MSAB: 2017 opens with growth

First quarter

·          Net sales increased 18.2 percent to SEK 55.4 (46.8) million (18.6 percent in local currencies).

·          EBIT increased to SEK 5.8 (5.3) million.

·          The EBIT margin reached 10.6 (11.3) percent (11.7 percent in local currencies).

·          Profit after tax amounted to SEK 4.1 (3.3) million.

·          Earnings per share were SEK 0.22 (0.18).

·          Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 2.7 (5.2) million.

·          Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period amounted to SEK 124.8 (115.1) million.

Comments from the CEO

During the first quarter, sales increased 18.2 percent to SEK 55.4 (46.8 ) million, and EBIT rose to SEK 5.8 (5.3) million, a margin of 11 (11) percent.  From a sales perspective, this is the strongest first quarter in company history.

 Starting the year with record sales is gratifying. Planned investments in both product development and marketing have increased our cost base, but the overall result is in line with our expectations.

The market for mobile forensics is evolving constantly. As phone manufacturers work to deliver more secure phones, the need for law enforcement authorities to secure evidence in mobile devices also increases.

 The number of phones that must be scanned is constantly growing, and thus the possibility for police to extract data must also increase. This means that the extraction of data from mobile devices has moved from forensic laboratories to police IT departments. We are now faced with a reality where the individual police officer must be able to access content, partly because it is a time-critical measure but also to cope with the increasing volume of mobiles that must be examined.

At the same time, the amount of information in each scanned unit has increased significantly, as does the volume of irrelevant data.  Analysis is therefore becoming increasingly important and increasingly comprehensive. This places great demands on the individual performing the analysis, but also on the infrastructure in terms of storage capacity and data transfer.

Many customers who would like to decentralise this function and increase their capacity are simultaneously negotiating capacity for data traffic and storage and, in some cases, even hardware. This means that many of these deals are accomplished through various systems integrators.

We are currently cooperating with several systems integrators and we expect that this number will continue to increase as we move forward.

The shift toward decentralised solutions is in line with our development strategy and means in the long term that our market is no longer forensics but rather system solutions for forensic authorities.

I am proud and happy that we have now released version 2.0 of our analytical product, XAMN Spotlight. XAMN Spotlight takes mobile forensics to entirely new levels. With the new version, police can find relevant information in record time, create their own search paths, use the filter and exploit a large amount of new, cutting-edge functionality. With XAMN 2.0, we meet not only today's demands but also see how our customers will be able to continue their efforts to improve efficiency in the future.

 On Friday, 7 April, Sweden was subjected to a ruthless and cruel terrorist attack in which innocent people lost their lives. At MSAB, we were as shocked and concerned as everyone else. We gathered in our staff room to follow the news, and we realised in a flash just how important our work is. In an open, democratic society, it’s obvious that we can never completely protect ourselves, but with effective mobile forensic products, the police can prevent attacks and prosecute terrorists.

Being the CEO at MSAB is especially gratifying when we know we are working to create a safer society. We will continue to develop and market the best forensic products so that everybody can feel a little bit safer every single day. It’s a good feeling to be a part of this market.

Stockholm, April 2017

Joel Bollö

Chief Executive Director

Media Contacts:

Joel Bollö, CEO MSAB
+46 (0)70 930 07 20
joel.bollo@msab.com

 This information is information that Micro Systemation AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. This information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out below, at 08:00 CEST on 28 April, 2017.

MSAB in brief

MSAB is a world leader in mobile forensics technology with the aim of extracting and analysing data from confiscated mobile devices, mainly mobile phones. The company has its own sales offices and sales representatives in Europe, North America, South America, China, Australia, Singapore and Russia, and together with a number of distributors covers most of the world. The company's proprietary products have become a de facto standard in the field and are used for securing evidence in over 100 countries. The products are complemented by a wide range of training courses, with the opportunity to become certified in a forensically sound method of extracting data from mobile devices. Customers are primarily authorities involved in performing criminal investigations,

and include police, military and customs. MSAB is listed on NASDAQ Stockholm under the ticker symbol: MSAB B.