Ladies and Gentlemen, dear Shareholders and Business Associates,

The past fiscal year was difficult but it was also successful. Difficult because demand in Germany dropped appreciably for the fifth year in succession. Successful because we managed to hold our own regardless of the trend in the construction industry. Despite the negative economic environment, we did more than merely match our higher earnings forecasts - we actually exceeded them. The increase in our share price during the first few months of the current business year also offers grounds for satisfaction. However, the current price fails to reflect the Company’s value by a wide margin. In the light of our performance and potential, there is still ample room for upward movement. We are working energetically to raise our share price to a considerably higher level.

The current fiscal year ushers in a new strategic focus for our Company. We aim to evolve our construction Company into a multi-service group for building and infrastructure. This will allow us to serve our customers with an even broader range of services and solutions, from preconsultations to project planning, realization and subsequent operation.

To prime ourselves for this objective, we implemented an extensive package of measures last year. First we completed the realignment of our operating business. We concentrated responsibility for our international activities within our International Division in Wiesbaden, organised our construction business in Germany by sections, expanded our range of services in the business area Real Estate Development and BOT and reorganised our activities in Environmental Services.

New instruments are being used for the remuneration of our executive staff. Agreed targets and the share option programme give incentive to contribute to the Company’s development and align their own commitment closely with the growth of the Company’s corporate value.

We are systematically building on our strong position in selected international markets. The quota of business done abroad rose last year once again. A Taiwan order worth billions reaffirms our performance power in the traffic infrastructure sector. Especially abroad, our all-inclusive, expert approach in carrying out complex projects is already an important success factor. Besides actual construction, aspects such as planning, financing, putting into operation and running a project after completion are of increasing importance. Thanks to our ability to take total project leadership, we need not compete in the narrow-margin commodity construction market.

In order to create a range of services that make a steady contribution to earnings over the long term, we are intensively concerned with concession projects both in Germany and abroad. This commitment paid off last year. We succeeded in getting a foothold in the attractive British market. In Germany,we can point to pioneering projects - the British Embassy in Berlin and the Trave crossing in Lübeck. We are convinced that the huge backlog of projects to be carried out by the German public sector at the federal, regional and municipal levels can only be pared with the help of private investment. To this end,we take advantage of every opportunity to convince governments of the viability of such concepts. As a leader in this field in Germany, we want to make an active contribution to the development of this market.