The Board of Directors of Targetti Sankey S.p.A., meeting today in Florence, approved the consolidated results of the first six months of 2004.

The Group’s consolidated turnover of the first six months of 2004 reached 73.5 million Euro and increased of 15.7%, compared with 63.5 million Euro of the first half of 2003.

The excellent result obtained in the first half of 2004 is to be attributed first and foremost to the growth of the external public lighting sector and the light sources sector. Also the architectural lighting sector sales increased in the first half 2004 inverting its 2003 trend.

The gross consolidated operating margin (EBITDA) was equal to 9.5 million Euro, a growth of 27.6% as compared with the 7.4 million Euro of the same period of 2003. The incidence of the gross operating margin on turnover amounted to 12.9% and compares with 11.7% for the same period of the previous year.

The consolidated operating result (EBIT) increased by 54.8%, reaching 6.6 million Euro as compared with the 4.3 million Euro attained during the first half of 2003.

The consolidated pre-tax profit leaped up, increasing by 135.2% with respect for the same period of the previous year, and amounted to 6.2 million Euro (2.6 million Euro in the first half of 2003).

The net financial position, a clear improvement over the 33.7 million Euro of the first half of 2003, amounted to 25.2 million Euro as of 30 June 2004 thanks to the positive cash flow generated by the operational management.

The net equity reached 53.6 million Euro, a growth with respect to the 49.0 million euro recorded as of 31 December 2003.

“The growth of the first half of the year – affirmed Lorenzo Targetti, Managing Director of Targetti Sankey S,p.A. – is to be attributed to both market factors, with markets proving more receptive than the previous year, and the strategic choices made by the company: two elements that permit us to be optimistic as regards the closure of 2004, with a forecast of a double-digit growth of turnover”.
“The growing internationalisation of our Group - as Lorenzo Targetti went on to say – is brought out also by incidence of foreign markets on our consolidated turnover, which in the first half of the year reached 53%, whereas the home market accounted for 47%. Furthermore, given the expansion of the more interesting markets, we recently got under way some significant operations of an industrial nature, cases in point being the investments made in China, where we have now opened a new production and sales establishment.

Attached to this press release, you will find the principal consolidated economic and financial data relating to the first half of 2004 as approved by the Board of Directors today.

The Targetti Group, with headquarters in Florence, are one of the leading protagonists in the sector of architectural lighting for both interiors and exteriors. The group companies produce and market sophisticated equipment – a perfect synthesis of technology and design – that illumines important works of art, including Michelangelo’s David, Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper and the Roman National Archaeological Museum and finds application in wide variety of different environments, among them Piazza della Scala in Milan, Singapore’s Opera House, the Airport of Madrid and Canton in China, the Bilbao Underground, the showrooms of Bulgari, Benetton, McDonald’s, Bang & Olufsen, Alfa Romeo and Peugeot and, not least, West McLaren Mercedes Technology Centre.