Ad-hoc | 14 December 2004 08:30

Wolford earnings growth continues in first six months

Ad-hoc-announcement transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– Wolford earnings growth continues in first six months Bregenz, Austria, December 14, 2004 In the first half of the 2004-2005 fiscal year the sales of the Wolford Group eased slightly by 1.6 percent from EUR 56.9 million to EUR 56.0 million. This reflects a significant cooling in consumer sentiment from the beginning of August in the USA as well as in the German-speaking countries. Adjusted for exchange rate movements, the decrease in sales was only 1.0 percent. Thanks to increased operating output, EBIT rose by 4.1 percent to more than EUR 1 million, from EUR 977,000 in the first half of 2003-2004. While the financial result was negative at EUR -0.8 million, it improved by 13.5 percent from the previous year. Accordingly, earnings before taxes more than doubled to EUR 246,000. The announced cut in the Austrian corporate income tax rate from 34 to 25 percent led to a reduction in the deferred tax income. This had a large impact on net profit for the period, which reached EUR 0.3 million, down from EUR 0.5 million in the previous year. Earnings per share were EUR 0.07 compared to EUR 0.11 a year ago. Net debt was reduced by 18.1 percent over the reporting period, from EUR 34.0 million to EUR 27.9 million. The debt-equity gearing improved from 52.5 to 42.5 percent. As a result, the equity ratio rose from 44.9 percent in the first half of 2003-2004 to 46.4 percent. The month of November just completed reveals an emerging positive trend. For the full 2004-2005 fiscal year, management aims for a slight increase in sales and earnings. Contacts: Holger Dahmen, Chief Executive Officer Peter Simma, Chief Financial Officer investor@wolford.com Wolford AG, Wolfordstraße 1, A-6901 Bregenz, Austria Tel. +43 (0) 5574 690 0 http://www.wolford.com end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 14.12.2004 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 083400; ISIN: AT0000834007; Index: ATX Listed: Amtlicher Handel in Wien; Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, München und Stuttgart 140830 Dez 04