EANS-Adhoc: GESCO expects sales to rise and earnings to be at a high level after record year 2011/2012

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ad-hoc disclosure pursuant to section 15 of the WpHG transmitted by euro
adhoc with the aim of a Europe-wide distribution. The issuer is solely
responsible for the content of this announcement.
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28.06.2012

Wuppertal, 28 June 2012 - SDAX-listed GESCO AG, a holding company for
a group of industrial SMEs, is reporting on the record year 2011/2012
(1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012) at today's accounts press conference
and is also forecasting high-level sales and earnings for the new
financial year 2012/2013.

In financial year 2011/2012, the GESCO Group was able to translate
the favourable economic environment into strong growth. Incoming
orders rose by 16.4 % to EUR 439.0 million (previous year: EUR 377.2
million). Group sales increased by 23.9 % to EUR 415.4 million (EUR
335.2 million). Earnings figures benefited from improved capacity
utilisation and order quality, which tends to be generally better in
times of growth. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 34.5 % to EUR 51.3 million (EUR 38.2
million), a higher rate than sales increased. At 45.7 %, earnings
before interest and taxes (EBIT) climbed even higher than EBITDA,
reaching EUR 39.3 million (EUR 27.0 million). Group net income after
minority interest grew by 48.4 % to EUR 22.6 million (EUR 15.3
million). This figure includes non-recurring income of around EUR 0.7
million from concluded legal disputes.

In view of the steep rise in earnings, the Executive Board and
Supervisory Board will propose a dividend of EUR 2.90 per share at
the Annual General Meeting on 30 August 2012. The dividend would
therefore be 45.0 % up on the previous year's distribution of EUR
2.00 per share.

The company expects slight sales growth to approximately EUR 430
million and Group net income after minority interest of around EUR
20.5 million in the new financial year 2012/2013 (1 April 2012 to 31
March 2013). This corresponds to earnings per share of EUR 6.17.

In the first quarter of the new financial year 2012/2013, which
includes the subsidiaries' operating business from January to March
2012, incoming orders amounted to EUR 116.3 million, slightly up on
the very high figure of EUR 115.9 million in the previous year's
quarter. Sales increased by 7.1 % to EUR 106.8 million (EUR 99.7
million). Order backlog at the end of the first operating quarter,
including Werkzeugbau-Laichingen Group acquired in December 2011, was
at a record-breaking EUR 192 million.

The company will present the accounts for financial year 2011/2012
and the outlook for financial year 2012/2013 in the accounts press
conference / analysts' conference on 28 June 2012 at 11.00 hrs.

The comprehensive press release, the annual report and a video
commentary on the accounts will be available at www.gesco.de from 28
June 2012, 8.00 hrs.

A webcast of the accounts press conference / analysts' conference (in
German) will be accessible from 11.00 hrs on via www.gesco.de and
will be available for twelve months

Further inquiry note:
Oliver Vollbrecht
Leiter Investor Relations
T.: +49(0)202 24820 18
info@gesco.de

end of announcement euro adhoc
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issuer: GESCO AG
Johannisberg 7
D-42103 Wuppertal
phone: +49(0)202 24820 0
FAX: +49(0)202 24820 49
mail: info@gesco.de
WWW: http://www.gesco.de
sector: Economy, Business & Finance
ISIN: DE000A1K0201
indexes: SDAX, Classic All Share, Prime All Share
stockmarkets: free trade: Berlin, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart,
regulated dealing/prime standard: Frankfurt
language: English