Ad-hoc | 4 July 2006 07:52

GRENKELEASING AG: Growth of New Business On Track in the first half of 2006

Ad hoc announcement transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— Baden-Baden, 4 July 2006: GRENKELEASING closed the first half of 2006 with new business volume – i.e. the total acquisition cost of newly purchased leased assets plus purchased receivables – of EUR 229 million (HY1 2005: EUR 202 million). This corresponds to a growth in new business of 13.2 % compared to the same period of the previous year. The group has continued to grow strong in its foreign business. All in all, its business in foreign markets grew by 27.4 % against the previous year and contributed 36 % (HY1 2005: 32 %) to the group’s new business. Its French subsidiary achieved growth of 27.4 %. In Switzerland, business improved by 15.4 %, whereas in Germany new business rose by 6.8 %. The new business generated by franchise partners rose by 147 % to EUR 16.8 million (HY1 2005: EUR 6.8 million). Our contribution margin 1 (M1) (M1 in relation to acquisition costs) again exceeded our 10 % target margin both in Q2 and in HY1. In HY1 2006 it amounted to EUR 24 million (HY1 2005: EUR 24 million). The company will publish its detailed six months report on 27 July 2006. The Executive Board Should you have any queries, please contact: Renate Hauss Tel: 07221/5007-204 Fax: 07221/5007-112 E mail: investor@grenke.de Internet: http://www.grenke.de End of ad hoc announcement ————————————————————————— Information and Explaination of the Issuer to this News: “Despite the continued trend in interest rate increases throughout the second quarter, the growth in M1 has reached our target rate of 10 % for the HY1 of 2006, although the yoy growth of the M1 will be below the increase in new business volume during such periods. We assume and have taken measures accordingly that we will be able to make up for this by improving our profit from disposals relating to current contracts”, explained Uwe Hack, CFO of GRENKELEASING AG, commenting on the result. “As we expected, fewer working days in Q2 led to a slowing of the growth momentum of new business. Seen over the first half of 2006, the trend of a double-digit growth in new business is in line with our expectations. As for the full-year 2006, we confirm our target of achieving double-digit growth rates in our new business and earnings.” Our cooperation with IBM Global Financing was expanded further, as scheduled. The leasing programme for IT financing will, in addition to the existing markets, be expanded to Belgium. In this regard, GRENKELEASING will function as the service provider for processing leasing contracts concluded with IBM Belgium Financial Services. The group recorded 58,468 leasing enquiries in the first half of 2006 (ex-Germany: 25,167), leading to the generation of 29,901 new leasing contracts (ex-Germany: 11,300). The average value per contract conclusion came to around EUR 7,653 and is thus again slightly higher than in the previous year (HY1 2005: EUR 7,324). The company now has operations in 16 European countries. GRENKELEASING is represented in 20 cities throughout Germany. In addition to its six French branch offices and three branch offices in Switzerland, the company has subsidiaries in Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, and Belgium. A franchise system gives GRENKELEASING a presence in the UK, Poland, Norway, and Hungary. GRENKELEASING mainly offers small-ticket IT leasing contracts, i.e. for products such as PCs, notebooks, copiers, printers, or software having relatively small transaction values. The company is the German and Swiss market leader in this segment. GRENKELEASING AG is listed in the Prime Standard segment of the German stock exchange in Frankfurt and has a listing on the SDAX (small-cap) index. Information on the company and its products is available on the Internet under http://www.grenke.de (c)DGAP 04.07.2006 ————————————————————————— Language: English Issuer: GRENKELEASING AG Neuer Markt 2 76532 Baden-Baden Deutschland Phone: +49 (0)7221 50 07-204 Fax: +49 (0)7221 50 07-112 E-mail: investor@grenkeleasing.de WWW: www.grenkeleasing.de ISIN: DE0005865901 WKN: 586590 Indices: SDAX Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, Hannover, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News-Service —————————————————————————