News from the EOS Group

The new EOS Lawletter has been published

Fri, 11 May 2012 12:04:00 +0200

The recent issue of EOS Lawletter deals with interesting news regarding German and European law.

EOS Group starts new business in Albania

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:49:00 +0100

Hamburg / Tirana, 01.03.2012 – On 1 March 2012, the EOS Group, an Otto Group subsidiary, starts its operative business in Albania. The new local company EOS Albania Ltd. offers debt collection services.

Christos Savvides, Member of the Board of Directors of the EOS Group with responsibility for Eastern Europe, comments: ‘EOS is entering this young market to provide professional receivables management services to its international clients. Banking sector clients of our Bulgarian EOS company, in particular, increasingly asked for an external partner to support them with the collection of outstanding receivables in Albania.’

The newly founded EOS company is headed by Dobrin Mirevski. He has been working for EOS Matrix Bulgaria since 2008 as a Business Development Director and was involved in the foundation of the Albanian enterprise from the very beginning. Mirevski describes the starting situation for EOS as follows: ‘We find a lot of similarities with the other Balkan markets. We, therefore, profit from the close collaboration with EOS Group companies in neighbouring countries.’ He adds: ‘Our clients will additionally benefit from the long-term experience EOS has in the receivables management sector as well as from our regional expertise.’

EOS Group acquires NCN, a canadian debt collection company

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:31:00 +0100

Hamburg / Toronto, 08.11.2011 – On 4 November 2011 the international EOS Group (www.eos-solutions.com), a company of the Otto Group, acquired the Canadian debt collection business of Nor-Don Collection Network Inc. (NCN) and thus entered the Canadian market.

Hans-Werner Scherer, Chairman of the EOS Group's Board of Directors, comments: ‘After the acquisitions in the USA and Brazil, with this entry into the Canadian market we have achieved an even wider coverage of the American continent. This is an important step in our international expansion strategy.’

NCN was founded in 1964 in Toronto and is a leading collection services provider. The company carries out debt collection for banks, telecommunications and utility companies from 5 locations throughout Canada. Scherer explains: ‘NCN has customer relationships lasting many years. This shows that we have found a partner who shares our outlook on customer support.’

Paul E. Leary Jr., CEO of the North American EOS company EOS CCA, will also chair the Canadian EOS company. He says: ‘EOS CCA and NCN have similar customers and the niches of both companies are very much alike. This creates an opportunity to improve the Canadian business through the implementation of best practices from EOS CCA. Also, there are opportunities to provide cross boarder services for those clients doing business in both the U.S. and Canada.’

The EOS Group

The EOS Group, a company of the Otto Group, is a leading international provider of tailor-made services covering the entire life cycle of a customer relationship – from customer acquisition to electronic payment processing, debt collection and debt purchasing. The core business is receivables management. EOS is committed to high standards of debt collection to protect creditors and consumers.

With over 8000 employees and more than 45 subsidiaries, EOS provides services for 20,000 clients in more than 20 countries around the world.

For further information: www.eos-solutions.com.

Contact:

Lara Flemming, Head of Corporate Communications & Marketing
Tel.: +49 40 2850-1560, E-Mail: l.flemming@eos-solutions.com

Berit Ewald, Senior Public Relations Consultant

Tel.: +49 40 2850-1566, E-Mail: b.ewald@eos-solutions.com

EOS Consolidated remains on growth course

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 07:47:00 +0200

Hamburg, 19 September 2011 – In 2010/11, EOS Consolidated achieved a positive annual result considerably above the previous year: Earnings before taxes (EBT) amounted to EUR 76.8 million in the 2010/11 financial year, compared to EUR 61.5 million in 2009/10. Consolidated sales by the international provider of receivables management, marketing and risk information, and payment services increased by EUR 56.9 million to a total of EUR 370.9 million. Thereof, EOS Consolidated achieved sales of EUR 340.6 million with companies outside the Otto Group (net external sales). Hans-Werner Scherer, Chairman of the EOS Group's Board of Directors, explains: 'Our clients put their trust in our service quality. Moreover, we were able to utilise the economic upturn and invest in our growth in a targeted fashion. This strategy paid off. ' EOS Consolidated sales in the German market rose by 6.7 per cent, from EUR 183.7 million in the previous year to their current level of EUR 196.0 million. Germany's share of aggregate sales was 52.8 per cent (58.5 per cent in 2009/10). Germany thus remains the most important regional market. In Western Europe, EOS Consolidated recorded growth, thanks to solid collecting performance in purchased debt collection portfolios, the further strategic development of EOS Aremas Belgium and the successful integration of EOS Acción de Cobro in Spain, which was acquired in 2009. Sales in the region rose by 17.7 per cent to EUR 64.9 million (EUR 55.2 million in 2009/10). The sales increase of 65.9 per cent to EUR 58.4 million in the Eastern Europe region shows that many of the companies there were able to recover significantly following the difficult 2009/10 financial year. Development of the EOS companies in Romania, Slovakia and Russia was especially positive. In the US market, EOS Consolidated also recorded growth. There, sales grew by 26.2 per cent to EUR 49.5 million. This development was mainly due to the acquisition of True North AR, LLC. EOS successfully continued its international growth strategy in the 2010/11 financial year with market entries in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ukraine and China. International expansion will continue to define the EOS strategy in future. EOS strives to open up new countries over the next few years and remains true to its goal of attaining or maintaining a top-three position in all relevant countries, except the US. Overview of key figures:

	2010/11	2009/10
Sales (EUR million)	370.899	314.036
EBITDA (EUR million)	107.9	89.1
EBT (EUR million)	76.8	61.5
Employees (heads)	5545	5160

For more information, please refer to the current issue of our annual publication 'EOS Insights', which can be downloaded at: www.eos-solutions.com/insights and is also available as an iPad app.
The EOS Group The EOS Group, an Otto Group subsidiary, is a leading international provider of tailor-made services covering the entire life cycle of a customer relationship – from customer acquisition to electronic payment processing, debt collection and purchase of receivables portfolios. The core business is receivables management. EOS is committed to high standards of debt collection to protect creditors and consumers. With over 8000 employees, EOS serves its 20,000 customers in more than 20 countries worldwide through over 45 subsidiaries. More information: www.eos-solutions.com. Contact: Lara Flemming, Head of Corporate Communications and Marketing
Tel.: +40 40 2850-1560, E-mail: l.flemming@eos-solutions.com Berit Ewald, Senior Public Relations Consultant
Tel.: +49 40 2850-1566, E-mail: b.ewald@eos-solutions.com

Payment reliability varies across Europe - EOS Ten Nations Survey 2011 ‘European Payment Practices’

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:06:00 +0200

Hamburg, 12 September 2011 – On average, individuals and corporate customers in Western Europe are more likely to pay on time than those in Eastern Europe. Over 75 per cent of all invoices are paid on time in Western Europe. In Eastern Europe, the proportion of receivables paid on time is 63 per cent on average. German (76.1 per cent), Bulgarian (74.6 per cent) and Spanish (73.5 per cent) businesses are among the most reliable payers. In the end consumer segment, 82.9 per cent of invoices are paid on time in Germany, 81.6 per cent in Belgium and 77.2 per cent in the UK. Customers in Greece are the least likely to respect payment deadlines. Only 46.09 per cent of invoices are settled on time in Greece, followed by Slovakia (57.13 per cent) and Russia (56.91 per cent). These are the key findings of the EOS 2011 Ten Nations Survey on European Payment Practices carried out by market research institute Ipsos on behalf of the international EOS Group.

‘Payment practices differ considerably within Europe. Anyone wanting to safeguard their company’s cash flow needs to adapt their business to these differences in customer payment practices,’ said Hans-Werner Scherer, CEO of the EOS Group. ‘This is all the more applicable when services are exchanged on the global market.’ Outstanding payments place strain on eastern European economy Another finding of the EOS survey is that the level of professionalism in receivables management varies widely. In western Europe, professional receivables management is something companies take for granted: nearly 69 per cent of the companies surveyed use external service providers, while 37.8 per cent rely on their own expertise. Among the survey participants in eastern Europe, 42.4 per cent rely on external support and 31.3 per cent employ their own specialists. This has an impact on the financial capacity of the participating companies: outstanding payments tend to account for a higher proportion of total sales in eastern European companies than in western European companies. The only exception is Russia, which has the lowest level of outstanding payments of all the countries surveyed (around 3.2 per cent of sales in the B2C sector and 9 per cent in the B2B sector). Another notable finding is that more eastern European firms (20.5 per cent) than western European firms (9 per cent) say they have faced cash flow problems as a result of bad debts or late payments. ‘Company cash flow is affected in a number of different ways. It is only by integrating systematic risk management into the core business processes that firms can secure their cash flow over the long term,’ said Mr Scherer. ‘In western Europe, this task is traditionally taken on by specialist service providers. Their expertise provides considerable support for cash flow within companies.’ Marked difference in payment terms The EOS survey also identifies significant differences in payment terms. German and Russian companies have the shortest payment deadlines, at 16.78 and 18.67 days on average. In Greece and Spain, customers have 70.92 and 61.72 days respectively to settle invoices. In all of the survey countries, end consumers are required to pay sooner than business customers. Europeans agree in their assessment of future payment practices: the majority forecast that payment behaviour will remain the same over the next two years. Only Greek companies expect the situation to worsen. The EOS Ten Nations Survey 2011 ‘European Payment Practices’ In spring 2011, in cooperation with the independent market research organization Ipsos, the EOS Group asked a total of 2200 companies in ten countries about prevailing payment practices in their respective countries. 200 companies in each of the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Poland and Belgium and 400 companies in Germany answered questions on all aspects of their payment experiences, economic trends in their home country and risk and receivables management in general. Further results from the survey can be found online at www.eos-solutions.com/media/expertise/studies/. The EOS Group The EOS Group is one of the leading international providers of individual services connected with the customer relationship life cycle – from customer acquisition to electronic payments processing and ultimately debt collection and factoring. The main focus is on receivables management. EOS stands for high-quality debt collection for the protection of creditors and consumers. With over 5000 employees and more than 40 subsidiaries, EOS provides services for 20,000 clients in more than 20 countries around the world. For more information, see: www.eos-solutions.com Contact: Lara Flemming, Head of Corporate Communications and Marketing,
tel.: +49 40 2850-1560, e-mail: l.flemming@eos-solutions.com Berit Ewald, Senior Public Relations Consultant, tel.: +49 40 2850-1566,
e-mail: b.ewald@eos-solutions.com

EOS Consolidated receives 'A' rating

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:45:00 +0200

Hamburg, 30 August 2011 – For the seventh time in a row, Euler Hermes Rating GmbH has rated EOS Consolidated with an 'A'. This means that the agency assesses EOS’ credit standing as very good and well above average compared with the economy as a whole. The auditors forecast a stable development for the rating assessment over the next twelve months. The main factors leading to this rating were strong, sustainable profitability, the leading position in the German market and the many years of experience in the purchasing of receivables portfolios. The solid international presence of EOS Consolidated also made an impact on the rating agency. EOS has a good basis for the further implementation of its international expansion strategy, says the agency. 'The rating encourages us in our strategy for internationalization and is motivation to continue our good work in the service of our customers,' says Justus Hecking-Veltman, member of the EOS Group's Board of Directors and Chief Financial Officer. The EOS Group The EOS Group, a company of the Otto Group, is a leading international provider of tailor-made services covering the entire life cycle of a customer relationship – from customer acquisition to electronic payment processing, debt collection and debt purchasing. The core business is receivables management. EOS is committed to high standards of debt collection to protect creditors and consumers. With over 5000 employees and more than 40 subsidiaries, EOS provides services for 20,000 clients in more than 20 countries around the world. For further information: www.eos-solutions.com
Contact: Lara Flemming, Head of Corporate Communications & Marketing
Tel.: +49 40 250 1560, e-mail: l.flemming@eos-solutions.com Berit Ewald, Senior Public Relations Consultant
Tel.: +49 40 2850-1566, e-mail: b.ewald@eos-solutions.com

EOS Group takes over Credirec, a French debt collection company

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:45:00 +0200

Hamburg / Paris, 2011-04-28 – As of 28 April 2011, the international EOS Group (www.eos-solutions.com), an Otto Group company, acquired 100 per cent of the shares in the French company Credirec and thereby entered the French market. Hans-Werner Scherer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the EOS Group comments: ‘France is the second largest economy in Europe. We had been looking for an appropriate local partner for quite some time. With Credirec, we have now found the perfect fit.’ Credirec is the market leader on the French debt purchase market and belongs to the top ten in the field of debt collection. The company focuses on receivables management in the consumer segment. Credirec mainly works for credit institutions, automotive credit companies and utilities. Mr Scherer explains: ‘Since Credirec was founded in 1993 it has kept all won customers. This shows that we have found a solid and successful partner that will support the growth of the EOS Group.’ EOS is taking over all 240 employees of Credirec working at the company’s sites in Paris, Nantes and Pau. Also as regards the management, EOS is putting its trust in continuity. The current CEO Nathalie Lameyre will continue to lead the company. She expresses: ‘We are happy to have found a partner, sharing the same values and quality standards. I am convinced that we will profit from the international know-how of our new colleagues and the financially strong background of the EOS Group.’

EOS Group starts new business in Bosnia

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 10:19:00 +0100

Hamburg / Sarajevo, 01.02.2011 – From 1 February 2011 on, the EOS Group (www.eos-solutions.com), an Otto Group company, starts its operative business in Bosnia. The local company EOS Matrix Ltd. offers debt purchase and debt collection in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Christos Savvides, Member of the Board of Directors of the EOS Group with responsibility for Eastern Europe, comments the commercial decision: “There is a high demand for professional accounts receivables management in Bosnia. Ten percent of all credits in this country are defaulting, many of them in foreign currencies.” He explains: “In the past, companies mainly worked with internal receivables management solutions. During the financial crisis, many firms realized the importance of a consequent receivables management for securing the cash flow of their company.” The collection of overdue debts is the core business of EOS. “We are specialists and often achieve better results in the collection of debts than the owner of the invoice,” Mr Savvides adds. The Bosnian EOS company is headed by Mirjana Vukovic. She has been working in the financial business for seven years, four of them in leading positions. Mrs Vukovic says: “We profit from the close collaboration with the EOS group companies in Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia. Our clients will benefit from the long term-experience and financial background of EOS.”

EOS Group opens new company in Ukraine

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:22:00 +0100

Hamburg / Kiev, 29 November 2010 - From December 2010 on, the EOS Group (www.eos-solutions.com), an Otto Group company, enters the Ukrainian market. The new local company TOV EOS Ukraine offers debt collection and debt purchase to clients in Ukraine. Christos Savvides, Member of the Board of Directors of the EOS Group with responsibility for Eastern Europe, explains: "Of all credits in the Ukraine with a total of some 24 billion US Dollar almost 30 percent were rated as defaulting in 2010." The reason: Individuals who took out loans in foreign currencies, primarily dollars, were hit hard by the devaluation of the Ukrainian Hryvnia. The currency was devalued by over 50 per cent. Therefore, the repayment of foreign currency valued loans became more strenuous – the lower or non-repayment of loans affecting many banks. "International companies want a partner who, like EOS, ensures service quality while preserving the company’s image and customer satisfaction", Mr Savvides adds. EOS focuses on the banks’ and on their customers’ needs in order to find acceptable financial solutions for both sides. "We look forward to serving both local and international clients in Ukraine." The Ukrainian EOS company will be headed by Aleksey Teslenko. He has been working in the financial sector for the past twelve years, for five years in top management positions. Before he started his job at EOS he was Managing Director for one of the Ukrainian market leaders for outsourced collection and call-centre services. He says: "We profit from the good connections to and the know how of the EOS Group companies in our neighboring countries. Our clients will benefit from the long term-experience and financial background of EOS." – From December 2010 on, the EOS Group (www.eos-solutions.com), an Otto Group company, enters the Ukrainian market. The new local company TOV EOS Ukraine offers debt collection and debt purchase to clients in Ukraine.

Few debts written off in Eastern Europe, better cash flow in Western Europe

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:58:00 +0200

Hamburg – Good news for Eastern European companies: they seldom suffer from bad debts. In Russia, companies only have to write off 1.8 % of invoices. In Slovakia the figure is 1.9 % and in Poland 2.3 %. The proportion of bad debts in Spain (4.7 %) and Greece (5.0 %) is particularly high. This emerged from the EOS Ten Nations Survey 2010 ‘European Payment Practices.’ Together with Ipsos, the market research institute, the international EOS Group, which provides receivables management, marketing and risk information and payment services, surveyed local payment practices at 2200 companies in ten European countries. Company cash flow tells a different story. In this case, Western companies are doing better than their East European counterparts. Only 9 % of German companies have experienced cash flow problems because of payment defaults. The figure in Great Britain and Belgium was 10 %. It was considerably higher in the other countries surveyed. Companies in Romania (31 %) and Greece (23 %) were most frequently affected by cash flow problems. 21 % of those surveyed in Poland and Bulgaria had payment problems. ‘The macroeconomic situation in the countries surveyed corresponds to the results of our survey. If the availability of sources of corporate finance is reduced, even a low level of bad debts can endanger cash flow,’ says Hans-Werner Scherer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the EOS Group, commenting on the results of the survey. Value of professional receivables management acknowledged Another result of the EOS survey: professional receivables management is almost taken for granted at Western European companies. This applies to both the use of internal specialists and cooperation with specialist service providers. Almost half (45 %) of British, Greek and Spanish companies employ internal credit and receivables management specialists. In Slovakia, only 19 % of businesses have their own experts. In Romania, the figure is 27 %. Particularly in Germany (89 %) and Belgium (78 %), companies rely on external support. Only 3 % of businesses in Russia work with attorneys or debt collection companies. The figure in Bulgaria is around 27 % and in Slovakia 36 %. Inconsistent assessment of payment behaviour Companies covered by the international survey evaluate the future development of payment behaviour differently. In Greece, for example, over half (52 %) of businesses fear a further decline in payment behaviour. In Great Britain, almost two thirds (63.8 %) of those surveyed assume that there will be no change in payment behaviour. In Russia, by contrast, one third (34.3 %) expects that willingness to pay will improve. There is agreement on the assessment of receivables management. On average, well over three-quarters of all business assume that the importance of receivables management will remain the same or increase in future. ‘The international survey shows that companies gain from taking a professional approach to receivables and credit, particularly in times of economic difficulty,’ says Hans-Werner Scherer. ‘The vast majority of decision-makers have recognised the importance of receivables management under the pressure of the crisis.’ The EOS Ten Nations Survey 2010 ‘European Payment Practices’
In spring 2010, in cooperation with the independent market research organization Ipsos, the EOS Group asked a total of 2200 companies in five countries about prevailing payment practices in their respective countries. 200 companies in each of the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Poland and Belgium and 400 companies in Germany answered questions on all aspects of their payment experiences, economic trends in their home country and risk and receivables management in general. Further results from the survey can be found online at www.eos-solutions.com/surveys. The EOS Group
The EOS Group is one of the leading international providers of individual services connected with the customer relationship life cycle – from customer acquisition to electronic payments processing and ultimately debt collection and factoring. The main focus is on receivables management. EOS stands for high-quality debt collection for the protection of creditors and consumers. With over 5,000 employees and more than 40 subsidiaries, EOS provides services for 20,000 clients in more than 20 countries around the world. For more information, see: www.eos-solutions.com. Contact: Lara Flemming, Head of Corporate Communications and Marketing, Tel.: +49 40 2850-1560, E-mail: l.flemming@eos-solutions.com