- Group turnover increased by 16% to 807.6 million Euro (previous
year 695.3 million Euro)
- Restructuring in the first half year affected the group's Earnings
before tax
- Growth in turnover and profit performance of core business areas

Essen, 17 December 2008: The turnover of the GFKL group increased by
16% to 807.6 million Euro in the first three quarters of the current
financial year compared to the previous year (695.3 million Euro in
the previous year). Because of one-off effects in the first-half year
the Earnings before tax of the entire GFKL group fell by 28% to 15.8
million Euro (22.1 million Euro in the previous year). These effects
essentially resulted from restructuring. In future GFKL will be
focussing on the core business segments of Receivables Management
(Collection/Factoring) and Software.

More than 1,300 employees are currently involved in these two
segments. Servicing receivables worth over 20 billion Euro, GFKL is
already one of Germany's leading collection service providers.

Turnover in the Collection segment increased in the first three
quarters by 29% to 101.9 million Euro (79.2 million Euro in the
previous year). Earnings before tax in this segment increased by 24%
from 17.4 million Euro in the previous year to 21.6 million Euro.
Current shifts in the financial markets simultaneously offer
specialists such as GFKL particular growth opportunities in
receivables management for banks and insurance companies, GFKL's key
client base.

In the Software segment turnover increased from 20.4 million Euro to
27.5 million Euro. Earnings before tax increased by 20% to 5.5
million Euro. In this sector GFKL offers modern software solutions
for the full spectrum of the credit processes used by banks, as well
insurance value chain software solutions, complemented by solutions
for automated action for defaults by industrial concerns and the
public sector.

On 30 September 2008, the GFKL group showed total assets of 1,341,539
million Euro (1,187,528 million Euro in the previous year). With an
equity of 133.6 million Euro for the group (160.7 million Euro in the
previous year), this has resulted in an equity ratio of 10% (13.5% in
the previous year).

Within the framework of its strategic new market position, GFKL is
planning a step by step separation of its Credit business segment and
the sale of its Systems parts. The situation regarding refinancing
has deteriorated to such an extent that the viability of GFKL's
leasing business, as well as the security for its refinancing, is
being adversely affected on the long term. Furthermore, leasing has
become a liability because of the high strain placed on it because of
the need for results regarding the group's equity capital.

The previously announced sale of the loss-generating leasing business
in Spain has already been concluded. GFKL's Spanish subsidiary,
Universal Lease Iberia with 100 employees on location in Seville and
with a fleet of around 15,000 vehicles was sold to ING Car Lease
Spain.

The leasing portfolio of the German subsidiary Universal Leasing GmbH
will be scaled down in the next few years. GFKL will not generate new
origination of leasing business. One section of the leasing
activities (Southern Region) is being discussed with a potential
interested party. The leasing activities in the Northern and Eastern
Regions have already been suspended. These will be suspended in the
Western Region by the end of the year. The action GFKL is taking is
in response to the decline in refinancing opportunities on the
capital markets.

GFKL Financial Services AG, Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Peter
Jänsch's comments in response to the divestment in the Systems
business already announced at the end of the first half year: "With
ADA we substantiated the acquisition thereof for GFKL in that we want
to provide big companies with one-stop solutions in the area of IT
hardware. In the current capital market situation, large contracts in
the areas of leasing, service and recovery value guarantee shares can
no longer be adequately refinanced."

The Executive Board has decided that necessary corrections with
regard to restructuring should be executed this year to avoid
burdening success of the business over a longer period. After the
successful separation from the leasing sector, GFKL expects to halve
its total assets and achieve an equity ratio of more than 20%.

From a present day perspective, a precise prediction for the group's
annual results is not possible. For 2008 as a whole, GFKL is expected
to have an extremely positive operational result in the Receivables
Management and Software core business segments.

About GFKL Financial Services AG
GFKL is a modern financial service provider with the divisions
Receivables Management and Software. In the Receivables Management
division GFKL offers collection and factoring services. The
Collection expertise ranges from the trust management of commercial
and credit receivables through to evaluating, taking over and
handling personal loans and mortgages. Servicing receivables worth
over 20 billion euro, GFKL is one of Germany's leading collection
service providers. In the area of technology, GFKL offers modern
software solutions for the entire bank lending process and all links
of the insurance value chain, rounded out with solutions for
automated collection procedures for industry and the public sector.

Press contact:
Katrin Schwarz
Head of Group Communication
and Investor Relations
Tel.: +49 (0)201/102-1192
Fax: +49 (0)201/102-1102-462
E-Mail: katrin.schwarz@gfkl.com
Internet: www.gfkl.com


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