1st quarter report 2006

BWT makes a good start

• Sales +8.2% to € 82.6 million
• EBIT +10.4% reaching € 8.4 million

With a sales performance which exceeded expectations and a year-on-year increase in EBIT of more than 20 % (adjusted for the spin-off of the AST division 10 %), BWT – Best Water Technology Group – started the 2006 financial year in a very pleasing fashion. CEO Andreas Weissenbacher: “We have returned to our growth path and are consistently working on implementing our strategy involving the new product program and expansion into new markets.”

In the first quarter of 2006, the BWT Group generated consolidated sales of € 82.6 million and thus exceeded the comparable figure of last year (without AST) by 8.2 %. Total sales including the AST segment amounted to € 113.3 million in the previous year. All the newly formed segments increased their sales year-on-year; individual developments are as follows:

The development of the Austria / Germany segment was below average. Increased order book levels already lead us to expect an improvement in the months to come. In the France / Benelux segment, the unsatisfactory development in the concluding months of the previous year saw a trend reversal. In Scandinavia, the HOH Group generated considerably more sales, HOH Denmark and HOH Birger Christensen in Norway in particular contributed to this. The companies operating under the "Cillit" brand in Italy and Spain were also above-average contributors to developments in sales and earnings with an increase of 10.7%. The BWT activities in Switzerland, Eastern Europe and outside Europe, summarized in the "Others" segment increased their sales by 28 %, in fact the increase for the Eastern European companies was even above 40 %.

FUMATECH GmbH, which concentrates on the development, manufacture and sale of special membranes for fuel cells, increased its sales in the Austria / Germany segment from € 0.1 million to € 0.4 million.

The servicing and spare parts business again recorded above-average growth, this time 20%, and in the first quarter of 2006 accounted for more than 22% of the sales of the BWT Group.

EBIT (earnings from operating activities) for the BWT Group improved to € 8.4 million, which equals 10.2 % of sales, the increase was thus 10.4 % year-on-year (without AST). Taking into account the still negative AST segment in the first quarter of the previous year, the increase in EBIT even amounts to 20.7 %. This pleasing development is mainly attributable to the "Scandinavia" segment, which after breaking even last year has already achieved EBIT of 9.6 % in the first quarter of 2006, close to the BWT Group average, thanks to the
successful realignment of the HOH Group. Regarding EBIT in the Austria / Germany segment, preparation for the launch of the “point-of-use” program deducted some € 0.3 million being more than balanced by improvements in the other segments.

*) spun-off on October 31, 2005 and launched on the Vienna Stock Exchange on November 8, 2005, as "CHRIST WATER TECHNOLOGY".

Financial earnings declined from € -0.2 million to € -0.3 million due to the generally higher level of interest rates and the change from CHF to EUR financing. Earnings before taxes increased year-on-year by 9.4 % to € 8.2 million. The consolidated tax rate was 29.5 % in the first quarter and the annual net profit increased to € 5.8 million or 7.0 % of sales (previous year without AST: € 5.4 million, incl. AST: € 4.4 million). Earnings per share amounted to € 0.32, 31.5 % higher than in the first quarter of the previous year (€ 0.24).

The improvement in earnings has resulted in the cash flow from the result increasing from € 7.1 million to € 7.7 million. The net debt increased compared with the end of 2005 from € 36.3 million to € 38.7 million, gearing amounted to 39.2 % and thus had only changed minimally compared with December 31, 2005 (38.9 %). The capital base of the Group was 38.6 % and thus remained solid (December 31, 2005: 37.7 %). In the first quarter of 2005, the BWT Group invested a total of € 2.2 million in fixed assets, the increase mainly attributable to the expansion in production capacity in Mondsee. By the end of the first quarter, the number of employees in the BWT Group had risen to 2,069; the increase was 62 people as against December 31, 2005 and 65 people as against March 31, 2005 and was due to the expansion of service and production capacity.

Outlook

After the spin-off of the Aqua Systems Technologies segment last year, the BWT Group is concentrating, under the slogan "Safety, Hygiene and Health", on water treatment with serialproduced products in the domestic sphere. BWT’s goal is, based on its leadership of the market in Europe, to expand its international business outside Europe and to make the BWT brands more familiar to end consumers. This is likely to be achieved mainly by intensifying business activities with subsidiaries and partnerships in Eastern Europe and Asia as well as by launching the so-called "point-of-use" program (i.e. devices which are used at the point the water is drawn off). Based on this and the gratifying results of the first quarter in a positive economic environment, the Management Board expects consolidated Group sales for the current financial year of more than € 330 million and an annual net profit of more than € 20 million.

Contact:

BWT AG, A-5310 Mondsee, Walter-Simmer-Str. 4
Andreas Weißenbacher, CEO, P. +43 (0)6232 5011 1111
Gerhard Speigner, CFO, P. +43 (0)6232 5011 1112

Ralf Burchert, Investor Relations
P. +43 (0)6232 5011 1113, Fax +43 (0)6232 5011 1109
E-Mail: ralf.burchert@bwt.at

Financial calendar 2006