Hoeft & Wessel AG Reports Further Increase in Order Intake in Third Quarter of 2012

HANNOVER, Germany, November 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

- Reorientation making progress

The positive trend in terms of orders received by Hoeft & Wessel AG continued in the third quarter of 2012. A total volume of EUR 61.8 million in new orders was registered in the first nine months of 2012 (2011: EUR 54.4 million). As a result, the book-to-bill ratio accounted for by this SME specialising in ticketing, parking and mobile data capture systems came to 1.1.

Orders for stationary ticket vending terminals were placed by the Belgian state-owned railway SNCB, by a Polish partner on behalf of the Upper Silesian industrial region and by national Danish rail. In France, Hoeft & Wessel succeeded in gaining access to the market with an order placed by Aérolis / Les Cars Air France. On the buses of the Keolis subsidiary, on-board ticket vending terminals are being installed with ticket printers. Two cities in the U.S. opted for car park terminals from the British subsidiary Metric. In the retail sector in Germany, the Rossmann and Rewe chains ordered additional mobile data capture terminals. The Company managed to sign up Fressnapf, a specialist pet food chain, as a new customer.

The order portfolio rose substantially in the course of the year until 30/09/2012, to reach EUR 48.9 million (31/12/2011: EUR 43.9 million).

In the first nine months of 2012, the Hoeft & Wessel Group recorded EUR 56.7 million in sales, down by 10 per cent year-on-year on account of the reorientation (2011: EUR 62.8 million).

In the first three quarters of 2012, Hoeft & Wessel supplied state-of-the-art EMV contactless ticketing systems for buses to the FirstGroup in the United Kingdom and to the public transport authority of the city of Durban in South Africa. In Germany, numerous consignments of mobile data capture devices were delivered to retail chains.

The operating result (EBIT), at -EUR 7.7 million, turned out clearly negative in the first nine months of 2012, as expected (2011: -EUR 3.2 million). This includes -EUR 3.0 million in restructuring expenses.

Link to IR section with financial reports:

http://www.hoeft-wessel.com/investor-relations/finanzberichte/

Media section with photos:

http://www.presseportal.de/pm/12945/hoeft_wessel_ag/

The Company

Hoeft & Wessel is the leading IT and engineering technology Group for ticketing, parking and mobile solutions in Germany and Great Britain. Established in 1978 by the two entrepreneurs who gave the company its name, the enterprise has developed into a group of companies with sales revenues of approx. EUR 80 million and a workforce of more than 400 employees. Its main locations are Hannover, Germany, and Swindon, UK, to the west of London.

Further inquiry note:

Arnd Fritzemeier
Tel.: +49-511-6102-300
E-Mail: PR@hoeft-wessel.com

Höft & Wessel AG
Rotenburger Str.  20
D-30659 Hannover
phone:  +49-511-6102-0
FAX:    +49-511-6102-411
mail:   ir@hoeft-wessel.com
WWW:    http://www.hoeft-wessel.com