Vizrt

Honestly: In Spring 2003, the investment in particularly vi[z]rt-shares required an almost barefaced amount of courage. But the willingness to take the risk was highly rewarded as the share-price of the supplier of graphic software for TV broadcasters grew since then from under 1 Euro to recently 6.70 Euro.

And the story goes on as it is still worth to invest in the stock of the company which is legally Israeli but located in the Norwegian city of Bergen. vi[z]rt – still-known under the name RT-Set to the ones who are familiar with the history of Deutsch Boerse’s “Neuer Markt” segment – has announced convincing financials for many quarters. Revenues for the first nine months of 2005 rose one third to 27.1 million USD. Profit grew 31 percent to four million USD. Additionally, the share should already benefit properly from fantasies around the upcoming Olympic Games in China 2008 .

Chart-analysis: An exemplary up-trend hedges the stock-price currently at six Euro. The next resistance is between 7.70 and 8.00 Euro. It is from November 2000.

Top Recommendation: Speculative

Vizrt, the technical expert for studios, is still widely unknown to investors. But considerable growth potential and a favorable valuation make their share very attractive.

Presumably many of “Der Aktionär” readers already watched the TV-show “Der Aktionär TV” on the German news-channel N24. Without knowing, on that occasion they encountered hard- and software products from the Norwegian-Israeli company called Vizrt. Be it graphic-tools to fade-in charts, character-generators to display text-blocks or the whole virtual studio-equipment, without Vizrt’s products TV shows such as “Der Aktionär TV” would not be not possible.

Success in Numbers

The company located in the Norwegian city called Bergen has achieved a remarkable market position and serves more than 847 customers worldwide. Continually growing revenues and profits in the past years reflect their success. And also the recently announced results for the first nine months in 2005 were convincing: Revenues rose 33 percent to reach 27.1 million USD and profit was also significantly up from 3.0 to 4.0 million USD which leads to the assumption of revenues possibly reaching 39 million USD and profit of 6.2 million USD for the total year.

New growth potential

The industry is currently going through a consolidation process: Just recently, the radio- and TV-branch of US-IT-giant Harris acquired its competitor Leitch Technology. Noticeable in this context: The price Harris paid for Leitch was 22-times higher than Leitch’s EBIT. This valuation translated into Vizrt terms which shows far better growth rates and is significantly more profitable would result in the assumption of a market capitalization at around 150 million Euro.

Vizrt, however, itself is active in the consolidation process and opened-up new growth potential by acquiring a 19-percent-stake in the company Adactus, also located in Norwegian. Adactus is the developer of a platform that transmits multi-media content to mobile equipment such as mobile phones or PDAs. Market experts predict this to become a billion Dollar market and estimate a boost from currently under 200 million USD to more than eight billion USD in five years.

One important “asset” for Vizrt is their customers’ loyalty. A huge portion of them repeats to choose the Norwegians for follow-up investments. Therefore, the share is also touched by the imaginations around the upcoming Olympic Games in China 2008. CCTV, one of the biggest Chinese customers, will build-up 70 new studios preceding the Olympics. That should be also beneficent for Vizrt in the coming three years. The Middle East and Eastern Europe should create additional expansion. As chairman Bjarne Berg said, these regions record over-proportional high growth-rates at the moment.

What makes investors happy

Vizrt covers everything investors want: A solid company-base, remarkable growth potential and on top a favorable valuation. With a 2006 P/E ratio at 12, the share is well below the industry’s average. “Der Aktionär”s 12-months share-price target: 9.50 Euro.

Article in FKTG (Newsletter of film and TV association of Germany)

Vizrt is a public company and worldwide leading provider of real-time 2D- und 3D broadcast graphic systems, preferably based on software. The headquarter in Norway reported, that revenues and net profit of Vizrt Ltd.’s quarterly and nine month growth are the result of a constantly expanding costumer base as well as continued penetration into new geographical regions.

Consolidated revenues for nine month 2005 increased by 33% to 27,1 M USD, including USD 1,14 M contributed by Curious, compared to 20,4 M USD in the first nine month 2004. The net profit increased up 31% to 4,0 Mio. USD, compared with 3,0 M USD in the first nine month of 2004.

Vizrt is determined to be a leader in the emerging world of content delivery technologies for broadband and the many types of wireless handheld devices.

The growth of these technologies is fuelled by the increased bandwidth in wired and wireless networks globally. The next few years will probably be the time when broadband TV and “TV-to-Go” prove themselves and take off. Vizrt is committing resources above all to develop tools for these platforms. At next year`s NAB Exhibition they want to demonstrate their solution for content delivery to mobile phones.

Source: FKTG (Newsletter of film and TV association of Germany)

Article in Finanzen.net

The Israeli Vizrt Ltd. (ISIN IL0010838154/ WKN 926501), a supplier of software for the realtime production of 2D and 3D graphics in the television industry was able to expand revenues and earnings in the first nine month of 2005 into two digits.

According to the company`s statement from Wednesday consolidated revenues increased by 33% to 27,1M USD compared to 20,4M USD in the nine month period 2004. The gross margin climbed up from 71 to 72%. EBITDA (excluding taxes, interest, depreciation, amortization of intangible assets and deferred stock compensation) reached 4,8 M USD, up 30% compared to USD 3,7 M the previous year. The net profit increased up 31% from 3,0 M USD to 4,0 M USD.

Furthermore the basic earnings climbed up to 0,26 USD per share, after 0,22 USD accordingly to the previous year. Basic earnings per share (fully diluted) increased from 0,19 USD to 0,24 USD. The continuous growth of revenue and net profit were caused by constantly expanding costumer base as well as continued penetration into a new geographical regions with significant business success in emerging markets.

As of September 30, 2005 Vizrt had a balance of 19,5 M USD (cash and short-term desposits) compared with USD 15,2 M as of December 31, 2004.

Yesterday shares fell 0,32% and left the trade with 6,18 EUR.

Source: Finanzen.net

Article in finanzen.net

According to the company's statement, consolidated revenues increased to USD 16.3M compared to USD 13.0M in H1 2004, a growth rate of 25%.

Moreover EBITDA climbed from USD 2.3M to USD 2.7M , net profit climbed from USD 1.8M USD to 2.1M. Basic earnings per share was USD 0.15 compared to USD 0.13 for H1 2004. Diluted earnings per share for was USD 0.13, compared to USD 0.11 for H1 2004.

Cash balance as of June 30, 2005 was USD 16.5M compared to USD 15.2M as of December 31, 2004.

On Monday the share closed at EURO 5.60, up 3.7%.

Vizrt Ltd, a supplier of software for the realtime production of 2D and 3D graphics for the television industry, increased revenues in the second quarter of 2005 by 35% to USD 9M (Q2/04: USD 6.7M). Simultaneously it was the the best result in the company's history. Accordingly, EBITDA improved to USD 1.8M (USD 1.2M). Net profit climbed to USD 1.3M (USD 0.9M). Diluted earnings per share was USD 0.08 (USD 0.06).

Vizrt Ltd. a supplier of software for realtime 2D and 3D graphic systems for the broadcast industry, once again made a big step ahead in fiscal year 2004, delivering record results at revenues and earnings.

According to the companies announcement, revenues grew by 27% to US$ 28.6M (03: US$ 22.5M). EBITDA improved by 32% to US$ 5.1M (US$ 3.9M). Net profit gained 45% to US$ 4.2M (US$ 2.9M). Earnings per share reached US$0.30 (US$0.21).

Cash for the reported period stepped up from US$12.6M to US$15.2M.

[Read the article - German]