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Cognos to Acquire Applix
Acquisition of Leading Analytics Company to Extend Cognos Financial Performance Management Leadership
Westborough, MA Sept 5, 2007 – Cognos (NASDAQ: COGN; TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, and Applix, Inc. (NASDAQ: APLX), a publicly held company based in Westborough, Massachusetts and an industry leader in analytics, today jointly announced the execution of a definitive agreement for Cognos to acquire Applix. With this acquisition, Cognos expects to further extend its position as a leading independent provider of financial performance management.
The planned acquisition is a cash tender offer of $17.87 per share, which equates to approximately $339 million or $306 million net of Applix cash on hand. The transaction is subject to the receipt of regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Cognos expects the acquisition to be completed in the fourth calendar quarter of 2007.
"This acquisition is a terrific strategic fit for Cognos. Applix will broaden our solution offering and provide Cognos with an innovative, 64-bit, in-memory analytics capability," said Rob Ashe, Cognos CEO. "It will also bring into the company a very strong employee and customer base that has been committed to performance management through high-impact analytics. This is another major step forward for Cognos in delivering leading performance management solutions to finance and across operations."
"We believe that this combination represents a great opportunity for the entire Applix community," said David Mahoney, president and CEO at Applix. "Our customers, partners and employees will become an important part of Cognos, which will allow the company to further enhance its position as a leader in the analytics market. Our organizations are very complementary, and I feel that they will blend together to create a leader in the financial performance management market."
Applix will complement Cognos flagship products- Cognos 8 Planning, Cognos 8 Controller, and Cognos 8 Business Intelligence -specifically in the area of financial performance management. Applix performance analytics will give customers new and enhanced capabilities to analyze and optimize financial performance. This will include improved analysis and optimization of large, complex financial performance data; strong finance self-service capabilities such as business rules management; new solution areas including profitability analysis; and innovative technology, including Applix TM1, a patented, 64-bit, in-memory multidimensional OLAP server.
With trailing 12 months revenue of US $61.2 million and year-over-year growth of 45%, Applix is recognized as a leader in the financial analytics market. The company and its global network of partners help more than 3,000 customers worldwide manage their business analytics needs. Customers range across a broad variety of industries including insurance, financial services, banking, healthcare, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, manufacturing, consumer goods and retail. Incorporated in 1983, Applix has been publicly traded since 1994. Applix has also been recognized by numerous industry and analyst groups for being a technical and strategic leader in the marketplace, including being positioned in the Visionaries Quadrant of Gartner's CPM Magic Quadrant.
Conference Call Details Cognos will review details of the proposed acquisition at 8:45 a.m. Eastern Time, today, September 5, 2007. Listeners can access the conference call at 866-249-1964 for North America and 416-915-5651 outside North America, or via Webcast at http://www.cognos.com/company/investor/events/070905. An archive of the Webcast can be accessed at http://www.cognos.com/company/investor/events/070905 following the conference call. A replay of the conference call will be available from September 5, 2007 at 10:15 a.m. Eastern Time until September 19, 2007 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. The replay can be accessed at 416-640-1917. The passcode for the replay is 21245986#.
About Applix
Applix (NASDAQ: APLX) is a global leader in performance management applications that enable continuous strategic planning, management and monitoring of performance across the financial, operational, sales and marketing, and human resources functions within the enterprise. Applix and its global network of partners help 3,000 customers worldwide manage their business performance and respond to the marketplace in real time. Headquartered in Westborough, USA, Applix maintains offices in North America, Europe and the Pacific Rim. For more information, please visit www.applix.com.
Applix recently released Applix Version 9.1, with its core analytics engine TM1, providing a high performance Web solution for real-time business performance management and reporting across the enterprise.
Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for Applix, Inc., including any statements containing the words “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements necessarily involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include without limitation, competitive pressures, changes in customer demands, adverse economic conditions, loss of key personnel, litigation, potential fluctuations in quarterly results, lengthy sales cycles, market acceptance of new or enhanced products and services, factors affecting spending by customers and other risks, uncertainties and factors including those described in the Company's most recent Form 10-K or 10-Q under the heading "Risk Factors"/"Factors That May Affect Future Results." In addition, the forward-looking statements provided by the Company in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this release. The Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause the Company's views to change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, and these forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of this release.
©2007 Applix, Inc. All rights reserved. Applix and TM1 are registered trademarks of Applix, Inc. All other trademarks and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
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