Ad hoc: Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology AG: Sales a...

Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology AG / Interim report / Sales and 
profitability again rise. Potential acquisition in the
vacuum technology sector.
  
Ad hoc announcement according to §15 WpHG processed and transmitted 
by Hugin ASA. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of 
this announcement.     
   
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Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology AG / Interim report / Sales and 
profitability again rise. Potential acquisition in the
vacuum technology sector.
  
Ad hoc announcement according to §15 WpHG processed and transmitted 
by Hugin ASA. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of 
this announcement.     
   
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Asslar, Germany, May 6, 2008. Pfeiffer Vacuum, a leading manufacturer
of high-quality vacuum pumps, vacuum gauges, analytical equipment and
complex vacuum systems, announces its results for the 1st quarter of
2008. The company is planning an acquisition or the buyback of
treasury shares.
 
Highlights at a glance:
 

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                    | Q1 / 2008      | Q1 / 2007      | Change     |
|--------------------+----------------+----------------+------------|
| Sales              | Euro 49.0      | Euro 46.7      | +   4.8 %  |
|                    | million        | million        |            |
|--------------------+----------------+----------------+------------|
| Operating profit   | Euro 13.3      | Euro 12.2      | +   9.2 %  |
| (EBIT)             | million        | million        |            |
|--------------------+----------------+----------------+------------|
| After-tax income   | Euro   9.3     | Euro   8.0     | + 15.9 %   |
|                    | million        | million        |            |
|--------------------+----------------+----------------+------------|
| Earnings per share | Euro   1.05    | Euro   0.90    | + 16.7 %   |
|--------------------+----------------+----------------+------------|
| New orders         | Euro 54.6      | Euro  54.7     | -    0.2 % |
|                    | million        | million        |            |
|--------------------+----------------+----------------+------------|
| Orders on hand     | Euro 39.4      | Euro  33.6     | + 17.3 %   |
|                    | million        | million        |            |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 
Consolidated sales advanced by nearly 5 percent. Sales in Germany
posted especially strong growth, rising by 43 percent from ¤ 13.4
million to ¤ 19.1 million. In addition to pro-rated invoicing under a
major contract for the production of thin-layer solar cells, further
contracts from the coating industry as well as from the fields of
analytical analysis and metallurgy also contributed to these sales
revenues.
 
Sales in the United States declined due to the sustained weakness of
the dollar and other factors. However the intensive talks and
contract negotiations conducted with key customers in the United
States in April by Management Board member Dr. Wiemer do not suggest
that the Q1 numbers are any indication of negative overall
development in this region.
 
Sales in Europe (not including Germany), as well as in Asia and the
rest of the world, more or less paralleled their levels from the year
before. Here, too, it is not yet possible to identify any clear-cut
trend.
 
Sales of turbopumps declined from ¤ 21.4 million to ¤ 18.4 million in
the first quarter, primarily as a result of declining sales in the
United States. There was a strong rise in sales in the Systems
product segment, from ¤ 0.9 million in Q1 2007 to ¤ 5.8 million in Q1
2008. Sales of components and measurement equipment rose moderately
from ¤ 10.9 million to ¤ 11.2 million, and backing pump sales
increased from ¤ 7.0 million to ¤ 7.2 million. At ¤ 6.2 million,
service sales fell just short of the previous year's level of ¤ 6.3
million.
 
The development in the Coating segment was especially noteworthy with
respect to the sales breakdown by markets. Sales here advanced from ¤
7.8 million to ¤ 12.3 million, moving this segment up to 2nd place,
behind the Analysis Equipment market segment. More than one half of
sales in the Coating segment were attributable to the solar industry.
In the Analysis Equipment segment, sales rose by 5.0 percent from ¤
12.2 million to ¤ 12.8 million, while remaining more or less at the
previous year's level in the Industrial segment at ¤ 10.8 million.
Sales fell off in both R&D and in the Semiconductor segment, where
they were especially impacted by the development in the United
States.
 
Totaling ¤ 54.6 million, new orders matched the level of the very
good first quarter the year before and were up significantly from the
level of new orders in the 4th quarter of 2007. New orders for
backing pumps advanced by 48.6 percent year on year. At ¤ 39.4
million, the level of orders on hand was 17.3 percent higher than at
the close of the same quarter the year before.
 
Totaling ¤ 13.3 million, operating profit for the first quarter of
2008 was 9.2 percent higher than the corresponding quarter the year
before. The EBIT margin of 27.2 percent was one percentage point
higher than the previous year's margin of 26.2 percent.
 
Net income grew by 15.9 percent from ¤ 8.0 million to ¤ 9.3 million,
due in part to the lower tax burden on the German Group company under
the 2008 German corporation tax reform.
 
Pfeiffer Vacuum is in negotiations with a company from the vacuum
industry. This company manufactures vacuum pumps and components in
various locations, among others in Asia. The company has annual sales
on the order of ¤ 40 million. The Supervisory Board will decide on
this acquisition at its meeting on the day of the Annual Shareholders
Meeting, May 28, 2008. Should the Supervisory Board decide against
the acquisition of this company, the Management Board will announce
at the Annual Shareholders Meeting the immediate commencement of the
buyback of treasury shares. The company would then intend to buy back
up to 10 percent of its shares by year-end 2008. This share buyback
would be subject to the consent of the Annual Shareholders Meeting to
the dividend proposed by the Supervisory and Management Boards in the
amount of ¤ 3.15 per share.
 
Chief Executive Officer Manfred Bender had this to say: "We are proud
of the fact that in an increasingly aggressive competitive
environment we not only increased our sales but were again able to
improve our profitability numbers, as well. This means that Pfeiffer
Vacuum remains one of Germany's most profitable high-tech machinery
manufacturers.
 
"A book-to-bill ratio of 1.11, along with highly promising ongoing
contract negotiations in the coating, chemical and analytical
industries give us every reason to view the full fiscal year with
optimism. As in the year before, we will announce a more specific
sales forecast at the Annual Shareholders Meeting in late May.
 
"We are currently conducting intensive talks with a company whose
products would make for a perfect supplement to our own product
portfolio. An investment in this kind of company would be a
meaningful way to employ a portion of our high level of cash on hand
and would help to increase the value of our company. Should this
acquisition fail to materialize, we will begin buying back treasury
shares, thus increasing the value of our shares."
 
The full press release including financial tables as well as the Q1
2008 financial report can be found on our web site.
 
 
Contact:
 
Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology AG                         
Investor Relations                                                 
Gudrun                                                       Geissler
                                                      
Phone [phone]                                    
Fax      [phone]                                    
e-mail [e-mail]           


 
--- End of Message  ---

Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology AG
Berliner Strasse 43 Asslar 
Germany

WKN: 691660; ISIN: DE0006916604; Index: TecDAX, CDAX, HDAX, MIDCAP, 
Prime All Share, TECH All Share;
Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse, Prime 
Standard in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse, 
Freiverkehr in Börse Berlin, Freiverkehr in Bayerische Börse München, 

Freiverkehr in Börse Düsseldorf, Freiverkehr in Börse Stuttgart, 

Freiverkehr in Hanseatische Wertpapierbörse zu Hamburg, Freiverkehr 
in Niedersächsische Börse zu Hannover, 
Freiverkehr in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse;