euro adhoc: Westag & Getalit AG
quarterly or semiannual financial statement /
Good sales performance; Earnings before income taxes up 16.8% in H1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
29.07.2008
In spite of weaker economic activity, Westag & Getalit AG increased its sales by 5.9% to EUR 116.3 million in the first half of the year (2007: EUR 109.9 million). Export sales climbed by 4.2 % to EUR 29.3 million (2007: EUR 28.1 million). The export share amounted to 25.2%.
Earnings before income tax amounted to EUR 8.1 million in the first six months, up 16.8% on the previous year´s EUR 6.9 million. This strong growth was primarily attributable to good capacity utilisation. Due to the German corporate income tax reform, which resulted in clearly reduced corporate income tax rates, net profit increased at a disproportionate rate of 31.9% to EUR 5.7 million. Net profit per share rose to EUR 0.99 (2007: EUR 0.75).
The general economic situation has weakened compared to the first quarter, which we have felt in some of our business segments. We were nevertheless able to generate good sales revenues and assume that we will continue to outgrow the market thanks to positive export expectations, our strong position in the contract sector and our renowned strong product portfolio. The price situation in the procurement markets continues to have a strong bearing on our earnings performance. While the prices of chipboard have declined gradually, the rise in the oil price has made chemicals and freight much more expensive. From today´s point of view, this year´s strong percentage increase in earnings before income taxes cannot be extrapolated to the full year due to the fact that we achieved an extremely high result in the second half of 2007. In view of the personnel and investment measures and the competitiveness of Westag & Getalit, we nevertheless remain optimistic about our future performance.
end of announcement euro adhoc --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Further inquiry note:
Felix Huisgen
Tel.: +49 (0)5242 17 5350
E-Mail: huisgen@westag-getalit.de
Branche: Building materials
ISIN: DE0007775207
WKN: 777520
Index: Prime All Share
Börsen: Börse Frankfurt / regulated dealing/prime standard
Börse Berlin / free trade
Börse Stuttgart / free trade
Börse Düsseldorf / regulated dealing
Original-Content von: Westag & Getalit AG, übermittelt durch news aktuell