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DJ EANS-Adhoc: Mühlbauer Holding AG & Co.KGaA / All time high in order backlog due to high level of order growth in all business areas – marked sales and earnings increase expected as of Q2 2010

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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.
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27.04.2010 

Roding, 27 April 2010 - Based on an increase in orders in all business areas and
a large-scale order in Cards & TECURITY® placed during the reporting period, in
Q1 the globally active Mühlbauer technology group kicked off the 2010 financial
year extremely positively with the highest order income in the history of the
company. While sales and earnings have not yet benefited from this good
development - as expected - the strong rise in order backlog to the end of the
reporting period, borne in equal share by the robust government business and the
significant increase in the industry business, is fueling expectations of a
distinct rise in sale and earnings growth as of the second quarter. 

In Q1 2010 sales of the Mühlbauer technology group were 22.8% lower
year-on-year, at EUR 29.4 million (PY: EUR 38.1 million) due to the
recession-related slump in the industry business and project-related order
fluctuations in the government business of the previous months, while - taking
into account a special effect from the discontinuation of liabilities of EUR 2.0
million in connection with the settlement of patent disputes - EBIT at EUR 1.8
million was, largely due to the lower level of sales and comparatively higher
manufacturing costs, 23.4% lower than comparable value of the previous year (EUR
2.4 million), which was affected by a special effect from the formation of such
obligations at a level of EUR 1.0 million. This corresponds to a virtually
stable year-on-year EBIT margin of 6.2% (PY: 6.3%). Taking into consideration a
slightly improved financial result of EUR +0.7 million (PY: EUR +0.5 million)
and a tax income of EUR 0.2 million posted in the reporting period (against
expenses of EUR 0.6 million for the same period of the previous year), the Group
achieved net earnings for the period under review of EUR 2.1 million - against
EUR 1.8 million year-on-year. At the same time, earnings per share rose to EUR
0.14 (PY: EUR 0.12). 

In the first three months of the current financial year, at EUR +7.7 million
(PY: EUR +2.7 million) cashflow from operating activities significantly exceeded
the level for the same period of the previous year, due largely to cashflow of
EUR 1.8 million from the disposal of short-term securities. In the previous year
this value was impacted by a balance of payments of EUR 3.4 million from the
acquisition and the disposal of such securities. Taking into consideration the
outflow from investment activities of EUR 4.6 million, which was markedly lower
than in the previous year (PY: EUR 6.4 million) and the reduction of trade
accounts receivable, the technology group achieved a free cashflow of EUR +1.3
million in the quarter under review, which is EUR 1.7 million higher
year-on-year (PY: EUR-0.4 million). Shareholders` equity dropped slightly, from
77.9% to the end of the year to 77.4% to the end of the first quarter. 

With a consolidated order income of EUR 113.9 million, Mühlbauer more than
doubled the comparatively high value of the previous year (PY: EUR 52.2 million)
and achieved growth of 118.2%. The company´s core area Cards & TECURITY®, which
benefited from a large-scale order worth EUR 64.2 million, was the greatest
contributor to order income and recorded an increase of 124.6% to EUR 91.2
million (PY: EUR 40.6 million). Moreover, order volumes in the business areas
Semiconductor Related Products and Traceability doubled as a result of the
increased investment activities on the respective markets. Thus, order income in
Semiconductor Related Products climbed to EUR 15.2 million (PY: EUR 7.6 million)
due to the greater demand for both semiconductor backend and Smart Label
systems, while Traceability exceeded the value for the same period of the
previous year by 112.5%, at EUR 1.7 million (PY: EUR 0.8 million). Even in
Precision Parts & Systems, the gradually increasing propensity to invest and the
measures for the reinforcement of sales activities introduced in the previous
year have produced results leading to a significant increase of order income:
year-on-year, order income rose by 81.3% to EUR 5.8 million (PY: EUR 3.2
million). To the end of the first quarter the order backlog of the globally
active technology group totaled EUR 154.6 million (PY: EUR 94.7 million), which
is 63.3% higher year-on-year. 

Although the government-related project business can naturally be subject to
fluctuations and it cannot be fully excluded - irrespective of the recent
recovery in industry business - that the observed positive development may not
prove sustainable against the background of the latent risk of a permanent
economic recovery, the technology group confirms its outlook for the whole of
the year of bringing about a year-on-year sales and earnings increase, as a
result of the considerable order growth and the continued positive trend in its
core area Cards & TECURITY®. 

Contact and additional information: Investor Relations, Tilo Rosenberger, Tel.:
+49 (0) 9461-952-1653, Fax: +49 (0) 9461-952-8520,
investor-relations@muehlbauer.de, Mühlbauer Holding AG & Co. KGaA,
Josef-Mühlbauer-Platz 1, 93426 Roding, Germany, www.muehlbauer.de. 

end of announcement                               euro adhoc
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 27, 2010 01:48 ET (05:48 GMT)