News Detail - Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG

Successful 2007 financial year: Eckert & Ziegler increases sales and pre-tax profit


ECKERT & ZIEGLER Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG / Final Results
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Berlin, 28 March 2008 -- In the past 2007 financial year, Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG again increased its sales and, thanks to largely organic growth, it surpassed the new Group record high of EUR 54 million. In December, quarterly sales of over EUR 15 million were recorded for the first time. Compared with the previous year, the increase in annual sales equates to growth of 8%. When adjusted to take account of the effects of exchange-rate fluctuations, the Group’s total sales were roughly EUR 56.4 million and therefore 12% higher than in the previous year.
At EUR 2.2 million, Group profit for the year was 12% below the profit of 2006 (EUR 2.5 million) and therefore EUR 0.28 per share below the forecast presented by the Group management at the start of the year. The reason for the difference was essentially the business tax reform, which was passed after the forecast was published and forced a reassessment of the Group’s deferred taxes and therefore value adjustments which do not have an effect on cash amounting to EUR 0.27 per share. The value adjustments appear in the Group profit and loss account in the Income tax expense row.
Without the special effect resulting from the business tax reform, profit would have been around EUR 2.8 million and therefore EUR 0.89 per share as forecast. It would thus have increased by 25% compared with the previous year (EUR 0.71). A substantial part of this improvement is down to the fact that in the year under review no special amortization was required for development projects which were dropped. In the previous year, they had reduced revenue by EUR 0.6 million. In addition, the Group’s financial result and minority shares combined were EUR 0.2 million better than in 2006.

In the case of profit before tax and minorities, the Group result for 2007 was EUR 4.9 million, an increase of 4% over the previous year’s result (EUR 4.7 million). With roughly the same burden of interest (EUR 0.8 million) as in 2006, this resulted in EBIT of EUR 5.7 million in 2007. In relation to sales, this equates to an EBIT margin of approx. 10%.
Compared with the previous year, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell by 7 % to EUR 9.4 million. This was caused by amortization that fell by EUR 0.8 million to 3.7 million compared with the previous year. This resulted from the fact that in 2007 in the Therapy segment a series of capital-intensive production lines became entirely self-financing. In addition, 2006 was a year with a particularly high amortization volume which stands out from the trend seen over previous years. By contrast, the values for 2005 and 2004, namely EUR 3.9 million and 3.7 million, correspond roughly to the 2007 value stated above.

Segment developments

The main driver of growth in sales in 2007 was the Radiopharmaceuticals segment, which increased by 59% from EUR 5,4 million to EUR 8,6 million. Half of the increase in sales was attributable to the new Modular Lab range of synthesis equipment, with the other half resulting from the successful expansion of the contrast media business to Poland and the sales achieved by the new subsidiary company Eckert & Ziegler EURO-PET Köln/Bonn GmbH (previously MC Pharma). Sales also developed well in the Therapy segment and reached a level of EUR 20.8 million, which corresponds to an increase of 5% compared with the previous year.

The Group’s largest segment, the Nuclear Imaging and Industry segment, is predominantly active in the dollar zone and achieved nominally consistent sales (EUR 25.0 million). When adjusted to take account of exchange rates, this resulted in an increase in revenue for the segment of approx. 7% and an accounting increase in sales to EUR 26.9 million. The segment contributed EUR 0.90 per share prior to minorities to the Group’s earnings and was thus again the most profitable segment for the Group, which has three divisions. EUR 0.24 per share were generated in the Therapy segment. In the Radiopharmaceuticals segment, the loss was reduced, with an almost balanced operating result, by 45% from EUR 0.53 to EUR 0.29 per share.

Balance sheet and capital flow

The changes on the balance sheet were relatively minor in 2007 and dominated by the acquisition of the new subsidiary Eckert & Ziegler EURO-PET Köln/Bonn GmbH. The balance sheet total rose slightly by EUR 3.4 million or 5% to EUR 67.6 million; the equity ratio fell slightly by 3% to 54%. The fluctuations were relatively stable within the parameters of recent years, including with the equity yield and total equity yield, which were each one percent lower than in the previous year and were 5% and 3%, respectively.

The Group’s key liquidity figures displayed an excellent trend. Cash flow from operating activities in particular was robust, achieving a record level of EUR 6.6 million, the highest level seen in the last four years. It was EUR 2.0 million or 45% above the equivalent figure for the previous year.


Outlook

Within the scope of a merger of the implant divisions of Eckert & Ziegler and the Belgian company International Brachytherapy S.A. (IBt), in February 2008 Eckert Ziegler became the principal shareholder in its former competitor. As international accounting regulations mean that Eckert & Ziegler will have to consolidate IBt in future, the Group expects this to yield additional sales of roughly EUR 10 million in 2008. Together with its own organic growth and the boost to sales resulting from the initial consolidation of the company MC Pharma acquired over the course of the last year, total revenue of roughly EUR 70 million is anticipated. In terms of earnings, the Executive Board expects to generate one euro per share.
Both the sales and earnings forecasts assume that the dollar is able to roughly maintain its value against the euro, and that no one-off effects which have an impact on earnings result from the entering in the books of the purchase price and initial consolidation of IBt.
The Executive Board


Your contact:

Eckert & Ziegler AG
Thomas Scheuch, Investor Relations, Robert-Rössle-Str. 10, D-13125 Berlin phone: +49 (0) 30 / 94 10 84-139; fax –112; e-mail: thomas.scheuch@ezag.de, www.ezag.de



28.03.2008  Financial News transmitted by DGAP

 
Language:     English
Issuer: ECKERT & ZIEGLER Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG               Robert-Rössle-Str. 10
              13125 Berlin
              Deutschland
Phone:        +49 (0)30 941 084-0
Fax:          +49 (0)30 941 084-112
E-mail:       thomas.scheuch@ezag.de
Internet:     www.ezag.de
ISIN:         DE0005659700
WKN:          565970
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), Stuttgart; Freiverkehr in Berlin, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf  
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