Double-digit organic growth in first half driven by successful launch of Oticon Agil Powerful corporate momentum results in upgraded outlook for 2010 William Demant Holding A/S today published its Interim Report 2010 for the first half-year. Selected interim highlights are summarised below: In the first half of 2010, the Group realised revenues of DKK 3,328 million, or a 21% rise on the same period last year. Corporate organic growth in the period under review was 13%. The three main business activities all generated double-digit organic growth in the first half-year, to which should be added the effects of acquisitions and exchange movements. Growth in Hearing Aids was in particular driven by the successful launch of Oticon Agil, which is Oticon's second generation of wireless hearing aids. Agil has in record time achieved status as the world's best-selling high-end hearing aid. Unit sales in our corporate wholesale business improved by almost 9%. In the period under review, the Group gained sizeable market shares. The global market for hearing aids in the first six months of 2010 is estimated to have grown by 3% in terms of units. Operating profits (EBIT) constituted DKK 666 million, or an 18% increase on the first half of 2009. The consolidated profit margin of 20.0% was adversely affected by costs to the tune of DKK 50-70 million related among other things to the Agil introduction and the employee share ownership plan that we carried through in the first half-year. These costs are not expected to recur in the second half-year Based on the favourable trends in the first six months combined with our anticipation of continued growth corporate outlook has been upgraded. We now expect corporate wholesale of hearing aids in 2010 to outmatch market growth by 8-10% in terms of value, which is 5 percentage points above our most recent forecast. We also expect the second half-year to produce a profit margin that exceeds that of the first six months. Based on the announced considerations on the Group's capital structure, we have decided that we will seek to have a consolidated net debt of around DKK 1.0-1.5 billion, which means that in the coming period, the Company will once again be able to buy back shares, but whether such buyback will actually occur before year-end 2010 will depend on current consolidated cash flows and the extent of acquisitions carried through in the second half-year.