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[March 2006]
SGL Carbon Financial Highlights
Immediately following the supervisory board meeting approving the financial statements for the fiscal year 2005, SGL Carbon announced key figures for 2005.
The company had a successful business year in 2005. Group sales increased by 13% to 1.068.8 billion euro, while EBIT increased by 91% to 112.8 million euro. The return on sales accordingly increased from 6.3% in 2004 to 10.6% in 2005.All three business units contributed to the favourable operational development. Pre-tax profit showed a turnaround from a loss of 2.9 million euro to a profit of 47.2 million euro. Net profit was improved to 28.1 million euro (2004: -4.5 million euro). Earnings per share increased from a loss of 1.66 euro to a positive 0.50 euro.
The net profit and positive free cash-flow were used to optimise the balance sheet structure, in particular to reduce debt. Net debt therefore decreased from 321.6 million euro at the end of 2004 to 264.7 million euro at the end of 2005, thus clearly surpassing the company’s target of below 300 million euro.Gearing was subsequently reduced from 1.2 to 0.8; the equity ratio improved from 20.3% to 27.2%. Due to the favourable outlook in most customer industries and a good start to the new year, SGL Carbon expects to be able to grow sales and earnings in 2006 once again.
www.sglcarbon.com
ENDS