Datalogic Board of Directors Approves First-Half Interim Report as of June 30th 2004

Consolidated revenues of 68.6 million (mn), up by some 6% in the same period of the previous year (1H03) ( 64.7 mn as of 30.06.2003). EBITDA of 12.1 mn (+14.8% vs. 10.6 mn in 1H03), with a 17.7% margin on revenues. EBIT of 6.7 mn (+18.9% vs. 5.7 mn as of 30.06.03), with a 9.8% margin on revenues, and Pre-Tax Profit of 7.5 mn, up by +56% from 4.8 mn in 1H03.

These, in summary, are the key consolidated results of the first half of 2004 approved today by the Board of Directors of Datalogic S.p.A.

Good sales performance and the substantial growth of all profit results are ascribable to the positive development of the business both abroad and in Italy, where growth was particularly buoyant thanks to the investments made.

RFID readers continue to offer interesting growth opportunities both in traditional sectors (Ford, General Motors, Seagate are Datalogic's major customers) as well as in the emerging sectors of integrated logistics (DHL, Brussels Airport).

As regards individual product lines, there was growth to 57.98 mn of sales revenues for optical readers (+6% vs. 1H03) and services (+39% YoY).

In terms of sales breakdown by geographical area, growth was particularly significant in the European market (+11%), primarily driven by the positive trend in Italy (+23%), Germany (+11%), and in the UK (+10%).

The net financial position as of June 30th 2004 was positive by 44.98 mn, showing improvement versus the figure of 39.55 mn as of December 31st 2003.