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The intensifying global economic crisis led to a slowdown of business
at Prime Standard listed Funkwerk AG (ISIN DE0005753149) in the first
quarter of 2009. At ?64.6m, the total operating performance of the
technology company specialising in professional information and
communication technology in this period was down by 3.4% on the
previous year (?66.9m), while revenues reduced by 8% to ?56.7m (2008:
?61.6m). The decline is due primarily to the negative trend in its
Automotive Communication segment, which was hit quite hard by the
economic downturn in the automobile industry. Without this business
segment, Funkwerk as a group would actually have been able to report
an increase in sales.
At group level, Funkwerk reported a negative operating result of
?2.9m (2008: ?+0.1m), though this figure includes advance
performances for projects, which will not affect sales and earnings
until later in the year. After interest and taxes, the quarterly loss
totalled ?2.4m (2008: ?-0.3m), which corresponds to earnings per
share of ?-0.29 (2008: ?-0.03).
This trend also defined the incoming orders of the group in the first
quarter. Primarily affected by the slump in the automobile industry,
but also by delayed order placements in the railway sector, incoming
orders totaled ?50.1m and thus was significantly lower than in the
previous year (?66.5m). As a result, the order backlog reduced to
?106.6m (2008: ?131.1m). Due to the catch-up effect and initial
effects of government investments in infrastructure particularly in
the latter half of the year, however, Funkwerk expects to see a
considerable increase in incoming orders specifically in Traffic &
Control Communication and also Security Communication.
The Executive Board of Funkwerk is confident that the latter half of
the year will once again bring a revival of business specifically for
Traffic & Control Communication, Enterprise Communication and
Security Communication. The anticipated increase in sales will thus
lead to positive earnings contributions for the whole year, while
Automotive Communication is expected to face further pressure on its
operating result, despite recently initiated restructuring measures.
In order to further improve its profitability, Funkwerk is in the
process of implementing cost savings measures in all four of its
segments.
For further information contact
Funkwerk AG
Im Funkwerk 5
99625 Kölleda/Thuringia
Germany
Jörg Reichenbach
Investor Relations
Telephone: 0 36 35/6 00 -3 46
Fax: 0 36 35/6 00 -3 99
reichenbach@funkwerk.com
rw konzept GmbH
Maastrichter Straße 53
D-50672 Köln
Germany
Dr. Markus Schöneberger
Christoph Klink
Tel.: 0221/400 73 83
Fax: 0221/400 73 88
klink@rw-konzept.de
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Funkwerk AG
Im Funkwerk 5 Kölleda Germany
WKN: 575314; ISIN:
DE0005753149; Index: HDAX, MIDCAP, CDAX, Prime All Share, TECH All
Share;
Listed: Prime Standard in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse, Freiverkehr in
Börse Berlin,
Freiverkehr in Bayerische Börse München, Freiverkehr in Börse
Düsseldorf,
Freiverkehr in Börse Stuttgart, Freiverkehr in Hanseatische
Wertpapierbörse zu Hamburg,
Freiverkehr in Niedersächsische Börse zu Hannover, Regulierter Markt
in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse;
http://hugin.info/132370/R/1313648/304961.pdf
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