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Dürr Shareholders' Meeting Approves Dividend Increase to 1.50 DM per 5-DM Share

07/01/1998

• Growth trend continues
• double digit increases in incoming orders, sales and earnings in May
• further improvements in sales and earnings expected for 1998

At the shareholders' meeting Dürr AG, Stuttgart, announced that the positive trend has continued in the first five calendar months also. Earnings before tax went up to 14.2 m DM, 31.5 % more than the previous year.

The company achieved group sales of 635 m DM (previous year: 510 m DM), which is up by 24.5 % compared to the same period last year. Incoming orders reached 1,035 m DM in May (previous year: 765 m DM), 35.3 % more than last year. Two major contracts for Paint Finishing Systems are included in this figure, one from Audi Neckarsulm covering a total value of about 175 m DM, and another contract from Ford Dearborn awarded to the US subsidiary Dürr Industries Inc. totalling approx. 400 m DM. Orders on hand in the first five months went up by 30.8 % to 2.562 m DM (previous year: 1,958 m DM). Due to various influencing factors inherent in certain important orders, the development for the whole year 1998 cannot be extrapolated from the change rates of the same period in the previous year.

At the shareholders' meeting a dividend increase by 0.30 DM to 1.50 DM per 5-DM share was approved. With a net profit for the year of 40.8 m DM (previous year 23.9 m DM) the dividend sum amounts to 19.5 m DM. As in previous years there is no tax credit for shareholders in Germany who are entitled to a tax deduction. The company does, however, expect that shareholders in Germany entitled to a tax deduction will receive a tax credit on part of the dividend in 1998.

For the current business year Hans Dieter Pötsch, Chairman of the Board, is optimistic: "For 1998 we expect the upward trend to continue. As far as we can say today, the development of incoming orders in 1998 will continue to be positive throughout the group in all business units worldwide. Thanks to the good project situation and the high order backlog, we expect further improvements in sales and earnings compared to the values of the previous year."

Corporate strategy plans to demerge the Environmental Systems business unit to an inde-pendent operation. Moreover, Dürr wants to further expand its systems capabilities. As an answer to the requirements of the automotive industry to assume more responsibilty in the service sector, Dürr will - before the end of this year - introduce a new service product to the market under the name of Dürr Ecoservice. Firstly this includes service support during the production start-up phase in the area of planning, development and commissioning. And secondly this includes important services such as process optimization, quality manage-ment, customer service and spare parts supplies as well as maintenance and cleaning activities when production is running. "In this way we will be able to participate in the high growth potentials and earning opportunities in the service market. At the same time Dürr can submit an offer to the customer on the 'single source accountability' principle, which is tailored in all aspects to the process equipment and service area", the Chairman of the Board explained.

Pötsch announced the target of doubling group sales in the next five years. Dürr will depend mainly on internal growth, but external growth will also be included in strategic considera-tions. "This means that the implementation of our strategy may later on also necessitate measures in the area of equity financing or financing with borrowed capital", Pötsch said.

The resolutions proposed to the shareholders' meeting for this reason concerning:approved equity of 20 m DM, the possibility of spending convertible bonds the acquisition of treasury stock in compliance with legislation, were accepted and passed by the shareholders.

The resolution concerning the conversion of par value shares into shares quoted per unit, as a preparatory measure for the introduction of the euro was accepted and passed by the shareholders.