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DGAP-News: Homag Group AG / Key word(s): Preliminary Results HOMAG Group increases net profit for the year by 45 percent

27.02.2014 / 07:15

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HOMAG Group increases net profit for the year by 45 percent

- Order intake grows by 5 percent in 2013 - Operative EBITDA increases at a higher rate - Sales revenue up against the market trend

Schopfloch, February 27, 2014. The HOMAG Group AG, the world's leading manufacturer of plant and machinery for the woodworking industry and cabinet makers, increased sales revenue and order intake and in particular considerably raised net profit for the fiscal year 2013. According to the preliminary figures, the Group's order intake was up by 5.1 percent, reaching EUR 605.0 million (prior year: EUR 575.8 million). Against a backdrop of a slightly contracting market, the HOMAG Group was able to increase sales revenue by 2.9 percent to EUR 788.8 million (prior year: EUR 767.0 million).

"We look back at a successful fiscal year 2013. We were able to raise order intake thanks to winning over customers with our innovations," says Dr. Markus Flik, CEO. "Particularly pleasing was the positive development of our results of operations. Our measures to increase efficiency are taking effect. We remain on course for profitable growth."

Outpacing sales revenue growth, operative EBITDA before employee participation expenses and before extraordinary expenses of the HOMAG Group was up 6.6 percent to EUR 75.8 million (prior year: EUR 71.0 million). The Group was even able to increase the net profit by 45 percent to EUR 18.4 million (prior year: EUR 12.7 million) and thus considerably exceeded their forecast amounting to EUR 15 million.

According to Hans-Dieter Schumacher, CFO, further evidence for the successful fiscal year is the significant reduction of net liabilities to banks from EUR 89.5 million to EUR 69.2 million. "We also further increased our equity ratio to 32.7 percent (prior year: 30.6 percent)," Schumacher explains.

The detailed results of the fiscal year 2013 of HOMAG Group AG and an updated forecast for 2014 will be published at our annual press conference scheduled for March 27, 2014 in Stuttgart.

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PRESS RELEASE: HOMAG Group increases net profit for the year by 45 percent

27.02.14 06:59 Dow Jones Newswires

PRESS RELEASE: Allianz SE: Allianz finishes financial year 2013 with good results

DGAP-News: Allianz SE / Key word(s): Final Results Allianz SE: Allianz finishes financial year 2013 with good results

27.02.2014 / 06:59

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*Revenues up 4.1 percent to 110.8 billion euros *Operating profit grows 7.8 percent to 10.1 billion euros *Net income attributable to shareholders rises 14.6 percent to 6.0 billion euros *Solvency ratio of 182 percent *Proposed dividend of 5.30 euros per share, an increase of 18 percent *Operating profit outlook for 2014: 10.0 billion euros, plus/minus 500 million euros

Allianz Group continued to grow in 2013. Based on preliminary figures, revenues rose 4.1 percent to a new high of 110.8 billion euros from 106.4 billion euros the year before. Excluding foreign currency exchange and consolidation effects, revenue growth amounted to 4.7 percent. The total number of customers insured by Allianz increased over the same period by five million to over 83 million.

Operating profit reached 10.1 billion euros. Compared to 9.3 billion euros for the year 2012, this represents an increase of 7.8 percent. Net income attributable to shareholders increased by 14.6 percent in 2013 to 6.0 billion euros from 5.2 billion euros the year before.

In Property and Casualty insurance, operating profit increased compared to the previous year, despite higher compensations for customers after natural catastrophes. In the Life and Health insurance business statutory premiums grew while volatile capital markets pressured operating profit. With a higher operating profit, Asset Management continued its successful course, despite uncertainty about the policy of the US Federal Reserve that led to swings in interest rates.

The conglomerate solvency ratio reached 182 percent as of the end of 2013, up one percentage point from 181 percent as of January 1, 2013. Shareholders' equity of 50.084 billion euros at year end remained at a similar high level as 50.388 billion euros at the beginning of the year.

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PRESS RELEASE: Allianz SE: Allianz finishes -2-

Word Press Page Editing
How to edit word press text and pictures in a page. How to link an email to a page.

By: Baggies 47

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Word Press Page Editing - Video

In high school, back in tiny Payette, Idaho, circa 1986, the c word was reserved for very harsh criticism. Cunt was a word of utter disdain reserved only for women, way worse than bitch, although both, when lobbed right, could really take another girl down. At my high school, these words were almost entirely used by other girls without real awareness of their weight or meaning.

Then in 1998, Inga Muscia wrote Cunt, and it changed my life; well, it changed my vocabulary and ignited my interest in the lexicology of forbidden words. Cunt: A Declaration of Independence (Seal Press) was a great feminist book about breaking down barriers between women, reclaiming and thus reversing the negative connotations of pejoratives reserved for women and girls, challenging rape culture, and bringing greater awareness of sexuality and sex-positivity. (Heres an example quote I love: What if one out of every three multinational corporation CEOs were raped every year? Dont you think that would raise a kind of ruckus?)

After reading it, a generation of women my age began using the word cunt to describe and define ourselves; we were the same women reading (or creating) Bitch magazine with a similar bent.

I bring this all up now, because the other day 17 years after I started proudly calling myself a cunt I got a letter from a disgruntled reader who was upset that I titled our fairly innocuous Valentines Day gift guide 10 Sexy, Unexpected, Totally Queer Valentine's Day Gifts.

He (and I know this reader is male because a fellow les-bi-an would have complained about my commercialization, my hyping a heterosexist institution, or my inability to include stuff for both femmes and butches, and not the use of the word queer) wrote, Queer ??? Really???? That is SO insulting !! Put that word away along with the N word. Get with the times lady. Would you like it if I used the C word???

Hmm. I had to ponder. Does the writer really think that the n word is equivalent to queer? Does the writer know that its actually rather misogynist to threaten me with the equivalent of What if I called you a cunt? And all that is implicit in that statement (meaning: He thinks Im a cunt and wants me to know it).

The thing is, I dont mind being called a cunt. I am. Im a bitch. Im powerful. Im threatening (not on the street there, Im a scared 10-year-old, but in the boardroom I think I can be aggressive). And Im queer.

In 2005, I talked to the late William Safire, the famed journalist and speech writer, about this exact thing for his long-running New York Times column about etymology. He dubbed that column Homolexicology and he implored me to explain why gay women preferred the words lesbian or queer to merely gay, and he explained to readers why homosexual was not a noun. It felt momentous, that this conservative libertarian got it, but now nearly a decade later, Im still regularly taking it on the chin for using the word queer, while Madonna essentially gets a pass for using the n word in reference to her white son on Instagram (as a show of support, she says).

There's no denying that words matter. I have been around and around with many LGBT leaders about why some words (including tranny) should not be used except within those communities. If you are black, if you are transgender, if you are Italian, then I wont argue with your right to use the n, t, or w word to describe yourself the same way I can use queer to describe myself and the way many (or most) of my gay male friends still use the word fag to describe themselves. In fact, until I moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles, I had no idea so many people were outlawing the use of the f word, even among themselves.

But in a community that still self-polices the use of words like fag or queer, why do cisgender LGB folks and their hetero counterparts find it so easy to keep using the word tranny without thought to how horrific it sounds to some transgender women and men? I have more than one trans friend who uses the word to describe themselves, but that doesnt mean nontrans people get to use it. Just like with the n word, that is not your option.

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Op-ed: Go Ahead and Call Me What You Want

DGAP-News: Gerry Weber International AG / Key word(s): Final Results Gerry Weber confirms international growth strategy

26.02.2014 / 11:20

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Corporate News

GERRY WEBER confirms international growth strategy

- Sales revenues climb 6.2% to EUR 852.0 million in financial year 2012/13

- Stable dividend of EUR 0.75 per share to be proposed

- Revenue and earnings growth projected for financial year 2013/14

(Halle/Westphalia, 26 February 2014) At today's annual accounts press conference, GERRY WEBER International AG confirmed the end of January 2014 published figures for the past financial year 2012/13 and its guidance for the financial year 2013/14. The Managing Board and the Supervisory Board will propose payment of an unchanged dividend of EUR 0.75 per share to the upcoming Annual General Meeting.

Against the background of the international expansion of the GERRY WEBER Group, sales revenues increased by 6.2% to EUR 852.0 million in 2012/13. Growth was primarily driven by the company's own Retail operations, which contributed EUR 363.7 million or approximately 42.7% to total Group sales revenues (previous year: 37.3%).

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PRESS RELEASE: Gerry Weber confirms international growth strategy