Preliminary results in line with expectations
Orders and sales higher than anticipated
Kortrijk, Belgium, 26 January, 2006 - Barco (Euronext: BAR; Reuters: BARBt.BR; Bloomberg: BAR BB) today announces sales for 4Q05 at euro 210.5 million and orders at euro 198.1 million. The high end of management’s expectations for the quarter was set at euro 205 million for sales and euro 185 million for orders. The robust sales and order levels of 4Q05 lead to sales of euro 712.5 million and orders of euro 732 million for the full year 2005, or a book-to-bill ratio of 1.03.
4Q05 Financial Highlights:
• Orders up 22.4% to euro 198.1 million, leading to a book-to-bill ratio of 0.94 versus 0.84 in 4Q04. Management expected orders for the quarter between euro 175 and 185 millon.
• Sales at euro 210.5 million, up 9.1% year-over-year and above the expected range of euro 195 to 205 million.
• EBITA before restructuring costs estimated around euro 25.6 million, on the high end of the range of euro 22 tot 27 million expected by management. Restructuring costs, including those in the Defense & Security business unit, totaled euro 6.2 million in 4Q05,
Fiscal Year 2005 Financial Highlights:
• Orders increased with 12.0% to euro 732 million year-over-year. The book-to-bill ratio was 1.03 compared to 0.97 in 2004.
• Sales reached euro 712.5 million, a 6.0% increase year-over-year.
• EBITA before non-recurrent costs estimated around euro 60.6 million. Non-recurrent costs, consisting mainly of restructuring costs, totaled euro 8.3 million in 2005.
Current result after taxes and before goodwill impairment is estimated at euro 39.4 million versus euro 57.5 million in 2004.
Euro 4 million goodwill impairment cost minus euro 3.1 million positive effect of the sale of financial assets leads to a net result of 38.5 million compared to euro 47.7 million in 2004.
The above are preliminary and non-audited results. Barco will release the final results of 4Q05 and FY 2005 on 16 February, 2006.
About Barco
Barco, an international company headquartered in Kortrijk, Belgium, provides visualization and display solutions for professional markets. Barco designs and develops solutions for large screen visualization, display solutions for life-critical applications, and systems for visual inspection. Barco is active worldwide and has its own facilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Barco is quoted on Euronext Brussels and is a BEL 20 and a Next 150 company (Euronext: BAR; Reuters: BARBt.BR; Bloomberg: BAR BB).
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For more information, please contact
JP
Tanghe
Senior Advisor to the CEO
Barco nv
Telephone
+32 56/26 23 22
jp.tanghe@barco.com
