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Press briefing on annual results

Sixth record year in succession / international turnover reaches 40% mark / capital expenditure climbs to over € 80 million

Cologne/Düsseldorf, April 24, 2008. TÜV Rheinland today presented record results for the sixth year in succession with the 2007 accounts. The company exhibits improvements in all major areas of economic data. Turnover, results and employee numbers have reached the highest level in the company’s history.

President and CEO Prof. Bruno O. Braun said: "We have achieved our goal of growing dynamically both nationally and internationally. We create global growth which is high quality and secure."

The figures

TÜV Rheinland turnover rose by 9.1% to € 984.4 million in 2007. This represents 55% growth since 2002. Pre-tax profits increased by 15.4% to € 59.2 million.

According to Prof. Bruno O. Braun, the ratio between growth arising from the company’s organic strength to acquisitions is an important indicator for growth momentum. At TÜV Rheinland, two thirds of the increased turnover came from organic growth, i.e. growth arising from the company’s own strength.

The profit margin on sales increased from 5.7% in 2006 to its current level of 6%. Net profit came to € 35.1 million, representing a 20% increase. Equity now comes to almost € 140 million.

More jobs through growth

A group such as TÜV Rheinland, whose lifeblood is providing services, needs highly qualified employees. An increase in turnover goes hand in hand with the creation of new jobs. Employee numbers increased year-on-year by 1,735 across the world in 2007. The total number of employees in 2007 averaged 12,085.

President and CEO Prof. Bruno O. Braun: "The trend towards creating new jobs thanks to increased turnover shows no sign of abating. We currently employ more than 12,500 people in the Group."

TÜV Rheinland is the leading international provider of test services in Germany, with 360 locations worldwide in 62 countries on all five continents. Turnover generated outside Germany in 2007 accounted for 40% of overall consolidated turnover.

Germany

Within Germany, turnover increased to € 598 million in 2007. And the number of employees in Germany increased by 382.

Headquartered in Nuremberg, TÜV Rheinland LGA is the global market leader in toy and furniture testing, and has been fully owned by the Group since last year. With turnover of € 56.9 million (representing 13% increase), this subsidiary achieved a profit of € 2.9 million in 2007. This represents an increase of more than 30% on 2006. Employee numbers increased to 655 – this means more than 50 new jobs in Nuremberg.

Outside Germany

The TÜV Rheinland Group generated turnover of € 386 million outside Germany in 2007. This represents growth of 16%. Ongoing internationalization of the Group is also reflected in the trend shown by employee numbers. In 2007, 6,078 people were employed by TÜV Rheinland outside Germany. This is the first time that the Group has more employees outside Germany than within Germany.

Capital expenditure for growth

2007 was a year of investments for us, both on fixed assets as well as the acquisition of companies. Investments increased from € 66.1 million in 2006 to € 81.2 million in 2007.

The most significant acquisition of last year was made outside Germany with the purchase of Ductor SA. The company is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and has a workforce of 700 people, mostly engineers. As a result of the acquisition, TÜV Rheinland do Brasil is now the second largest testing institution in Brazil with 900 employees.

Capital expenditure focused on expanding laboratory capacities in the Group’s headquarters in Cologne, as well as in India, Osaka, Shanghai and Vietnam. A new laboratory was opened in Yokohama to allow the testing of photovoltaic modules. Additional facilities will follow this year in China because China is the largest growth market for manufacturing solar modules.

Speaking of the site in Cologne, Prof. Bruno O. Braun said: "In Cologne, we are currently building a completely new test laboratory for solar modules because the existing capacities are no longer sufficient. We will invest € 3 million there by the end of 2008. In total, we are investing more than € 12 million in Cologne this year and last year, mostly in new laboratories and test facilities."

Human experts

TÜV Rheinland is also investing in HR and the expertise of its employees. Every one of the Group’s 12,500 employees received at least one day of training in 2007. And around 3,000 employees successfully completed an English course last year.

Improving the career-related skills and qualifications of its employees throughout their working life is of growing importance for TÜV Rheinland for two reasons:

1. In light of the demographic change, more and more employees are expected to offer a top-class performance for longer and longer in our company.

2. Germany must manage its affairs with a growing decline in skilled labor. Full employment is now the rule, especially for engineers. The lack of skilled labor, particularly in the engineering sector, has made it difficult to find suitable people for open positions, even for TÜV Rheinland. At present, there are around 230 open positions across the world, 40 of which are for German specialists who are to work abroad.

This capital expenditure pays off. In 2008, TÜV Rheinland is one of the 88 companies to receive, and be permitted to display, the award of Top Employer in Germany. This is the first time the company received this award.

Prof. Bruno O. Braun: "In the future, the change to a knowledge society will require knowledge-based companies such as TÜV Rheinland, which can offer their services across the globe. As a result, we consider ourselves to be very well equipped for the challenges of the future."

Global Compact

TÜV Rheinland is a very good example of how globalization and growth outside one’s country of origin can create new jobs in one’s home country. For every three new jobs outside Germany, one new job is created in Germany, and vice versa.

The mission statement sees TÜV Rheinland as a company to develop sustainable safety and quality in the triangle of conflicting priorities between humans, technology and the environment. This approach is both a claim we make and an obligation we set ourselves.

In order to translate this approach and the significance of the Global Compact into concrete terms in the day-to-day running of our company, a corporate policy for values and responsibility was agreed on in 2007. At the same time, the employees were given introductions to, and further training courses about the principles behind the Global Compact. In October, the TÜV Rheinland Global Compact Award will be awarded for the first time. Worth € 25,000, this prize honors outstanding personalities who promote and support the Global Compact and its goals on a sustainable basis.

Business Streams

TÜV Rheinland offers around 2,500 services in six Business Streams across the globe.

In Germany, the TÜV Rheinland Group opened new branches in Hamburg and Munich in 2007, followed by a new TÜV Rheinland company in Stuttgart two weeks ago. A major reason behind opening new sites is the fact that the last stage of liberalization of services for testing elevators as well as steam boilers and pressure vessels in Germany has now been reached. The testing of elevators, steam boilers and pressure vessels is a service performed by the largest Business Stream, Industrial Services. This Stream generated turnover of € 273 million in 2007.

The TÜV Rheinland Group generated turnover of € 263.8 million in the Mobility Business Stream in 2007.

With around 4 million inspections each year, the mobile and stationary Vehicle Inspection Business Fields providing general and exhaust gas inspections are a major core area of expertise for TÜV Rheinland. In addition to around 2 million inspections in Germany, the TÜV Rheinland experts perform just as many inspections on cars in Spain, France, Chile, Argentina and Latvia. More than € 7 million were invested in new service stations last year. The experts on guided transport systems in the Mobility Business Stream have been successfully incorporated into major international projects for many years now. The most recent project: In Dubai, our experts are acting as consultants to the government on the creation of new railway laws.

The Products Business Stream is the one with the most international focus. Of the € 223.7 million turnover in 2007, two thirds were generated outside Germany, particularly in Asia. In Asia, TÜV Rheinland now employs 2,500 people who work for product safety, sustainability and quality. In addition to that, they are monitoring production processes and compliance with social standards.

The expertise of the TÜV Rheinland specialists is now in demand both from the German as well as the Chinese and US governments.

TÜV Rheinland maintains 40 test laboratories in Asia, as well as large test centers in Germany. Europe’s largest test facilities for toys and furniture are operated by TÜV Rheinland LGA in Nuremberg. The company invested an eight-figure sum in creating and expanding test capacities for products in 2007 across the globe.

The Life Care Business Stream achieved turnover of € 54.6 million in 2007 with health and health care services for human beings. The occupational medicine service and health management forms one of the core areas of expertise in this Business Stream of the company. As the third-largest supplier for occupational and health protection in Germany, we have over 140 medical specialists for occupational medicine, as well as company physicians who also provide service to DAX-30 companies and international groups.

The Education and Consulting Business Stream also performed positively in 2007, achieving turnover of € 114.2 million. With its academy in Germany, TÜV Rheinland is currently the second-largest private provider of training programs, and trains around 30,000 skilled specialists and managers every year.

The assignments of this Business Stream also include project management and controlling in implementing research and development projects from public clients.

The Systems Business Stream achieved turnover of € 106.7 million with the certification of management systems and information security services in 2007. More than 1,000 auditors now work in 62 countries in this area for TÜV Rheinland and have performed over 30,000 certifications in the past ten years.

Customized to the needs of the industry in question, the auditors more and more frequently perform certifications on the basis of specially developed standards. Examples of this include different standards for service quality in the tourism industry, for the quality of consultancy services offered by financial institutes or the certification of quality of life in residential developments.

These standards are based on well-known international standards, but beyond such standards in some cases.