Corporate | 24 March 2006 07:30

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES Reports Annual Results For 2005

Corporate-news transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— Press release SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES Reports Annual Results For 2005 – Sales target for 2005 achieved at € 244.4 million – EBIT amounts to € 2.1 million – Cost reduction program 2005 successfully implemented – Still high liquidity in the amount of € 67.7 million Kahl am Main, March 24, 2006 – SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES (SINGULUS) recorded sales of € 244.4 million in 2005 (previous year: € 439.5 million). Thus the guidance for the year 2005 given in August 2005 was achieved. Due to higher risk provisioning for accounts receivable and inventories, which also include the Recordable division, the EBIT came to € 2.1 million. The net profit amounted to € 7.3 million and was significantly impacted by the reversal of tax provisions. “Since the foundation of the company in late fall 1995 and the start-up of operations in 1996 the SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG was able to present its shareholders before and after the IPO a positive consolidated net profit. We achieved this once again despite a decline in sales by 44 %. Positive effects from the acquisition of the mastering companies in 2002 and 2004 as well as the consistent implementation of the cost reduction program had a stabilizing impact on earnings in 2005”, says Roland Lacher, CEO of SINGULUS. The order intake amounted to € 248.7 million in 2005 (previous year: € 417.6 million). The order intake in the fourth quarter of the past business year showed a favorable trend compared with last year. At € 70.5 million it was 75 % higher than in the same quarter one year ago (€ 40.3 million) and also exceeded the level of the 3rd quarter 2005 (€ 65.1 million). In terms of regional breakdown of sales there was a significant shift towards Europe. 49.8 % of sales were recorded in this region (previous year: 40.2 %). Sales in Asia declined to 24.4 % (previous year: 33.7 %) and also North and South America were weaker at 20.1 % (previous year: 24.3 %). The regions Africa and Australia accounted for 5.7 % of sales (previous year: 1.8 %). SINGULUS increased its shareholders’ equity from € 249.6 million to € 255.5 million. The overall liquidity stood at € 67.7 million at the end of the year (previous year: € 77.1 million). Amongst others, the decline resulted from the share buyback of SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES shares and the purchase of STEAG HamaTech shares in the amount of € 5.2 million each. For this first time in the history of SINGULUS the staff had to be adjusted in 2005. In the course of a cost reduction program the global headcount was reduced by 100 full-time employees. Accordingly, the number of employees declined from 736 at the end of 2004 to 636 at the end of 2005. In 2005, the headcount in Kahl was reduced from 378 to 329 at the end of the business year. Outlook Our returning to growth in the next couple of years will depend to a large extent on the speed of the worldwide penetration of the new TV sets as well as the formats HD DVD and Blu-ray with players in the households. We expect further orders for the business year 2006 in addition to the already delivered machines for the production of Blu-ray discs. This makes clear: “The era of a new generation of entertainment quality – HDTV – has begun.’ We anticipate a favorable trend of our industry in the coming years. With the acquisition of STEAG HamaTech as well as with the implementation of additional cost reduction measures we expect that we will benefit disproportionately from the point in time of a re-strengthening market. It is our aim to build a broader range of products for SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES in the medium-term and to generate part of the sales and earnings from other business areas than the Optical Disc division. Therefore, it is only consistent to acquire companies in the course of future acquisitions whose core competence is not the Optical Disc segment. After four successful acquisitions in our core activities and the resulting integration of different corporate cultures into the culture of SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES, we feel well equipped for this step. SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES – consolidated key figures IFRS 2003 2004 2005 Sales (gross) in mn. € 362.6 439.5 244.4 Order intake in mn. € 382.7 417.6 248.7 Order backlog, Dec.31 in mn. € 90.4 56.7 60.9 EBIT in mn. € 68.4 72.6 2.1 EBT in mn. € 70.9 73.9 3.3 Net profit in mn. € 44.5 46.8 7.3 Earnings per share € 1.20 1.27 0.21 Employees as of Dec. 31 599 736 636 Company profile: SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES remains steadily positioned for growth and earnings. With a consistent focus on its core competencies, since the management buyout SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES has transformed itself into the global leader of machines and equipment for optical storage media within a time span of ten years. Operating and acting according to the principles of profitability always remained in the spotlight. SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES is the only equipment producer in the world offering the entire value-added chain for the manufacturing of optical disc: The machines range from mastering and injection molding to replication lines. With the set-up of a very deep value-added chain in the past couple of years, SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES was successful in expanding the product range for its customers. Thus, the position of SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES in the optical disc sector remains unique in the world. It is our declared goal to include the new formats HD DVD and Blu-ray disc in this structure as well. Due to the acquisition of STEAG HamaTech in January 2006, SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES is also excellently positioned worldwide for machines of once-recordable formats. SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES still regards the market for machines to produce optical discs as its core competence. This segment will also continue to safeguard the cash flow of the company in the future and will be further developed technologically. In addition, new business areas are intended to contribute to sales and earnings in the future. SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG, Hanauer Landstrasse 103, D-63796 Kahl/Main, ISIN: DE0007238909, WKN: 723890 For further information please contact: Maren Schuster, Head of Investor Relations, Tel.: + 49 (0) 6188 440 612 Bernhard Krause, Corporate Communications, Tel.: + 49 (0) 6181 98280 20 (c)DGAP 24.03.2006 ————————————————————————— language: English emitter: SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG Hanauer Landstrasse 103 63796 Kahl am Main Deutschland phone: +49 (0)6188 440-105 fax: +49 (0)6188 440-110 email: maren.schuster@singulus.de WWW: www.singulus.de ISIN: DE0007238909 WKN: 723890 indexes: stockmarkets: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, Stuttgart, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf End of News DGAP News-Service —————————————————————————