EANS-News: Hoeft & Wessel AG records very good level of orders

Shortages of electronic components lead to deferments of turnover to
Q4

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Corporate news transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer/originator is solely
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9-month report

Subtitle: Shortages of electronic components lead to deferments of
turnover to Q4

Hanover/Germany, 04 November 2010. (euro adhoc) - ... - Profit
deferment as a result of temporary currency effects - Strong fourth
quarter and a slight increase in sales for 2010 are forecast - Cash
flow at record level

The Hoeft & Wessel Group has recorded a very good order intake 2010.
The incoming orders of the IT and engineering group for ticketing,
parking and mobile solutions also continued their extremely positive
trend during the third quarter of the current year. The first nine
months had facilitated new ledger entries for orders with a total
volume of EUR 66.3 million. This represents a year-on-year increase
of 15 per cent (30 September 2009: EUR 57.5 million.)

During 2010, Hoeft & Wessel has been in a position to secure orders
for e- ticketing systems in Spain and Germany, for automatic parking
ticket machines on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom and for
mobile terminals from Rewe, among other successful sales. During
October 2010, this was supplemented by a large-scale order from the
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) for a new mobile communications solution
based on GSM-R for shunting and construction operations. As a result,
an interesting new field of business activity has opened up for this
technology enterprise.

In line with the positive level of incoming orders, the order
portfolio of the Hoeft & Wessel Group had increased to EUR 80.7
million as at 30 September 2010 (31 December 2009: EUR 74.4 million).

The bottlenecks pertaining to electronic components occurring
worldwide subsequent to the economic crisis led to deferments in
delivery and thus sales revenues from the third into the fourth
quarter of 2010 at the Hoeft & Wessel Group. During the third
quarter, sales decreased by 12 per cent, to EUR 20.9 million
(Q3 2009: EUR 23.9 million). During the initial three quarters of the
year, sales totalled EUR 60.1 million and were thus down 15 per cent
year-on- year (30 September 2009: EUR 71.0 million).

Amongst other activities, the technology enterprise commenced with
deliveries of ticketing systems to public transport companies in
Hamburg, Rostock and Berlin. A completely new solar-operated
automatic ticketing machine was developed for Geneva. The
installation of 1,000 automatic parking ticket machines was
successfully completed within the U.S. metropolis of Philadelphia.
Mobile terminals were delivered to the Netto Marken-Discount, Rewe
and Lekkerland enterprises.

A marked increase in sales is anticipated by the Hoeft & Wessel Group
for the current fourth quarter, resulting in a forecast of a slight
increase in turnover for the year 2010 as a whole.

It is the view of Hoeft & Wessel that the cyclical market for
electronic components will normalise again. As a result of its
representative office in Taiwan established in September 2010, the
company is also in a position to utilise the strategic advantage of
local presence in order further to optimise purchases and also to
respond to market fluctuations even more rapidly in the future.

Temporary currency effects resulted in negative earnings before
interest and taxes (EBIT) of -EUR 0.8 million as at 30 September 2010
(2009: EUR 2.3 million). However, the merely reporting date based
currency effects to the amount of -EUR 1.0 million (preceding year:
+EUR 0.1 million) will lead to reversed effects over the next several
months upon completion of the hedging transactions concluded for
incoming orders in foreign currencies. These effects and the forecast
increase in sales during the fourth quarter are already leading to
marked improvements in earnings during the current fourth quarter.
However, total EBIT figures for 2010 as a whole will be lower
year-on-year since a portion of these currency effects will have a
positive impact on the operating result in 2011.

The Hoeft & Wessel Group has been able to boost its net liquidity
considerably this year. The operating cash flow also continued its
positive trend in the third quarter, permitting its significant
increase to a record level of EUR 5.8 million as at 30 September 2010
(preceding year: -EUR 1.3 million). Loans were paid off using the
generated funding, and a dividend was paid out to shareholders for
the first time in the history of the company, something that is also
to be proposed for the current financial year.

The Hoeft & Wessel Group forecasts a further increase in sales
revenues and earnings for 2011 on the basis of the excellent level of
orders.

"Our future prospects look very promising: the order situation is
excellent, and the commenced internationalisation facilitates growth
within new markets," says Hoeft & Wessel Group CEO Hansjoachim Oehmen
in summarising the company´s business trends.

Key figures for the Hoeft & Wessel Group as at 30 September 2010

in EUR thousands 30/09/10 30/09/09 30/09/08 30/09/07
30/09/06 ------------------------------------------------------------
------------------ Sales revenues 60,057 71,037
70,031 68,416 50,925 Operating result before
depreciation/amortisation

(EBITDA) 2,749 5,638 5,480 5,082 850
Operating result (EBIT) (799) 2,325 2,088 1,562 (2,748)
in % of sales revenues - 3.3 3.0 2.3 -
Earnings before taxes(EBT) (1,454) 1,618 1,002 525 (3,287)
in % of sales revenues - 2.3 1.4 0.8 -
Group earnings (1,481) 1,120 863 409 (3,178)
Earnings per share(in EUR) (0.17) 0.13 0.10 0.05 (0.38)

Cash flow from current
operating activities 5,756 (1,258) (1,839) 2,693 1,087
Cash flow from investment
activities (3,194) (3,391) (3,536) (3,566) (3,642)
Net cash flow (1,502) (217) (1,264) 106 (1,428)

Average number of employees 499 502 507 503 506

Nine-month report for 2010 and additional reports: http://www.hoeft-
wessel.com/de/aktie/index.htm

Press folder, including photographs:
http://www.presseportal.de/pm/12945/hoeft_wessel_ag/

About the Company
The Hoeft & Wessel Group is the leading German IT and engineering technology
group for ticketing, parking and mobile solutions. Established in 1978 by the
two entrepreneurs of the same name, the Group today generates sales revenues of
nearly EUR 100 million with a workforce of 500 employees. It has been listed on
the stock market since 1998 (ISIN DE0006011000). Its headquarters are in
Hanover, Germany, and Swindon, UK, west of London.
The annual investment volume in the Research & Development division, which sets
the pace in the Group´s technological orientation and employs more than a third
of the total workforce, amounts to approximately 10 per cent in terms of
turnover.

In Europe, the Almex division is among the leading providers of
ticketing and telematics systems for public transport and check-in
solutions for the airline industry.

The British subsidiary Metric Parking is one of the largest global
providers of car park ticket vending machines, parking space
management systems as well as comprehensive services.

As one of Europe´s largest manufacturers, the Skeye division provides
a wide range of mobile terminals, e.g. for retail and logistics, as
well as point-of- sale solutions. Skeye is the market leader in
Germany´s retail sector.

end of announcement euro adhoc
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ots Originaltext: Höft & Wessel AG
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Further inquiry note:

Arnd Fritzemeier

Tel.: +49-511-6102-300

E-Mail: PR@hoeft-wessel.com

Branche: Technology
ISIN: DE0006011000
WKN: 601100
Index: TecDAX, Prime All Share, Technology All Share
Börsen: Frankfurt / regulated dealing/prime standard
Berlin / free trade
Hamburg / free trade
Stuttgart / free trade
Düsseldorf / free trade
Hannover / free trade
München / free trade