Cautious optimism at LINOS

NOVEMBER 7--According to its provisional quarterly figures, LINOS AG (Goettingen/Munich, Germany; www.linos.com) increased its sales revenue over the previous quarter by about 7% to EUR 18.31 million between July to September 2002. This means that the highest sales revenue was achieved for a year in what continues to be a difficult economic environment. The EBIT in the third quarter totaled minus EUR 1.11 million and were therefore considerably better than in the previous quarter (minus EUR 5.76 million). LINOS is expecting slightly positive EBIT for the fourth quarter.

LINOS succeeded in increasing order intake again over the second quarter of the fiscal year (EUR 19.72 million) in the third quarter (EUR 20.03 million). Growth by comparison with the same period the previous year was as much as about 54%. Order intake therefore increased for the fourth time in succession and has now almost reached the high level of the first quarter of 2001 again. All in all, the provisional quarterly results are a cause for cautious optimism.

This cautious optimism is strengthened by the talks held with customers in recent weeks. Following two large orders worth a total of EUR 4.6 million in September in the Health Care & Life Sciences business division, the company has obtained an individual order for EUR 2.2 million in the same business division. This order involves the delivery of camera and sensor technology for imaging diagnostics.