euro adhoc: PANDATEL AG
Quarterly or Semiannual Financial
Statements
Pandatel: H1 sales in line with expectations - equity on
the rise (E)
Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
In H1 2003 Hamburg-based Pandatel AG booked sales of EUR 8.9m, as against EUR 15.2m one year earlier. Owing to the weak sales, the company reported a loss of EUR 2.4m, as compared with profit of EUR 0.7m 12 months before. The loss before tax came to EUR 3.6m, whereas H1 2002 closed with EBT of EUR 1.2m. As expected, Pandatels cost-cutting agenda has not yet favorably influenced earnings. Nevertheless, Pandatel is looking to the future with optimism: in Q2 2003 the company already scored a 32.3 percent increase on sales in Q1. The Management Board anticipates that as of 2004 sales will rise and Pandatel will return to profit. The company can, moreover, rely on a very sound capital base: Own funds amount to 94.5 percent of total assets, while cash and cash equivalents have surged from EUR 11.7m in H1 2002 to EUR 25.5m. At this years Ordinary General Meeting the shareholders resolved to forgo a dividend disbursement; liquidity has thus been spared. In this way, Pandatel is able to absorb the current weakness in the network equipment market. Market capitalization has increased appreciably with the rally in tech stocks. At the end of July, having climbed steadily the Pandatel equity reached a new high for the year of EUR 4.59, followed by a brief bout of profit-taking.
Sales negatively impacted by dollar weakness and SARS Pandatel has had to absorb sales decreases worldwide that were still in line with expectations by the market pundits. Alongside the general weakness in unit sales among telecom equipment providers, the SARS outbreak dampened what had until then been a very positive business trend in Asia. The US market, which was stuttering anyway, suffered from the falling US dollar against the euro, which Pandatel considers a longer-term phenomenon. The EMEA region (Europe, Mideast, Africa) tended very uneven. The proportion of intra-Group sales rose from 10.0 percent in H1 2002 to 13.1 percent.
The full interim report for H1 2003 will available on Wednesday, August 10, from 10 a.m. in our www.pandatel.com Web site.
~
H1 2003 H1 2002
Sales revenues (EUR 000) 8,941 15,238
EBT (EUR 000) -3,640 1,232
Net income/loss (EUR 000) -2,432 679
Earnings/loss per share (EUR) -0.34 0.09
Employees 174 159
~end of announcement euro adhoc 12.08.2003
Further inquiry note:
Dietlinde Bamberger
Investor Relations
ir@pandatel.com
Branche: Telecommunications Equipment
ISIN: DE0006916307
WKN: 691630
Index: Prime All Share, Prime Standard
Börsen: Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse / regulated dealing
Niedersächsische Börse zu Hannover / free trade
Berliner Wertpapierbörse / free trade
Bayerische Börse / free trade
Hamburger Wertpapierbörse / free trade
Bremer Wertpapierbörse (BWB) / free trade
Börse Düsseldorf / free trade
Baden-Württembergische Wertpapierbörse / free trade