The UV specialist Dr. Hönle AG (ISIN DE0005157101) has published figures for the first nine months of financial year 2005/2006.

Hönle Group revenues rose by 1.6 % to T€ 17,081 compared with the same period in the previous year. Earnings before income and tax (EBIT) declined by 7.8 % to T€ 2,248 and earnings before tax (EBT) dropped by 0.8 % to 2,870 T€. Consolidated net income grew by 3.5 % to T€ 1,815 during this period and Dr. Hönle AG’s net income for the period rose by 23.5 %. Hence, relative to 5.433 million shares, earnings per share were € 0.33 after being € 0.32 in the previous year’s period. The EBIT margin was 13.2 % (previous year: 14.5 %), and net profit on sales was 10.6 % (previous year: 10.4 %).

Cash provided by operating activities amounted to T€ 1,982 during the first nine months after being T€ 1.908 in the previous year’s period. Own shares of T€ 481 were acquired during the last quarter within the scope of a stock buyback program. Liquid funds, financial assets and treasury stock now amount to T€ 18,095 (previous year: T€ 17,143). This represents a cash pro-portion of € 3.33 per share.

The minor increase in the Hönle Group’s sales revenues and earnings is mainly due to adhesives sales being significantly retrograde in comparison with the same period in the previous year. This development is due to a customer’s insolvency and to cancellation of a major order. As a consequence, Wellomer GmbH, a member of the Hönle Group, was restructured under new management during the last quarter. Substantially reduced sales at Wellomer are expected for financial year 2005/2006 in comparison with the previous year. At the end of the third quarter, the Company reports a significant deficit in comparison with a profit for the period in the previous year. Hönle expects the net loss at the end of the fourth quarter to be at the same level. The Honle Spain S.A. subsidiary has also undergone changes. The company was restructured under new management. This measure led to a drop in earnings at Honle Spain in the past quarter, and consequently also in the Hönle Group. However, Hönle is of the opinion that, through this measure, a good basis for successful and confident cooperation was formed within the group of companies.

In June, Dr. Hönle AG acquired the customer basis, the brand and patent rights, and parts of fixed assets from the insolvency estate of Arccure Technologies GmbH, Lippstadt. Among other things, Arccure developed, produced and marketed UV equipment for the CD/DVD market. The company’s sales revenues amounted to approximately € 3 million in the past year. Hönle expects that they will be able to continue these sales revenues with the acquired customer base at least partially. In addition, they were able to supplement the product portfolio with high quality and efficient UV equipment.

Outlook

As initially mentioned, the Wellomer and Honle Spain subsidiaries were restructured. Hönle believes that, with these measures, they have created a good basis for the successful business development of both companies. Regrettably, the events during the past quarters, in particular, at Wellomer GmbH, have burdened the Group result. However, Hönle expects no other significant negative effects on Group results in the fourth quarter. As announced, the company has substantially increased the sales unit through the recruitment of new sales engineers. This expansion concerned all business segments. As a consequence of the sustained positive investment climate and the orders on hand as at 30 June 2006, Hönle expects sales during the fourth quarter to be at about the previous year’s level.

Contact: Dr. Hönle AG, Peter Weinert, Lochhamer Schlag 1, 82166 Gräfelfing/Munich, Tel.: 0049-89-85608-173, Fax: 0049-89-85608-148, ir@hoenle.de, www.hoenle.de