Press Release

Kahl am Main, July 31, 2009 – Since the beginning of the economic crisis in the 4th quarter of the previous year the global economy has been in a recession. The order intake in the German machine and plant engineering sector has been hit particularly hard by these impacts and continued to drop sharply. The SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG (SINGULUS) was not able to withdraw from this negative trend, either. Both the segments Optical Disc and Solar experienced a significant decrease in orders received.

Insofar, the key figures for order intake and order backlog at SINGULUS were substantially below the prior-year figures in the 2nd quarter 2009 and also lower than expected. During the first six months of the business year the order intake amounted to € 40.8 million (previous year: € 155.2 million), which was 73.7 % below the level achieved in the first half of 2008. In the quarter under review the order intake came to € 23.4 million (previous year: € 70.8 million). As of June 30, 2009 the order backlog amounted to € 43.9 million and was thus also considerably below the prior-year level of € 129.7 million. According to the business trend sales amounted to € 67.1 million in the first six month of 2009 and was thus below the same period one year ago (€ 81.3 million). Sales of € 31.7 million in the 2nd quarter 2009 were also lower than in the previous year (Q2 2008: € 51.0 million).

In the 1st half of 2009 earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to € -10.6 million. This included restructuring charges from the 1st Quarter in the amount of € 3.0 million. The comparable figure last year in the amount of € -1.7 million included a one-time positive earnings effect in the amount of € 15.6 million (extraordinary effect in connection with the first-time consolidation of the Blu-ray activities acquired from the Oerlikon Balzers AG). In the quarter under review the EBIT came to € -5.7 million (previous year: € -2.0 million).

Due to the so far incurred losses as well as the weak business expectation for the remainder of 2009 the Executive Board devised a restructuring plan and discussed it with the Supervisory Board of the company. On July 24, 2009 both Boards adopted this restructuring plan. The goal is to achieve an improvement of the results in 2010, even in an environment of significantly lower sales volumes. Accordingly, it has become necessary to adjust the processes and capacities in the SINGULUS group to the market expectations and to realize saving potentials. This includes personnel measures and reductions in material expenses. Globally, up to 190 employees are affected from this plan. The headquarters in Kahl will be affected by approximately 80 employees. The expected one-time restructuring charges amount to about € 7 million and result in savings of personnel expenses of € 11-12 million from 2010.

Outlook
The impact of the international economic crisis on the development of the markets Solar and Optical Disc are more severe than foreseeable at the beginning of the business year 2009. This affects SINGULUS to a particular extent. The market for solar technology has almost come to a standstill since fall 2008. Also the optical disc market shows little impulses for the remaining months of the business year 2009. The orders usually placed by major customers towards the end of the 2nd quarter have failed to appear so far. The expected total number of Blu-ray disc production machines in the business year 2009 will therefore remain below the sales realized in 2008. A recovery in the entire business activities has not yet materialized and we also expect a difficult 2nd half of 2009.

Although the recession has eased considerably in Germany according to the assessment of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) and the International Monetary Fund reported in the course of a forecast update on the “World Economic Outlook� from April, that the global economy is at the end of the recession, the situation has not improved for SINGULUS. SINGULUS therefore expects sales in a range from € 105 to 125 million for the business year 2009 and clearly negative earnings.

Economists and experts of various economic institutes see a positive trend for the year 2010 at the latest. If the overall economic situation will improve from 2010 this is expected to provide a new stimulus for SINGULUS’ business as well.