KRONES AG — Earnings Release 2003

Mar 25, 2004

News Details

Ad-hoc | 25 March 2004 07:35

KRONES’ growth continues – Attractiveness of KRONES’ stock to be improved

Ad-hoc-announcement transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– The KRONES Group has continued to progress its successful performance of recent years, despite adverse macro-economic conditions in 2003. For the fourth time in succession, the world’s market leader for beverage bottling, canning and packaging machinery achieved new bests in terms of order bookings, sales and net income. Order bookings up despite unfavourable macro-economic conditions worldwide In the 2003 business year, KRONES achieved order bookings of 1,441 million euros (+10.1 % up on the preceding year). KRONES was profiting here from a continuingly strong trend towards PET containers. Performance at this technologically front-ranking company was boosted by the growing number of breweries starting to sell their beer in PET bottles, by the aseptic filling technology for fruit juices and water, and by packaging solutions for the food and beverage industry, focusing primarily on milk. High order backlog guarantees optimum capacity utilisation Orders on hand likewise rose to a record level: 619 million euros on the reporting date of 31 December 2003, corresponding to about five months of full production capacity utilisation. The order situation in the first quarter of 2004 showed a further improvement, so that additional sales growth can be predicted for 2004. Double-figure growth in consolidated sales Bucking the general trend in its chosen sector, KRONES successfully upped its sales by +10.0 % to 1,435 million euros (preceding year: 1,305 million euros). This growth is attributable firstly to the market’s acceptance of KRONES’ product innovations, and secondly to its debut in what is called the “just- enough” market through the acquisition of KOSME. High productivity secures improved earnings The provisional consolidated result, with a net income for the year of 60.4 million euros after taxes, is likewise a new best for the company (preceding year: 57.3 million euros). Against the background of an increasingly difficult price war, this result constitutes an exceptional achievement, documenting KRONES’ enhanced competitiveness and high level of productivity. Proposed conversion of preference shares into ordinary stock The group’s successful performance has also boosted the prices of the KRONES shares listed on the M-DAX. In order to ensure a sustained improvement in this upward trend, the executive and supervisory boards decided, at the supervisory board’s meeting on 24 March, to propose to the AGM on 23 June 2004 a conversion of the hitherto non-voting preference shares (currently 34 % preference shares and 66 % ordinary shares) into KRONES ordinary shares. If the AGM approves the conversion, the liquidity of the Krones stock and its weighting in the M-DAX will be enormously enhanced. This initiative will enable the company to increase the acceptance and attractiveness of the KRONES stock, particularly for institutional investors abroad as well. You will also find this press release for downloading on the internet under http://www.krones.com. end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 25.03.2004 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 633500; ISIN: DE0006335003; Index: MDAX Listed: Amtlicher Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard) und München; Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg und Stuttgart 250735 Mär 04