EANS-News: GESCO AG: Records in the previous year, declines in the new year, good opportunities in the future

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Wuppertal (euro adhoc) - Wuppertal, 25 June 2009 - The SDAX listed investment
holding company GESCO AG can look back on another record year at the annual
accounts press conference being held in Düsseldorf today. The company
anticipates declines for the new financial year and sees good prospects in the
medium-term.

The 2008/2009 financial year (1 Apr. 2008 - 31 Mar. 2009) was still impacted by
the lively development of the economy which lasted right into the autumn. The
company was therefore able to easily achieve its guidance released in June 2008
and record an increase in Group sales of 13.6 % to EUR 378.4 million (previous
year EUR 333.2 million). Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) recorded an
even stronger rise of 14.0 % and reached EUR 38.9 million (EUR 34.2 million).
Group net income after minority interest ultimately increased by 20.9 % to EUR
21.6 million (EUR 17.9 million), while earnings per share according to IFRS rose
from EUR 5.92 to EUR 7.16 in line with this development. The Group´s workforce
grew by 4.8 % from 1,713 to 1,795 employees. Overall, 2008/2009 was the most
successful year in the company´s history.

Given the positive result, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board are
proposing a record dividend of EUR 2.50 per share at the Annual General Meeting
on 27 August 2009. In the previous year, the company paid out a total dividend
of EUR 2.42 per share, which was composed of a base dividend totalling EUR 2.20
and a bonus amounting to EUR 0.22 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the stock
market listing.

In the face of the deep global recession, the company expects Group sales of
between EUR 280 million and EUR 310 million as well as Group net income after
minority interest of between EUR 7 million and EUR 10.5 million for the
2009/2010 financial year (1 Apr. 2009 - 31 Mar. 2010), corresponding to earnings
per share in accordance with IFRS of between EUR 2.31 and EUR 3.47. The Group is
taking extensive measures in an effort to cut costs, intensify sales and
generate buying incentives with innovations.

With healthy balance sheet structures and a comfortable cushion of liquid assets
in the Group and the well positioned business models of subsidiaries, GESCO
Group is well equipped to successfully overcome the recession and to benefit
more than most from the next recovery move.

GESCO Executive Board member Dr. Hans-Gert Mayrose on the company´s prospects:
"Even if the concept of the `crisis as an opportunity´ is somewhat overused at
the moment: We are confident that the operating subsidiaries and GESCO Group
will have strengthened their competitive position by the end of the recession.
We can also broaden our foundations for the recovery period by acquiring
strategically attractive industrial companies. Every crisis comes to an end, and
when the economy picks up, we want to be at the head of the pack again."

Full annual report at www.gesco.de

Further inquiry note:
Oliver Vollbrecht
Leiter Investor Relations
T.: +49(0)202 24820 18
[email protected]

end of announcement euro adhoc
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emitter: GESCO AG
Döppersberg 19
D-42103 Wuppertal
phone: +49(0)202 24820 0
FAX: +49(0)202 24820 49
mail: [email protected]
WWW: http://www.gesco.de
sector: Economy, Business & Finance
ISIN: DE0005875900
indexes: SDAX, Classic All Share, Prime All Share
stockmarkets: regulated dealing/prime standard: Frankfurt, free trade: Berlin,
Hamburg, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, München
language: English

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