Westag & Getalit AG reported earnings results for the first half of 2017. The company generated consolidated sales revenues of EUR 117.8 million in the first half of 2017. This means that revenues were down by a moderate 0.9% on the previous year EUR 118.8 million, reflecting the decline in domestic business. This business performance translated into consolidated earnings before taxes of EUR 4.5 million, which was clearly below the previous year's EUR 5.4 million. Apart from the unsatisfactory trend in top line revenues, earnings were impacted by price increases for a wide variety of raw materials as well as higher budgets allocated to sales activities. As a result, net profit for the period declined to EUR 3.1 million against EUR 3.8 million a year ago. Net profit per share amounted to EUR 0.56 for the ordinary shares against EUR 0.67 a year ago and to EUR 0.62 for the preference shares against EUR 0.73 a year ago.

For the full year 2017, the company is optimistic that the enhanced sales activities will have a positive impact on sales revenues during the remaining months of the financial year 2017. Against this background, the Management Board continues to assume that both divisions will achieve a slight increase in sales revenues for the full year. Taking into account the factors weighing on profitability as discussed above, consolidated earnings for the full year are expected to come in below the previous year's level.