GERMANY, August 01, 2000 (PRIMEZONE) -- The income from ordinary business activities was also increased markedly in the third quarter, and at DM 3.2 million was DM 6 million higher than in the previous year (DM -2.8 million). Growth was also substantial for the entire nine-month period. SZ Testsysteme generated an income from ordinary business activities of DM 6.1 million for the period from October 1999 to June 2000, representing a DM 9.8 million increase (1998/99: DM -3.7 million).
EBIT rose to DM 3.3 million in the third quarter, equivalent to roughly 15 percent of sales. This means an improvement of DM 5.9 million compared to the same period in the previous year. In the nine-month period, EBIT grew by DM 9.3 million to DM 6.2 million. The company's EBDIT for the third quarter amounted to DM 4.5 million (1998/99: DM -2.5 million), and the cumulative amount for the first nine months was DM 9.6 million (1998/99: DM -1.6 million).
The earnings per share in the third quarter amounted to DM 0.13; for the nine-month period the earnings per share were some DM 0.47.
Since the Executive Board also a very positive trend for the fourth quarter , the projected sales, last raised in January 2000, were increased yet again for the current fiscal year. Instead of the DM 70 million forecast in January, the company now expects sales to increase by some 67 percent to about DM 75 million (1998/99: DM 44.9 million).
The detailed quarterly report will be available on the company's Web site as of August 16, 2000.