EOW May 2007

english corporate news

Prysmian’s Venezuela contract Prysmian Telecom Cables & Systems has secured a contract to supply more than 2,000km of Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) cable to Venezuela. The contract was signed at the end of last year between Prysmian Telecomunicacoes Cabos e Sistemas, Brazil, and the leading Chinese company, Zhongxing Telecom Equipment Company Limited (ZTE), who will install the cables on the high voltage (up to 400kV) network of CADAFE, the Venezuelan state electrical utility. OPGW cable forms an integral part of an overhead electricity network, performing both the primary function of a conventional earth conductor together with the provision of a state-of-the- art communications link – thanks to the optical fibres contained within and the cable supplied in this contract will form the first part of a major national telecoms network providing a full range of broadband and internet services to CADAFE customers. A total of 2,260km of OPGW is to be supplied in this first phase with the cable containing a combination of 24 and 48 singlemode optical fibres.

Production of cables for the project will be focused on the Prysmian facility at Sorocaba in Brazil. Prysmian also manufactures OPGW at factories in Spain and China. Since production of OPGW started in 1984 Prysmian has supplied more than 100,000km of cable, all based upon the highly reliable aluminium tube technology, in more than 60 countries. The optical fibres used within the cables will be produced at Prysmian’s facility in Battipaglia, Italy. First deliveries were due to be made before the end of January and the full quantity will be supplied by mid-2007 with the overall project continuing into next year. Prysmian Telecom Cables & Systems – Italy Email : info@prysmian.com Website : www.prysmian.com

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l Record year for DSM

Despite announcing record sales and operating profits from 2006, DSM has warned that operating profit in 2007 is likely to be lower. The Dutch company saw an operating profit of €835m – 6% higher than in 2005. Net profit also rose 4% to €547m. At €186m, the operating profit from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of 2006 was €6 million, 3% higher than in the same quarter in 2005. Net profit amounted to €89m, down 21% from the fourth quarter of 2005. Peter Elverding, Chairman of the DSM Managing Board, said: “In 2006 we launched more than 25 new products and applications. We also started several investment projects, especially in performance materials, which will contribute to sales growth in the near future. “We increased our presence in emerging economies; our sales, investments and workforces in these regions grew strongly, especially in China. We made important additional steps towards operational excellence and fixed costs increased only slightly. “All this happened in a business context that was not unambiguously positive. Economic growth developed very satisfactorily, but raw-material and energy prices reached unprecedented levels and were highly volatile, while the US dollar remained weak. Nevertheless, we succeeded in posting a record operating profit for the second year in a row. This was mainly due to solid volume growth (5%) and the ongoing efforts to optimise our operations.” Royal DSM NV – Netherlands Fax : +31 45 571 97 53 Email : info@dsm.com Website : www.dsm.com

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EuroWire – May 2007