OREANDA-NEWS. EQS Group AG (ISIN: DE0005494165) has entered the 2017 fiscal year with significant sales growth. The Group generated revenues of € 6.90 million from January to March, a 49% increase over the same period of the previous year. EBIT before one-off acquisition costs, purchase price allocation, and scheduled amortization of the acquired customer bases (non-IFRS) doubled to € 331 thousand. Adjusted Group net profit amounted to € -26 thousand. Adjusted earnings per share amounted to € -0.02. 

The significant increase in revenues is mainly attributable to a rise in sales in Germany, particularly the consolidated sales revenues of the majority stake in ARIVA.DE AG. The revenue increased in the run-up to the PRIIP Regulation, which mandates basic information sheets for financial products. Sales revenues were up by more than 40% over the previous year. 

EQS Group AG also achieved organic double-digit growth in Germany. The decisive factor in this increase was the European Market Abuse Regulation taking effect, the resulting expansion of comprehensive insider rules, as well as stricter ad-hoc obligations for a considerably larger group of issuers. The introduction of the INSIDER MANAGER cloud software has been a great success. 

In total, EQS Group AG increased sales 68% to € 5.19 million in Germany, of which € 1.68 million stemmed from consolidated sales of ARIVA.DE AG. 

Achim Weick, founder and CEO of EQS Group AG: "The intensification of financial market regulations in Europe opens up new opportunities for growth in Germany and abroad and leads to a significant jump in sales in our home market as a result of the broadened customer base. Our cloud products such as INSIDER MANAGER can also be implemented quickly in other European markets, an ideal springboard for new customer acquisition." 

Foreign business continued to grow in the first quarter of 2017. Sales revenues increased by 12% to € 1.71 million. The share of foreign sales in Group sales declined from one-third to 25% as a result of the first-time consolidation of ARIVA.DE AG. 

The Swiss subsidiary posted double-digit sales growth in the first three months of the 2017 financial year, up to € 733 thousand (€ 663 thousand in the previous year). The Asian business achieved an operating profit (non-IFRS) for the first time with virtually unchanged revenue (€ 617 thousand). The largest percentage of sales growth was achieved by the subsidiaries in the UK (34% growth to € 114 thousand) and Russia (31% growth to € 212 thousand). The Russian subsidiary achieved a double-digit EBIT margin in the first quarter. 

As result of EQS Group's international growth strategy, the Executive Board of EQS Group expects double-digit revenue growth in 2017, between 20% and 25%, amounting to € 31.2 million - € 32.5 million. Adjusted EBIT is expected to increase by 10% to 20%, amounting to € 3.6 million - € 3.9 million.

 EQS Group is a leading international technology provider for Digital Investor Relations. More than 8,000 companies worldwide trust EQS's products and services to securely, efficiently, and simultaneously fulfil complex national and international disclosure and compliance requirements to the global investment community.

The heart of the technology is the EQS COCKPIT, a cloud-based IR workflow platform, which digitally maps the work processes of IR Officers, streamlining them for maximum efficiency. Special modules maintain IR websites contents (CMS), contact data (CRM) and insider data as well as access to global investor data and proprietary monitory and analytics functions. The EQS COCKPIT platform is connected to the company's website in order to guarantee integrated workflows.

The EQS COCKPIT also provides access to one of the most important financial newswires, over which more than 20,000 financial and corporate releases are distributed annually. In Germany, all DAX companies trust EQS Group's DGAP service as the main institution to comply with legal and regulatory submission and publication requirements.

As a digital single source provider, EQS Group also develops IR and corporate websites and apps, creates digital financial and sustainability reports, and performs corporate audio and video transmissions.

EQS Group was founded in Munich, Germany in 2000 and has developed from a start-up into an international concern with offices in the world's key financial markets. In addition, the group holds the majority interest in ARIVA.DE AG and employs more than 300 professionals.