Corporate | 31 July 2006 11:20

ARQUES subsidiary, ddp, buys Deutscher Fernsehdienst (German television service)

Corporate news transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— ARQUES subsidiary, ddp, buys Deutscher Fernsehdienst (German television service) First acquisition from Hubert Burda Media Starnberg, July 31, 2006 – The ARQUES subsidiary, ddp Deutscher Depeschendienst GmbH, has taken over the photo and content agency, pwe Verlag GmbH, which includes among other things the Deutscher Fernsehdienst (defd), from Hubert Burda Media. Through this purchase, the second largest German press agency increases its annualised annual revenues by more than ten percent. By means of the acquisition from the Burda group, a company was again taken over from one of the leading conglomerates. With the acquisition of the pwe Verlag GmbH, ddp continues to develop its product portfolio within the celebrities and lifestyle segments with exclusive photos of national and international stars. The pwe Verlag GmbH, with its brands ‘a-life’ and ‘defd’, is Europe‘s largest supplier of photos regarding current and historical cinema and television films. In addition, the Hamburg-based company owns one of the most extensive press material archives in the German-speaking countries. The content and photo agency has a prominent market position within the programme magazine segment. pwe was taken over free of financial liabilities according to the ARQUES philosophy. Since the acquisition of ddp in November 2004, the revenues of the press agency have increase continually. In the first half of the current year, the revenues of the entire ddp group have increased by more than 25% in comparison with the previous year; earnings also developed better than budgeted in this period. After the restructuring of the agency and text service, ddp is presently concentrating on the development of the photo service. In August 2005, ddp acquired the Danish photo agency, colourpress.com. After the latest takeover, the news agency‘s photo service now includes a total stock of more than 1.5 million photos. ‘Based on a gratifying sales development in our classical business segment as a topical news agency for Germany, we are pleased to have the opportunity to develop a second pivot leg through the photo agency business and of becoming a strong supplier in this market’, said ddp managing director, Dr. Matthias Schulze. About ARQUES ARQUES Industries AG, Starnberg, is a turnaround specialist who focuses on the acquisition and the active restructuring of companies in transitional situations, in order to develop these, with its own team and own resources, to competitive enterprises with a positive yield. ARQUES revitalises its subsidiaries’ potential for creating value for the benefit of all its stakeholders, taking on the relevant social responsibility. ARQUES has made a duty of identifying underestimated companies with reduced survivability but with high appreciation potential, at the same time mastering complex company structures and transitional situations. The shares of ARQUES Industries AG are traded in the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol ‘AQU’ (ISIN: DE0005156004) and are listed in the SDAX since September 19, 2005. (c)DGAP 31.07.2006 ————————————————————————— Language: English Issuer: ARQUES Industries AG Münchner Str. 15a 82319 Starnberg Deutschland Phone: +49 (0)8151 651-0 Fax: +49 (0)8151 651- 500 E-mail: info@arques.de WWW: www.arques.de ISIN: DE0005156004 WKN: 515600 Indices: SDAX Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, München, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News-Service —————————————————————————