HANOVER, Germany, May 6, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hoeft Wessel Group affirms its positive forecast despite the expected weak first-quarter performance. The IT hardware and software specialist for ticketing, parking facilities and mobile solutions anticipates a slight increase both in sales revenues and in its operating result for the year 2010.

In the first quarter, the Company generated sales revenues of EUR 15.9 million. In the same period a year earlier, due to temporary special effect the Company's sales revenues had turned out exceptionally high at EUR 24.5 million.

The operating result (EBIT) turned out negative, with -EUR 1.6 million being recorded as at 31 March 2010 (2009: EUR 0.2 million). In contrast, the operational cash flow, at EUR 498,000 in the first quarter of 2010, was substantially boosted (previous year: -EUR 2,597,000).

As a rule, sales revenues of Hoeft Wessel AG also tend to increase from quarter to quarter. We also expect that to be the case this year. In the case of ticket vending and car park terminals, we can already determine a substantial share of our sales revenues on the basis of the orders contracted. As far as mobile terminals are concerned, we currently see increasing demand, says Hansjoachim Oehmen, CEO of the Hoeft Wessel Group, in commenting on anticipated business trends in the year 2010.

The order intake continued to see a gratifying development in the first quarter. In the first three months, new orders with a total volume of EUR 25.3 million were acquired. As a result, the newly signed contracts even almost matched the previous year's volume of EUR 26.2 million, to which a large-scale order for car park terminals placed by the U.S. city of Philadelphia had made a key contribution. The order portfolio as at 31 March 2010 came to EUR 83.8 million (31/12/2009: EUR 74.4 million). At the Annual General Meeting of Hoeft Wessel AG scheduled for 17 June 2010, the shareholders will be asked to vote on the payment of a dividend for the very first time.

Key figures for the Hoeft Wessel Group

In EUR thousands 31.03.2010 31.03.2009 31.03.2008 31.03.2007 31.03.2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sales revenues 15,901 24,466 16,283 17,956 15,024 Operating result before depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) (385) 1,366 160 15 (321) Operating result (EBIT) (1,604) 220 (974) (1,110) (1,499) in % of sales revenues - 0.9 - - - Earnings before taxes (EBT) (1,814) 8 (1,309) (1,422) (1,630) in % of sales revenues - 0.1 - - - Group earnings (2,002) (208) (1,476) (1,521) (1,537) Earnings per share (in EUR) (0.24) (0.02) (0.17) (0.18) (0.18) Cash flow from current operating activities 498 (2,597) (4,832) (2,092) 4,521 Cash flow from investment activities (978) (1,287) (1,344) (1,262) (1,393) Net cash flow (77) 86 (999) (2,149) (193) Average number of employees 495 494 506 500 489

Quarterly Report 2010 and further reports:

http://www.hoeft-wessel.com/en/ir/ir.htm

Photos within the press kit:

http://www.presseportal.de/pm/12945/hoeft_wessel_ag/

Further inquiry note: Dr. Arnd Fritzemeier Tel.: +49-511-6102-300 E-Mail: af@hoeft-wessel.com issuer: Hoft Wessel AG Rotenburger Str. 20 D-30659 Hannover phone: +49-511-6102-0 FAX: +49-511-6102-411 mail: ir@hoeft-wessel.com http://www.hoeft-wessel.com

sector: Technology

ISIN: DE0006011000 indexes: TecDAX, Prime All Share, Technology All Share stockmarkets: regulated dealing/prime standard: Frankfurt, free trade: Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, Hannover, Munchen

SOURCE: Hoeft SOURCE: Wessel AG

CONTACT: Further inquiry note: Dr. Arnd Fritzemeier, Tel.:+49-511-6102-300, E-Mail: af@hoeft-wessel.com, issuer: Hoft Wessel AG.Rotenburger Str. 20, D-30659 Hannover, phone: +49-511-6102-0, FAX:+49-511-6102-411, mail: ir@hoeft-wessel.com, http://www.hoeft-wessel.com