EANS-News: asknet AG / asknet publishes business figures for the first nine months of the year

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Corporate news transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer/originator is solely
responsible for the content of this announcement.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9-month report

Subtitle: *** Sales and gross profits down year-on-year in the first
nine months of 2011 *** EBT of 0.5 million euros in the third quarter
due to a one-off effect *** Organizational structure streamlined ***
Result expected to develop positively in the fourth quarter

Karlsruhe, San Francisco, (euro adhoc) - November 15, 2011 - asknet
AG, a leading supplier of global eCommerce solutions for software and
digital media companies, has announced its business figures for the
first nine months of 2011. In the reporting period, the Group
generated sales revenues of 47.4 million euros, around 8 percent
below the previous year´s figure. Gross profits, which represent the
growth of the Group, were almost 5 percent down year-on-year to 7.2
million euros, of which 5.1 million euros was contributed by the
eDistribution segment and 2.1 million euros by ePortals. asknet
Group´s operating result (EBIT) was -1.3 million euros. The result in
the first nine months of 2011 was negatively impacted by the
company´s weak business performance as well as one-off costs for
streamlining its organizational structure. After interest and taxes,
asknet made a loss of 1.3 million euros.

Growth in the eDistribution segment declined due to weaker business
with existing top-selling customers and a lack of new customer
agreements with large software publishers. The ePortals segment, on
the other hand, developed positively. In the third quarter, new
contracts were concluded with the University of Cologne, RWTH Aachen
University and Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. Overall, however, ePortals
could not fully compensate for the decrease in eDistribution. Due to
overall weaker business performance, asknet considerably streamlined
its organizational structure in the past quarter. The Group´s
workforce was cut by six to 93 employees in the third quarter; the
Executive Board was reduced from three to two members; and the
Supervisory Board was reduced from six to three members. These
measures enable asknet to increase efficiency in the long term with
reduced structural costs.

The reversal of provisions to the amount of 763 thousand euros, which
had been set aside in the previous quarter for a notification of
interest charges issued by the tax authorities, had a positive effect
on the result in the third quarter of 2011. The Group does not expect
its result to be impacted by these events any longer as the tax
authorities have suspended the execution of interest charges and the
company is also covered by insurance. As a result, asknet Group
generated earnings before taxes of 0.5 million euros in the third
quarter of 2011. The Executive Board of asknet AG anticipates the
positive business trend to continue in the fourth quarter of this
year, one of the reasons being the implemented savings measures.

"We see good growth prospects for our business arising from the
ongoing expansion of the ePortals segment in Switzerland and Austria.
The positive development regarding some medium-sized customers also
makes us confident that we will get back on our path to growth in the
eDistribution segment in the medium term," said Michael Konrad,
Co-CEO of asknet AG.

The quarterly report 3/2011 of asknet AG (german version only) is
available as from today 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 such as softwarehouse.de, one of Europe's largest
platform for downloads of standard software. In 2010, asknet posted
sales of approximately EUR 72.7 million. asknet´s clients include
numerous providers of specialty software such as F-Secure, IS3, Nero,
NetObjects, Norman, and Panda Security. The company also supplies
software products to around eighty percent of German universities.

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

end of announcement euro adhoc
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, München, Open Market /
Entry Standard: Frankfurt
language: English