Release from ReadSoft AB’s Annual General Meeting 2013
Per Åkerberg, ReadSoft’s President and CEO, concluded in his presentation at the Annual General Meeting that 2012 was a year of very strong growth for ReadSoft, with an unsurpassed turnover. ReadSoft’s total sales grew by 18%, despite the fact that 2012 was a year with continuing macro-economical instability and turbulence. License sales also improved by double-digits and grew by 12% for 2012. The strong sales and license growth proves that ReadSoft is strengthening its leading market position and expanding its market shares.
In early 2012 ReadSoft acquired the German company foxray AG – a technology leading provider of platforms and solutions for business process automation (BPA) – thus strengthening the offer to the BPA segment and to other large scale automation markets.
The EBITDA-result was positive but influenced by the somewhat weak result of the first months in 2012, where non-recurring and integration costs were taken in connection to the foxray acquisition. Per Åkerberg also stated that ReadSoft’s cash flow from operating activities remains strong and that most of ReadSoft’s subsidiaries made a positive contribution to the growth and result of the Group.
In 2012 the new Group strategies were developed and a new organization was launched. The new organization meant, among other things, that ReadSoft’s 17 subsidiaries were grouped into four regions; that the five development labs were merged into two, and that a new Executive Management Team was formed.
In 2012 ReadSoft closed the largest deal ever, worth 22.5 MSEK, in the history of the company, with a leading UK financial institution. On the product side, ReadSoft Online, the company’s cloud-based solution, showed a strong growth and surpassed ReadSoft’s internal sales targets.
Per Åkerberg also talked about the first quarter of 2013 and he described a quarter with mixed results. He stated that ReadSoft’s growth curve continues to point upwards and that the total sales grew by 8% in constant currencies compared to the corresponding period last year. ReadSoft’s license sales also remains strong and grew by 21% in constant currencies compared to the corresponding period last year.
He further stated that the company’s consulting business had a weaker quarterly result due to the fact that a number of customers postponed planned projects and new orders, which affected the EBITDA-result. However, he has good expectations of getting these deals during the coming quarters. The cash flow from the operating activities remains strong.
In the beginning of the first quarter ReadSoft reorganized the sales organization for the company’s Oracle workflow product, creating a dedicated team working exclusively with Oracle sales on a global basis. This change has proven to be positive with a clear increase in sales.
On the product side ReadSoft launched ReadSoft Online integrated with Microsoft Dynamics AX and ReadSoft’s cloud solution is the first of its kind that is integrated with the Windows Azure platform.
Per Åkerberg concluded by stating that the company is well equipped for the future and will continue to work for growth and for an improved profit margin.
At ReadSoft AB’s Annual General Meeting today, the following resolutions were among those passed:
Election of Board of directors
The Directors Göran E Larsson (chairman), Jan Andersson, Lars Appelstål, Lennart Pihl, Anna Söderblom, Håkan Valberg and Peter Gille were re-elected for a new period.
Election of auditor
The annual meeting elected Öhrlings PricewaterhouseCoopers AB as auditor until the end of the annual general meeting 2014.
Dividend
The annual meeting decided on a dividend of SEK 0.60 per share with April 30, 2013 as the day of record for dividend.
Nomination committee
The meeting decided that a nomination committee shall be appointed with the assignment in connection with next year's annual meeting to submit proposals, among others, with respect to election of the Board of Directors, compensation to the Board and the auditors and election of an election committee. The chairman of the Board shall invite a minimum of four of the largest shareholders as per 30 September 2013 to appoint one representative each and to together with the chairman comprise the Nomination Committee.
Incentive program
The meeting decided to approve the resolution from the board on an incentive program for employees. Right to subscribe to the convertibles shall be leading employees and key employees in the ReadSoft group. The program will consist of maximum 350,000 convertibles and one convertible may be conversed to one B-share. Conversion may be made from June 14, 2016 to November 25, 2016. The conversion price shall correspond to 125 % of the average price paid for the B -share in the company on the Stockholm stock exchange's official list during the period April 26, 2013 – May 6, 2013. At full conversion the company's share capital will increase with SEK 35,000 and the dilution will be approximately 1.1 percent of the share capital and 0.8 percent of the votes.
Authorization of the Board to decide on new issues of shares
The meeting decided to authorize the Board of Directors to, at one or several occasions, up to the next annual meeting 2014, execute new issues of shares with maximum 3,200,000 shares, series B. The new shares may be issued with deviation of shareholders' preferential rights. The reasons for the Board to be able to deviate from shareholders' preferential rights are that financing may be required in connection with future acquisitions with payment in shares and/or issue of new shares with payment in capital contributed in kind.
Purchase and transfer of own shares
The meeting decided to authorize the Board of Directors, at one or several occasions, up to the next annual meeting 2014, decide on purchase and transfer of own shares. Purchase may be made of a maximum number of shares so that the company’s possession of shares at each point in time does not exceed ten % of the total number of shares in the company. Transfer may be made without the shareholders preferential rights on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm and to third parties in connection with acquisition of companies or businesses. The purpose of the authorization is to give the Board of Directors possibility to adjust the company’s capital structure and to enable acquisition financing through use of own shares.
This is information of the type that ReadSoft AB (publ) is obligated to disclose in accordance with the Swedish Securities Markets Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication on April 25, 2013 at 16:30 CET.
For additional information, please contact:
ReadSoft AB
Kristin Widjer, Legal Counsel
Phone: +46 42 490 21 29 alt. +46 733 37 86 79
E-mail: kristin.widjer@readsoft.com
Johan Holmqvist, Vice President, Corporate Communications
Phone: +46 708 37 66 77
Email: johan.holmqvist@readsoft.com
About ReadSoft
ReadSoft is a leading global provider of software solutions for document process automation in the cloud or on premise. ReadSoft is by far the world’s number one choice for invoice processing automation, especially into business systems from SAP and Oracle. ReadSoft’s software enables companies to automate document processes such as accounts payable processing, and mailroom automation. Since the start in 1991, ReadSoft has grown to a worldwide group with operations in 17 countries on six continents and a network of local and global partners. The head office is located in Helsingborg, Sweden, and the ReadSoft share is traded on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm's Small Cap list. For more information about ReadSoft, please visit www.readsoft.com
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