euro adhoc: BWT Aktiengesellschaft / Financial Figures/Balance Sheet / BWT presents the annual financial statements for 2005

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Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc.
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05.04.2006

Reporting net income of EUR19.0 million, BWT, Europe´s leading
residential water treatment technology group, completes a historic
year 2005. Effective November 8, 2005, the division AST (Aqua Systems
Technologies) was spun-off into Christ Water Technology comprising
the industrial and municipal water treatment technology business
meaning that these activities are included only for a period of 10
months in the BWT Group.

Consolidated sales for the BWT Group totaled EUR463.5 million in the
2005 financial year, 5% below the previous year’s figure of EUR488.1
million. The sales decline is attributed to the absence of sales in
the "AST" - Aqua Systems Technologies segment for the final two
months of the 2005 financial year following the spin-off of this
segment. Growth in the AET segment slowed to 1% after several years
of above-average growth.

Sales (excl. internal sales, in EUR million) 2005 2004 +/- %
Aqua Ecolife Technologies (AET) 315.0 312.1 +0.9%
Aqua Systems Technologies (AST) *) 147.3 173.2 -15.0%
Fuel Cell Membrane Technologies (FCMT) 1.2 2.8 -57.1%
Total 463.5 488.1 -5.0%
*) Note: 2005 only January to October

EBIT increased, consolidated earnings at record level In spite of
the results of the AST segment, which was only consolidated for 10
months, earnings from operating activity (EBIT) and consolidated
earnings after minority interests both performed positively in the
2005 financial year as compared with 2004. EBIT increased by 8.4%
from EUR24.9 million to EUR27.0 million and consolidated earnings
improved by 11.1% from EUR17.1 million to EUR19.0 million despite the
loss of the important months of November and December in the AST
segment.

EBIT (EUR million) 2005 2004 +/- %
Aqua Ecolife Technologies (AET) 26.3 31.1 -15.4%
Aqua Systems Technologies (AST) 1.3 -5.5 -
Fuel Cell Membrane Technologies (FCMT) -0.7 -0.7 +0.0%
Aqua Finance (AFI) 0.1 0.0 -
Total 27.0 24.9 +8.4%
In the AET segment, EBIT declined by 15.4% from EUR31.1 million to EUR26.3
million. This was the result of declining sales in France accompanied by
capacity additions in servicing and extra costs associated with the spin-off of
the AST segment (around EUR1.0 million). As expected, the industrial business in
the "AST - Aqua Systems Technologies" segment achieved the turnaround. Until the
spin-off of the business, that is to say the period January to October 2005,
positive EBIT of EUR1.3 million was generated with customer-specific systems in
the AST segment, in the 2004 financial year (January to December), a loss of
EUR5.5 million was recorded here. Due to the sales decline, there was no
improvement in EBIT in the FCMT segment, fundamental research and development
work for special membranes for use in fuel cells were continued as planned and
resulted in negative EBIT of EUR-0.7 million.

Healthy balance sheet structure - increased dividend As a result of
the operating cash flow (EUR26.4 million) and the spin-off of CHRIST,
the net debt of the BWT Group has decreased from EUR74.7 million at
the end of 2004 to EUR36.3 million on December 31, 2005.
Consequently, gearing (net debt in relation to equity) improved from
53.9% to 38.9%. The Management Board is planning to propose to the
Annual General Meeting that the dividend be increased to EUR0.30 per
share (previous year: EUR0.27).

Outlook Quoting Chairman of the Management Board of BWT, Andreas
Weißenbacher: "Following the spin-off of the "AST - Aqua Systems
Technologies" segment, the BWT - Best Water Technology - Group is to
concentrate in future on developing, producing, marketing and
servicing of series products for water treatment under the slogan
"Safety, hygiene and health - BWT Water Technologies for a better
Life". BWT’s management has declared its goals to be geographical
expansion with increased growth beyond the European Union (primarily
in the growth markets of Europe and Asia) as well as the expansion of
the product range. The robust balance sheet situation and a strong
cash flow form the financial basis for the successful implementation
of our growth strategy."

An above-average sales and earnings increase in the "AET - Aqua
Ecolife Technologies" segment is expected to be achieved in the
second half of 2006. For the 2006 financial year as a whole, the BWT
Group expects sales of EUR330 million and consolidated earnings in
excess of EUR20 million following the spin-off of the "AST - Aqua
Systems Technologies" segment.

end of announcement euro adhoc 05.04.2006 07:30:00
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ots Originaltext: BWT AG
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Further inquiry note:
BWT Aktiengesellschaft
Ralf Burchert, CEFA
ralf.burchert@bwt.at
Tel.: +43 (0)6232/5010-1113

Branche: Water Supply
ISIN: AT0000737705
WKN: 884042
Index: ATX Prime
Börsen: Wiener Börse AG / official market


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