BALLERUP, DENMARK -- 28th March 2001 -- With a 30% increase in turnover and a positive result before financial items for the year 2000, the Danish prepress company Purup-Eskofot is once again back in the black. "The growth we've experienced at Purup-Eskofot has definitely lived up to our expectations for the year 2000," says William Schulin-Zeuthen, President and CEO of Purup-Eskofot. "It has been an excellent year in every way. The turnaround process we started in 1999 has been very successful -- but the figures speak for themselves. Our turnover has increased by DKK 200 million from DKK 679 million in 1999 to DKK 884 million in 2000. We regard these results as a significant endorsement from the industry and our customers that Purup-Eskofot has developed some of the most productive digital products on the market -- products that give them real competitive advantages." "The results were not only achieved during 2000," continues Schulin-Zeuthen. "In 1999 we had already begun the process of reorganizing Purup-Eskofot in order to increase our focus on customers and their need for digital prepress products which increase prepress workflow productivity." As a result of its strategy to bring the company into profitability, Purup-Eskofot has reorganized its entire Danish organization and hired new management teams in its German, UK and US subsidiaries, and in the Scandinavia and Distributors sales divisions in Ballerup, Denmark. "These results are also an expression of the clear focus and targeted efforts of the new organization and of all our personnel in sales, marketing, development, production and service during the last couple of years," continues Schulin-Zeuthan. One of the most important milestones for Purup-Eskofot during 2000 was that turnover for computer to plate (CTP) products made up more than 50% of the year's turnover. During the period Purup-Eskofot produced a record-level 2,000 plus CTP systems, including polyester machines. This level of production will enable the company to reduce the cost of its products in the future, thanks to the economy of scale achieved by the increased volume of sales. Another significant milestone in 2000 was that the Danish company grew to become the world's second largest supplier of CTP solutions to the newspaper market. In addition, Purup-Eskofot became the best-selling supplier of newspaper-CTP systems in the US in 2000. Sales at Drupa 2000 also added significantly to the company's excellent result.