euro adhoc: Mühlbauer Holding AG & Co.KGaA
quarterly or semiannual financial
statement
'Ad-hoc message pursuant to § 15 WpHG'
Mühlbauer increased sales and earnings significantly - High order income in core
business Cards & TECURITY®
Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
quaterly report
30.07.2008
Roding, 31 July 2008 - Based on a large order for the complete transfer of technology and expertise for the production of electronic ID documents and the call of placed orders for the provision of technology and software solutions for Cards & TECURITY® applications, the Mühlbauer technology group, quoted on the Prime Standard, is able in Q2 2008, to continue the positive development of the previous quarter with a strong increase in orders and sales and to make a significant contribution to consolidated net earnings.
In Q2 group sales climbed 44.8%, to EUR 44.4 million (30.7), due to growth in all business areas. Mühlbauer recorded the greatest increase in sales, namely 58.5%, in its restructured core business area Cards & TECURITY®. This area focuses exclusively on the transfer of technologies and expertise for the production of all types of card and ePassport applications. As a result, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) almost doubled year-on-year, at EUR 7.5 million (3.9), while the EBIT margin rose from 12.6% to 17.0%. Earnings before taxes (EBT) climbed to EUR 7.4 million (5.2), but - in contrast to the same period of the previous year - was unable to benefit from the positive financial result (minus EUR 0.1 million; PY: EUR 1.3 million), due to the unfavorable capital market environment. After deducting tax expenses, net income for the period totaled EUR 5.7 million - after EUR 3.4 million year-on-year. Earnings per share for the same period rose from EUR 0.21 to EUR 0.39. In 1HY 2008, sales rose to EUR 87.6 million (65.1) and EBIT climbed EUR 6.8 million to EUR 14.6 million. For the same period earnings per share more than doubled from EUR 0.37 to EUR 0.78.
As a result of the extension of business, working capital climbed EUR 6.6 million to EUR 52.7 million, while free cashflow rose significantly year-on-year, particularly due to the increase in earnings and the as yet restrained investments, to EUR 7.0 million (+1.2). The equity ratio dropped from 81.2% to 77.9%, due to the payment of dividends of EUR 1.00 per no par share including the statutory distribution of profits to the personally liable shareholder.
Demand for technology solutions and products by Mühlbauer continued unabated in Q2. With new orders worth EUR 54.2 million (42.2) - including the received large order of an European country with an order volume of EUR 12.6 million - the order book reports year-on-year growth of 28.4% in Q2 2008. With regard to cumulated order income for the first half of 2008, Mühlbauer recorded a year-on-year increase of 34.9%, thus reporting a new half-yearly record high of EUR 102.4 million. The order backlog to the end of the first half of 2008 amounted to EUR 83.4 million (86.6), thus lagging the year-on-year value slightly by 3.7%.
The Mühlbauer technology group is expecting to continue the good development of sales and earnings in the current year, while this will primarily be driven by the demand for system solutions from the Cards & TECURITY® area. Several countries and public authorities will require technology systems to realize their ID projects due to the transformation and implementation process of innovative security-oriented ID systems. The increasing demand for EMV bank cards and GSM/SIM cards is also relevant. It should continue to exert a positive influence on the need for Smart Card production systems. Moreover, the business area Semiconductor Related Products is expected to undergo an intensification of demand. While short-term delays are possible in the product line Smart Label, due to fluctuations in supply and demand, the increasing use of RFID labels in supply chain management and ticketing should medium- to long-term result in the growth anticipated by many experts. As a result of the increasing market maturity of its new high-performance machine solutions, Mühlbauer is also ideally positioned in promising niches of the semiconductor industry to benefit strongly from a future development of demand. The positive development of business in the Traceability and Precision Parts & Systems areas should continue in the second half of 2008, subject to the fact, however, that the market environment remains favorable.
Contact and additional information: Investor Relations, Tilo Rosenberger, Tel.: +49 (0) 9461-952-1653, Fax: +49 (0) 9461-952-8520, investor-relations@muehlbauer.de, Mühlbauer Holding AG & Co. KGaA, Josef-Mühlbauer-Platz 1, 93426 Roding, Germany, www.muehlbauer.de.
end of announcement euro adhoc
Further inquiry note:
Hubert Forster
CFO
+49(0)9461-952-1141
hubert.forster@muehlbauer.de
Branche: Machine Manufacturing
ISIN: DE0006627201
WKN: 662720
Index: Nemax 50, CDAX, Prime All Share, Technologie All Share
Börsen: Börse Frankfurt / regulated dealing/prime standard
Börse Berlin / free trade
Börse Hamburg / free trade
Börse Stuttgart / free trade
Börse Düsseldorf / free trade
Börse München / free trade