• Consolidated sales up 8.3%
• Consolidated net profit increase of 21.5%
• Dividend per share increase to €1.35 planned

Cologne, 6 November 2008 – OVB Holding AG recorded sales (total sales commis-sion) of €194.6 million in the first 9 months of 2008. This amount is 8.3% or €14.9 million above the figure for the corresponding period of the previous year (€179.7 million). Michael Frahnert, Chairman of the Executive Board of OVB Holding AG, emphasised that “OVB is and remains a growth company – even in difficult times”.

OVB’s decisive advantage is its broad-based international presence. Of all regions, Central and Eastern Europe again delivered the strongest contribution to sales in the first nine months of the fiscal year, with an increase of 20.4% or €15.9 million to €94.1 million (€78.2 million). In Southern and Western Europe, sales increased by 7.1% to €39.6 million year-on-year (€37.0 million) between January and Sep-tember 2008.

In Germany, sales remained below the level of the corresponding period of the previous year at €60.9 million. Uncertainty about future economic development caused customer restraint in respect to new long-term investments – even with regards to investment in their own retirement plans. Michael Frahnert appeared convinced saying, “We think that this status will be of a temporary nature”.

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) remained unchanged to the previous year at €22.3 million. This was mainly due to the targeted strengthening of human re-sources in areas dealing with sales, the opening of new offices and the expansion of sales services. Michael Frahnert summarises OVB’s long-term oriented strategy, “We are maintaining steady growth, investing in strengthening our sales, there-fore benefiting from the next upturn in the market”. Despite expenditure to ad-vance growth, the consolidated EBIT margin remained at the acceptable level of 11.5% (previous year: 12.4%) for the first 9 months of 2008.

Net profit for the first nine months of 2008 was up 21.5% year-on-year or €3.4 million to €19.2 million. Basic earnings per share increased to €1.35 compared to €1.11 in the first nine months of 2007.

The number of customers increased again. Between January and September 2008, OVB gained 102,900 new customers across Europe; within the year there were 175,800. By the end of the reporting period, OVB’s customer portfolio consisted of 2.71 million customers across the whole of Europe.

The number of full-time advisors has been expanded by 457 or 10.1% to 4,966 since the balance sheet date of the previous year.

OVB believes its annual sales and earnings forecasts to be confirmed by the good progress of the first nine months. With at least a double-digit growth in sales and earnings, the company wants to continue on its path of growth. Against the back-drop of this good progress, the Executive Board will propose to the Supervisory Board that the dividend be increased to €1.35 per share.

About OVB Group
OVB Group, with its holding company headquartered in Cologne, is one of the lead-ing European financial sales organisations. Since the formation of OVB Ver-mögensberatung AG in Germany in 1970, customer-oriented consulting for private households in the areas of insurance coverage, asset building and appreciation, pension provision and real estate acquisition have formed the focus of OVB’s busi-ness activities. OVB currently advises more than 2.7 million customers across Europe, working in cooperation with over 100 renowned product partners. OVB is presently active in 14 countries, with some 4,900 full-time financial consultants working for the Group. In 2007, OVB Holding AG – which has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Prime Standard) since July 2006 – and its subsidiaries generated total sales commission of €246.2 million and EBIT of €29.0 million.