KRONES AG — Earnings Release 2009

Oct 29, 2009

News Details

Ad-hoc | 29 October 2009 07:04

Krones AG: Krones confident again after the year’s first three quarters

Krones AG / Quarter Results

29.10.2009

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Neutraubling, 29 October 2009 - Krones AG, the world's market leader in the
beverage filling and packaging sector, has seen its business hit by the
worldwide financial crisis during the first nine months of 2009. From
January to September 2009, sales were 22.8 % down on the preceding year's
equivalent figure, at 1,364.0 million euros. During the same period, order
bookings dropped by 24.4 % to 1,414.4 million euros. In the third quarter
of 2009, order bookings, at 540.4 million euros, were now only 13.9 % below
the preceding year's level. Compared to the second quarter of the ongoing
business year, Krones' order bookings rose by 17.6 % in the
July-to-September period. On 30 September 2009, the company's order
backlog, at 887.8 million euros, was 10.9 % down on a like-for-like basis.

Krones' earnings during the year's first nine months were hit by the
less-than-easy market conditions and the concomitant fall in sales. In the
year's first nine months, the company recorded pretax earnings of minus
26.9 million euros (preceding year: 126.8 million euros). Consolidated
earnings fell in the period under review from 86.8 million euros in the
preceding year to minus 25.4 million euros. This corresponds to earnings
per share of minus 0.85 euros (preceding year: 2.75 euros). Despite the
loss suffered in the year's first nine months, Krones achieved a free cash
flow of 26.8 million euros.

Prospects

The filling and packaging industry has in recent months seen its slump
bottom out, and is now experiencing a modest recovery. However, certain
adverse factors still persist. Clients continue to encounter problems in
financing their planned investments, because loans are increasingly
difficult to obtain. In addition, the profitability of the orders involved
is sometimes less than satisfactory, because prices are still coming under
pressure due to the significantly downsized volume of the market as a
whole.
Since the 'Conversion' action programme is bearing tangible fruit, and
order bookings have recently picked up, the company is confident of
achieving a roughly break-even result in the fourth quarter of 2009. For
whole, Krones is expecting its sales to fall by 20 to 25 % compared with
the preceding 2009 as a year.

The loss for the year in relation to sales will be in the very low
single-figure range. From today's perspective, the Executive Board is
confident that sales next year will grow and pretax earnings will be once
more in the black.

The complete quarterly report for 3/2009 can be retrieved under:
http://www.krones.com/downloads/Q3_2009_d.pdf

Your contact person:
Olaf Scholz
Head of Investor Relations Krones AG
Tel.: +49 9401 70-1169
Mobile: +49 151 12248730
Email: olaf.scholz@krones.com

Contact:
Olaf Scholz
Leiter Investor Relations
Tel.: +49 9401 70-1169
E-Mail: olaf.scholz@krones.com

29.10.2009 Financial News transmitted by DGAP

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Language: English
Company: Krones AG
Böhmerwaldstraße 5
93073 Neutraubling
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)9401 703258
Fax: +49 (0)9401 703786
E-mail: investor-relations@krones.com
Internet: www.krones.com
ISIN: DE0006335003
WKN: 633500
Indices: MDAX
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), München;
Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart

End of News DGAP News-Service

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