Good news from the Leica financial department

According to preliminary computations Leica Camera Group has increased its sales as at the end of the third quarter of the current fiscal year, i.e. for the period from April 1 until December 31, 2010, by 73 % to € 186.4 million as compared to the corresponding period in the previous fiscal year (€ 107.6 million). EBIT rose from € 13.9 million as at the end of the first half year to € 28.9 million as at the end of the third quarter (prior year period: € –0.3 million). The Company’s order inflow remains at a high level. With Group sales of € 75.5 million (prior year period: € 48.1 million) the third quarter of the current fiscal year was the best quarter of Leica Camera AG since the Company’s IPO in 1996.

In this development above expectations the crucial factor is the continuing strong demand for the Leica M system, the professional S system, the compact cameras and the Leica sport optics products. In addition to the Leica M9 the success drivers are, in particular, the products presented at the photokina in September 2010 – Leica D-Lux 5, V-Lux 2, a new black design variant of the Leica X1, the limited special series Leica M9 »Titan« and the binoculars line Leica Silverline.