EANS-News: asknet AG / asknet Publishes Business Figures for Q1 2012

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3-month report

Subtitle: *** Quarterly result is almost balanced *** Sales and gross
profits down year-on-year in the first three months of 2012 ***
Outlook is positive and full-year guidance has been confirmed

Karlsruhe, San Francisco, (euro adhoc) - May 24, 2012 - asknet AG, a
leading supplier of global eCommerce solutions for software and
digital media companies, has announced its business figures for the
first quarter of 2012. The quarterly result was almost balanced
despite seasonally weak business development in the first three
months of 2012. asknet Group's operating result (EBIT) came to -0.05
million euros, a considerable improvement compared to the EBIT of the
same quarter of the previous year (-0.26 million euros) and mainly
the result of the Group streamlining its organizational structure.
Earnings before taxes (EBT) came to -0.04 million euros. After
interest and taxes, asknet made a slight quarterly loss of 0.05
million euros.

In the first three months of 2012, the Group generated sales revenues
of 16.27 million euros, 9.5 percent down from the prior year's
figure. asknet Group's gross profits in the reporting period dropped
by 0.43 million euros to 2.35 million euros compared to the first
three months of 2011, of which 1.76 million euros were contributed by
the eDistribution segment and 0.59 million euros by ePortals. The
performance of both eDistribution and ePortals took a downturn in the
reporting period. Growth in the eDistribution segment declined due to
weaker business conditions of existing top-selling customers. In the
ePortals segment, the drop in sales was due to the delay of planned
new customer projects until following quarters and weaker sales
performance with products of the major software partners compared to
the first quarter 2011.

The company expects for sales to resume growth in the coming months.
The eDistribution segment won a new major international customer,
CyberLink Corp. asknet started operating the global online shops of
the Taiwanese software publisher in the second half of March. This
will take full effect on business developments in eDistribution as
from the current quarter.

The launch of Adobe Creative Suite 6 in May 2012 is also set to have
a positive impact on the ePortals segment. In addition, Adobe is
partnering with asknet as its technology and fulfillment partner.
asknet manages Adobe software downloads for university eShops in
Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The Company started implementing
the download depot on university portals in the first quarter,
including those of the universities in Berlin, Würzburg and Zurich
with further universities being added in the coming months.

asknet also closed a cooperation deal with SoftwareONE, one of
Microsoft's major large account resellers. The global software
licensing company, with branches in about 50 countries, uses portals
developed and hosted by asknet that supply students and employees in
the fields of research and education with software. In the first
stage of expansion, SoftwareONE with headquarters in Switzerland,
uses the asknet portal www.studyhouse.ch since February 2012.

asknet remains confident about developments in the current fiscal
year in view of the good general conditions in the sector. According
to current estimates, the company will therefore improve its
operating result and reach break-even for the full year, as
forecasted for 2012.

The quarterly report 1/2012 of asknet AG (german version only) is
available on the company website at www.asknet.com.

About asknet: asknet offers its clients customized outsourcing
solutions for global software sales via the Internet. Founded in 1995
as a spin-off of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, formerly
the University of Karlsruhe), the company has become a leading
independent global provider for electronic software distribution. In
addition to its fully integrated shop solutions for software
publishers, the company develops and maintains portals for software
distribution and supplies software products to around eighty percent
of German universities. In 2011, asknet posted sales of approximately
EUR 65.4 million. asknet's clients include numerous providers of
specialty software including CyberLink, F-Secure, IS3, Nero,
NetObjects, Norman, and Panda Security.

Further inquiry note:
Martina Oerther
Vice President Corporate Marketing
Tel.: +49 (0)721 96 458-6369
Email: martina.oerther@asknet.com

end of announcement euro adhoc
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company: asknet AG
Vincenz-Priessnitz-Str. 3
D-76131 Karlsruhe
phone: +49 (0)721 96 458 6369
FAX: +49 (0)721-96 45899
mail: info@asknet.de
WWW: http://www.asknet.de
sector: Electronic Commerce
ISIN: DE0005173306
indexes:
stockmarkets: free trade: Berlin, München, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Open Market /
Entry Standard: Frankfurt
language: English