EANS-Adhoc: 'Ad-hoc message pursuant to § 15 WpHG' Mühlbauer takes stock of the first six months of this year: Growth in sales in core business cushions decline in industry business - special effect has a negative impact on earnings
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.
6-month report
29.07.2009
Roding, 30 July 2009 - Despite the effects of the difficult market environment as a result of the declining economy, the Mühlbauer technology group, worldwide active independent consultant and manufacturer of innovative security solutions for the TECURITY® market, was able to considerably increase its sales in its core business area of Cards & TECURITY® due to the intensified call-off of government orders and the successful implementation of an ID project with overall responsibility in the capturing, management and verification of biometric data and thus post its second-largest quarterly sales in the company´s history in Q2 2009.
Whereas Mühlbauer was thus able to almost completely compensate for the decline in sales in the industry business and consolidated sales at EUR 43.2 million were only just under the level of the previous year (EUR 44.4 million), earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), adjusted for the special effect of the non-liquidity-related net allocations to provisions for legal fees in connection with another patent infringement suit, were substantially lower at EUR 4.1 million than in the same period in the previous year (EUR 7.5 million) due to the higher risk provisioning in inventories as a result of the economic situation. Taking into account the special effect of EUR 1.4 million that had a negative effect on earnings, the EBIT generated in the reporting quarter amounts to EUR 2.7 million (PY: EUR 7.5 million), which corresponds with an EBIT margin of 6.3% (PY: 16.9%). These developments in operating earnings as well as the financial earnings that were virtually unchanged in a quarterly comparison at EUR -0.1 million, resulted in an overall reduction in EBT of EUR 4.8 million to EUR 2.6 million (PY: EUR 7.4 million). In consideration of comparatively higher tax expenditures, the net earnings for the period amounted to EUR 1.8 million (PY: EUR 5.7 million), which corresponds with earnings per share of 0.12 EUR (PY: 0.39 EUR). In the half-year analysis, the sales of the Mühlbauer Group amounted to EUR 81.3 million (PY: EUR 87.6 million). The EBIT generated in the same period amounted to EUR 5.1 million (PY: EUR 14.6 million), taking into account of all special effects that had a negative impact on earnings. Thus earnings per share have decreased from EUR 0.78 to EUR 0.24 for the same period.
At EUR +19.4 million, the cashflow from operating activities in the first half of the year was substantially above its level in the same period of the previous year (EUR +14.3 million), primarily due to higher net cash inflows from the acquisition and disposal of short-term securities and the adjusted working capital management in light of the current development. Considering higher scheduled payments in respect of the completion of the new technology centers in the USA and Slovakia free cashflow was, at EUR -4.8 million (PY: EUR +7.0), significantly lower year-on-year. The equity ratio slid from 77.5% at the end of previous year to 74.6%. The payment of dividends to shareholders and parallel distribution of profits to the personally liable shareholder in the reporting period played a decisive role in this decline.
In Q2 2009, order income of the Mühlbauer Group was at EUR 31.1 million (PY: EUR 54.2 million) 42.6% under the comparable quarter of the previous year due to the volatile project business in the government-related TECURITY® sector and the stagnation of the industry business as a result of the economic development. Overall, the order income of the Mühlbauer technology group totaled EUR 83.3 million (PY: EUR 102.4 million) to the end of 1HY 2009, thus posting a decline of 18.7%. The order backlog at the end of the reporting period was EUR 80.2 million, thus dropping 15.3% against the value achieved to the end of Q1 2009 (EUR 94.7 million).
The Mühlbauer technology group is continuing to focus on the government-related TECURITY® business in its core business area Cards & TECURITY®: Numerous government and public authorities are pushing ahead the implementation of innovative electronic passports and ID documents and targeting the introduction of new solutions, such as verification and border crossing systems, e.g. for accelerated border crossing. While Mühlbauer´s core business area Cards & TECURITY, irrespective of natural fluctuations in the project business, still offers unbroken potential for development, it cannot be excluded at this point of time, that investment delays as a result of the current economic situation will continue to impact the development in the industry-related product areas. If the government-related TECURITY® business diminishes against this background, it can be assumed that sales and earnings in 2009 will not match the level of the previous year.
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
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