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Contacts:
Thierry Bonnefoi, Chief Financial Officer: Analysts/Investors
Relations
tbonnefoi@bvrp.com
+33 (0) 1 41 27 19 74
Lucie Rivaud, Press Relations
lrivaud@bvrp.com
+33 (0) 1 41 27 19 96
Christine Sauvaget, Communications
csauvaget@bvrp.com
+33 (0) 1 41 27 19 82
Global Software Developer and Publisher Expands into PC Utilities
Market Segment
Levallois-Perret,
France - February 1, 2005 - BVRP Software (ISIN: FR0004026714),
a global developer and publisher of communications
and productivity software listed on the Euronext Nouveau Marché,
today announced the acquisition of V Communications, Inc. (VCOM),
a San Jose-based leading maker of Utilities software for the global
PC market.
Under
terms of the agreement, BVRP acquires full control of VCOM, including
the California software company’s assets, its valuable
development expertise and best-selling line of PC Utilities products
that includes the award-winning SystemSuite™, Fix-It Utilities™,
Partition Commander™, Web Easy™ and PowerDesk®.
BVRP will pay $8.5 million in cash and shares with an additional
payment of up to $5 million in cash and shares contingent on certain
targets being met in 2005-06.
BVRP’s acquisition of VCOM will dramatically expand BVRP’s
product offering in the PC Utilities market and integrates VCOM’s
San Jose- and Denver-based R&D teams to bolster BVRP’s
software development capabilities. The acquisition reinforces BVRP’s
presence in the U.S., where it began operations in 1996 that last
year accounted for 44% of BVRP’s total revenue.
BVRP
also announced concurrent with the acquisition that VCOM will
become part of
a BVRP corporate reorganization designed to
increase market share in the company’s core product categories.
BVRP will create three new divisions focusing on the Mobility,
Productivity and Utility software product lines to further strengthen
BVRP’s intellectual property and positively contribute to
the company profitability. The software will be marketed worldwide
in all channels by BVRP’s Avanquest Software Publishing division,
which currently publishes best-selling software in all product
categories from both BVRP and third-party developers.
“VCOM’s broad, innovative product portfolio has made
them the leader in the PC utility category,” said Bruno Vanryb,
BVRP’s founder, chairman and CEO. “Their outstanding
line-up of best-selling software titles is a significant addition
to our intellectual property portfolio.”
“With
strong brands and a well-established presence in each of the
Utilities, Productivity and Mobility product categories,
BVRP Software as developer and Avanquest as a global publisher
are now perfectly positioned to meet and exceed our goal of reaching
a 20% market share in all three categories.”
BVRP
posted annual sales of $74 million (€ 57M) for 2004
and expects 2004 operating profits to exceed 11%. Taking in account
VCOM’s profitability and lack of any debt burden, the acquisition
will immediately have a positive impact on BVRP’s profitability,
increase BVRP’s profit margin, adding an estimated €0.13
to €0.17 to the earnings per share in 2005.
VCOM sales have gone from $5.5 million in 2002 to approximately
$8.3 million in 2004, with strong operating profit surpassing 15%
in 2004. BVRP group expects an additional $9-10 million in revenues
for 2005 as a result of the acquisition.
As
part of the reorganization, VCOM founder and President Frank
van Gilluwe
has been appointed president of the Utility Software
Division. He will join BVRP’s Executive Committee and report
to CEO Bruno Vanryb. As division president, Mr. van Gilluwe will
have responsibility for global market research, product development
and marketing investment for the Utility Software category.
“BVRP has expanded rapidly over the past several years and
we’ve been impressed by their capability not only to develop
innovative software in the Mobility and Productivity space, but
also to strengthen their presence in all territories and all channels
through the Avanquest organization,” said Mr. Gilluwe. “VCOM
is very excited to be joining BVRP to extend its development capabilities
and global leadership in the creation, sourcing and publishing
of high quality software worldwide.”
VCOM’s operations will be located in the San Francisco Bay
area global headquarters of Avanquest Software Publishing, managed
by Christina Seelye, president, Avanquest Software Publishing USA.
VCOM’s 24 current Silicon Valley employees will continue
to be employed at the Avanquest facility.
About VCOM:
VCOM began providing solutions for PC users in 1986 and has built
a solid reputation by providing affordable, high-quality products
for both IS professionals in an Enterprise environment and end
users who want the most from their PCs. Today VCOM is recognized
as the leader in PC utilities with ground breaking products to
manage, protect, and maintain today's PCs. VCOM has some of the
best known PC Utilities, including the award winning SystemSuite™,
Fix-It Utilities™, and PowerDesk®. Web Easy™ and
Web Easy Professional are recognized as the most powerful, easy-to-use
web design tool available. When it comes to running multiple
OSes, partitioning hard drives, performing automatic data backups
and keeping your hard drive running smoothly, let VCOM make the
process safe, simple and fast with their OS Wizard™, Partition
Wizard™ and BackStep Wizard™. VCOM alleviates the
anxiety commonly associated with complex software operations.
All VCOM's software is designed from the start for PC novices,
yet are powerful enough for PC experts. VCOM - producing truly
impressive software! Additional information on VCOM is available
at www.v-com.com/ and www.bvrp.com
About BVRP Software:
Based in France, with subsidiaries in Germany, Great Britain, Spain
and the United States, the BVRP Software Group is a worldwide
leading publisher of communications and mobility software and
a major provider of personal and professional software designed
for utilities, office productivity and multimedia. Founded in
1984, BVRP Software celebrates 20 years of innovation in 2004.
BVRP products are marketed in over 100 countries, through e-commerce,
OEM partnerships and IT resellers. In June 2003, BVRP Group formed
Avanquest Global Software Publishing, a coalition of software
publishers offering worldwide publishing resources to software
developers everywhere. The group posted revenue of €48.6M
and a net income of €3.9M in 2003, and revenue of €57.0M
with operating profits above 11% (final 2004 annual results published
on March 21, 2005). Listed on Euronext (ISIN FR0004026714) since
December 1996, BVRP Software is part of the NextEconomy segment
and the SBF 250 index. Additional information on BVRP is available
at www.bvrp.com
ISIN: FR0004026714; Reuters: BVRP.LN; Bloomberg: BVRP NM
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