Dassault flush with cash, increased sales in Q2

Big news out of Dassault this morning, as the company, which dubs itself "3DS," increased Q2 revenues up 17% over a year ago. Or as they put it, "organic double-digit revenue."

Earlier they had already passed the magic $2-billion-a-year milestone, and now this year they are reaching for €2 billion ($2.452 billion).

This number will be compared next month when Autodesk announces its quarterly results, as the two top CAD vendors battle each other for the #1 position of gross revenues. Siemens PLM Software could well be a contender, too, but prefers to keep its numbers a secret from the rest of the world.

The revenue figures between Dassault and Autodesk tend to be close, and so the curve ball is the exchange rate. Dassault reports in Euros and Autodesk in US dollars; the Euro:US$ exchange rate has been falling, giving Autodesk the numerical advantage once the currency exchange is factored in.

This morning as I write this, the Euro:US$ rate is 1.2230; one year ago, it was 1.4247 -- a drop of 16%. I cannot summarized "Bad for Dassault; good for Autodesk," because both companies get significant revenues from both economic regions.

• Dassault benefits from the weak Euro when it takes in revenues from USA (such as SolidWorks and large American customers)
  
  
• Autodesk loses from the weak Euro when it takes in revenues from Europe

The company €1.64 billion cash sitting around.

SolidWorks Numbers

SolidWorks software revenues were up 15%, with 13,844 new licenses in the quarter, 27,252 in the first half of the fiscal year.

Transcat Spinoff

Transcat PLM of Germany is a VAR and third-party CAA programmer, owned by Dassault, but now the company and its 200 employees are on their own. The reason: "The transaction builds on 3DS' strategy to strengthen its partners' business success in each geography and enable a new level of partner-to-customer-to-user experience." Clearly.

Former CATIA ceo Etienne Droit becomes managing director of Transcat; former head of CATIA R&D Philippe Laufer takes his place as ceo of CATIA.

http://www.3ds.com

Comments

[Dave Ault]

I would like to see the proof behind the SW numbers to believe it. Considering the defections and the dropped maintenance by numerous unhappy clients I take these claims as seriously as I do the ones about "Catia Lite" being fininshed in 2013. I suppose next year when things are even worse for them it will be a 17% increase ;) What is it that is said about the veracity of statistics?

[Kevin De Smet]

I suppose that's what they set up a Finance department for, it's like Marketing; only with numbers, instead of flyers and TV ads.

[Matthew West]

Dave, you can find the complete earnings statement here.

http://www.3ds.com/company/finance/earnings/

Despite what you may hear from our competitors, we continue to experience positive growth, the percentage of customers on subscription maintenance is going up (not down), and the vast majority of our customers around the world are very happy with the products and support they receive from SolidWorks and our resellers.

Matt / SolidWorks

[Dave Ault]

That could well be Matt, I just get cynical about comments from all the companies in the cad world who all claim huge double digit sales growth and just can't see how this is possible in this economy. How can EVERYONE be thriving in a contracting manufacturing and economical environment?

You have that right Kevin!

[Matthew West]

Dave,

Keep in mind that not all parts of the world are experiencing the same conditions as the US and western Europe. We've seen huge growth in the Brazil, Russia, India and China. Other countries like Turkey more or less avoided the downturn entirely and are growing just as fast. And companies in the West continue to invest in new technology that lets them work more efficiently, making CAD purchases/upgrades net positives from a balance sheet perspective. And there are still a lot of companies moving from 2D to 3D.

[Dave Ault]

OK I will buy that. When SE talked about sales increases this year for the Americas they said the Americas as an agregate so it basically included the Western Hemisphere I imagine.