Astellia, a leading provider of monitoring solutions for the optimisation of mobile network QoS and performance, announced a turnover for 2009 of €25.6 million, representing an annual increase of 2%. The operational profit for 2009 is €1 million, after a loss of €0.5 million in the first half of the year. The strong increase of sales orders in the second half of the year largely restored the fiscal year profitability. For 2009, the net profit reached €2.1 million, representing a net margin of 8%.
2009 business outlook
In line with Astellia's international growth strategy, 75% of the 2009 turnover was achieved outside France (compared to 66% in 2008). Revenue breakdown shows a 31% contribution of equipment sales and 29% for sales of software. Services and maintenance revenue contribution significantly increased, rising to 24% for services (versus 18% in 2008) and 16% for maintenance (14% in 2008).
To support its growth, Astellia increased its workforce by 13% in 2009: it has 200 employees on 31 December 2009, compared to 177 on 31 December 2008. The new positions were mainly dedicated to client services (pre-sales and support engineers).
Important developments in 2009
Astellia gained 27 new customers worldwide in 2009 (compared to 17 in 2008). The increase in international sales (17%) was driven by Astellia's penetration onto new markets (the US, Indonesia and the Middle East). Revenue generated in France was constant, enhancing long-term relationships with the main operators.
Once again in 2009, Astellia helped its customers worldwide with the substantial challenge of optimising 3G network performance and managing the tremendous data traffic growth which has been accelerated by the emergence of new smartphones.
In addition, Astellia increased its revenue through the development of consultancy and services consisting of ongoing assistance, assessment and advanced expertise to an increasing number of clients.
During the 2009 fiscal year, Astellia's innovation strategy progressed with the introduction of new products, including Trending & Aggregation Xpert, while further projects will lead to significant product milestones in 2010. This will include tests on new technology networks such as IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Long Term Evolution (LTE,) which will be performed in partnership with customers. Research and development is also progressing rapidly towards a new generation of probe.
Outlook for 2010
With €18 million of orders at the end of 2009 Astellia starts 2010 with optimism. The company intends to pursue its international expansion essential to its long term development. Ongoing market trends such as the deployment of new 3G networks, data traffic growth and continued increase of mobile subscribers, particularly in emerging countries, reinforce the need for the solutions provided by Astellia.
In line with these trends, Astellia will focus on developing new territories such as India, the Middle East, the Americas and Russia where significant investments began in 2009.
Astellia will also continue to work closely with existing customers, accompanying them in their network growth.
Finally, Astellia will strengthen its consultancy and services offer and its product portfolio, and develop innovative solutions for new technology networks.
