Annual General Meeting of BAUER AG: Broad consensus on slight reduction in dividend

Annual General Meeting of BAUER AG: Broad consensus on slight reduction in dividend

- 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 - 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.