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Earnings Release • Mar 31, 2009

News Details

Corporate | 31 March 2009 08:00

ARAGON AG: Aragon AG confirms preliminary figures and presents its annual report for 2008

ARAGON AG / Final Results

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• Aragon AG confirms preliminary figures and presents its annual report
  for 2008
• Good results in spite of financial crisis
• Ideal positioning for growth during 2009

Aragon AG, a leading German financial sales company, slightly exceeded its
preliminary profit figures. In spite of the financial crisis Aragon AG has
put in a good performance. The situation at the start of 2009 is good in
spite of the ongoing financial crisis.

Good results in spite of global financial crisis

After publishing the preliminary figures in early March, the financial
sales company Aragon AG today presents its financial report for 2008. The
figures published on 4 March 2009 were slightly exceeded.

Revenues rose by 1.3% to 80.2m EUR (previous year 79.2m EUR). The gross
margin rose by 26.5% from 23.4m Euro to 29.6m Euro. Earnings before
interest, taxes and depreciation (EBITDA) dropped slightly by 5% to 8.3m
EUR following 8.7m EUR in the previous year, representing an EBITDA margin
of 10.3% (previous year 11.0%). Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT)
dropped slightly by 12% to 6.6m EUR (previous year 7.6m EUR), representing
an EBIT margin of 8.3% (previous year 9.5%). Earnings per share developed
positively to 0.99 EUR against 0.75 EUR in the previous year.

To allow comparison with the previous year's overall result, figures were
subjected to a pro-forma adjustment as if the biw Bank für Investments und
Wertpapier AG had been consolidated at equity for all periods using the
current participation quota of 47%.

The Retail Sales business division continues to be Aragon's strongest
business division with regard to revenues and profits with revenues of
80.2m Euro (previous year 78.7m Euro). The Banking & Banking Services
business division is only being consolidated at equity from the third
quarter of 2008 (pro-forma valuation). During the annual comparison the
bank was able to increase its revenues by 5.2% from 37.0m EUR in 2007 to
38.9m EUR. The at equity profit share is EUR 0.5m compared to EUR 0.7m in
the previous year.

The Institutional Sales business division saw revenues rise to 1.8m EUR
(previous year 1.6m EUR). The EBITDA rose by 12% to 0.8m EUR. The EBITDA
margin is thus approx. 45%.

'In spite of the negative effects of the global financial crisis,
especially within our industry, we are pleased to report positive results
from all company divisions for 2008', explains Dr. Sebastian Grabmaier, CEO
of Aragon AG: 'We are very happy with the annual figures presented in the
face of the market environment. They indicate the stability of our
diversified business model. Although we aimed higher, we were able to
increase our relative market share during the past year.'

Wulf Schütz, COO of Aragon AG, adds: 'During the past year the
regulation-related consolidation continued pace. We are amongst the few
beneficiaries of this development. Given the good performance by market
comparison, we are ideally equipped to continue profitable growth during
2009.'

The market environment remains challenging - market consolidation as an
opportunity

In the face of the financial and economic crisis it must be assumed that
2009 will continue to be a considerable challenge for the whole industry of
independent financial sales companies, especially regarding the sale of
investment products. However, the positive development, in particular
during the fourth quarter of 2008, proves that by its diversified set-up
Aragon can achieve satisfactory results even in a difficult market
environment across almost all asset classes and distribution channels.

'2009 continues to be affected negatively by the global financial crisis
and the related reluctance in buying, in particular for investment
products. We are nonetheless confident about implementing our growth
strategy. We plan to grow organically especially by the increasing sale of
saving schemes and insurance products. In addition, we will reduce our
overall cost ratio during the year. Together with the planned inorganic
growth we are confident of returning to a double digit growth in revenues
with positive results on profits', explains Dr. Sebastian Grabmaier, CEO of
Aragon AG.

The annual report is available immediately from the corporate website at
www.aragon.ag.

The annual general meeting of the company takes place on 29/5/2009 in
Mainz.

About Aragon AG

Aragon is a widely diversified financial services company with the business
divisions Retail Sales, Banking & Banking Services and Institutional Sales.
Aragon is involved on the market through several independently acting
subsidiaries. It aims at integrating different marketing models under a
common umbrella without depriving the individual sales organisations of
their own identities. This results in a wide diversification across various
asset classes and distribution types, leading to a high stability of
company earnings. Further information on the company and its subsidiaries
is available at www.aragon.ag.

Contact:
Aragon Aktiengesellschaft

Ralf Funke
Investor Relations
Tel.: +49(0)611 890 575-0
Fax: +49(0)611 890 575-99
E-Mail: funke@aragon-ag.de

31.03.2009 Financial News transmitted by DGAP