Ad-hoc | 29 March 2006 07:36

ARQUES Industries AG announces preliminary results for 2005

Ad hoc announcement transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— ARQUES Industries AG announces preliminary results for 2005 Starnberg, March 29, 2006 – The Starnberg-based equity investment company, ARQUES Industries AG (ISIN DE0005156004), announces preliminary results for the financial year 2005. The last forecast published in November 2005 was slightly exceeded concerning the earnings. In the financial year 2005 the group revenues increased by 224,7% to €417,5 million (previous: €128,6 million), the results before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) by 69,1% to €58,6 million (previous: €34,6 million), the results before interest and taxes (EBIT) by 47,8% to €31,0 million (previous: €45,8 million) as well as the consolidated profit for the year by 55,8% to €48,2 million (previous: €30,9 million). Thus the earnings per share (diluted) increases from €16,49 in 2004 to €22,10 in 2005. The income from the reversal of negative goodwill arising from capital consolidation were taken up in the operational result, which is stipulated by the IFRS. The financial figures for the previous year were reclassified accordingly. The group equity increased to €140,5 million (previous: €49,8 million), the equity ratio amounts to 39%. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to €43,5 million (previous: €12,9 million) and the net cash amounted to €5,6 million (previous: € – 8,3 million). In the context of the FREP (Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel) findings, the financial figures for the previous year were revised positively. At the same time, the company made additional adjustments due to the reclassification within the P&L: The company decided, among other things, to subject the income from the reversal of negative goodwill arising from capital consolidation to a full taxation immediately on occurrence (also for the debt consolidation) and to apply this principle retroactively for 2004; in view of the ambiguity in the IFRS legal position, ARQUES decided on the most extensive, conservative accounting method in this case. Thus ARQUES builds up full provisions for taxation for internal group accounts receivable against subsidiaries, even if these are worthless, if they are to replace own capital funds and are non-yielding, and were acquired for a symbolic price. Without this adjustment, the EBITDA for 2005 would have been €1,9 millions higher and in 2004 €8,3 millions higher. The preliminary consolidated balance sheet as well as the consolidated income statement can be downloaded from www.arques.de. The audited annual report 2005 will be published on April 20, 2006. Contact: ARQUES Industries AG Investor Relations & Corporate Communication Anke Lüdemann, CEFA/CIIA Tel.: +49 (0) 8151/ 651 0 Email: luedemann@arques.de (c)DGAP 29.03.2006 ————————————————————————— language: English emitter: ARQUES Industries AG Münchner Str. 15a 82319 Starnberg Deutschland phone: +49 (0)8151 651-0 fax: +49 (0)8151 651- 500 email: info@arques.de WWW: www.arques.de ISIN: DE0005156004 WKN: 515600 indexes: SDAX stockmarkets: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, München, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News-Service —————————————————————————