Berlin, August 5, 2008. In the second quarter of 2008, Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG (ISIN DE0005659700), a globally active company specializing in isotope technology applications in industry and medicine, increased its sales to EUR 18.6 million, thus achieving a rise of 24% on the half-yearly sales in the reference period last year, to EUR 32.8 million. The Pankow concern thus considerably exceeded a half-yearly sales figure of EUR 30 million for the first time ever.
The company's profit after taxes and other shareholders' holdings was EUR 9.4 million for the half-year, or EUR 2.98 per share. Of this figure, around EUR 7.6 million or EUR 2.41 per share originate from one-off extraordinary gains from the first-time consolidation of Belgian company International Brachytherapy (IBt). Eckert & Ziegler also achieved very good results in the half-year if the extraordinary gains are disregarded. Its operating result rose by 47% compared with the reference period in the previous year, to EUR 4.2 million or EUR 1.35 per share; the result without minority interests and adjusted for special items grew by 23% to EUR 1.8 million or EUR 0.57 per share.
The segment with the highest turnover in these six months was the Nuclear Imaging and Industry segment, whose sales increased by 12% on those in the same period last year, to EUR 14.4 million. On a US dollar basis, the segment's sales grew even more, by 26%. The increase can be attributed to the business generated with the new generation of robust drill hole sources and the catching up on delivery delays which was announced in the last quarterly report.
In the Radiopharmaceuticals segment, sales more than doubled from EUR 3.1 million to EUR 6.8 million. The lion's share of this growth was recorded by the Modular Lab product group, with an increase of EUR 1.4 million. The Therapy segment's sales rose to EUR 11.6 million, and within the segment sales of implants used to treat prostate cancer were up by 68%.
The Board of Directors