At Bertrandt AG’s annual general meeting in Sindelfingen, CEO Dietmar Bichler briefed shareholders on the underlying conditions in fiscal 2006/2007 during which the Company’s key financials rose by a disproportionately strong rate. In addition, he reported on the Bertrandt’s continued encouraging performance in the first quarter of fiscal 2007/2008. 

Fiscal 2006/2007 marked by momentum and success

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“We were able to position ourselves well with customised services in a market characterised by strong competition and cost pressure,” said CEO Dietmar Bichler, reporting on Bertrandt AG’s upbeat performance in fiscal 2006/2007 at today’s annual general meeting held at Congress Center Stadthalle Sindelfingen. “By widening our portfolio and entering new areas of business, we consolidated our market position and benefited from market growth to a disproportionately strong extent, particularly in our core German market.” This statement was illustrated most impressively by the Company’s key performance indicators. For instance, the Bertrandt Group generated revenues of EUR 339.5 million, an increase of around 40.8 percent. EBIT climbed to EUR 32.3 million (previous year EUR 14.3 million), while net profit after tax grew at an even greater rate, rising to EUR 22.2 million (previous year EUR 7.8 million).

The Company’s ability to perform and its staff’s strong motivation are also reflected in the results of the first quarter of fiscal 2007/2008. To illustrate, consolidated revenues as of 31 December 2007 rose by 27.4 percent year on year to EUR 96.0 million (previous year EUR 75.3 million), with EBIT surging by 78.4 percent to EUR 10.4 million (previous year EUR 5.8 million).

Dividend payout more than twice as high
The price of Bertrandt’s stock advanced significantly in fiscal 2006/2007. With a gain of 109.1 percent, it was one of the top performers on the German stock market and constituted an attractive investment. “This is also reflected in a substantial increase in the dividend payment”, said Dieter Bichler, who added: “We have more than doubled the dividend to 80 cents per share as a sign of our gratitude to our shareholders for their financial commitment and to give them an appropriate share in Bertrandt’s success.”

New jobs created in Europe
Dietmar Bichler also stressed that Bertrandt had created more than 1,000 new jobs in Europe, particularly Germany. “Despite the protracted shortage of trained staff, we have been able to recruit engineers and technicians for our highly specialized business,” he said. All told, the Bertrandt Group had 4,708 employees on its payrolls as of the end of fiscal 2006/2007 (previous year 3,577). At the moment, Bertrandt has numerous interesting openings available for qualified specialists and for those beginning their careers, details of which are available at www.bertrandt.com, offering interesting prospects in all area of the Company.

All items of the agenda approved at the AGM
With 6,973,303 votes (68.75 percent) present in person or by proxy, the following items of the agenda were approved by shareholders at the annual general meeting in Sindelfingen.

• The proposal for the use of the retained earnings of the Bertrandt AG was authorized with 3 dissenting votes.
• The members of the board were disburdened with 100 dissenting votes.
• The supervisory board was disburdened with 353 dissenting votes.
• The resolution over the authorization for the acquisition of own shares was authorized with 451.937 abstentions.
• The PwC Deutsche Revision Aktiengesellschaft, Wirtschafts-prüfungsgesellschaft, Stuttgart, was authorized with 250 dessenting votes as auditor of the annual
• accounts of the Bertrandt AG and the Group for the financial year 2007/2008.