RATIONAL AG — Earnings Release 2004

May 6, 2004

News Details

Ad-hoc | 6 May 2004 08:10

RATIONAL AG:Further expansion at RATIONAL AG-54 per cent growth in North Amerika

Ad-hoc-announcement transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– RATIONAL AG: Further expansion at RATIONAL AG – 54 per cent growth in North Amerika The weakness of the economy, as well as the launch of a totally new generation of RATIONAL AG products, announced in Europe already in the first quarter, had a negative effect on the business, due to reticence about purchasing on the part of customers. Despite this, the company’s sales rose by 5 per cent to 45.2 million euros in the first quarter of 2004 (previous year: 43.2 million euros). In fact, currency-adjusted growth stood at 6 per cent. The suppressed demand in Europe caused by customers’ reticence to purchase in the first quarter has led to a higher level of order intake in April. This means the company is already back in the planned 10 per cent growth corridor. In North America RATIONAL grew by 54 per cent in local currency terms in the first quarter of 2004. Because of the very high untapped potential, this market is particularly important for the future growth of RATIONAL AG. With subsidiaries in the US and Canada, North America is thus already making a major contribution to the growth of the company. One-off extra costs for fully converting production and preparing for the global market launch of the new product lines had a negative effect on earnings in the first quarter of 2004 of about 1 million euros. Nevertheless RATIONAL was able to further improve its earning power, with earnings before taxes (EBT) of 7.9 million euros, up by 4 per cent (previous year: 7.6 million euros). RATIONAL’s share price profited, among other things, from positive expectations prompted by the market launch of the new product technology. In the first three months of the year, share rose by 17 per cent. At the Shareholders’ Meeting on May 12, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board will propose a dividend of 1.85 euros. This includes an anniversary bonus of 0.45 euros per share to mark RATIONAL’s 30th anniversary. Based on the price at the end of the quarter the dividend yield is 3.5 per cent. Earnings per share are 0.41 euros for the first quarter of 2004, compared to 0.40 euros in the first quarter of 2003. At the beginning of April RATIONAL presented its completely new technology in Europe – the world’s first SelfCooking Center(R). The fully automatic SelfCooking Center(R) is revolutionary in the way it simplifies and streamlines work processes in professional kitchens. All the customer has to do is select the food, and set the desired result, all at the touch of a button. That’s it! Traditional settings such as temperature, time and humidity, or complex programming, constant checks and a host of routine tasks are all things of the past. The food is always cooked to perfection – overnight if necessary, and repeatable time after time. RATIONAL has thus once again considerably expanded its technology lead in the thermal preparation of food. Outlook RATIONAL anticipates double-digit growth in sales and earnings for 2004. Based on the business trend in the first quarter of 2004 and the enthusiastic response by customers and the trade press to the new SelfCooking Center(R), management is optimistic that sales of 205 million euros and an EBIT of 47 million euros will be achieved. Contact: RATIONAL Aktiengesellschaft, Erich Baumgärtner Tel. 0049 (0)8191 327-420, Fax 0049 (0)8191 327 272 E-mail: e.baumgaertner@rational-online.de http://www.rational-ag.com end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 06.05.2004 Issuer’s information/explanatory remarks concerning this ad-hoc-announcement: RATIONAL is the world market and technology leader for the thermal preparation of food in professional kitchens. The company, founded in 1973, employs more than 700 people, 450 of whom are in Germany. RATIONAL was floated on the German stock market in 2000 and is currently represented in the SDAX. Since their issue, RATIONAL shares have risen in price by more than 100 per cent, making them one of the leading German shares. The company’s principal objective is to increase customer benefit. Internally RATIONAL is committed to the principle of sustainability, expressed in its policies on environmental protection, leadership and social responsibility. Numerous awards such as “Best Factory”, “Product of the Year” and “Global Excellence in Operations” bear witness to the high level of RATIONAL’s work. ——————————————————————————– WKN: 701080; ISIN: DE0007010803; Index: SDAX Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin- Bremen, Düsseldorf und Stuttgart 060810 Mai 04