Maybe they are waiting until after the CS ships

No information date yet from the Marklin Directors.

What is Umsatz: and what is Bilanzsumme: ? What do these words mean ?

These are the 2004 numbers. Dont they post the 2005 numbers like other companies do about this time of year?

2005 results not yet until later 2006.

Ok - I understand somewhat more. Being a business owner and having run some companies in the past with up to 150 people my experience tells me the trend of the numbers could be a cause for concern esp since I read somwhere that the vulture capitalists are circling in the sky :).

It is always troublesome for a company to loose 10% of its revenues. Unless they managed to cut costs (which only can be done to a certain extent) the earnings could theoretically still be ok. Does anyone know if they are making or loosing money?

The trouble is that costcutting always pays off a bit later and many conservative companys usually starts with costcuttings too late. If the trend hasnt changed during 2005 - I would expect the managment team to be changed pretty soon as a minimum.

It is clear that they cut down on investments and that is ok for some "tough years" but if it is consistant year by year it probably means worse problems further ahead.

What I found the most troubling fact they reveal is that the exports relatively declined compared to 2003. Normally this doesnt mean a thing but in this case - with a very slow economy in Germany where everything is almost standing still regarding domestic demand - that is a major problem according to me. The export part should have gone up relatively even if the sales in actual numbers abroad was the same or even slightly less in respect of the local german economy.

Please bear in mind - the only thing that runs well in Germany right now are the exporting companies that does very very well.

If Märklins exports relatively got lesser - then that probably means serious problem with the timing and launching of products.

It will be intersting to see the 2005 numbers.

Cheers