May 14, 2010. /Lesprom Network/. Homag Group's 1Q sales revenue, order intake and earnings continued to improve, particularly with regard to the same quarter in the prior year, which was admittedly very poor. Sales revenue increase to Euro 165 million in the first three months of 2010, compared to Euro 119 million in 1Q 2009, company said in a statement received by Lesprom Network. Order intake even more than doubled to Euro 166 million (prior year: Euro 75 million), its highest value since the second quarter of 2008. The order backlog came to Euro 201 million as of March 31, 2010 (prior year: Euro 144 million). "Although we have not yet returned to the level of order volume seen at peak times, we are very happy with our start to the year,” stresses CEO Rolf Knoll. However, he does not want to attribute this solely to the strong gains made compared to the first three months of 2009. "What is most important for us is that our customers' willingness to invest has continued to grow, and that we are currently getting a positive response to and high demand for our products at trade fairs,” says Knoll. As was the case in the last quarter of 2009, Homag Group’s results remained positive in the 1Q 2010 despite considerable pressure on prices. EBITDA before the negligible extraordinary expense of Euro 0.3 million for restructuring measures/non-recurring effects, and before the result from employee participation, amounts to Euro 12.7 million (prior year: Euro -3.7 million), while EBT on the same basis comes to Euro 3.6 million (prior year: Euro -12.6 million). The net profit for the period after minority interests improved to Euro 1.2 million (prior year: Euro -11.1 million), and leads to earnings per share of Euro 0.08 (prior year: Euro -0.70). In addition to the resurgence of revenue, CFO Andreas Hermann attributes significantly improved earnings figures to a strong reduction in the cost base in particular. "Our comprehensive restructuring measures have ensured that we are very well placed for the current order volume with reduced capacities.” The management board has confirmed its previous forecast for 2010. This states that sales revenue and total operating performance should increase by at least 15% to over Euro 600 million.