Capital Market Day: Fresenius Helios and Fresenius Vamed poised for continued growth

• Fresenius Helios reiterates sales target of € 2.3 billion for 2010
• Fresenius Vamed sees mid-term annual organic sales growth of 5 – 10 %

Bad Homburg. Fresenius Helios and Fresenius Vamed are in an excellent position for further sales and earnings growth despite an ongoing global economic downturn. Fresenius Helios and Fresenius Vamed, business segments of Fresenius SE, are hosting their first Capital Market Day in Berlin today to inform investors and analysts about strategies, growth opportunities and business activities. Fresenius Helios and Fresenius Vamed were created as new business segments in early 2008 from previous business segment Fresenius ProServe. The new organizational structure set the stage for the focused expansion of the two business segments and underlines the growing importance of the hospital market for the Fresenius Group. Fresenius Helios is one of Germany's three biggest hospital operators. Fresenius Vamed is a global leader in engineering and services for hospitals and other health care facilities.

Fresenius Helios and Fresenius Vamed expect further profitable growth despite the current global economic decline. The business segments operate in a mostly non-cyclical sector, where demand for high-quality and efficient medical care is growing, driven by demographic changes in developing and emerging countries. Fresenius Helios sees very good growth opportunities in the German hospital market and reiterates its sales target of € 2.3 billion in 2010. Fresenius Vamed expects to achieve organic sales growth of 5 – 10 % p.a. in the mid-term. In the first nine months of 2008, sales increased by 24 % to € 290 million mainly driven by the project business.

"We are very satisfied with the financial results and the growth perspectives of Fresenius Helios and Fresenius Vamed," says Ulf Mark Schneider, Chairman of the Management Board of Fresenius SE. "Both companies raised their 2008 financial targets. This confirms that their proven business models are prevailing during this difficult economic climate. Both are quality leaders in the market and offer excellence in healthcare and medicine."

Fresenius Helios
HELIOS operates 57 clinics, including five maximum care hospitals. Fifty-six are in Germany and one is in Switzerland. HELIOS treats about 550,000 inpatients annually and operates about 17,300 beds. In the first nine months of 2008, sales increased by 16 % to € 1.568 billion and EBIT grew by 15 % to € 127 million.

"The hospital market offers good growth prospects for the future," says Dr. Francesco De Meo, CEO of business segment Fresenius Helios. "Presently we see several privatization projects, and we will participate where we see a good strategic fit. In our negotiations with previous hospital owners, we have learned that our commitment to the highest medical quality and transparency helps us win projects."

HELIOS remains on track for its five-year goal, announced in 2005, to acquire € 800 million of hospital revenues between 2006 and 2010. At about € 450 million currently, the company firmly expects to reach that goal and to meet its sales target of € 2.3 billion in 2010.

HELIOS' business model is primarily based on growth through acquisitions and restructuring of acquired hospitals. HELIOS improves the acquired hospitals' profitability by improving operations and medical performance along with cost savings and investment in infrastructure and provides medical care of the highest quality. According to HELIOS' restructuring plan, hospitals are expected to achieve an EBITDA margin of 15 % within five years following acquisition.


Fresenius Vamed
Founded in 1982, VAMED has completed about 450 projects in 47 countries and is a global leader in providing planning, construction and management of complex health care facilities.

VAMED generates around 60 percent of its sales from its project business, which includes consulting, project development, project management and construction. About 40 % of sales are generated from the service business, which includes maintenance, technical, commercial and infrastructure services for health care facilities as well as operating these facilities in certain markets. VAMED offers a complete value chain to support hospitals efficiently and successfully at each level of their life cycle.

"We are well positioned to meet our targets this year," says Dr. Ernst Wastler, CEO of business segment Fresenius Vamed. "Order intake developed strongly and we see good opportunities for continued growth, strengthened by our integrated approach as contracts in our project business lead to contracts in our service business and vice versa."

VAMED is active in Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and is successful in established and emerging markets. In established markets, medical facilities face challenges to increase their efficiency. VAMED offers them competitive hospital management, new technologies, outsourcing of technical, commercial and infrastructural services and public-private-partnerships. The company helps hospitals in established markets to concentrate on their core competency, the care of patients. In emerging markets, VAMED offers comprehensive know-how for the development of healthcare infrastructure, planning and construction of hospitals and a complete range of services, including total management.

In the first nine months of 2008, Fresenius Helios and Fresenius Vamed contributed 21 % to sales and 22 % to earnings after tax of Fresenius Group.

Fresenius will hold a live webcast of its Capital Market Day starting 8.30 a.m. today. The webcast is available at www.fresenius.com / investor relations / presentations. A replay will be available shortly after the event finishes.