The timing is favourable :

	Damart International has achieved a good sales performance for over a year now which demonstrates its capacity to succeed with its business plan.
	Somfy will be able to full express its personality and develop its own corporate image which will foster continued development of its core business and integration of its new activities.

The operation will take place in two principal phases:

	Between now and the end of June 2002, the setup of a new company, Damartex, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Damart SA, and the contribution to Damartex of all the companies involved in the Damart activity.
	In early July 2002, allocation to Damart SA shareholders of Damartex shares, on the basis of one Damartex for one Damart share and admission of Damartex to official quotation.

Damart SA, whose assets subsequent to the operation will be almost exclusively composed of companies involved in Somfy business (with the exception of the Fontenoy Malvart holding company which owns 47.5% of Devianne), will change its name to " Somfy International SA ".

The operation will be subject to approval from the Tax Administration in order to benefit from the favourable taxation system laid down in Articles 210A and 115-2 of the General Taxation Code.

The family holding company JPJ, which controls Damart SA, and shareholder members of Damart SA Management and Governance boards will irrevocably assume the three-year legal commitments to conserve " Somfy " and " Damartex " shares.

Provisional Group results as of 31.12.01 (six-month results).

Activity The Group's pre-tax turnover rose to 514.1 million euros, up 6.2%. With the same consolidation scope, this would have amounted to 6.5%.

At the end of the first six months, the turnover of Damart, the Group's textile branch, amounted to 264.3 million euros, an increase of 13.5%.
Sales in France rose by 17.6%. The 10.6% increase in growth in other countries (based on the same consolidation scope) was hampered by the sluggishness of the Japanese market. England and Belgium, on the other hand, made good progress.

The turnover figure for Somfy International at the end of the first six months amounted to 221.2 million euros, an increase of 2.4%. France continued to progress while the figure for Germany, due to the economic climate, was down by 3.7% and a slowdown was observed in the United States.

Other Activities (28.5 million euros) fell by 18.5% for the six months as a whole, in view of the sale of Brevidex as of 30 November; with the same consolidation scope, the decrease in business would have amounted to 6%.
Using comparable data, Brevidex was down by 10%, whereas Devianne figures were slightly up.

Results Prior to auditing and examination by the Supervisory Board, the Group is forecasting an operating profit, after dividend from interests, in the region of 42 million euros, reflecting an 18% increase over the previous year.

The various measures taken by Somfy, despite the effect of the economic situation on business, enabled an increase in operating profit to be achieved in line with the turnover figure.

For the Damart business activity, a successful autumn/winter season enabled an operating profit of around 7 million euros to be achieved which, in view of the seasonal effect, would allow a return to an operating breakeven point to be anticipated for the current financial year, despite a slowdown in growth expected for the 2nd six months of the year.

Net profit is expected to increase by around 10%.

25 February 2002

<< Back