16.06.11

– First quarter of 2011 profitable, good start to second quarter

– Further personnel, financial and operational measures to ensure sustainable profitability

Griesheim, 16 June 2011

ralos New Energies AG, a national and international service provider and project developer for solar systems and solar farms, successfully installed and connected almost 900 solar systems in 2010. Heinrich Dauscher (COO), the member of the Management Board responsible for Sales and Technology, considers the ralos Group's operating reliability and its reputation for solid, high-quality work to be the main reasons for its strong competitive position. According to the final figures (IFRS) for the 2010 financial year, which have now been published, the Group recorded sales of EUR 123.9 million (previous year: EUR 86.5 million), an operating result (EBIT) of EUR 7.45 million (previous year: EUR -7.37 million) and a consolidated net profit of EUR 1.33 million (previous year: consolidated net loss of EUR 8.61 million). The operating result is at the upper end of the range of EUR 6.5-7.5 million that was announced in early January.

In order to position ralos New Energies AG for sustainable development and continued profitability in the more challenging years that are expected to lie ahead, the Supervisory Board appointed Martin Meurer as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at the end of the previous year. Mr. Meurer is an experienced manager in environmental and renewable energies functions and boasts capital market expertise. The CFO and acting Chief Executive Officer is jointly responsible within the Management Board for implementing fundamental operational and financial measures and for the Group’s sales positioning with a view to expanding its business activities. Further details will be published in the near future.

In the first quarter of 2011, ralos saw the downturn in demand that was expected in Germany. However, the regional positioning of the ralos Group and the product mix consisting of roof-mounted systems and large-scale projects – particularly in the Italian market – proved its worth once again, allowing the Group to record a positive operating result (EBIT: EUR 734 thousand) and a consolidated net profit (EUR 361 thousand) for the first quarter. The changes in national and international feed-in tariffs mean that the future prospects for the Group remain healthy. Roof-mounted systems, one of ralos’ particular strengths, have only been affected by the reductions in feed-in compensation to a limited extent, meaning that professional investors will still be able to generate satisfactory returns – and not only due to lower production costs. Regenerative initiatives are also expected to benefit after Italy voted against nuclear energy at the weekend.

In the second quarter, the Group made good progress in terms of development and contractual negotiations for a range of potential projects, the volume of which was almost the same as in the previous year. In addition to traditional roof-mounted systems, the branch offices used the flexibility afforded them by the reorientation of the sales organisation to acquire two (open-field) projects with an output in excess of 2 MW, among other things. The sales network was also optimised in terms of cost and profitability.

The transfer of activities in the French market to one of the German branch offices as part of the reorganisation of the sales network led to a significant upturn in business. The branch office signed a contract for a 950kW project, and other similar orders will be concluded shortly.

The Management Board expects to be able to publish details of further progress in the near future.

The Management Board