Viscom lower sales 18%

Behind this development is a temporary purchasing restraint on the part of certain customers of the Viscom Group. This reserve is conditioned by the development of a high-performance new inspection system and its announcement for the second half year 2007. In the segment Asia, the establishment of a new application center has led to a distinctly higher number of customer inquiries. These customer evaluations, however, have positively influenced revenues for the first quarter 2007 to a limited extent. The EBIT reached EUR -108 thousand in the first three months of 2007 compared to EUR 2,864 thousand in last year's first quarter. This is conditioned by the comparably low revenues as well as numerous investments by the Viscom Group in technology, personnel, and the global company organization. The Viscom AG expects a clearly positive effect from these investments for the second half of 2007 and therefore projects an EBIT margin in the amount of 15 - 17 %. Company revenues should reach EUR 57 to 60 million. Viscom attained earnings after taxes of EUR 58 thousand (previous year: EUR 1,730 thousand), due to the positive financial income from investment of share issue capital.