Banking in Switzerland, ranked in the global FinTech Top 100 list. CREALOGIX develops and implements innovative fintech solutions for the digital bank of tomorrow. The focus is placed on changed customer needs for mobility, security, personalised advice and education within a comprehensive user experience. Established in 1996, the Group has around 350 employees worldwide. The shares of CREALOGIX Holding AG (CLXN) are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange.