Compared with the previous year, Singulus' 1st quarter 2007 showed a significant improvement in the adjusted operating result and the operating margin. The operating result (EBIT) in the 1st quarter 2007 amounted to €200,000. In the previous year, an EBIT of €7 million was posted, which however included an
extraordinary one-off net earning of €14 million for the HamaTech acquisition.

Insofar, the operating earnings situation was substantially improved by the implemented cost reduction programmes of the past two years. The number of employees in the SINGULUS Group continued to decline and dropped from 1,240 employees as of 31 March 2006 to 699 by 31 March this year.

The gross margin came to 29.2 % of net sales overall versus 21.8% the previous year. This increase results from the first time sales generation in the segment Nano Deposition Technologies (NDT) and a general margin improvement in the segment CD and DVD.

Although the segments Manufacturing Services, Slovakia, and ETA-Optik are no longer included in the sales of the 1st quarter 2007, consolidated sales increased to €49.8 million – €1 million more than the previous year.

With the acquisition of the HamaTech in January 2006 an order backlog worth €42.6 million was acquired, which together with the continuing order intake of € 64.9 million in the 1st quarter 2006 resulted in an
order intake totaling €107.5 million. An adjustment of the continuing order intake in the amount of €64.9 million by the segments of the HamaTech Group, which are not being continued, results in an amount of €55.6 million.

Therefore, the order intake in the 1st quarter 2007 totaling €60.4 million on a like-for-like basis (continuing order intake 2006 and 2007) is above previous year's level. The order backlog of €92.1 million as of 31 March 2007 was below previous year’s level (€119.5 million).

Story filed 20.05.07