In the first three quarters of the fiscal year the Group grew net sales by 13% to € 1,435 million (previous year: € 1,265 million). After adjusting for movements in the euro/US dollar exchange rate, net sales moved ahead 12%. Q3 net sales were up 16% at € 492 million (previous year:
€ 424 million). Contributing factors were good international business and, equally, strong business in Germany.

Gross margin on net sales before profit charges arising from the carve-out was 1.1 percentage points down on the same period last year at 27.7% (previous year: 28.8%). This change was mainly the result of start-up costs within outsourcing projects the Company is using to open up extra business potential.

Research and development expenses grew by € 6 million to € 61 million (previous year: € 55 million), 11% up compared with the previous year. The R&D ratio was unchanged at 4.3%.

The 1.3 percentage point fall in the ratio of selling, general and administration expenses to 15.3% (previous year: 16.6%) was able to compensate for the reduction in gross margin. In the first three quarters of the fiscal year, SG&A expenses came to a total of € 219 million (previous year: € 210 million). This rise, of moderate proportion compared to the growth in net sales, was primarily driven by further successes produced by the Group-wide “ProImprove” productivity improvement program.

Within the first three quarters, operating profit (EBITA) before amortization of product know-how rose 19% to reach € 118 million (previous year: € 99 million). As a result, the profit-to-revenue ratio was 0.4 percentage points up at 8.2% (previous year: 7.8%).

At the nine-month point, net profit for the period increased to € 58 million, € 18 million (45%) ahead of last year’s comparable figure (previous year: € 40 million). The further strengthening of Group profitability can be seen in the 31% rise in net profit for the period before profit charges arising from the carve-out to € 68 million (previous year: € 52 million).