TAKKT AG continues on growth course

Management Board again raises forecast for the whole year

TAKKT AG recorded very satisfactory growth rates in the first nine months of 2007. The leading B2B mail order group for business equipment in Europe and North America increased its turnover by 4.9 percent over the same period in the previous year from EUR 702.8 to 736.9 million. Adjusted for currency fluctuations, this represents an increase of 8.5 percent. The EBITDA rose to EUR 101.3 (previous year: 84.0) million – a plus of 20.6 percent. At EUR 69.4 (56.0) million, cash flow reached another record level.

"The good trend in our business in the first nine months proves once more that our strategy of international diversification is the right one,” says Georg Gayer, CEO of TAKKT AG. "The significant increase in our turnover in Europe has more than compensated for the effects of the continuing economic weakness in North America. Accordingly, the management is raising the forecast for organic growth in turnover in the financial year 2007 to at least seven percent."

Further increase in EBITDA
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, EBITDA, rose in the first nine months of the year from EUR 84.0 to 101.3 million. This represents a growth of 20.6 percent. The EBITDA margin rose correspondingly to 13.7 (12.0) percent. "Key drivers for this development are the improved gross profit margin, better capacity utilisation of the mail order infrastructure and greater advertising efficiency in Europe," says Dr Florian Funck, CFO of TAKKT AG. "For the year 2007, on the basis of the good operative development, we now anticipate an EBITDA margin above our long-term target corridor of 11 to 13 percent. Another contributor to this figure will be the structural improvement of the EBITDA margin due to the divestment of the US occupational safety business."

With interest expense falling profit before tax rose considerably by 28.0 percent to EUR 82.4 (64.4) million. Thanks to the disproportionate rise in earnings figures, cash flow achieved a new record value of EUR 69.4 (56.0) million. In comparison with the previous year, that is a plus of 23.9 percent. The cash flow margin from Group turnover rose to 9.4 (8.0) percent.

KAISER + KRAFT EUROPA achieves good growth
Thanks to the very favourable economic conditions and a continuous improvement of its processes, the largest division of TAKKT AG achieved a growth in turnover of 16.2 percent in comparison with the previous year to EUR 374.7 (322.5) million. This growth was due to an increase in the number of orders and higher average order values. All regions contributed to this positive development with double-digit growth rates in turnover.

Accompanying the very good business development, the EBITDA also rose disproportionately from EUR 57.9 to 75.0 million. At 20.0 (18.0) percent, the EBITDA margin exceeded the excellent value of the previous year.

Topdeq raises growth tempo
Thanks to its successful repositioning as a premium brand, Topdeq was also able to raise its growth tempo again in comparison with the previous year: turnover rose from EUR 60.7 to 66.1 million – a plus of 8.9 percent. Adjusted for currency fluctuations, it would be 11.0 percent. All companies contributed to this growth. The development in the companies in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland is particularly positive.

The earnings figures for this division make the success of its repositioning particularly clear: The EBITDA has improved by more than three times and rose to EUR 3.8 (1.2) million. The EBITDA margin reached a value of 5.7 (2.0) percent.

Weakening economic conditions affect K + K America
The economic cool-down in North America continued to have an effect on the business of K + K America. With a slight fall in order numbers, the turnover of this division rose from USD 397.5 to 397.9 million, representing a plus of 0.1 percent. When converted to the reporting currency of euro, turnover fell by 7.4 percent from EUR 319.6 to 296.1 million.

The uneven development of the individual companies continued. C&H in the USA and Avenue in Canada, both primarily suppliers to the manufacturing sector, had to accept declines in turnover. Hubert and National Business Furniture, on the other hand, whose customers are mainly from the service sector, recorded further growth. In line with its strategy of concentrating on B2B mail order business in durable equipment, TAKKT sold its US subsidiary Conney Safety Products, LCC (Conney) at the end of the third quarter.

The sale of Conney had a positive effect of around EUR 1 million on the operative earnings figures. However, the EBITDA of the K + K America division fell from EUR 32.0 to 29.1 million, representing a margin of 9.8 (10.0) percent. This development is due to a slight reduction in advertising efficiency as well as personnel changes at management level and additional expenditure for the new IT platform.

Conference call
We would like to invite you to put questions personally to our Management Board. A telephone conference is arranged for 30 October 2007 at 3:00 pm (CET) in which we will be delighted to answer your questions. Please dial in on +49 30.20 22 31 91.

IFRS figures of the TAKKT Group at the end of Q3 2007

Short profile of TAKKT AG
TAKKT AG is the leading B2B mail order group for office, business and warehouse equipment in Europe and North America. The Group is represented in more than 25 countries with its brands. The product range of the TAKKT subsidiaries comprises some 110,000 items from the areas business and warehouse equipment, classical and design-oriented office furniture and accessories as well as sales promotion items for retailers, the food service industry and the hotel market.

TAKKT AG employs around 2,000 staff, has around 3 million customers worldwide and distributes around 70 million catalogues and mailings per year.

The company is listed on the SDAX and was admitted to Deutsche Boerse’s Prime Standard on 1 January 2003.

Stuttgart, 30 October 2007

Contact:

Georg Gayer, CEO
Phone +49 711 34658-201

Dr Florian Funck, CFO
Phone +49 711 34658-207

E-mail: investor@takkt.de