Giesecke & Devrient Achieves its highest revenue ever

Earnings rose by 40 per cent, reaching €69.7 million. Net profit was €38.4 million, equivalent to an increase of 36 per cent over the previous years €28.2 million. G&D generated around 85 per cent of its sales abroad. The organization expects profitable growth in the current year. Card segment registers gratifying sales increase The increase in sales in 2004 was sustained chiefly by the Card segment. While sales in the Banknote and Paper / Currency Processing and Services segment, at €588 million, remained stable at the previous years level, the Card segment achieved a gain of 24 per cent, to €568 million. Solutions competence strengthened Included in the balance-sheet for the first time was secunet AG, which showed a strong improvement in both revenue and earnings in fiscal 2004 and thus achieved its most successful year so far. G&D took a majority stake in secunet AG in the 2nd quarter of 2004, following which the company was merged into the G&D subsidiary Secartis AG. It was also due to its competence as solutions provider that G&D was awarded the contract for the Austrian e-card project in 2004. The e-card project encompasses supply of a total of 11 million chip-based social insurance cards for all of Austrias citizens, plus operation of an electronic card system. Cost efficiency and innovation – keys to profitable growth Despite poor economic forecasts and increasingly difficult competitive conditions, such as excess capacities in banknote printing or the continuing price decline in the card sector, G&D is optimistic about prospects for the coming months. We are expecting profitable growth for 2005. To achieve this goal, we will need to continuously re-appraise our business processes and re-engineer them for greater efficiency and flexibility. In the face of increasingly fierce competition, cost savings alone are not enough to ensure future-proof performance. The vision: Global market leader in safeguarding values On this basis, the companys objective is to make more intensive use of its core competences and so open up new business opportunities. It is also essential to exploit internal synergies, for instance in the field of research and development, more systematically. At the same time, G&D will be aiming to further increase its customer orientation.