EANS-Adhoc: Hoeft & Wessel continues its sales revenue growth and
internationalisation in Q3 2011
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ad-hoc disclosure pursuant to section 15 of the WpHG transmitted by euro
adhoc with the aim of a Europe-wide distribution. The issuer is solely
responsible for the content of this announcement.
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9-month report
03.11.2011
- Strong fourth quarter anticipated
- 2011: Sales revenues of EUR 93 million and balanced operating result
anticipated
- Development of new ticketing systems
- Liquidity in Hoeft & Wessel stock rises
Hannover/Germany, 03/11/2011. In the first three quarters of 2011, the Hoeft &
Wessel Group increased its sales revenues by more than 4 per cent, to reach EUR
62.8 million (2010: EUR 60.1 million). While the volume of sales revenue growth
in the field of mobile terminals exceeded 20 per cent and over 10 per cent for
ticketing systems, sales of car park terminals declined by 16 per cent on
account of temporarily lower revenues generated in the U.S.
In the first nine months of 2011, Hoeft & Wessel supplied ticketing systems
e.g. to the Danish State Railway and to public transport operators in
Switzerland and in Spain. In South Africa, within the scope of a pilot project
a new ticketing system based on an RFID technology is being realised with
contactless payments in the city of Durban. The British subsidiary Metric
supplied car park terminals to a parking management company and to South-West-
Trains, amongst other customers. Mobile terminals for data capture went to
various retail chains in Germany as well as to the Swiss Post.
The trend in the direction of internationalisation also continued in the third
quarter. Roughly 60 per cent of sales are meanwhile realised on an
international scale. In the first three quarters of 2011, Germany only
accounted for as little as 40 per cent of sales, followed by the U.S. and other
countries with 23 per cent and the United Kingdom with 22 per cent. The other
EU states had a share of 14 per cent.
Due to delays in expanding the international distribution partnership network,
project postponements and earnings being impacted by rising project costs, the
operating result (EBIT) as at 30 September 2011, amounting to -EUR 3.2 million,
turned out clearly negative and, therefore, lower than in the previous year
(2010: -EUR 0.8 million).
In the first nine months of the year, orders with a total volume of EUR 54.4
million were added to the books (2010: EUR 66.3 million). Thanks to a large-
scale order placed by the British FirstGroup, Hoeft & Wessel succeeded in
underpinning its leading position in the field of ticketing systems in the
United Kingdom and, in addition, enabled the company to present a completely
new, path-breaking e-Ticketing system. The placement of a firmly expected large
order has been delayed. The order portfolio as at 30 September 2011 stood at
EUR 53.5 million (31/12/2010: EUR 61.9 million).
While Hoeft & Wessel assumes that business trends in the current fourth quarter
will be similarly good as in the previous year, the Company will no longer be
able to match the operating result (EBIT) and sales revenues of the previous
year by the end of fiscal 2011. For the financial year 2011, a slight decline
in sales revenues to approx. EUR 93 million is now anticipated, and on account
of delays in extending the international distribution partnership network,
project postponements to the following year and earnings being impacted by
higher project costs, a balanced operating result (EBIT) is now forecast. Next
year, a clearly positive result is anticipated once again for the Höft & Wessel
Group.
The liquidity of Hoeft & Wessel's stock has continued to grow in 2011. The
average daily volume of trading of Hoeft & Wessel shares on all stock exchanges
in the first three quarters of 2011 came to more than 7,700 shares,
substantially exceeding the previous year's figure of just under 4,400 shares.
The instability on the stock markets led to a very high trading volume of
roughly 11,000 shares per day in the third quarter. Following the gratifying
development of trading activities, Hoeft & Wessel stock is also attracting
increased investor interest.
Further inquiry note:
Hoeft & Wessel AG (ISIN DE0006011000)
Investor Relations / Public Relations
Dr Arnd Fritzemeier
Rotenburger Strasse 20, 30659 Hannover, Germany
Phone: +49 511 6102 - 300
E-Mail: IR@hoeft-wessel.com
end of announcement euro adhoc
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issuer: Höft & Wessel AG
Rotenburger Str. 20
D-30659 Hannover
phone: +49-511-6102-0
FAX: +49-511-6102-411
mail: ir@hoeft-wessel.com
WWW: http://www.hoeft-wessel.com
sector: Technology
ISIN: DE0006011000
indexes: Prime All Share, Technology All Share
stockmarkets: regulated dealing/prime standard: Frankfurt, free trade: Berlin,
Hamburg, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Hannover, München
language: English