ANNUAL REPORT 2008 | 2009 - SinnerSchrader AG

24Joint Status Report of SinnerSchrader AGpoints less than the year before. In relation to grossrevenues, the share was 88 %, which is 1 percentagepoint lower than the previous year. As in the previousyear, SinnerSchrader achieved net revenues of over€ 2 million each with three customers and revenues ofover € 1 million each were achieved with three othercustomers.9 % of the net revenues were achieved with customerswith whom SinnerSchrader was not yet achievingrevenues in previous years, not taking into accountthe new customers acquired in the course of businessexpansion. The new customer rate therefore rose by 5percentage points compared to the previous financialyear.4.2 Operating ResultDespite the welcome increase in revenues consideringthe economic situation, SinnerSchrader’s operatingresult in the 2008/2009 financial year, measured interms of the earnings before interest, taxes, andamortisation from acquisitions (EBITA), the Group'skey performance indicator, fell by € 0.9 millioncompared to 2007/2008 to reach € 1.4 million.The only reason for this decline is that SinnerSchraderdecided to invest in the expansion of its portfolio inthe 2008/2009 financial year. Transaction costs andinitial losses burdened the operating result by € 1.0million.The development of revenues by quarters clearlyshows the effects of the financial and economic crisistriggered in September 2008. While SinnerSchraderearned net revenues of € 5.6 million in the first quarterand thus achieved growth rates of 37 % (including theconsolidation effect from spot-media) compared to thesame quarter in the year before and 8 % compared tothe preceding quarter, the net revenues in the secondquarter fell by 14 % to € 4.8 million. This quarterlydecline was much greater than what would normallybe expected over the course of SinnerSchrader’sfinancial year due to the Christmas holiday and endof the year. SinnerSchrader believes this was a resultof customer insecurity in light of the extreme deteriora-tionof the economic outlook and the uncertaintyregarding the effect on private consumers. Thankssolely to the consolidation effect from spot-media,earnings in the second quarter surpassed those of theprevious year by 8 %.In the third quarter, this development turned aroundagain. The net revenues recovered somewhat from thesecond quarter and reached € 5.2 million. This trendcontinued in the fourth quarter with an increase tonearly € 5.4 million. The considerable improvement inthe economic outlook in the summer of 2009 led to anoticeable revival of demand. Despite the tapering offof the consolidation effect from spot-media in February2009, revenues in the two quarters were 8 % and 4 %higher, respectively, than in the previous year.Around € 0.4 million of this went to the establishmentof the e-commerce outsourcing business andthe start of the first customer project in this field. Thenature of this business, which involves revenue-basedcompensation for the service provider, means thatcustomer projects will usually incur initial losses in thefirst phase lasting one to two years and the breakevenpoint will not be reached until revenues developaccordingly. A mutual commitment over several years– usually five or more – is therefore an essentialcomponent of the contractual relationship betweenthe customer and SinnerSchrader for customerprojects in the field of e-commerce outsourcing.Another € 0.6 million went to the expansion of theInteractive Media segment to include the business ofthe newtention group. The burden was caused primarilyby the operating losses incurred in the newtentiongroup. These amounted to € 0.4 million in the periodbetween the first consolidation on 1 December 2008and the date of the legal takeover on 29 May 2009and are therefore allocated not to SinnerSchrader’sshareholders, but rather to the sellers of newtentionand they are reported as “consolidated income to beallocated to external interests” in the Statements ofOperations.Without the burden from the expansion of its businessportfolio, SinnerSchrader’s operating result wouldhave increased by € 0.1 million, or around 6 %, from€ 2.3 million in the 2007/2008 financial year to € 2.4