Half-year report 2017 published

Kölleda, 28 August 2017 - The Funkwerk Group performed well in all divisions in the first six months of 2017 and was able to increase consolidated sales by 8.5 % to €27.8 million (previous year: €25.6 million) compared to the same period of the previous year. Thanks to fully utilised capacities, earnings increased even more significantly: the consolidated operating result improved from EUR -0.5 million to EUR +0.7 million in the first half of the year. In addition to the higher business volume, the improved profitability was also due to the more favourable product mix as a result of the larger proportion of services in the operating business. After taxes, the result for the period totalled EUR +0.5 million (previous year: EUR -0.6 million).

The order intake of Funkwerk AG, which employed 406 people across the Group on 30 June 2017, increased from €35.2 million in the previous year to €38.2 million. The order backlog at the end of June 2017 totalled €60.6 million (previous year: €55.7 million).

The Group therefore has a good basis for future business development and has slightly raised its forecasts for 2017 as a whole: Funkwerk currently expects consolidated sales of just under €80 million and can therefore exceed the original forecast of around €77 million by around €3 % (previous year: €77.4 million). The 2017 operating result is also expected to exceed the previous forecast of EUR 4 million due to the positive result after just six months compared to the previous year. From today's perspective, an operating result of around EUR 5 million in 2017 will roughly match the previous year's good level of EUR 5.4 million.

Until the end of June 2017, developments in the train radio segment were primarily determined by the new version of the European-wide TSI standard, which stipulates better shielding of the radio equipment used in trains from other mobile radio networks. As a result, demand for the interference-resistant radio module, which fulfils these requirements and is already being used successfully, increased significantly. In the area of passenger information, Funkwerk was commissioned to supply another European railway company with a nationwide passenger information control system.

The development of the financial position and net assets remained in line with expectations in the first six months, with the Group's liquidity improving significantly. By the end of June, the Group had received funds totalling EUR 8.4 million from operating activities (previous year: outflow of EUR 0.5 million). Cash and cash equivalents increased from EUR 10.1 million to EUR 18.0 million since the beginning of 2017. The equity ratio also increased compared to the end of the year: it stood at 41.7 % as at the reporting date (31 December 2016: 39.2 %).