DJ EANS-IRE: Rosenbauer International AG / Zwischenmitteilung

 
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Intermediate report of the management transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is 
responsible for the content of this announcement. 
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Revenues and EBIT behind forecast owing to shipment delays; 
Record order intake of 456.1 Mio Euro (+ 24%); 
Outlook for 2011 - revenues and EBIT at average level of past two years 
 
GROUP KEY DATA                              |1-9/2011  |1-9/2010  |Ver. in % 
Revenues                       |Mio Euro    |368.5     |421.2     |(13%)     | 
EBIT                           |Mio Euro    |23.3      |33.3      |(30%)     | 
EBT                            |Mio Euro    |24.2      |32.2      |(25%)     | 
Net profit for the period      |Mio Euro    |19.0      |25.0      |(24%)     | 
Cash flow from operating activities Mio Euro|(48.5)    |(18.8)    |(158%)    | 
Total assets                   |Mio Euro    |379.9     |360.0     |+ 6%      | 
Equity in % of total assets    |            |36.4%     |32.5%     |-         | 
Investments                    |Mio Euro    |7.0       |6.2       |+ 13%     | 
Earnings per share             |Euro        |2.3       |2.7       |(15%)     | 
Employees as at September 30        |       |2,112     |2,037     |+ 4%      | 
Order intake                   |Mio Euro    |456.1     |367.4     |+ 24%     | 
Order backlog as at September 30|Mio Euro   |478.0     |453.4     |+ 5%      | 
 
After a certain time-lag, the financial and economic crisis has now also left 
its mark on the fire-equipment sector. Although Rosenbauer did better than the 
rest of the sector in certain markets, notably in the USA and Germany, these 
markets are still not showing any great appetite for placing new orders. 
 
The picture in emerging markets is a very varied one: While there are already 
indications of market saturation in several countries, in regions such as the 
Middle East there is still a great need for modernization. This is also 
reflected in today´s large arena for project business. 
 
Revenue and results trends 
In the fire-equipment sector, the 4th quarter is generally typified by higher 
revenues and earnings. This is due to the fact that a disproportionately high 
share of shipments tends to be made in the final quarter. However, this seasonal 
dependency during the fiscal year is often smoothed to some extent by centrally 
directed procurement that does not fall under public-sector revenue and 
expenditure budgets.                                                  | 
 
At 368.5 Mio Euro (1-9/2010: 421.2 Mio Euro), Group revenues in the first three 
quarters were still lagging some way behind plan - above all due to the timing 
of product shipments. Initial `teething troubles´ at vendor firms - which were 
unable to fulfill the required delivery volumes - have led to delayed shipments 
during series start-up of the new municipal vehicle AT. Shipments of sizeable 
international export orders have also had to be deferred, again reducing the 
revenue figure for this reporting period. 
 
The fall-back in Group revenues meant that EBIT for this reporting period also 
came in lower year-on-year, at 23.3 Mio Euro (1-9/2010: 33.3 Mio Euro), 
corresponding to an EBIT margin of 6.3% (1-9/2010: 7.9%). The stepped-up pace of 
shipments towards the year-end will lead to improved fixed-cost coverage in the 
fourth quarter of 2011, and thus to a higher EBIT margin for the year as a 
whole. 
 
Thanks to the Group´s higher earnings from the joint venture in Russia, the 
`Finance cost´ improved by around two million euros over the same period of last 
year, leading to EBT of 24.2 Mio Euro (1-9/2010: 32.2 Mio Euro). 
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Orders 
In contrast to the market situation in the industry as a whole, the first three 
quarters saw Rosenbauer taking its highest-ever inflow of new orders for this 
reporting period, totaling 456.1 Mio Euro (1-9/2010: 367.4 Mio Euro). Up 
24%year-on-year, this higher order intake is due not only to the major order 
from Brazil for 80 PANTHERs but also - to give just one example - to increased 
order volumes on the US market. With order books totaling 478.0 Mio Euro as of 
September 30, 2011 (September 30, 2010: 453.4 Mio Euro), the Rosenbauer Group 
can look forward to solid capacity utilization over the next twelve months. 
 
Outlook 
As is usually the case in the fire-equipment sector, the 4th quarter of 2011 
will bring significantly higher revenues and thus a very intensive workload. 
From today´s perspective, Management is confident that despite the delays to 
shipments, the bulk of deliveries will be effected on schedule towards the 
year-end. 
 
Despite the weakness of the markets in Europe and the USA and the record year 
Rosenbauer enjoyed in 2010, factors such as the healthy state of order books and 
the still-clear view ahead regarding production-capacity utilization for the 
rest of 2011 thus lead Management to expect both the revenue and earnings 
figures to come in at around the average level for the past two years. This 
would equate to revenues of around 570 Mio Euro and EBIT of over 40 Mio Euro. 
 
 
end of announcement                               euro adhoc 
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 18, 2011 02:01 ET (07:01 GMT)