Corporate | 23 August 2007 10:20
SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG / Miscellaneous Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer / publisher is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Press Release New Disc Formats Blu-ray and HD DVD Gain Momentum, SINGULUS in a Leading Position! - 2007 with significant revenues from high-definition formats HD DVD and Blu-ray in Germany for the first time - Blu-ray with more than twice the sales of HD DVD in the US - Blu-ray & HD DVD combo players available - SINGULUS is market leader for replication lines for these new formats Kahl am Main, August 23, 2007 - The new disc formats HD DVD and Blu-ray as well as the new TV-sets with Full-HD with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels are one of the focal points of this year’s international consumer electronics trade fair IFA on August 31, 2007. The market launch of HD DVD and Blu-ray currently also considerably gains momentum in Germany and Europe. According to Nuremberg-based consumer research company Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (GfK), for the first time significant revenues of the high-definition formats HD DVD and Blu-ray were recorded as of the end of the 1st half of 2007. The industry expects substantial growth. In particular due to the IFA 2007 and the subsequent Christmas sales, a strong impulse for the sale of high-definition formats with double-digit million sales is still expected for 2007 according to GfK. In the US and in Japan the market launch of the new disc formats has already reached a bigger scale. According to analysis by Home Media Research, US, the Blu-ray format recorded twice the level of sales of HD DVD. Between January 1 and July 1, 2007 on a global basis 795,000 HD DVD movies were sold according to the research paper. This is set against sales of 1.6 million movies sold in the Blu-ray format. The British market research institute Understanding & Solution in its most recent study from this year’s July forecasts more than a doubling of the global disc production from expected 142 million units in 2007 to more than 361 million discs in 2008. Even after the comments from Paramount and Dreamworks the majority of the major US studios has voted for Blu-ray with a majority of 55 %. This includes Sony, MGM, Fox, Disney and Lionsgate. For example, Fox and Disney announced an extensive range of movies which are scheduled for release on Blu-ray discs by the end of 2007. 'SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES is excellently positioned on this market. No matter if Blu-ray or HD DVD will prevail, we are prepared for both formats. We would prefer Blu-ray, but we are global market leader for production equipment for both formats', comments Stefan A. Baustert, Chief Executive Officer of the SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG. SINGULUS has already been market leader with a market share of approximately 65 % of prerecorded products for many years. In particular, the production of the HD DVD discs could be realized with low development expenses due to the long-time know how. With respect to development Blu-ray was more challenging, but it also means an absolute technologic leap. 'Therefore, we see significantly fewer competitors in the market for Blu-ray', adds Stefan A. Baustert. Combo production machine SPACELINE II for HD DVD and DVD The first HD DVD production system was already launched by SINGULUS in the summer of 2005. These machines are able to produce DVD 9 as well as the new HD DVD. Therefore, SINGULUS enables its customers to respond flexibly with respect to the new format development. As early as December 2004, SINGULUS had concluded a development cooperation for the development of HD DVD production technology with MemoryTech/Toshiba. The majority of the HD DVD movies are produced on SPACELINE II production equipment by SINGULUS. The Kahl am Main-based company is the leading equipment supplier and has a global market share of more than 65 %. Since 2006 SINGULUS has exclusively been delivering HD DVD enabled production lines and installed nearly 200 machines worldwide. Production machine BLULINE – ready for Blu-ray SINGULUS also has many years of experience in the work area of Blu-ray due to an early, exclusive cooperation with the format developer Sony in 2005 and installed several Blu-ray production machines at the largest, independent disc producers worldwide. For the further development of the Blu-ray production machines for the manufacturing of dual layer Blu-ray disc with 50 GB storage capacity SINGULUS also works closely together with Sony. Stefan A. Baustert, CEO of SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES comments: 'The fruitful cooperation with Sony DADC helped SINGULUS establish itself in the forefront as a partner of Hollywood even faster in the market for the new disc formats and gained enormous competitive advantages from this. We will start delivering the new production equipment for dual layer Blu-ray to our customers in the US shortly'. In the end, the consumers will decide which disc format will prevail in the market. The development of players for both formats is progressing rapidly. They will become significantly less expensive in the next couple of years and therefore appeal to a larger number of consumers. Combo players, such as announced by LG, will even accelerate the market introduction of HD DVD and Blu-ray. SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG, Hanauer Landstraße 103, D-63796 Kahl/Main, ISIN: DE0007238909, WKN: 723890 For further information please contact: Bernhard Krause, Corporate Communications, Tel.: + 49 (0) 170 920 29 24 23.08.2007 Financial News transmitted by DGAP ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Issuer: SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG Hanauer Landstrasse 103 63796 Kahl am Main Deutschland Phone: +49 (0)6188 440-105 Fax: +49 (0)6188 440-110 E-mail: maren.schuster@singulus.de Internet: www.singulus.de ISIN: DE0007238909 WKN: 723890 Indices: Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin, Stuttgart, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf End of News DGAP News-Service ---------------------------------------------------------------------------