BULL: Results for the 1994 Fiscal Year; Return to revenue growth and operating profit for the first time since 1989.PARIS Paris, in Greek mythology Paris or Alexander, in Greek mythology, son of Priam and Hecuba and brother of Hector. Because it was prophesied that he would cause the destruction of Troy, Paris was abandoned on Mt. --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Feb. 17, 1995 -- Today, the Board of Directors of Compagnie des Machines Bull, under the chairmanship of Jean-Marie Descarpentries, approved the audited accounts for the 1994 fiscal year.
Key Figures
1993 1994 1994 US$ Improvement 94/93
(million FRF) (million FRF) (million US$)(million FRF) %
Total revenue 28,250 29,915 5,388 +5.9% Operating results (1,892) +237 43 +2,129 Net results before restructuring reserves (3,418) (660) (119) +2,758 Restructuring reserves (1,650) (1,300) (234) Net indebtedness 5,569 2,862 535 2,702 -49% N.B: All figures are consolidated in French francs (FRF). Currency translation is based on OECD rates for 1994: US 1 dollar equals FF 5.552 for the yearly average and US 1 dollar equals FF 5.346 on Dec. 31, 1994 (for net indebtedness at year end). Rapid Turnaround Turnaround A situation where a company that has had poor performance for an extended period of time experiences a positive reversal. Notes: A speculator may profit from a turnaround if he or she accurately anticipates the improvement of a poorly performing company. of Results In 1994, Groupe Bull Groupe Bull (also known as Bull Computer or simply Bull) is a French computer company based in Les Clayes-sous-Bois, outside Paris. The company has also been known at various times as Bull General Electric, Honeywell Bull, CII Honeywell Bull recorded: a) revenue growth of 5.9%, after four years in which sales declined at an average of 9% per year. At constant exchange rates and company perimeter The boundary of a system or network, which defines the inside and outside. It is typically determined by firewalls and addresses. See DMZ. . Groupe Bull's growth is 8.2%, higher than European and World IT markets; b) positive operating results of 237 million French francs (42.68 million US dollars) for the first time since 1989. In 1993, the net loss from operations was 1.89 billion French francs, improving by 2.13 billion French francs. The operating margin Operating Margin A ratio used to measure a company's pricing strategy and operating efficiency. Calculated by: increased from minus 6.7% to plus 0.8% of the revenue, an improvement of 7.5 points.
Return to operational profit for the first time since 1989
Operating Results (in millions of French francs)
1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 Progress of
+2,129
+651 -2,351 -1,154 -642 -1,892 +237 million FF
The Groupe's turnaround accelerated during the last six months of 1994. Operating results improved by 775 million French francs in the first half of 1994 versus the same period in 1993. Second half improvement versus 1993 was 1.354 French francs, almost double the first half improvement. c) a net loss before restructuring restructuring - The transformation from one representation form to another at the same relative abstraction level, while preserving the subject system's external behaviour (functionality and semantics). reserves reduced to 660 million French francs versus a loss of 3.42 billion French francs in 1993. This is an improvement of 2.76 billion French francs. These results were achieved: o through a new organization by business Division and geographical sales Networks close to customers; o by putting the entire company under "tension," aimed, in particular, at saving even money-losing activities. o by focusing on revenue growth and the reduction of non-salary costs not of direct benefit to customers. Three key improvements for Bull's return to competitiveness In 1994, Bull laid the foundation for its return to competitiveness through three major improvements. 1) A business portfolio reoriented towards the market structure. Analysis by activity shows that Bull was able to profit from IT market evolution and reorient Re`o´ri`ent a. 1. Rising again. The life reorient out of dust. - Tennyson. Verb 1. its portfolio of activities accordingly. o Bull's basic businesses, Enterprise Systems and Customer Service, limited revenue decrease to 8 percent in respectively decreasing and stable markets. They contributed, however, 400 million French francs to improving the Groupe's operating results through major cost reductions; o The six other businesses, Open Systems and Software, Personal Computers, Systems Integration and Services, Systems Operations, Emerging Technologies, Manufacturing, Logistics and Purchasing, constitute the Groupe's source of accelerated growth and recovery. These businesses progressed by 23 percent and their weight in the Groupe's revenue went from 45 percent in 1993 to 52 percent in 1994. Their contribution to the improvement in operating results amounts to 1.47 billion French francs and their operating margin, though still negative, improved by nearly 16 points, justifying the choice not to sell or stop these activities.
Results in line with the reorientation
of the Groupe's business portfolio
EVOLUTION 94/93 STRATEGIC
ORIENTATION
Operating % Operating
Revenue Result results/rev.
2 Basic Consolidation with Businesses -8% +400 MF +4.4 points good profitability 6 Growth Accelerated growth Businesses +23% +1470 MF +15.6 points & recovery
Corporate - +259 MF cost cut
in half Streamlining
Growth &
Groupe +6% +2129 MF +7.5 points Profitability
2) Substantial decrease in costs to bring Bull in line with its best competitors In 1994, the cost-reduction program targeted three categories of costs that globally decreased by 3.2 billion French francs: o non-salary costs not of direct benefit to customers decreased by 1.4 billion French francs; o total compensation and benefits decreased by 1.1 billion French francs due to rigorous management of the salary costs/revenue ratio, to reduce Bull's productivity gap while preserving the maximum number of viable jobs; o financial costs decreased by 0.7 billion French francs. These reductions, along with revenue growth, significantly improved Bull's cost structure: o fixed non-salary costs were reduced from 36.4 percent to 29.7 percent of revenue; o salary costs/revenue ratio decreased from 39.9 percent to 34.0 percent; o financial costs decreased from 4.3 percent to 1.7 percent of revenue. Financially, the gross margin slightly improved in absolute value by 150 million french francs, despite the evolution of Bull's business portfolio towards activities with lower margins. 3) Decrease in debt and rebuilding cash flow. The continued action in 1994 to adapt the Groupe's cost structure must be continued in 1995. The restructuring costs necessary to bring Bull up to competitive speed were provided for in the 1993 and 1994 accounts, through provisions of 1,650 million French francs in 1993 and 1,300 million French francs in 1994. At the end of 1994, the balance sheet shows reserves for restructuring costs of 3.46 billion French francs, of which 2.1 billion French francs for actions already under way. Positive cash flow of 1.3 billion French francs in 1994 and recapitalization Recapitalization Restructuring a company's debt and equity mixture often with the aim of making a company's capital structure more stable. Notes: Companies often want to diversify their debt-to-equity ratio to improve liquidity. allowed the Groupe to decrease net debt to 2.9 billion French francs versus 5.6 billion at the end of 1993 (restructuring costs of 1.7 billion French francs included). This is a decrease in debt of 49 percent. 1995 Perceptives; net profitability and accelerated development Building on these results, the Groupe has what is needed to achieve net profitability in 1995: a new organization, the return to growth, a competitive cost structure, operating profit Operating profit (or loss) Revenue from a firm's regular activities less costs and expenses and before income deductions. operating profit See operating income. , a decrease in debt and financial costs, and outstanding industrial partnerships. The Groupe can thus pursue the privatization privatization: see nationalization. privatization Transfer of government services or assets to the private sector. State-owned assets may be sold to private owners, or statutory restrictions on competition between privately and publicly owned process under good conditions and begin a new step in its development. U.S. Businesses Contribute to Groupe's Financial Improvement Bull's U.S.-based businesses, which account for more than 30 percent of the company's sales worldwide, showed continued improvement in 1994 as sales increased, costs were reduced and new products were brought to market. Zenith Data Systems Zenith Data Systems (ZDS) was a division of Zenith founded in 1979 after Zenith acquired Heathkit, who had, at that time, recently entered the personal computer market. Zenith sold personal computers under both the Heath/Zenith and Zenith Data Systems names. (ZDS ZDS Zenith Data Systems ZDS Zonal Distribution System ZDS Zero Degree Stat ZDS Zinc Detection System ZDS Zonal Drying System (aircraft de-humidifier) ), Bull's personal computer unit, showed strong revenue growth for the second straight year as it consolidated its turnaround and began to achieve operating profits in the fourth quarter. ZDS revenues were up 23 percent worldwide compared with 1993; 36 percent in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. and 13 percent in Europe. ZDS has its headquarters near Chicago, Ill. In its North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. commercial business, ZDS sharply increased its indirect dealer channels with more than 700 enrolled dealers. In its U.S. government business, ZDS outpaced its competition to lead sales under Desktop IV, awarded in 1993 with a government estimated value of $725 million. At year's end, ZDS approached its one-millionth unit sold to the U.S. government, a feat which will have been realized early in the first quarter of 1995. ZDS introduced 20 products in 1994 including the popular Z-NOTEFLEX notebook computer A laptop computer that weighs in a range from five to seven pounds. The term originated when laptops were routinely more than 10 pounds, and those that became lighter were placed in a special "notebook" category. In practice, notebook computer and laptop computer are synonymous. ; the CruisePAD wireless remote PC interface; the Z-STATION EX desktop, recipient of a PC Magazine Editor's Choice Award (December 1994); and the Z-SERVER EX, honored with a Network Computing Storing and/or running applications in servers in a network. See cloud computing and network computer. Editor's Choice Award (November 1994). Total revenues for Bull HN's U.S. commercial businesses increased nine percent in 1994 and showed an operating profit. Bull's UniKix Technologies software business sales grew 400 percent in 1994; Integris systems integration/work management business increased 26 percent for the year. General sales revenue was up 21 percent in units that include enterprise server, open systems products. U.S. catalog catalog, descriptive list, on cards or in a book, of the contents of a library. Assurbanipal's library at Nineveh was cataloged on shelves of slate. The first known subject catalog was compiled by Callimachus at the Alexandrian Library in the 3d cent. B.C. sales increased 36 percent. Bull HN also successfully launched Integris Data Services, a business unit dedicated to outsourcing (1) Contracting with outside consultants, software houses or service bureaus to perform systems analysis, programming and datacenter operations. Contrast with insourcing. See netsourcing, ASP, SSP and facilities management. services, disaster recovery, and application development. During 1994, Integris Data Services grew from a start-up business to the largest outsourcer of GCOS (General Comprehensive OS) An operating system from Bull that, originally used in its minis and mainframes, has migrated to its Intel-based servers. GCOS was originally developed by GE in the early 1970s as GECOS (GE Comprehensive OS), then changed to General enterprise services in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . CONTACT: Bull HN Peter Stavropulos, 508/294-5654 or Bill Bradley For other uses, see Bill Bradley (disambiguation) and William Bradley. William Warren "Bill" Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, and former U.S. , 508/294-5812 INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMED ComEd Commonwealth Edison COMED Combined Map and Electronic Display COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS REPEATS: New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of 212-575-8822 or 800-221-2462; Boston 617-330-5311 or 80 |
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