Ad-hoc | 5 March 2001 19:56

Ad hoc-Service: plenum AG english

Ad-hoc announcement precessed and sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– plenum announces final figures – Earnings per share 50% higher than expected at EUR 0.22 – EBITDA increases significantly on preliminary figures reported – plenum New Media expected to generate profit as early as in Q1/2001 Wiesbaden, March 5, 2001 – Final EBITDA figures for the past fiscal year increased on preliminary figures from EUR 4.2 million to EUR 4.6 million. Earnings have therefore increased by over 200% on the original target of EUR 1.4 million. Earnings per share (EPS), which amounted to EUR 0.15 according to preliminary figures, exploded by approximately 50% to EUR 0.22 per share. One of the decisive factors in this extremely positive development was the retroactive settlement of the F1 GmbH acquisition which, however, also resulted in a decline in sales from EUR 50.1 million to EUR 47.2 million in 2000. As a result, final sales figures are approximately 30% above the original target of EUR 36.7 million, corresponding to an increase of around 84% on the previous year (EUR 25.7 million) and organic growth of about 52%. plenum – now without F1 – expects to generate sales of EUR 59.2 million instead of EUR 64.4 million in the current fiscal year. In spite of this, the earnings (EBITDA) forecast of EUR 3.9 million will be maintained. Earnings per share will be further positively impacted as the dilution effect of the F1 acquisition does not apply and plenum AG thus holds 8,261,169 shares as of December 31, 2000. The retroactive settlement of the F1 acquisition became necessary as the sales and earnings targets set by F1 were missed significantly. As a result of the excellent orders situation, the New Media unit – now without F1 -will probably make positive earnings contributions as early as in Q1/2001 and not just in fiscal year 2002, contrary to original medium term planning. The company anticipates continued organic growth of 40% on average in 2002 and 2003 and an increase in EBITDA of 12% and 13% respectively. For further information please contact; Stephanie Schreer plenum AG Head of Corporate Communications Tel.: +49 611 9882-255 Fax: +49 611 9882-174 E-mail: stephanie.schreer@plenum.de http://www.plenum.de end of Ad hoc-announcement, (c) DGAP 05.03.2001 ———————————————————————– WKN: 690100; Index: Listed: Neuer Markt Frankfurt; Freiverkehr in Düsseldorf, München, Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Hannover und Stuttgart 051956 Mär 01