Artwork Systems announces strategic review

Artwork Systems Group has announced a strategic review of its activities following the announcement of disappointing first quarter results. Revenues for the quarter amounted to 11.15 million euros, a decrease of 7.18 per cent compared to 12.01 million euros in the first quarter of fiscal year 2006, and net income amounted to 2.55 million euros, a decrease of 23.55 per cent compared to 3.34 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2006.

Artwork Systems’ Board of Directors have now appointed ING Corporate Finance to review all strategic options, such as a capital restructuring, a partnership and/or a sale to a strategic partner. The strategic exercise is currently only in a preliminary phase.

Artwork Systems’ management had expected a slow start for the year, as business remains weak. The decrease of the US dollar had a negative impact on net revenue for the first quarter of fiscal year 2007 - at the same time as the Americas share of Artwork System’s business increased from 39 percent to 41 per cent.

These results come after a period which saw Artwork build on its network of industry partners with the announcement in October of an OEM agreement with Screen. Under the agreement, Screen integrated ArtPro, Artwork Systems’ specialized packaging software, within its Trueflownet prepress environment to give users powerful packaging production capabilities. The company also launched Equinox, a powerful color management system for the packaging industry.

Artwork is forecasting annual revenue in 2007 of 46-47 million euros, with a net profit between approximately 11-11.5 million euros.