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

Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology AG / Quarterly report / Ad hoc: Sales 
revenues again advance. Continued strong profitability. Major
contract received in April.
  
Ad hoc announcement according to §15 WpHG processed and transmitted 
by Hugin. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this 
announcement.     
   
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Asslar, Germany, May 5, 2009. Pfeiffer Vacuum, one of the leading
manufacturers of high-quality vacuum pumps, measurement equipment and
complex vacuum systems, announces its results for the 1st quarter of
2009.


Highlights at a glance:


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                    | Q1 / 2009       | Q1 / 2008      | Change    |
|--------------------+-----------------+----------------+-----------|
| Sales              | Euro 52.0       | Euro 49.0      | + 6.1 %   |
|                    | million         | million        |           |
|--------------------+-----------------+----------------+-----------|
| Operating profit   | Euro 13.0       | Euro 12.8      | + 1.5 %   |
| (EBIT)             | million         | million        |           |
|--------------------+-----------------+----------------+-----------|
| After-tax income   | Euro   9.1      | Euro   9.3     | -  2.2 %  |
|                    | million         | million        |           |
|--------------------+-----------------+----------------+-----------|
| Earnings per share | Euro   1.07     | Euro   1.05    | + 1.9 %   |
|--------------------+-----------------+----------------+-----------|
| New orders         | Euro 38.4       | Euro 54.6      | -  29.7 % |
|                    | million         | million        |           |
|--------------------+-----------------+----------------+-----------|
| Orders on hand     | Euro 47.4       | Euro 39.4      | + 20.3 %  |
|                    | million         | million        |           |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+


In these times of global recession, the company has succeeded in
raising its sales revenues for the 1st quarter of 2009 by 6.1 percent
over the corresponding quarter the year before. The major contract
from the solar industry that the company had received the year before
accounted for a significant share of the rise in sales. This contract
is being turned into sales revenues on a step-by-step basis as
production progresses. All work on building vacuum systems for thin
layer solar cell coating (in Thalheim, Saxony-Anhalt) is proceeding
on schedule.

With a view to the regional sales mix, Germany holds a significant
lead, accounting for 42.4 percent of total sales revenues. Pfeiffer
Vacuum was able to boost sales revenues on its home market by 15.0
percent to ¤ 22.0 million. In the other countries of Europe, sales
revenues of ¤ 13.9 million slipped only 1.8 percent from the year
before. Buoyed by the stronger dollar, the United States saw the best
development of sales revenues, with a 27.5 percent year-on-year rise
generating sales revenues of ¤ 10.1 million. Even without the added
push stemming from the exchange rate parity, the American market
developed on a positive note, advancing from US$ 12.0 to US$ 13.4
million. Asia and the rest of the world, on the other hand, posted a
23.4-percent slump in sales revenues to ¤ 5.9 million.

In terms of the sales revenue mix by markets, the Coating segment
clearly advanced to take first place, with sales revenues in the
first quarter of 2009 rising from ¤ 12.3 million in the same quarter
the year before to ¤ 17.7 million. Sales revenues in the Analytical
Industry market segment ranked second, declining from ¤ 12.8 million
to ¤ 11.1 million. Sales revenues also slipped in the heterogeneous
Industrial market segment, from ¤ 10.8 million to ¤ 9.2 million.
Sales revenues in the Research & Development and Chemical and Process
Technology segments, on the other hand, advanced sharply, while
falling to a historic low of ¤ 2.5 million in the generally weak
Semiconductor market environment (2008: ¤ 3.9 million).

In the wake of the global recession, demand has also decreased at
Pfeiffer Vacuum in recent months. By comparison with the extremely
strong 1st quarter of 2008, which recorded ¤ 54.6 million in new
orders, the company was forced to incur a decline to ¤ 38.4 million
in the 1st quarter of 2009. However this slump is less serious than
in either the mechanical engineering industry in general or among the
company's competitors, with the level of new orders declining by only
9.9 percent by comparison with the 4th quarter of 2008.

In late April, the company was awarded a major contract for backing
pumps valued at several million euros. Confidentiality has been
agreed with this customer from the energy sector regarding the
details of the contract. The contract is attributable to the
Industrial market segment.

Pfeiffer Vacuum continues to have its costs under control. By
reducing the number of temporary employees and drawing down the
employees' overtime-hour accounts, the company has thus far been able
to flexibly adapt its capacities. In contrast to other companies in
the mechanical engineering industry, Pfeiffer Vacuum has thus far
been spared contract cancellations or unrecoverable accounts
receivable. The strong financial position of this debt-free company
also manifests itself in the fact that the level of cash and cash
equivalents has risen by ¤ 6.9 million to ¤ 75.2 million since
year-end 2008.
A dividend in the amount of ¤ 3.35 per share will be proposed at the
Annual Shareholders Meeting on May 26, 2009. This represents a
dividend yield of 7.5 percent on the basis of the closing trading
price on March 31, 2009. This makes the company the highest-dividend
issue in the TecDAX index.

Chief Executive Officer Manfred Bender had this to say: "We've done
very well in an extremely difficult economic environment. We were
able to further increase our sales revenues and earn an EBIT margin
of 25 percent. The major contract that we were awarded several days
ago is a positive signal. What convinced the customer was our high
level of engineering and technology competence. We are currently
conducting intensive talks about future projects with the purchasing
and development departments at many other customers. We assume that
the bottom has now been reached and that no further decline is to be
expected. However we do not wish to set the bar too high with respect
to our expectations for the full 2009 fiscal year. At the present
point in time, we are unable to make any predictions that are more
concrete."

The full press release including financial tables as well as the Q1
2009 financial report can be found on our web site.

Contact:
Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology AG
Investor Relations

Gudrun                                                       Geissler
                                                        Dr.  Brigitte
Looss
Tel. [phone]                                         +49
(0) 6441 802 346
Fax [phone]                                          +49
(0) 6441 802 365
E-Mail          [e-mail]
[e-mail]


 
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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: 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, Open Market in 
Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse, 
Regulierter Markt in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse;