Ad-hoc | 5 September 2003 08:30

Nordex AG english

9-months-results of Nordex mainly in line with plans Ad-hoc-announcement processed and transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– 9-months-results of Nordex mainly in line with plans Hamburg, September 5, 2003. As expected, Nordex AG’s business volume was weak in the third quarter of its fiscal year. With turnover reaching around EUR 206 million, the company’s performance in the first nine months of its fiscal year (October 1, 2002 – June 30, 2003) was mainly in line with internal plans but down roughly 30 percent on the same period one year earlier (EUR 299 million). This was due to a sharp decline in new business as a result of postponed projects. Order receipts in the period under review amounted to roughly EUR 118 million. However, a direct comparison with the year-ago period (order receipts of EUR 330 million) is not fully possible as the internal rules for accounting for new orders have been tight-ened again. Thus since the beginning of 2003, the company does not record sales contracts as order receipts until the customer can prove that financing has been secured. There has been a substantial delay in financing for German wind farm projects in particular due to the long processing times on the part of banks. Some banks with heavy exposure to this segment have passed on projects to other banks which have so far financed a below-average number of wind farms. As expected, the weak revenues in the third quarter of approx. 36 million Euro exerted further pressure on the earnings situation, resulting in an operating loss of EUR 20.1 million. Accordingly, the loss at the EBIT level before one- off items in the first nine months of the year amounted to roughly EUR 48.9 million (previous year: earnings at the EBIT level of EUR + 10.1 million). This loss is primarily due to non-covered fixed costs as well as unexpectedly high expenses in connection with individual wind farm projects. Additionally, a further provision of 6.6 million Euro has been made to account mainly for expected bad debts. The restructuring programme, which Nordex is implementing with the support of consulting company Roland Berger, primarily seeks to address this problem by reorganizing the business processes and cutting costs on a broad basis. As well as this, the Company has been realigned in order to boost business intake again. This primarily involves focusing on key markets and high-revenue products. In July (fourth quarter), Nordex was able to book postponed projects worth roughly EUR 17 million as firm order receipts. For the most part, this entailed international projects such as an N80 wind farm for a Dutch customer. This project had been delayed as the new Dutch grid feed-in fees did not take effect until July 2003. Similarly, Nordex expects a large number of already signed contracts in the high-growth French and Italian markets to be postponed until next fiscal year. end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 05.09.2003 Issuer’s information/explanatory remarks concerning this ad-hoc-announcement: Nordex projects revenues of around EUR 230 million for this fiscal year. In the current fourth quarter, it expects to sustain a further loss at the operating level as a result of project delays and the corresponding effect on the top line. Management confirms that restructuring is successful and proceeding according to schedule. The loss at the EBIT level is to be reduced substantially in fiscal 2003/04, with the return to profit planned for fiscal 2004/05. For more information, please contact: Nordex AG Ralf Peters Telephone: +49 (0)40 / 500 – 100, Telefax: – 333 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 587357; ISIN: DE0005873574; Index: TecDAX, NEMAX 50 Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart 050830 Sep 03