WashTec AG — Earnings Release 2004

Mar 15, 2005

News Details

Corporate | 15 March 2005 16:39

2004 a successful financial year for WashTec

WashTec AG / Key word(s): Final Results

15.03.2005 / 16:39

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– Turnaround complete: EBT positive at EUR1.0 million

– Reduced bank liabilities through operating cash flow by more than 25 million Euro in 12 months

– Year End Order backlog over prior year

Augsburg, March 15, 2005 – As scheduled, the WashTec Group achieved the turnaround in the past financial year, with a positive EBT of EUR1.0 million. WashTec returned to positive figures for EBIT at EUR9.1 million (2003: EUR-15.7 million) and EBT at EUR1.0 million (2003: EUR-23.9 million). This includes all negative impacts on income from further restructuring measures totalling EUR6.2 million (2003: EUR24.3 million). The positive result shows that the cost structures have improved significantly and the profit threshold has been reduced considerably despite the expected significant decline in sales. During fiscal year 2004 bank liabilities were reduced by over EUR25 million to EUR60.0 million as of December 31, 2004.

‘With our extensive restructuring programme, launched at the beginning of 2003, we achieved our target of realising sustained cost savings of EUR25 million one year ahead of schedule’, explains Thorsten Krüger, spokesman of the Management Board of WashTec AG. The withdrawal from unprofitable business activities and the success in reducing manufacturing costs caused the cost of materials to fall from 48.6% to 42.2% (of sales) in 2004 despite the sharp increase in steel prices. Employee reduction led to a 20.9% fall in personnel costs to EUR72.5 million. Following the utilisation of deferred tax assets and the payment of taxes of EUR4.2 million, the result for the year totalled EUR-3.2 million (2003: EUR-18.0 million).

The deliberate abandonment of unprofitable activities led to an anticipated decline in sales, accompanied by an improvement in the gross margin. Overall, WashTec generated sales of EUR211.8 million in 2004 (2003: EUR241.1 million). The sales share in Germany fell by 2 percentage points to 44%, with the foreign share accordingly rising to 56%. At year end, the order book levels in the WashTec Group were up year-on-year, adjusted for train cleaning and process technology. This positive trend has been particularly apparent since September. This shows that the market and product campaign initiated with the launch of SoftCare Juno and SoftCare Evo in addition to sales optimisation are enjoying an extremely positive response from the market, states Krüger.

The market and product campaign will continue in 2005. WashTec’s plans include developing further car wash machines in order to round off the product range. On the basis of the supplemented product range and an improved market response, unit sales volumes are expected to increase compared with 2004. In addition, the focus remains on completing the restructuring programme and consolidation by the end of 2005. The completion of the ongoing projects and those started in 2004 as well as implementation of a capital measure are set to put WashTec on a sound footing in all sectors. For 2005 as a whole, the Management Board expects an operating EBIT margin of around 10% with a slight increase in sales.

Contact:

Karoline Kalb, Investor Relations

WashTec AG

Argonstraße 7

86153 Augsburg

Tel.: +49 (0)821 – 55 84 – 0

Fax: +49 (0)821 – 55 84 – 12 06

End of Corporate News

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Language:	English
Company:	WashTec AG
	Argonstraße 7
	86153 Augsburg
	Germany
Phone:	+49 (0)821 55 84-0
Fax:	+49 (0)821 55 84-1135
E-mail:	washtec@washtec.de
Internet:	www.washtec.de
ISIN:	DE0007507501
WKN:	750750
Listed:	Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, München, Stuttgart

End of News	DGAP News-Service

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