Press conference on the balance sheet 2013​​​​​​​

Financial year 2012:

• Order intake rose to € 2,260.8 million (+17%; previous year: € 1,927.3 million)
• Sales revenues reached € 2,037.4 million (+21%; previous year: € 1,687.7 million)
• EBT increased by 80% to a value of € 120.1 million
• Annual profit: € 82.4 million (previous year: +81%; € 45.5 million)
• Proposed dividend of € 0.35 per share

In the reporting year, GILDEMEISTER was able to achieve the highest order intake, the highest sales revenues and the highest annual profit in the company’s history. GILDEMEISTER has achieved its targets in all its key performance indicators. Overall we consider business development in 2012 to have been positively.

Order intake surpassed the € 2 billion mark for the first time in the company’s history. It exceeded the previous year’s figure (€ 1,927.3 million) by € 333.5 million and reached € 2,260.8 million - a gain of 17%. In the fourth quarter order intake reached € 554.4 million and was thus 34% higher than the previous year’s figure (€ 415.0 million). With 8,155 machines sold, a new record was also set for the sales number.

Whilst domestic orders at € 735.8 million remained slightly below the high level of the previous year of € 764.2 million, international orders grew by 31% to € 1,525.0 million (previous year: € 1,163.1 million). The percentage of international orders thus rose to 67% (previous year: 60%).

Sales revenues likewise exceeded the € 2 billion mark for the first time. With € 2,037.4 million GILDEMEISTER reached the highest sales revenues in the company’s history. Thus sales revenues were € 349.7 million or 21% above the previous year’s figure (€ 1,687.7 million). In the fourth quarter sales revenues rose by 23% to € 604.5 million (previous year: € 493.4 million).

As of 31 December 2012, the order backlog in the group totalled € 1,003.5 million; it was thus € 192.3 million or 24% above the previous year’s figure (31 Dec. 2011: € 811.2 million).

GILDEMEISTER was able to increase its earnings key performance indicators markedly in the financial year 2012. EBITDA rose over the whole year to € 173.8 million (previous year: € 146.1 million); EBIT amounted to €132.9 million (+18%; previous year: € 112.5 million). EBT rose by 80% to € 120.1 million (previous year: € 66.9 million) and the groupannual profit of € 82.4 million reached the highest figure in the company’s history (+81%, previous year: € 45.5 million).

In the fourth quarter EBITDA reached € 60.8 million (previous year: € 56.5 million); EBITwas € 49.6 million (previous year: € 46.0 million). EBT rose to € 47.4 million previous year: € 40.3 million). Earnings after taxes totalled € 32.6 million (previous year: € 27.4 million).

Equity rose by € 132.7 million to € 787.9 million. The increase was substantially due to the annual profit for the year and the rise in minority interests in equity through the inclusion of the European Mori Seiki companies. The equity ratio rose to 48.8% (previous year: 47.8%).

As of 31 December 2012, GILDEMEISTER had 6,496 employees , of whom 229 were trainees (previous year: 6,032). The increase in the number of employees rose in comparison with the previous year by 464. The increase in personnel in the “Industrial Services“ segment is primarily due to combining our sales and services activities with those of Mori Seiki in Europe and the accompanying integration of 227 employees. Moreover, additional employees were hired at our companies in the growth markets of China, Russia and India. At year-end, 3,711 employees (57%) worked at our domestic companies and 2,785 employees (43%) worked at our companies abroad.

The GILDEMEISTER share was able to record a clearly positive performance in financial year 2012 despite the turbulence on the international capital markets as a consequence of the euro debt crisis. Since the start of the year, it gained 56.4% (year-on-year). In the stock market year 2012, the share was quoted at the start of the year at € 10.23 (2 Jan. 2012) and reached its highest value at € 16.11 on 18 December 2012. The lowest value of the year was € 9.74 (9 Jan. 2012). The share closed the year on 28 December 2012 at € 15.25. Actually the share is quoted at € 19.93. The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board of GILDEMEISTER Aktiengesellschaft will propose to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on 17 May 2013, to distribute a dividend of € 0.35 per share for financial year 2012. When taking the annual closing price 2012 as a basis, this results in a dividend yield of 2.3%.

Forecast 2013

The current forecasts of the German Machine Tool Builders' Association (VDW) and the British economic research institute, Oxford Economics, expect worldwide production capacity and market volume to grow in value terms by 7.6% each.

The year started off for GILDEMEISTER in line with plans: Order intake in January and February was € 357.6 million (previous year: € 374.9 million). The positive course of our traditional in-house exhibition at DECKEL MAHO Pfronten contributed to this. Sales revenues rose above the comparable previous year’s months to € 289.9 million. For the first quarter 2013 we are expecting order intake of more than € 500 million; we are planning sales revenues at the level of the previous year.

For financial year 2013 we expect an increasingly volatile economic environment. For the whole year we are planning on order intake of about € 2.0 billion . Due to these expectations, and based on the sound order backlog, we are planning sales revenues in 2013 of about € 2 billion . Given these conditions, and on the assumption that the market continues to develop in line with our expectations, we are planning to achieve EBT of about € 120 million and net income for the year of € 82 million.

GILDEMEISTER Aktiengesellschaft
The Executive Board