Agfa HealthCare's fourth quarter sales decreased 2.8 percent to 316 million Euro. Excluding currency effects, sales would be at the same level as in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Agfa HealthCare's EBIT is expected to amount to approximately 39 million Euro (12.3 percent of sales), versus 14 million Euro in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Agfa-Gevaert's CEO Jo Cornu commented on these preliminary results as follows: "We are obviously pleased with these results, which we achieved in full economic crisis. In the fourth quarter of 2009, we have taken full benefit of the efforts of the past two years to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency. The Agfa HealthCare business group continued its strong operational performance in the fourth quarter, which traditionally is the strongest one of the year. The Agfa-Gevaert Group has returned to profitability and net debt is significantly down. We are well positioned to take advantage of some of the recent growth initiatives in 2010."
Related news articles:
- Agfa HealthCare's Profile
About Agfa
The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world's leading imaging and information technology companies. Agfa develops, manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare) and specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials). Agfa's headquarters are in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries throughout the world. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 3,032 million Euro in 2008.
About Agfa HealthCare
Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading provider of IT-enabled clinical workflow and diagnostic image management solutions, and state-of-the-art systems for capturing and processing images in hospitals and healthcare facilities. Agfa HealthCare has over a century of healthcare experience related to diagnostic imaging and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990's. The HealthCare division has sales offices and agents in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2008 were 1,223 million Euro.
For more information on Agfa HealthCare, please visit www.agfa.com/healthcare.