AVT publishes financial results for the first quarter of the year 2000 / Revenues almost doubled compared to the first quarter of 1999 - Company on continuous r

Hod-Hasharon/Israel (PROTEXT) - Israel's Advanced VisionTechnology (AVT) (WKN 931 340), the leading provider throughoutthe world of machine vision-based automatic optical inspectionsystems for the printing industry announces today its financialresults for the first quarter of the year 2000. During the first quarter of 2000, AVT continued to recordrapid growth. Revenues almost doubled compared to the firstquarter of 1999 and the gross profit margin ratio reached 60percent versus 52 percent in the comparable quarter in 1999. AVTregistered a modest operating profit in Q1 2000 versus a loss ofmore than $500,000 in Q1, 1999. This improvement in the financialresults is due to the growing success of the marketing efforts toestablish machine vision- based automatic optical inspection(AOI) as the standard for process and quality control in thepackaging segment of the printing industry. Most notably AVT`sactivities in the North American market have grown significantly,contributing more than 50% of the revenues in the first quarter. Revenues Total revenues increased 94.7% from $1,612 thousand on thefirst quarter of 1999 to $3,139 thousand on the first quarter of2000. This increase was attributed primarily to the expansion ofthe direct sales activities in North America and Mexico. Research and Development Research and development expenses increased 22.9% to $504thousand on the first quarter of 2000. This increase wasprimarily attributable to recruitment of new employees andexpansion of the R&D activities. Operating Income The company had moved from an operating loss of $504 thousandon Q1 1999 to an operating income of $47 thousand on the firstquarter of 2000. In addition, for the first time the company`soperating activities were cash positive, as $76 thousand wereprovided to the company from operating activities. AVT is moving forward. It has initiated marketing efforts topenetrate Southeast Asia, and the company is set to address newsegments in the printing industry. Today, as this release isbeing published, AVT is participating in the DRUPA exhibition inDuesseldorf, Germany (May 18-31). This exhibition is held onceevery five years, and is considered to be the largest and mostimportant exhibition for the printing industry. During this tradeshow, AVT is launching a number of new products to strengthen itsposition in the packaging printing market segment, and topenetrate the commercial web offset printing market. "We areoffering our customers a broader choice of solutions and,simultaneously, entering a new market segment, the Commercial WebOffset printing for quality publications, catalogues and directmarketing. Our new solutions, backed by the proven record of ourestablished market offerings, will enable us to pursue ouraggressive marketing strategy and a path of continued rapidgrowth", says Shlomo Amir, President and CEO of AVT. The company looks back on a very successful IPO on theFrankfurt Neuer Markt that took place on February 28th this year.AVT intends to use these resources to confirm its leadership inthe printing industry; finance its rapid growth; expand itsmarketing activities to new regions such as Southeast Asia andLatin America; and develop new vision-based products for theprinting industry. "We will also look for new opportunities inother market segments, where we can leverage our proprietarymachine vision technology", says Shlomo Amir. For further informations about AVT and its complete financialresults for Q1, visit our website www.avt-inc.com. ots OriginalText Service: Advanced Vision Technology Ltd. Internet:http://recherche.newsaktuell.de Contact: Kirchhoff Consult AGBritta Cirkel Ahrensburger Weg 2 22359 Hamburg Tel.: ++49-(0)40-609 186 50 Fax: ++49-(0)40-609 186 71 e-mail:britta.cirkel@kirchhoff.de Advanced Vision Technology Ltd. 5Hanagar St. P.O.B. 7295 Ind. Zone Neve Ne`eman Hod - Hasharon45241 Israel Tel: + 972 9 761 4444 Fax: + 972 9 761 4555 e-mail:info@avt-inc.com http://www.avt-inc.com

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