Nov 19, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. Although the figures returned by Homag Group AG in the 3Q 2008 did not quite match the very good prior-year level of their record year 2007, the key indicator profit after tax was considerably higher, the company said. The company saw sales revenue decrease slightly to Euro 211 million between July and September (prior year: Euro 221 million). Total operating performance stood at Euro 210 million (prior year: Euro 223 million). In the 3Q 2008, the order intake dropped to Euro 140 million (prior year: Euro 158 million). The CFO Andreas Hermann attributes the earnings of the 3Q to various factors. The drop in total operating performance, in conjunction with the percentage-of-completion method used, led to a cut-off related drop in income of around Euro 2.5 million. Own work capitalized also dropped compared to the comparable prior-year period by Euro 0.7 million and higher raw materials prices also burdened earnings by Euro 1.1 million. Due to the lower tax rate and in this case the inclusion of the IPO expenses in the prior year, the net profit for the period before minority interests increased 16 percent to Euro 10.2 million (prior year: Euro 8.8 million) and after minority interests by 19% to Euro 9.9 million (prior year: Euro 8.3 million). This results in earnings per share of Euro 0.63 (prior year: Euro 0.53). The headcount of the Homag Group at the end of 3Q 2008 rose compared to September 30, 2007 from 5,056 tod 5,404, thus at a somewhat slower rate compared to the growth in sales revenue. Group sales revenue in the first nine months of 2008 increased by 9 % to Euro 661 million (prior year: Euro 607 million) and total operating performance rose to Euro 687 million (prior year: Euro 638 million). At Euro 541 million, the accumulated order intake of the first three quarters remains unchanged on a high level compared to Euro 605 million in 2007 and Euro 499 million in the more comparable last "non-LIGNA year” 2006.