14 Percent Increase in Sales in First Half of 2005

MBO successfully implemented / Record sales for 2004 / With € 37 million, a further increase in sales in first half of the year

Weil am Rhein, Germany; September 1, 2005. Wampfler AG is based in Weil am Rhein, Germany and is the world’s leading supplier of mobile energy supply and data transmission as well as handling systems. In the first half of 2005, the company has continued its successful business development of 2004. After Wampfler’s record sales in the last year, the company has again registered an increase in sales over € 37 million, totaling 14 percent as compared to the same period of the previous year. “Looking back, the measures we took and the decisions we made in the last year proved to be the right ones,” reported Stefan Ziegler, CEO.

Mr. Ziegler pointed out that the management buyout implemented in 2004 had been extremely successful. “With the introduction of staff shareholding, many employees acquired a direct share in the company in July 2004. The result has been a marked increase in personal responsibility, commitment and motivation,” Mr. Ziegler said. This positive response from the staff to the shareholding has encouraged Wampfler’s executive board to also make these kinds of offers to the employees in the future.

Strategically Setting the Course

Wampfler set the course strategically by selling the “Safety Systems” line of business and reorganizing the Business Units. Mr. Ziegler added, “The first measure logically completed the step of concentrating on our core business; the second measure increased our efficiency and focus.” The three previous Business Units - “Cranes,“ “Machinery and Equipment” and “Transport” – were merged into the two new Business Units “Cranes & Heavy Machinery” and “Transport & Automation.” The area of Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) was integrated into the Business Unit “Transport & Automation.”

By founding the Shanghai-based subsidiary Wampfler China last year and the Malaysia-based subsidiary of Wampfler (South East Asia) at the beginning of this year, the Wampfler Group continued to extend its longstanding presence in Asia and to carry out the internationalization process. “This makes Wampfler a global presence today: in 17 countries directly and in 13 additional countries via partners,” Mr. Ziegler stated.

Record Sales in June 2005

In 2004, Wampfler had already established the company record with the record sales of € 70 million. This encouraging development has continued in the first half of 2005. “With € 37 million in sales, we were able to produce another increase – this time in fact by 14 percent as compared to the same period of the previous year,” stressed Christopher Friedrich, CFO. And so Wampfler was able to increase sales in the first half of the year for the fourth year running. With € 7.9 million in June alone, Wampfler was able to register the highest monthly sales in the company’s history. “Due to the even larger number of incoming orders as compared to the sales in the fist six months, we are assuming that we will also close the fiscal year 2005 successfully,” Mr. Friedrich stated.

The Business Unit “Cranes & Heavy Machinery” generated more than half of the sales in the fist half of 2005. The Business Unit “Transport & Automation” generated about 30 percent of the sales.

Growth Regions of Asia and Central Europe / Eastern Europe

“If you look at the sales trend according to regions, you can see that the greatest gains are still being made in Asia and Eastern Europe,” Mr. Friedrich explained. In Asia, sales increased by 80 percent in the first six months. In the new EU member countries (particularly in Eastern Europe), the increase amounts to 40 percent. Wampfler was also able to increase sales in the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Brazil and Australia.

The Wampfler Group range of products and services includes consultation, development, production as well as installation of solutions and systems for mobile energy supply and data transmission for crane systems, passenger transportation systems, conveying systems and tasksaver systems.

Expanding the Pasir Panjang Terminal by PSA in Singapore

For the expansion of the Pasir Panjang terminal by PSA in the Singapore airport, Wampfler AG equipped 28 new container cranes with motorized heavy-duty cable trolleys. At the same time, large cable trolleys were installed in 80 new rail-mounted container stacker cranes. Wampfler received the orders from ZPMC (China), Hyundai (Korea) and Doosan (Korea).

Equipping the Largest High-Storage Warehouse in Europe

In the UK, Wampfler’s Business Unit “Transport & Automation” is equipping the high-bay warehouse of the Irish beverage bottle manufacturer Quinn Glass with a conductor rail system for Stöcklin Logistik AG. 28 kilometers of aluminum rails, 21 kilometers of steel rails and 4,800 supports anchored in the ground will be used to assemble the conductor rails. The systems will be delivered in five delivery steps, each comprising two semitrailor trucks. The floor area of the warehouse is larger than 9 football fields and has 24 picking units and 2.6 kilometers of conveying systems.
This makes it the largest high-bay warehouse in Europe at present.

Flexible Solutions for the Automotive Industry

Wampfler was also able to implement another ambitious order in the first half of 2005 at VW in Zwickau, Germany. With the new “W4-airsolution” technology – an integrated system for delivering compressed air without any compressed air tubes – Wampfler provides the automotive industry with a flexible response to reorganizing production lines. Transferring workstations is made simple since there is a compressed air outlet available every two meters and so the supply can be easily detached and reattached at a different place. CTO Uwe Bormann indicated that this technology greatly simplifies the required conversion of assembly lines when introducing new vehicle models and it reduces the costs.

Optimism for 2005

Despite the economically unstable situation, particularly in Germany, which still remains Wampfler’s most important sales market, the management expects positive development for 2005, thanks to innovative products, consistent market focus and global orientation. “Our domestic and international positioning is excellent,” stated Mr. Ziegler. All in all, we can assume that the business development will be successful for the current year based on the current incoming orders.