Corporate | 1 March 2002 13:19

Sparta AG english

SPARTA AG: Provisional result for fiscal year 2001 Corporate-news announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– Hamburg, March 1, 2002. SPARTA AG (German securities code number ISIN: DE0007245201 // WKN: 724520), Hamburg, posted sales of EUR 48.9 million in fiscal 2001. Personnel expenses at EUR 0.8 million and other operating expenses at EUR 1.2 million account for the total costs of EUR 2 million. Operating income before depreciation and amortization amounted to EUR 0.9 million. The write-downs on fixed assets and on financial assets and short-term investments increased by EUR 23.3 million to EUR 52.6 million following the charge for risk provisioning of EUR 29.3 million taken by the AG on June 30, 2001. After a net loss for the first half of the year of EUR 27.9 million as of June 30, 2001, the provisional net loss for the year by the AG rose by EUR 23.7 million to EUR 51.6 million as of December 31, 2001. This caused equity to decline from EUR 32.7 million to EUR 8.9 million during the same period. Liabilities to banks were at EUR 18.4 million as of December 31, 2001, but by 2002 had already been reduced to EUR 0.7 million, thanks to a bank credit balance of EUR 15.1 million at the balance-sheet date and the receipt of another part payment from a disposal of EUR 2.6 million. The other assets as of December 31, 2001 consist mainly of listed securities with a carrying value of EUR 4.3 million, investments in unlisted companies totaling EUR 2.0 million plus receivables and other assets totaling EUR 6.1 million. Dr. Walter Kuna resigned as a member of the SPARTA AG Supervisory Board with effect from January 31, 2002 owing to pressing commitments elsewhere. At his own request, Managing Board member Dr. Lukas Lenz is to leave the SPARTA AG Managing Board with effect from March 31, 2002 and will switch temporarily to the Supervisory Board. After these personnel changes and in keeping with its reduced business volume, SPARTA AG will henceforth have just three employees in addition to Dr. Olaf Hein as Chairman of the Managing Board. Now that the restructuring of SPARTA AG has been successfully completed, the goal is to attain the same level of corporate development as before our involvement in the venture capital business. To be able to build on this development, the management is currently looking for a cooperation partner willing to share in the companys development and future success. Such a partner would be able to profit from the tax loss carry-forward that SPARTA AG has accumulated over the past two fiscal years as a result of its restructuring measures. The full letter to shareholders is available in German and English; both versions can be downloaded from the internet at http://www.sparta.de . The Managing Board Investor & Public Relations Dirk Hasselbring SPARTA AG Am Sandtorkai 75 D-20457 Hamburg Tel.: +49 (0) 40 / 37 41 10 24 Fax: +49 (0) 40 / 37 41 10 10 http://www.sparta.de IR@sparta.de end of message, (c)DGAP 01.03.2002