Corporate | 24 March 2005 07:54

Singulus Technologies AG:Significant Increase in Revenues and Earnings 2004

Corporate-news announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. —————————————————————————— Significant Increase in Revenues and Earnings 2004 -Revenues + 21 % and EBIT + 7 % -Cash flow increased from 18 million Euro to almost 50 million Euro -Cost cutting program in plan Kahl am Main, 24.03.2005 – For the third year in a row, SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES(SINGULUS) was able to markedly increase its revenues and earnings. At 439.5 million Euro, revenues rose by 21.2 % over the prior year (362.6 million Euro). Revenues for the 4th quarter 2004 at 140 million Euro were also higher than the comparable previous year figure (107.6 million Euro). With a growth in earnings before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) of approximately 7 % to 73.0 million Euro for the fiscal year (previous year 68.4 million Euro), the EBIT ratio totals 17.2 %. Net income totaled 47.2 million Euro (previous year 44.5 million Euro). “We are proud to have gained such good results despite the weakness of the market witnessed during the 4th quarter,” said Roland Lacher, CEO of SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES. The order intake for 2004 rose significantly to 417.6 million Euro (previous year 382.7 million Euro).The decline in order intake during the 4th quarter had only a small influence on revenues and earnings. Primarily due to a significant decline in orders from Asia towards the end of fiscal 2004, the 56.7 million Euro order backlog on December 31, 2004 fell below the prior year’s 90.4 million Euro order backlog. Europe was our most important sales region in 2004, capturing 40.2 % of total revenues (previous year 36.7 %).The revenue share for Asia declined by roughly 7 percentage-points to approximately 34 %.The revenue share for North and South America totaled over 24 % (previous year 21.3 %), and for Africa roughly 2 % (previous year 1.7 %). By the end of 2004, the SINGULUS Group employed 736 people (599 as of December 31, 2003).This increase over the previous year essentially results from the first time consolidation of ODME B.V., Netherlands(ODME), which was acquired effective January 1, 2004. SINGULUS again improved its outstanding financial position in 2004. The net equity rose to 249.6 million Euro (previous year 227.1 million Euro). Furthermore, the cash flow from business operations rose from 18.4 million to 49.2 million Euro in fiscal 2004. Despite the share buy-back and the acquisition of ODME (combining for 48 million Euro), liquid funds totaled around 63 million Euro net at year end 2004. Outlook Despite the current market weaknesses in several regions, SINGULUS continues to expect in the near future a positive overall development of the industry. The successful introduction of the third generation of optical data storage promises additional sales and new growth especially after 2005. With cooperation partners such as MEMORY-TECH and SONY, SINGULUS is well-positioned to be successful as market leader supplying replication lines for the third generation of optical disc formats. After an excellent fiscal year 2004, SINGULUS expects lower revenues and earnings in 2005. In anticipation of this, SINGULUS has adopted a “fitness program” aimed at cutting over 5 million Euro in ex-penses. The CEO of SINGULUS remarks: “For us, 2005 is a year of transition to the third generation of optical storage media. We have an excellent starting position to benefit from the third generation’s excellent growth potential.” The financial statements for 2004 will be announced today at the Annual Press and Analyst Conference in Frankfurt, Germany. The company will not give any guidance for the current year due to uncertainty about planning elements at this moment. We will publish a forecast along with the financial figures for the 2nd quarter 2005 at the latest. Singulus Technologies -Key figures 2001 2002 2003 2004 US-GAAP US-GAAP IFRS IFRS Gross revenues Mio. Euro 226 291 363 440 Order intake Mio. Euro 212 293 383 418 Order back log 31.12. Mio. Euro 56 59 90 57 EBIT Mio. Euro 40 53 68 73 Profit before tax Mio. Euro 43 55 71 74 Net income Mio. Euro 28 37 45 47 Earnings per share Euro 0,77 0,99 1,20 1,28 Staff as of Dec. 31 367 502 599 736 SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG, Hanauer Landstrasse 103, D-63796 Kahl/Main, ISIN: DE0007238909, WKN: 723890 For more information, please contact: Maren Schuster, Head of Investor Relations, Tel.: + 49 (0) 6188 440 612 Bernhard Krause, Company Spokesperson, Tel.: + 49 (0) 6181 98280 20 end of message, (c)DGAP 24.03.2005 —————————————————————————— WKN: 723890; ISIN: DE0007238909; Index: TecDAX Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin- Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart 240754 Mär 05