Bucharest, 28 August 2020 – Bittnet (BNET) reports 55 million lei in consolidated revenues in the first half of 2020, a 39% increase compared to the same period of last year. The Group managed to triple the gross margin, reaching 10.9 million lei, which resulted in an operating profit of 2.4 million lei for the first six months of 2020.
The financial report of Bittnet, a group of IT companies listed on the Main Market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, was published on August 28th in a revamped format of an interactive website. It is the first time on the Romanian capital market when an issuer publishes a report in a fully digitalized and easy to navigate format; a common practice on the developed markets. The report can be accessed at https://investors.bittnet.ro/ro/raport-bnet-semestrul-1-2020/.
“The results from the first six months of 2020 mark the best H1 so far and confirm our statements in recent years regarding the development potential of Bittnet Group. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven how important digital assets have become to our economies. Networks and connectivity, data, artificial intelligence, basic and advanced digital skills support our economies and societies, enabling work to continue. At Bittnet Group, we are proud to be the facilitators of these technologies, having helped hundreds of local companies adapt to the new, more digitalized, realities in the course of the first half of this year. We continue the journey alongside our clients, pleased with the results thus far and optimist about the future” said Mihai Logofatu, CEO and co-founder of Bittnet Group.
Both divisions of the Group reported significant increases of both revenues as well as operating profit in H1 2020. The Education Division, which includes Bittnet Training and Equatorial, registered 6.1 million lei in turnover, +17% compared to H1 2019 with a gross margin of 3.8 million lei, +99% compared to the first six months of last year. As a result, the education division closed the period with 1 million lei in operating profit, higher with 1.4 million lei compared to H1 2019.
The Technology Division, represented by Dendrio and Elian, registered a 42% increase in turnover compared to last year, closing the first six months with sales of 49 million lei. The gross margin of the IT&C integration companies grew by 265%, up to 7.15 million lei and the operating profit increased by 4.7 million lei, reaching 1.4 million lei.
“Considering out historical results, the second half of the year is usually significantly better than the first because of the seasonality of the budgets and spending patterns in the IT&C sector. Moreover, we see many new tendencies that can contribute to our growth in the second half of the year: the increased need for digitalization of businesses of all shapes and sizes, the need for developing digital skills amongst the Romanian population as well as the growing demand for professional reconversion courses for people seeking a more stable career in IT. We thus expect in the second half of the year an increase of approximately 50% in revenues compared to the result from the first six months of this year” said Cristian Logofatu, co-founder at Bittnet Group.
In line with results from the past 13 years of activity, the management expects to make approximately 60% of yearly revenues in the second half of the year. The global revenues of Bittnet Group for the full year 2020 are expected to reach 125 million lei.
In terms of capital market activity, on June 3rd, 2020 Bittnet Group transferred from AeRO to the Main Market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Following the transfer, the daily liquidity of BNET shares has approximately doubled. Despite the volatilities on the international and local markets in the first half of 2020, the Group’s evolution on the capital market brought to the shareholders in the first half of 2020 a gain of 17% compared to a loss of approximately 10% registered by the BET-TR index. At the same time, the shareholders who participated in the capital increase operation carried out between March and April 2020, reported a yield of almost 52% by the end of the first semester of the current year.
About Bittnet Group
Bittnet was founded in 2007 in Bucharest, by brothers Mihai and Cristian Logofătu, as a company offering IT training and IT solutions in Romania and abroad. Today, Bittnet is a Group of companies in the IT field of which the following brands are part: Bittnet Training, Dendrio, ELIAN Solutions and Equatorial Gaming. Bittnet Training is the leader of the IT training market in Romania, with over 15 years of experience and the largest team of IT trainers in Romania. Equatorial is a game-based learning company specialized n providing transformative training and consulting programs at the individual, team and organizational levels in Romania and abroad. Dendrio is the only multi-cloud integrator in Romania, consolidating its position as a company certified by the most important IT providers in the world, focusing on cloud security and cybersecurity. Elian Solutions specializes in providing Microsoft Dynamics NAV Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation services. Bittnet Group is listed on the Main Market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange under BNET symbol.