Basware, the leading provider of purchase to pay solutions, disclosed its full year earnings reporting a record turnover of 86 million Euros. Regardless of the declining market sentiment towards the end of 2008, full year net sales grew by 17.5 percent.

The last quarter of the year proved particularly strong with an operating profit growth of 114.2 percent. Basware succeeded well in all of its markets, with most units meeting or exceeding their objectives for the year. The company expects the net sales to develop positively also in 2009 and operating profit is expected to represent 10 to 15 percent of net sales.

Profitability in the fourth quarter was record high. Considering the significantly softened market conditions, we succeeded excellently, comments Basware CEO Ilkka Sihvo. The financial objectives set for 2008 as a whole were achieved in terms of net sales in extremely challenging market conditions. Operating profit for the full year was record-high and was within the guidance. Excluding one-off items, operating profit for 2008 amounted to EUR 9 415 thousand, or 10.9 percent of net sales.

For the year as a whole, the Norwegian, Finnish, German and North American Enterprise Purchase to Pay units exceeded their objectives. According to its strategy for 2009 2012, Basware aims for growth in all of its markets. US, UK and Germany will continue to have a strategic position, the main focus being on the US market with more weight on the direct operational model.

Basware succeeded well in the last quarter in securing large international customer accounts, particularly in North America and Europe. With regard to business operations, consulting continued its growth at a rate of nearly 30 percent during the fourth quarter. Software as a Service business increased by 36.2 percent, continues Sihvo. The SaaS market is predicted to see a remarkably higher growth than the software license market in the business application space during the new strategy period.

In previous economic downturns, the demand for Basware s products and services has remained more positive than the general economic market as a whole as the company s software solutions generate cost savings. Basware continues to actively follow the market situation and adjusts strategy execution accordingly to correspond to the changing strategic landscape. The long term net sales growth objective remains in the range of 20-40 percent with operating profit margin of 10-20 percent of net sales.

Please visit www.basware.comm investors for the full Financial Statements.