ATB Austria Antriebstechnik AG: Semiannual result

First half-year 2012

Vienna (pta008/24.08.2012/07:30 UTC+2) Turnover and earnings - First half-year 2012

- Turnover slightly increased
- Significant improvement in EBITDA (+28,1 %) and EBIT (+12,1 %)
- Sound assets and capital structure

Vienna, August 24, 2012. In the second quarter of 2012, the Vienna Stock Exchange listed ATB Austria Antriebstechnik AG, headquartered in Vienna, continued with the positive development of the first quarter. Despite the difficult market environment, the Austrian Motors Group slightly increased sales in the first six months of the current business year in comparison with the reference period of the previous year. The measures initiated in the last year with the objective to strengthen the high-margin segments and to continuously improve the production processes showed significant effects on the EBITDA and EBIT, which both improved disproportionately.

Slight increase in turnover

In the first half-year of 2012, the ATB Group increased its turnover by 0.7 % to EUR 176.3 million (first half-year 2011: EUR 175.0 million). This slight growth was resulting from the positive development in the Project Motors business, where sales improved by 9.7 % to EUR 88.7 million (first half-year 2011: EUR 80.8 million), whereas the Industrial Motors business recorded a decline in sales of 7.0 % to EUR 87.6 million (first half-year 2011: EUR 94.2 million).

Disproportionate improvement in most key earnings figures

Most key earnings figures, which increased disproportionately, performed even significantly better than sales. The EBITDA rose by 28.1 % to EUR 15.8 million (first half-year 2011: EUR 12.4 million). The EBIT increased by 12.1 % to EUR 11.1 million (first half-year 2011: EUR 9.9 million). Accordingly, the EBIT-margin improved to 6.3 % after 5.6 % in the first half-year of the previous year. This substantial increase in margin is mainly resulting from the expansion in sales of the high-margin Project Motors business.

In the first six months of the current financial year, earnings before tax (EBT) reached EUR 6.5 million (first half-year 2011: EUR 7.9 million). At the same time, the result for the period improved by 84.3 % to EUR 12.9 million (first half-year 2011: EUR 7.0 million). The change in the result for the period was mainly attributable to the result of the discontinued operations in the amount of EUR 8.2 million. This includes primarily the decrease in liability from the court judgement against Brook Crompton Western Electric Motors (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Dalian in the amount of CNY 116 million (value as of June 30, 2012: EUR 15.0 million) to EUR 7.4 million (discounted). Since April 2012, the WOLONG INVESTMENT GmbH, Vienna holds the receivable from the ATB Group. Payments in the amount of EUR 8.5 million until the year 2016 have been agreed with the ATB Group.

Solid order backlog - reliable ability to plan production

In the first half-year of 2012, the order intake of the ATB Group reached EUR 168.2 million and thus was 6.3 % lower than the reference value of the previous year (first half-year 2011: EUR 179.5 million). This development was mainly due to the Industrial Motors division, which had to record a decline in new orders, whereas the Project Motors business posted significant gains.

At the end of June 2012, the order backlog amounted to EUR 121.4 million. Although it was 6.3 % lower than the prior year's reference value (June 31, 2011: EUR 129.5 million), it however ensures a reliable ability to plan production for the upcoming quarters.

Assets and capital structure

As a result of the repayment of a short-term loan in January 2012 in the amount of EUR 40 million and the long-term borrowing of EUR 20 million at the beginning of 2012, the balance sheet total of the ATB Group decreased to EUR 297.4 million at the reporting date June 30, 2012 (December 31, 2011: EUR 313.3 million). As of June 30, 2012, the equity ratio increased by 6.7 percentage points to 32.8 % compared to the end of the year. This was basically resulting from the very good result for the period.

As of June 30, 2012, net debt of the ATB Group amounted to EUR 68.3 million (December 31, 2011: EUR 49.6 million). The increase resulted from the borrowing of a long-term loan of EUR 20 million at the beginning of 2012.

Employees

With 3,591 employees as of June 30, 2012, the headcount of the ATB Group remained stable in comparison with the previous year's reference date (June 30, 2011: 3,627).

Outlook

Due to the customer-specific orientation, the good positioning in niches, innovative product developments and substantial improvements in delivery times, despite weaker economic forecasts, the Management of the ATB Group is cautiously positive about prospects for the second half-year of 2012. In the sense of an even more intense use of synergy effects within the Group, the Management has defined and already initiated strategic steps, such as the increased use of location advantages.

As essential measure to support a further, future optimisation, the expansion of the ATB brand is planned for the next half-year. In the future, a consistent ATB-appearance will further underline the internationality of the Group and strengthen the Group-spirit of the employees at all sites. In this context, the ATB likewise intends to rename individual company sites as well as to modify the branding of products.

In the course of the optimisation of the sales structure and the development of new sales regions, the ATB Group will open a new sales office in Shanghai in the second half-year of 2012.

Selected key figures of the ATB Austria Antriebstechnik AG

In TEUR	01-06/2012	01-06/2011	Change
	unaudited	unaudited
Revenue	176.266	175.048	+0,7%
EBITDA	15.827	12.355	+28,1%
Operating result (EBIT)	11.073	9.876	+12,1%
EBIT-margin	6,3%	5,6%
Earnings before tax (EBT)	6.473	7.938	-18,5%
Results for the period	12.922	7.013	+84,3%
Order intake	168.163	179.486	-6,3%
Order backlog (as of June 30)	121.401	129.647	-6,4%
Investments	4.991	3.946	+26,5%
Employees (as of June 30)	3.591	3.627	-1%

The report for the first half-year of 2012 is available on the Internet under http://www.atb-motors.com.

Note
Among others, this report contains statements on potential future developments, which were made on the basis of currently available information. Such statements, which reflect the current assessment of future developments by the Management Board, cannot be construed as guarantees for future performance and bear unforeseeable risks and uncertainties. There may be a variety of reasons for actual results and conditions to diverge from the assumption, on which the statements were based.

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