Willkommen bei Von Roll

Zurich, August 15, 2006 - During the first half of 2006, Von Roll further improved its position, benefiting from positive market conditions and continued progress in its operations. Orders rose by 21.1% to CHF 279.2 million, and sales increased by 18.5% to CHF 272.0 million, whereas about half of the increase is a result of the rising copper price. The operating income before non-recurrent profits increased from CHF 9.1 million to CHF 15.9 million and net income earned over the first six months of 2006 totaled to CHF 10.0 million (compared with CHF 4.6 million adjusted of non-recurrent effects).

Improved market conditions in all regions Compared with last year, demand in the markets in all geographical regions and sales segments has definitely risen. In addition, unlike in 2004 and 2005, there are no noticeable major discrepancies between the situations in individual regions. The Business Unit Industrial was the only one to achieve disproportionately high growth, thanks to increases in its market share in America and Asia. All in all, the sales achieved by the Business Unit Electrical went up by 20.7%, whereas those of the Business Unit Industrial rose by 12.3%.

Strategic projects on target The Group's various strategic projects are making progress as planned. Full serial production at the new copper wire factory in Bangalore, India, already started during the first quarter. At the Group's new Chinese plant in Shanghai, the building of a production line for flexible laminates is on schedule, also the production transfer from the plant in Hennigsdorf to Augsburg and Düren, all in Germany. Meanwhile, a uniform process model has been implemented and associated harmonization measures taken at the plants in Switzerland and France, as well as at some American facilities.

Group management As previously stated, on March 1, 2006 Mr. Stephan Naef took over as Chief Financial Officer of Von Roll Holding Ltd. At the end of July 2006 Mr. Jack E. Craig, head of the Business Unit Electrical, retired. His duties have been taken over by CEO Walter T. Vogel, in addition to running the Group.

Outlook At present, Von Roll is not anticipating any major changes to the market situation or demand during the second half of the year. The raw material situation will remain tense, even though the situation does not seem to escalate further. All in all, Von Roll is expecting both operating income and net income for 2006 totally to better than in 2005.

Von Roll: Kennzahlen

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