Ad-hoc | 13 August 2004 07:50

Zeus opens up new income potential for SURTECO AG

Ad-hoc-announcement transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– Zeus opens up new income potential for SURTECO AG The restructuring programme that has now been concluded is already beginning to take effect Sales and earnings projected to rise in 2004 Buttenwiesen-Pfaffenhofen. – SURTECO AG launched the Zeus restructuring programme in January 2003 and implementation of new IT systems for sales and order planning completed this programme on time at the end of June 2004. The Group is one of the leading global players manufacturing edging strips based on paper and plastics, and decorative surface foils. The Zeus Programme made far- reaching changes in the Strategic Business Unit (SBU) Paper. A uniform administrative and sales concept was introduced for companies in the business unit and their manufacturing processes were optimized along global guidelines. The wide-ranging restructuring programme was completed at the beginning of July when Bausch GmbH, its British subsidiary Armabord Ltd and Robert Linnemann GmbH + Co were merged to form the single legal entity BauschLinnemann GmbH + Co KG based in Sassenberg/Westphalia. Concentrating the value-added stages and sites will place SURTECO AG in a position to achieve greater synergies. This benefit is being accompanied by improvements in the consistency of quality and increased security for supply. On the basis of the overall potential created by “Zeus”, the Group is already anticipating an additional annual income potential of 10 million euros from 2005. The good news is that “Zeus” is already beginning to deliver benefits this year. Sales for the first half year went up by 7 % to 193.1 million euros and EBITDA rose by 12 % to 38.1 million euros by comparison with the equivalent period for the previous year. After six months, EBIT at 24.6 million euros is 19 % above the figures for 2003. Sales at the SBU Paper rose significantly during the second quarter of 2004 by 19 % to 49.9 million euros compared to the year-earlier period. The increase in sales for the first half of 2004 (98.8 million euros) was still 12 %. SURTECO AG has concentrated the activities of the companies making up the Döllken Group in the SBU Plastics and this business unit succeeded in raising its sales by 5 % during the second quarter. Sales at 94.3 million euros for the first six months were 3 % up on the equivalent year-earlier figure. SURTECO AG is highly geared towards export markets – the proportion of foreign sales amounts to 60 % – and this means that unfavourable currency relations impact negatively on earnings. As a result, unfavourable exchange-rate effects “cost” the Group about 2.5 million euros during the first half-year of 2004, even though foreign sales rose by around 10 %. Overall, SURTECO AG also registered a sustained slight upswing in business during the second quarter, although performance in Germany (+ 2 %) lags significantly behind performance abroad. As far as orders are concerned in the German construction and furnishing industry, the situation continues to remain unsatisfactory. Even if foreign markets do not develop as dynamically as during the first six months, SURTECO AG is embarking on the second half of the year with optimism. The Group is therefore forecasting an increase in sales of 3 % to around 365 million euros (2003: 355 million euros) for the fiscal year 2004, as well as an improvement in earnings compared with the previous year. end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 13.08.2004 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 517 690; ISIN: DE0005176903; Index: Listed: Amtlicher Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard) und München; Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, Düsseldorf und Stuttgart 130750 Aug 04