Bechtle AG — Earnings Release 2005

Feb 16, 2006

News Details

Ad-hoc | 16 February 2006 10:50

Bechtle AG increases turnover and profit according to preliminary figures for 2005 / Executive Board increases dividend proposal

Ad hoc announcement transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— • Growth in turnover of 8.5% to 1.18 thousand million Euros • Pre-tax earnings increase by 9% • Strong closing month in the final quarter • Executive Board proposes increasing dividend by 25% Neckarsulm, 16/02/2006 – According to preliminary calculations, the Bechtle AG has increased turnover by 8.5% to 1.18 thousand million Euros (previous year: 1.09 thousand million Euros) for the 2005 financial year due to acquisitions and has therefore reached the upper end of the target range, as adjusted in November. Earnings before tax (EBT) are up about 9% compared to the previous year at 41 million Euros and are slightly above the last forecast, which was in the region of 40 million Euros. In the previous year, EBT adjusted for changeover effects in accordance with IFRS was 37.6 million Euros. The demand for IT products and services in the closing month of what is traditionally the strongest last quarter rose sharply. Turnover in the last three months of 2005 achieved a new record with over 360 million Euros and exceeded the figures for the same period in the previous year by at least 7% (Q4 2004: 336.9 million Euros). At around 16.0 million Euros, EBT for the final quarter also lies significantly higher then the previous year’s value of 13.6 million Euros, according to preliminary calculations. The Executive Board proposes a dividend of 0.50 EUR per share for 2005. This is equivalent to an increase of 25% compared to the 2004 financial year, for which a dividend payment of 0.40 EUR was distributed. Measured against the respective year-end closing price, the dividend yield has increased from 2.4% to 3.0%. Subject to the decision taken by the Supervisory Board, those present at the general assembly (20th June 2006) are to decide on the third successive dividend increase. This proposal continues Bechtle’s emphasis on paying dividend since going public. The Bechtle Group will announce its final and audited business figures for the fiscal year 2005 on 29th March 2006. Contact: Bechtle AG, Sabine Emich, Investor Relations, Tel.: +49 (0) 7132/981-4115, Fax: +49 (0) 7132/981-4116, sabine.emich@bechtle.com (c)DGAP 16.02.2006 ————————————————————————— language: English emitter: Bechtle AG Bechtle Platz 1 74172 Neckarsulm Deutschland phone: +49 (0)71 32/ 9 81-0 fax: +49 (0)7132/ 9 81 – 80 email: ir@bechtle.com WWW: www.bechtle.com ISIN: DE0005158703 WKN: 515870 indexes: stockmarkets: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt; Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, Hannover, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News-Service —————————————————————————