Stable Revenue Development:
Klett presents its Annual Report 2010

The Annual Report 2010 of the Klett Group, published today, demonstrates that the education company is on a sound economic footing. The Group's revenues remain at the high level of the previous year. The figure for the fiscal year 2010 is EUR 465.3 million, compared to EUR 465.7 million in 2009.

The education company has emerged from the crisis in a stable condition. The pre-tax profit for the Klett Group in 2010 totalled EUR 20.7 million, compared to EUR 13.7 million in 2009. The Group's equity ratio of 22.7 percent was significantly higher than that of the previous year (2009: 17.8 percent). "We are most satisfied with the figures for 2010. The Annual Report shows that our prudent financial management has paid off, particularly in difficult times," Arthur Zimmermann explains, Chief Financial Officer of Ernst Klett AG.

Development in the Individual Business Units

The Group's educational publication houses have maintained their strong position in the school market, which has been stagnating for years, and have been able to increase their market share despite falling numbers of school pupils and insecurities in school policy. The trend in continued education is advancing unabated: The companies operating in adult and continued education are operating stably at a high financial level. The professional information publishers, both domestically and abroad, continue to make an important contribution to revenues and profit. Advertising revenues for journals and periodicals also developed positively again in 2010, after the slump in 2009. The market for literature and non-fiction books remained steady in 2010 compared to the previous year.

"The markets in which the companies of the Klett Group are operating have turned out to be stable – both domestically and abroad. We have successfully penetrated the text book market in France; in Serbia, Klett has become the largest private supplier of text books after just four years. This shows us that our policy of sturdy pillars has also paid off in an international context," Zimmermann said. "The cautious optimism my board colleagues and I carried into 2010 has been borne out in reality. We are also carrying this optimism into the future."

With its 59 companies at 40 locations in 17 countries, the Klett Group is Germany's largest education dedicated enterprise. The portfolio of the Klett Group encompasses everything from traditional text books to state of the art learning aids; from professional literature to the classics. Moreover, the Klett Group has established itself as the leading private provider of educational and continued education services. The companies of the Klett Group employ a workforce of about 2.740 and generated revenues of approx. EUR 465 million in 2010.