SURTECO SE / Half Year Results/Interim Report 11.08.2009 Release of a Adhoc News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Buttenwiesen-Pfaffenhofen, 11 August 2009 - The global economic and financial crisis continues to cause concern at SURTECO SE. The negative trend experienced during the first three months of this year continued and the leading international supplier for the construction and furniture industry continued to have to contend with sales and income figures during the second quarter of the current business year that were significantly below comparative levels for the previous year. The significant downturn in export business exerted a particularly negative impact on the Group. Export sales plummeted by 26 percent during the first half year of 2009 to 105.7 million euros. The effects of the crisis were particularly evident in European countries outside Germany: SURTECO had to accommodate falls in sales amounting to 29 percent. By contrast, domestic business only declined by 15 percent to a half-year figure of 63.0 million euros. This can almost be referred to as a 'success' in a market where industries across the world are having to implement cutbacks in production capacities, and shutdowns. SURTECO responded in good time to the absence of improvement in the economic situation and introduced appropriate restructuring and optimization measures at its production sites. This involved the closure of the edging-tape plant in Canada and transfer of melamine edgebanding production from Buttenwiesen to Sassenberg. Appropriate action such as implementation of flexible employment models was part of the package of measures adopted by SURTECO to safeguard the short-term liquidity and income of the company. The aim is to build on this platform to reinforce the company's leading position in the markets served by SURTECO over the long term. These measures are essential because there are currently no tangible reference points indicating any improvement in the general economic situation. SURTECO operates with two independent divisions in the segments plastic products and surface coating materials based on specialist technical papers. The Strategic Business Unit (SBU) Plastics and the SBU Paper were subject to sales deficits in the same order of magnitude (-22 percent) during the first half of 2009. These falls are almost exclusively due to economic influences. Based on the sales revenues for the half year amounting to 106.0 million euros at the SBU Plastics and 62.7 million euros at the SBU Paper, the SURTECO Group generated an operating result of 28.4 million euros (2008: 39.1 million euros) on total sales of 168.7 million euros. The EBITDA margin changed from 18.1 percent to 16.9 percent during the period under review. EBIT fell back by 37 percent and amounted to 18.4 million euros after six months. Despite the exceptionally difficult framework conditions, SURTECO SE continued to reduce its net indebtedness by 30 million euros to 141.3 million euros during the first six months of the current year. In conjunction with an increase in equity ratio from 36.8 to 39.4 percent, gearing improved to 76 percent. It is evident here that the cost reduction programmes of the company are taking effect. The same principle applies to the long-term 'PREIS' project (productive, return, efficient, innovative, speedy). This project is intended to make annual savings totalling more than 10 million euros from 2010 onwards. DGAP 11.08.2009 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Issuer: SURTECO SE Johan-Viktor-Bausch-Str. 2 86647 Buttenwiesen-Pfaffenhofen Deutschland Phone: +49 (0)8274 99 88-0 Fax: +49 (0)8274 99 88-5 05 E-mail: g.schneller@surteco.com Internet: www.surteco.com ISIN: DE0005176903 WKN: 517 690 Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), München; Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News-Service ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
DGAP-Adhoc: SURTECO SE: Satisfactory result despite economic crisis
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