EANS-News: BAUER Aktiengesellschaft
Annual General Meeting of BAUER AG: Broad
consensus on slight reduction in dividend
28.06.2012 – 16:06
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Corporate news transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer/originator is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dividend Announcements/Distribution/Annual & Special Corporate Meetings Subtitle: Dividend of EUR 0.50 per share passed Group on a sound footing; forecast confirmed Prof. Thomas Bauer reports on past financial year and looks to the future with confidence. Schrobenhausen (euro adhoc) - The Annual General Meeting of SDAX-listed international construction and equipment manufacturing concern BAUER Aktiengesellschaft was held today. It was attended by some 700 shareholders, shareholder representatives and guests at the company's headquarters in Schrobenhausen. The Annual General Meeting passed all the resolutions proposed by the company's management by a large majority. One of the resolutions passed was to pay a dividend of EUR 0.50 per share, slightly down against the previous year (EUR 0.60). That represents a distribution of some EUR 8.57 million to the company's shareholders. In the 2011 financial year the BAUER Group generated EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) of EUR 88.4 million from total Group revenues of approximately EUR 1.372 million. The net profit for the period was EUR 34.1 million. In his report, Chairman of the Management Board Professor Thomas Bauer reviewed what proved to be a troubled past year: "In 2011 the political unrest in the Middle East, the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan and the resurgence of the financial crisis all had a negative effect on our business. Our earnings were also impacted by problems on a number of major projects." He warned also of the great challenges facing policy-makers, business and society at large: "The ongoing financial market, sovereign debt and Euro crises will take the world a long time to overcome." The current financial year has begun positively for the company's Construction segment, with healthy levels of orders in hand. The Resources segment, too, is expected to see strong growth in revenues. Its earnings will remain depressed by a project in Jordan however. In its Equipment segment, the BAUER Group continues to be hampered by customers' reluctance to invest in new equipment. Professor Bauer reaffirmed the company's forecast for the full year: total Group revenues of EUR 1,450 million; EBIT of around EUR 85 million; and net profit for the period of around EUR 35 million. Professor Bauer was optimistic about the future of the BAUER Group: "Our business is on a sound footing both strategically and operationally, and has proved its strength over the past year. Thanks to our international presence, our future-proof portfolio of specialist services and our new products, we are well able to deal with any external disturbances which may occur." The results of the vote and the presentation by the Chairman of the Management Board can be found in the Investor Relations section of the company's website at www.bauer.de. About Bauer Bauer is a provider of services, machinery and ancillary products in the earth-working and groundwater fields. The Group markets its products and services all over the world. Its global spread allows it to remain largely unaffected by fluctuating business cycles. Its business is divided into three segments: Construction, Equipment and Resources. The Construction segment carries out specialist foundation engineering work for complex excavation pits and foundations on major infrastructure and building projects all over the world, installing retaining walls and carrying out ground improvement works as well as providing related project development services. Bauer's Equipment segment, a world market leader, offers a comprehensive range of construction machinery, equipment and tools for the specialist foundation engineering sector as well as for other underground drilling operations, such as for mines, water wells, geothermal energy sources, and oil and gas extraction. The Resources segment bundles the Group's activities in the fields of water, energy, mineral resources and environmental technology. Bauer profits greatly from the collaboration between its three separate segments, enabling the Group to position itself as an innovative, highly specialized provider of complete solutions and services for demanding projects on the specialist foundation engineering and related markets. Founded in 1790, Bauer today generates around three quarters of its total revenues outside of Germany. Employing some 9,700 people, the Group's total revenues in 2011 were approximately EUR 1.4 billion (previous year: EUR 1.3 billion). BAUER Aktiengesellschaft has been listed on the official market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since July 4, 2006 (Prime Standard, ISIN DE0005168108). You can also visit us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BAUERGruppe Further inquiry note: Christopher Wolf Investor Relations Tel.: +49 8252 97 1797 E-Mail: christopher.wolf@bauer.de end of announcement euro adhoc -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- company: BAUER Aktiengesellschaft BAUER-Straße 1 D-86529 Schrobenhausen phone: +49 (0)8252-97-1797 FAX: +49 (0)8252-97-2900 mail: investor.relations@bauer.de WWW: http://www.bauer.de sector: Construction & Property ISIN: DE0005168108 indexes: SDAX, CDAX, Classic All Share, Prime All Share stockmarkets: free trade: Berlin, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, regulated dealing/prime standard: Frankfurt language: English