Service Point Results - Full Year 2008 - and comments and questions

Very recently (in a Press Release dated 26 Feb 2009, but which I just found posted on SP’s web-site), Service Point Solutions, S.A. issued what I would characterize, based on the comments made by SP in that press release, as a rather “rosey” report on its full year 2008 results.

However, after looking a bit closer, it doesn’t sound to me like things are as “rosey” as the report seems to indicate.

SP’s revenues for the full year 2008 – 237.7 mil Euros
SP’s revenues for the full year 2007 – 213.7 mil Euros

On the surface, SP’s full year revenues, 2008 vs. 2007, increased by 11.2%.
But, since SP was very active in acquisitions in 2007 and 2008, the real questions, I think most investors and reprographics industry people would ask and want to know, are a) how much of that revenue increase, 2008 vs. 2007, was attributable to “acquired revenues” and, more importantly, b) if you removed the acquired revenues, did SP’s “organic” revenues (meaning non-acquired revenues) actually decline, 2007 vs. 2008?

I did not see any comparison of Q4 2008 vs. Q4 2007 revenues, but, by extrapolation (difference between full year numbers and y-t-d through Q3 numbers), it looks to me, like this:

SP’s revenues for Q4 2008 - 63.3 mil Euros
SP’s revenues for Q4 2007 - 57.9 mil Euros

On the surface, SP’s Q4 revenues, 2008 vs. 2007, increased by 9.4%.
But, again, since SP was very active in acquisitions in 2007 and 2008, the real questions, I think, are a) how much of that revenue increase, Q4 2008 vs. Q4 2007, was attributable to “acquired revenues” and, more importantly, if you removed the acquired revenues, did SP’s “organic” revenues (meaning non-acquired revenues) actually decline, Q4 2007 vs. Q4 2008?

Again, if you subtract out the effect of acquired revenues, could it be that SP’s organic revenues actually declined – and declined by 10% or more - Q4 2007 vs. Q4 2008?

SP also reported:
Net Profit, full year 2008 - 2.5 mil Euros
Net Profit, through Q3 2008 - 2.6 mil Euros (this was reported in a previous Press Release)
Does this not mean that SP incurred a Q4 2008 loss, albeit minor, of .1 mil Euros?

Service Point’s most recent Press Release (the one dated 26 Feb 2009) says this:….
“the fourth quarter of 2008 was the best quarter of the year and shows, compared to the same period in 2007, a growth of 9.4% in revenues and confirmation of the effectiveness of measures implemented and the strength of recurrent revenues.”

My opinion (and question) about that statement: If Q4 2008 was the best quarter of 2008, how could that have been the best quarter of 2008 if, in fact, SP lost money in that quarter?

SP files its detailed financial reports with the SEC-like organization in Spain. I don’t read Spanish, and I have not seen SP’s detailed SEC-like reports. I have read ARC’s 10-K (for 2008), and I have read ARC’s press releases since the end of 2008. There does appear to be a difference in transparency, U.S public company reporting vs. Spanish public company reporting.

If anyone knows of an analyst’s report on SP for 2008, please direct me to that report.