ARAGON AG: Results FY 2011

- Aragon AG concludes 2011 with record sales and significant operating
earnings growth

- Sales up 16 percent to Euro 127 million; EBITDA improves by 43 percent
to Euro 5.3 million

- Sharp rise in product turnover to Euro 2.4 billion

- Focus on financial sales and financial advisory activities

- Outlook for 2012: Double-digit organic growth and substantial
improvements in earnings strength expected

Aragon AG performed very well in the 2011 financial year despite the very tough market climate. Sales and turnover soared to record levels, while operating earnings improved significantly. Sales rose by 16 percent to Euro 127 million. The factors driving this growth included an increase in product turnover volumes to Euro 2.4 billion, half a billion euros up on the previous year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), which grew by 43 percent to Euro 5.3 million, underline the clear progress the company has made on an operating level.

'2011 was a good year for Aragon', commented Dr. Sebastian Grabmaier, CEO of Aragon AG. 'We maintained our growth course and achieved our strategic goal of focusing on financial sales and financial advisory activities by selling our shares in biw Bank. Having acquired CLARUS AG and FiNUM.Private Finance AG, Berlin (formerly SRQ FinanzPartner AG), we have achieved the critical mass necessary to reach our sales and earnings targets. Our priority now is to generate organic growth, but we also intend to remain the driving force for growth and consolidation in the financial sales sector.'

Figures in detail:

Full-year sales in 2011 grew by 16 percent to Euro 127.0 million (2010: Euro 109.2m). Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) improved by 43 percent to Euro 5.3 million (2010: Euro 3.7 million). With growth of 62 percent to Euro 3.0 million (2010: Euro 1.9 million), earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) showed slightly higher growth than EBITDA. Earnings before taxes (EBT) from continuing operations amounted to Euro 1.8 million (2010: Euro 1.0 million).

Annual net income from continuing operations amounted to Euro 1.2 million (2010: Euro 0.8 million). The profits on the investment held in biw Bank für Investments und Wertpapiere AG (biw), which was consolidated until the third quarter, have already been deducted from this figure. The previously announced one-off items in connection with the sale of the biw stake have impacted negatively on consolidated net income and have been reported under discontinued operations. Due to this item, consolidated net income was negative at minus Euro 5.2 million. At the same time, net of all expenses relating to the transaction and related repayments, Aragon AG has nevertheless received liquid funds of around Euro 10.0 million from the transaction.

The sharp growth and restructuring of the Group are also reflected in the other key figures of Aragon AG as of the 2011 balance sheet date. At around Euro 2.4 billion, product turnover was significantly ahead of the two billion euro mark for the first time. Assets under administration at Aragon AG increased to around Euro 4.2 billion, which corresponds to year-on-year growth despite the decline in capital markets in the course of the year. The number of brokers working together with Aragon AG also increased during the year from around 20,500 to more than 22,000 at the end of 2011. The number of customers supported by Aragon companies already passed the 1,000,000 mark in summer 2011 (2010: around 920,000).

Aragon AG has a very solid balance sheet structure. Liquid funds grew year-on-year by 50 percent from Euro 9.2 million to Euro 13.8 million. It should be noted that the liquid funds generated by the sale of the company's stake in biw were only received at Aragon AG after the balance sheet date. Shareholders' equity at Aragon AG amounted to Euro 48.0 million as of the balance sheet date (2010: Euro 52.8 million). Notwithstanding the extension in its balance sheet due to the first-time consolidation of CLARUS AG and FiNUM.Private Finance AG, Berlin, Aragon AG had a comfortable equity ratio of 39.4 percent as of 31 December 2011 (2010: 52.3 percent).

Continuing operations at Aragon AG performed as follows:

With sales of Euro 72.8 million, the Broker Pools segment remained the Aragon Group's strongest segment in terms of sales (2010: Euro 72.2 million). Due to the difficult capital market climate and resultant reluctance to invest on the part of investment and closed funds, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in this segment amounted to Euro 1.6 million, as against Euro 2.5 million in 2010. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for the same period amounted to Euro 0.4 million (2010: Euro 1.0 million). Annual net income for the 2011 financial year amounted to Euro 0.4 million, compared with Euro 0.7 million in the 2010 financial year.

The Financial Consulting segment remained the fastest-growing segment at Aragon AG in the 2011 financial year once again, improving its sales by around 50 percent to around Euro 55.6 million (2010: Euro 36.9 million). This segment thus already accounted for more than 44 percent of sales at Aragon AG in the 2011 financial year as a whole. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) at the Financial Consulting segment grew year-on-year by 76 percent from Euro 3.2 million in 2010 to Euro 5.7 million. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose over the same period to Euro 4.7 million (2010: Euro 2.9 million). Annual net income for the 2011 financial year improved to Euro 3.4 million, up from Euro 2.2 million in the 2010 financial year.

These positive developments have been driven by the performance of our compexx FINANZ AG, inpunkto AG, and FiNUM.Private Finance AG, Vienna, (formerly Scopia AG and MLP Vermögensberatungs AG, Vienna) investments, all of which managed to generate sales and earnings growth.

CLARUS AG, a company consolidated for the first time as of 1 July 2011, contributed sales of around Euro 8.5 million and, thanks to the positive course of restructuring, also made a positive contribution to earnings. Together with FiNUM.Private Finance AG, Berlin, which was consolidated for the first time as of 31 December 2011, FiNUM.FINANZHAUS GmbH, Cologne, should, following its year of transition in 2011, become one of the key earnings drivers at Aragon AG.

Within the implementation of our strategy and the resultant process of focusing on investments in financial sales businesses, the investment held in Fundmatrix AG, Frankfurt, was merged with a subsidiary of Jung, DMS & Cie. AG within the Holding segment as of 01 January 2011. We also disposed of our investment in biw Bank für Investments und Wertpapiere AG, Willich, as of 5 January 2012. The inflow of liquidity from the sale of the biw stake, amounting to Euro 17.9 million (gross), was only received after the balance sheet date on 31 December 2011. These funds have partly been used to repay third-party liabilities.

Outlook for 2012:

Aragon AG expects the macroeconomic climate to remain persistently difficult in the current 2012 financial year, resulting in a challenging market for financial services providers. Despite these underlying conditions, Aragon AG plans to maintain the growth course it has taken while consistently improving its profitability. Comments Wulf U. Schütz, CFO of Aragon AG: 'Our investment portfolio now has a sufficiently lean structure for us to focus all of our energies on organic growth and on improving our earnings strength. Notwithstanding our comfortable liquidity situation, no further acquisitions are currently planned.'

The Annual Report of Aragon AG can be downloaded with immediate effect from the company's website at www.aragon.ag.

About Aragon AG

Aragon AG is a broadly diversified financial services group with two operating segments, Broker Pools and Financial Consulting, and an operating Holding division. Within its segments, Aragon AG operates in the market with several independently acting subsidiaries. The aim is to integrate various sales models under one roof without infringing on the identity of each individual sales operation. This leads to broad diversification across numerous asset classes and distribution channels and, as a result, ensures high earnings stability. Further information about the company and its subsidiaries can be found at www.aragon.ag.

Contact:
Aragon Aktiengesellschaft

Ralf Funke
Investor Relations
Tel.: +49(0)611 890 575-0
Fax: +49(0)611 890 575-99
E-Mail: ir@aragon.ag

This release was published on openPR.