EANS-Adhoc: Westag & Getalit AG
Sales up in first half of 2011; Profit growth
slowed down by rising commodities prices
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ad-hoc disclosure pursuant to section 15 of the WpHG transmitted by euro adhoc with the aim of a Europe-wide distribution. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25.07.2011 Benefiting from the robust state of the German construction sector, Westag & Getalit AG raised its sales in the first half of 2011 by 8.1% to just under EUR 111.6 million. Export business grew at a clearly disproportionate rate of 23.4% to EUR 25.4 million. Accordingly, the export ratio advanced from last year´s 19.9% to 22.7%. Earnings before income taxes came in at EUR 5.1 million, slightly up on the prior-year figure of EUR 5.0 million. While profitability was supported by the positive development on the sales side, it was clearly slowed down by the renewed rise in commodities prices particularly in the area of wood, wood-based materials and oil-based chemicals. Net profit for the half-year period rose in parallel to pre-tax earnings, edging up from EUR 3.5 million to EUR 3.6 million. Earnings per share amounted to 0.62 EUR. The economic environment remains split into two different realities. Germany and numerous Asian economies have been experiencing a quite robust upswing which has even gained additional momentum in 2011. In many other European countries, however, the recovery has subsided and the already existing crises in several countries have worsened further. Against this background, it is difficult to forecast our business trend. Even so, we expect to post sales growth for the full year 2011. Despite the challenging environment, we believe that we will be able to grow our international business at a disproportionate rate during this period. Providing profit guidance has also become much more difficult this year. This is because of the continued rise in commodities prices which already impacted our results in the first half of the year. Apart from making consistent use of all saving potentials, we will continue our efforts to impose effective price increases for our products. Against the background of our strengths in terms of product range, sales power, employees and cost awareness, we are confident that we will be able to generate good results also during the current financial year, whereby expections are somewhat subdued due to the high cost of raw materials. Further inquiry note: Felix Huisgen Tel.: +49 (0)5242 17 5350 E-Mail: huisgen@westag-getalit.de end of announcement euro adhoc -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- issuer: Westag & Getalit AG Hellweg 15 D-33378 Rheda-Wiedenbrück phone: +49 (0)5242 17 0 FAX: +49 (0)5242 17 75000 mail: ir@westag-getalit.de WWW: http://www.westag-getalit.de sector: Building materials ISIN: DE0007775207, DE0007775231 indexes: Prime All Share stockmarkets: regulated dealing/prime standard: Frankfurt, free trade: Berlin, Stuttgart, regulated dealing: Düsseldorf language: English
Original content of: Westag & Getalit AG, transmitted by news aktuell