Eckert & Ziegler: Sales growth in first half of year, no growth in earnings so far

Berlin, August 5, 2014. Berlin-based Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG (ISIN DE0005659700), a specialist in isotope technology applications for medicine, science and industry, has increased sales by 8 % year on year to € 31.2 million in the second quarter of 2014. Sales rose by € 6.6 million, or 12 %, to € 61.9 million during the first half year of 2014. A total € 2.1 million of this amount was attributable to organic sales growth. Companies that have been acquired since the middle of 2013 contributed € 5.7 million in sales. The fall in the US dollar exchange rate, however, had a negative impact of € 1.1 million.

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) came to € 6.2 million in the first half year of 2014, equating to a drop of € 0.7 million, or 10 %, year on year. This decrease was primarily the result of negative effects in the Radiation Therapy and Isotope Products segments. At the beginning of 2014, the Radiation Therapy segment recorded integration expenses for the new acquisitions in the US. In addition, sales of tumor radiation equipment suffered on account of the war-like situations in parts of Ukraine and the Middle East. Extraordinary income from the repayment of a loan in the prior year also negatively impacted the segment result when looked at in comparison. The Isotope Products segment had also benefitted from extraordinary income in the prior year due to a successful lawsuit.

The Radiopharma segment posted better figures than in the prior year due to the acquisition of an Austrian company as well as an increase in sales in the equipment division. The new Others segment, comprising Environmental Services and Holding, which were previously reported separately, narrowed the EBIT losses from € -3.1 million to € -1.4 million, which was mainly due to the absence of extraordinary expenses from the same period in 2013 when a price increase in an important disposal channel negatively impacted earnings.

Earnings after taxes and minority interests fell by 18 % to € 3.3 million, or € 0.62 per share due to the decline in EBIT.

Cash and cash equivalents fell by € 10.6 million to € 18.8 million in the first half of 2014. This was caused by increased equity requirements for net working capital as well as higher loan repayments. The latter led to a rise in the equity ratio rose from 51 % to 52 %.

The Executive Board has reaffirmed its most recent forecast for the year 2014. Based on expectations of a disproportionate increase in profit in the Radiation Therapy segment, the targets for the year remain at sales of € 134 million and earnings after tax and minority interests of € 10.5 million, or € 2.00 per share.

Change in the Supervisory Board: Effective August 1, 2014, the lawyer Prof. Dr. Helmut Grothe took over as the successor of Dr. Fritz Oesterle, who resigned from the Supervisory Board effective July 31 due to other obligations that would not leave him enough time to look after the interests of the company in the future with the required amount of diligence. The Executive Board would like to thank Dr. Oesterle for his hard work and valuable contributions. Prof. Dr. Grothe was elected to become the new member at the last Annual General Meeting in May.

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About Eckert & Ziegler
Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG (ISIN DE0005659700), with approximately 700 employees, is one of the world's largest providers of isotope technology for radiation therapy and nuclear medicine.
Contributing to saving lives

Your contact:
Eckert & Ziegler AG, Karolin Riehle, Investor Relations, Robert-Rössle-Str. 10, 13125 Berlin
Tel.: +49 (0) 30 / 94 10 84-138, karolin.riehle@dont-want-spam.ezag.de, www.ezag.com