Corporate | 7 August 2003 08:59

Funkwerk AG english

After record quarter, Funkwerk continues at full speed – Interim report presente Corporate-news announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– Interim report presented: After record quarter, Funkwerk continues at full speed – Sale of mobile radio terminals quintupled – Sales target for 2003 raised to 150 million Euro – Incoming orders of 73.8 million Euro reach new record in first six months – Chairman of the Board, Dr. Hans Grundner, expects major contracts Kölleda, 7 August 2003. Funkwerk AG is heading full speed for new records in both sales and profit. Thus the assessment of the situation of the market and technology leader in communication systems for transport and logistics as a result of the interim report presented today. “Halfway through the 2003 financial year, Funkwerk has already far exceeded its growth targets. The company achieved record figures in both sales and profit while at the same time increasing its rate of growth,” remarked the Chairman of the Board, Dr. Hans Grundner, upon presentation of the report. In view of the new record for incoming orders to the amount of around 74 million Euro as at the end of June, Funkwerk raised its sales target for 2003 to 150 million Euro. Grundner was confident that, over and above, the company would be able to maintain its course for growth. “We are expecting further major contracts in the next few months.” The Chairman of the Board also predicted an increase in the operating result (EBIT) of more than 35% for the overall 2003 financial year, topping 12 million Euro. As can be seen from the interim report, the second quarter of 2003 was the most successful one in company history to date. Accordingly, Funkwerk once again managed to increase its growth dynamism as against the previous year. Sales in the second quarter gained by 41% to record 45.3 million Euro, while the quarterly operating result (EBIT) even increased by 76% to 4.4 million Euro. According to Dr. Grundner, “this new record quarter has once again proven the sustainability of our successful growth strategy.” Seen in the light of the first six months of the year, the sales volume increased by more than 70% to 77.3 mil-lion Euro as against the previous year (end of June 2002: 45.4 million Euro), thus exceeding the projections by a good 35%. Mobile radio terminals for trains major growth accelerators: As in the first quarter, the brisk demand on the part of European railway companies and the accelerated roll-out of mobile radio terminals were the main drives for the growth of the company. “Here, Funkwerk has managed to consolidate its leading position in regard to the technological renewal of the com- munication systems of European railways,” says Dr. Grundner. Sales in the Traffic & Control Communication segment more than doubled as against the previous year (first six months of 2002: 16.0 million Euro), reporting 37.3 million Euro in the first six months of 2003, thus exceeding projections by around 70%. The company recorded another positive trend in regard to the demand for its communication solutions for the automobile industry. According to Dr. Grundner, “sales of OEM/OES equipment in the second quarter for the first time out-did the stable retrofitting (after-sales) business. Here, the company recorded an increase of over 300 per cent. This means, Funkwerk has reached an important milestone in its strategy to win a substantial share in the new communication segment of the automobile supplier market.” On the whole, by the end of June 2003, the Automotive Communication segment had increased its sales by 14.9% to 17.0 million Euro (2002: 14.8 million Euro), thus being a good 7% above the target. Operating result progressively rising : “This growth, however, spurred our profitability rather than being detrimental to it,” emphasised the Chairman of the Board. Thus, the operating result (EBIT) more than doubled as against the previous year (2.9 million Euro), recording 6.9 million Euro and growing at a proportionately faster rate than sales. While the defined target of the company was also exceeded by more than 60%, the half- yearly net profit developed just as positively, increasing from 2.1 million Euro (2002) to 4.4 million Euro. Accordingly, with 0.61 Euro (end of June 2002: 0.29 Euro), the net earnings per share turned out to be equally satisfactory. By far the largest EBIT shares were contributed by the Traffic & Control Communication segment (4.4 million Euro) and by Automotive Communication. The Automotive Communication segment generated an operating result of 1.7 million Euro (2002: 1.7 million Euro), thus, according to Dr. Grundner, being within the plan. Currently, considerable outlays are necessary in order to make new products in the OEM business with automobile manufacturers ready to go into production. Compared with the previous year, the EBIT in the Private Networks segment slightly deteriorated, being down from 1.0 million Euro to 0.8 million Euro. 80% of annual sales already in the bag: Dr. Grundner rated the orders position of the company as still being “very positive”. With 73.8 million Euro, the incoming orders in the first half of the year topped the 48.8 million Euro of the previous year by 51.3%. “In essence, this can be put down to new contracts in the Traffic & Control Communication segment and to the increasing orders placed by the automobile industry.” Thus, Deutsche Bahn AG placed yet another delivery order for 2,000 terminals with Funkwerk. As at 30 June 2003, the orders at hand amounted to a total of 86.1 million Euro (end of June 2002: 109.3 million Euro). “It must be taken into account here that some of the major contracts from the previous year have now, in large parts, been executed.” Of the total orders on hand as at 30 June 2003, 43.6 million Euro will still be executed in the current year. This, as well as sales generated in the first six months of the year, means, around 80% of the anticipated annual sales of around 150 million Euro are already in the bag. The complete 2003 interim report of Funkwerk AG is available on the Internet at http://www.funkwerk.com . For further details please contact: Funkwerk AG, Im Funkwerk 5, D-99625 Kölleda/ Thuringia, Germany, Katrin Schwarz, Investor Relations, phone: +49 (0) 36 35/6 00 -3 35, fax: +49 (0) 36 35/6 00 -3 99, schwarz@funkwerk.com rw konzept, Agentur für Unternehmenskommunikation, Ysenburgstraße 7, D-80634 Munich, Germany, Sebastian Brunner, phone: 0 89/13 95 96 -33, fax: +49 (0) 89/13 95 96 -34, mobile: +49 (0)1 75/5 60 46 73, brunner@rw-konzept.de end of message, (c)DGAP 07.08.2003 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 575314; ISIN: DE0005753149; Index: NEMAX 50 Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin- Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart 070859 Aug 03