Wuppertal, 21 July 2011 – Today’s Annual General Meeting of the SDAX listed investment holding company GESCO AG resolved to considerably increase the dividend by 54 % to € 2.00 per share (previous year: € 1.30 per share). In financial year 2010/2011, which ended on 31 March 2011, GESCO Group recorded a steep rise in incoming orders, sales and earnings.

The Executive Board was also optimistic about the new financial year 2011/2012 (1 April 2011 – 31 March 2012) and appeared very confident of achieving its plan figures announced at the accounts press conference on 7 June. The company’s target was to increase sales by around 16 % to € 390 million and achieve above-average earnings growth of approximately 25 % to € 19 million, corresponding to earnings per share of € 6.29 pursuant to IFRS.

In addition to the usual proposals, the Annual General Meeting approved changing the company’s bearer shares to registered shares.