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Press ReleaseRHÖN-KLINIKUM AG, Bad Neustadt a. d. Saale:- Results Press Conference in Frankfurt/Main -Continuity under new Group Management- Personnel changes in executive bodies- Excellent results in 2005Results for financial year 2005- Revenue and earnings forecast comfortably met- Revenue raised by 35.5% to approx. € 1.416 billion- Consolidated profit raised by 10.1% to € 88.3 million- 949,376 patient treatments in total (+ 58.6%)- 21,226 employees as at year-end 2005Forecast for the further course of 2006 ... and more- Market environment, Cartel Office decision and future prospects- Own forecast for 2006 confirmed with presentation of Q1 2006:- Revenue– barring further acquisitions – expected to reach € 1.9 billion- Earnings target of € 93 million will be reachedBad Neustadt a.d. Saale/Frankfurt am Main, 26 April 2006 ----- Today’sresults press conference of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG in Frankfurt am Main was ledfor the first time by Wolfgang Pföhler, chairman of the Board of Managementsince the last Annual General Meeting of the listed hospital groupheadquartered in the Rhön.By way of introduction Pföhler drew attention to the personnel changescarried out within the management over the past months: Eugen Münch,co-founder of the Company and its long-standing chairman of the Board ofManagement, stepped down with the conclusion of the 2005 Annual GeneralMeeting and since 1 September 2005 has held the position of chairman of theSupervisory Board. Mr. Caspar von Hauenschild has been leading a newSupervisory Board committee dealing with corporate integrity (the“Anti-Corruption Committee”). Established at the beginning of January 2006,this committee is to help ensure in future also – amid the Company’sbuoyant growth – transparency and responsible corporate management at alltimes.Manfred Wiehl, long-standing CFO of the Company, resigned his mandate onthe Board of Management effective 31 December 2005 and since February 2006has been serving as managing director of Universitätsklinikum Gießen undMarburg GmbH and at the same time as Divisional Head within the Group.Joachim Manz, who was responsible for Association Policy and the RegionalDivision of Brandenburg and Northern Germany, retired from the Board ofManagement on 31 December 2005 for age reasons but continues to act for theCompany in a consulting capacity. Heinz Falszewski, who had served asDeputy Member of the Board of Management responsible for Company and GroupHuman Resources and as Works Director, resigned from the Board ofManagement effective 1 April 2006 for personal reasons but still advisesthe Company in the areas mentioned as an independent contractor. On 1January 2006 Dr. Brunhilde Seidel-Kwem was appointed Deputy Member of theBoard of Management for Western and Northern Germany; on 1 January 2006Dietmar Pawlik was appointed Deputy Member of the Board of Management forFinancing, Investor Relations and Controlling. Andrea Aulkemeyer as well as Wolfgang Kunz were confirmed as members ofthe Board of Management for further five-year terms. Gerald Meder, DeputyChairman of the Board of Management, since February 2006 has also held theposition of chairman of the management board of Universitätsklinikum Gießenund Marburg GmbH.Excellent results in 2005“Financial year 2005 was extremely important for RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG”,emphasised Wolfgang Pföhler. “The privatisation of UniversitätsklinikGießen und Marburg GmbH is hitherto unique on the German hospital anduniversity landscape, serving as a beacon and model for the future. Thedecision by the Hesse State Government on 15 December 2005 to sellUniversitätsklinikum Gießen/Marburg to RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG marks yet anothermilestone in our Company’s development. With the acquisition ofUniversitätsklinikum Gießen und Marburg GmbH we have considerablystrengthened our access to cutting-edge maximum-care medicine as well as toscience and the innovation movers of the future.” At the same time thelargest takeover in the Company’s history – with a total of 2,262 beds andalmost 9,500 employees – represents a giant leap in growth. “With thisacquisition alone we have raised our revenues by around 30 per cent”,Pföhler said. The Company not only was aware of the “market” opportunitiescreated by the takeover but also saw the enormous efforts that would beinvolved in the integration of the university hospitals into the Group as a“complex management task”. “We will definitely be equal to this task”,Pföhler is convinced.In Dippoldiswalde/Saxony and in Stolzenau/Lower Saxony the Group’s firsttwo teleportal clinics opened their doors at the end of 2005. “These alsomark a milestone in the Company’s history”, Pföhler said. “Teleportal”means that a hospital serves as a point of access. The treatment concept isintegrated into a graduated system of basic and major/maximum caredelivery. This graduation means that patients are brought to where theyreceive competent, routine and optimum treatment. “Teleportal” means thatpatient-oriented processes are organised on a cross-facility basis, basedon the latest in telemedical applications. What is key here is the qualityof the initial diagnosis. All data on a patient’s condition are gathered inthe quality available at major hospitals. These data are then evaluatedtelemedically by specialists, regardless of where they work. The specialistmakes an immediate and qualified diagnosis, transmits the same to thedoctor at the teleportal clinic and recommends the actions to be taken. Akey role in this regard will be played by teleradiology. “Particularly inrural regions, this means that healthcare can be delivered close to wherepatients live who then have the certainty of knowing that at all times –especially in emergencies – specialists are at hand and a transfer to amajor centre is possible”, Pföhler explained.The establishment of medical care centres (MVZs) represents the nextlogical development of teleportal clinics: through an integrated andharmonised provision of services, healthcare providers who in the pastworked in isolation are now brought under the roof of a single highlyefficient unit. For setting up these facilities, various operator andco-operation models with doctors working as independent contractors orsalaried employees, respectively, can be contemplated. “We don’t just leaveour ideas on the drawing board as theoretical models: Already in 2005,three medical care centres in Bad Neustadt, Waltershausen/Friedrichroda aswell as in Bad Berka/Weimar came on stream. In 2006 a further five medicalcare centres were opened; we are planning to establish new ones at manymore sites”, Pföhler reported.Results for financial year 2005Helped by the first-time consolidation of the hospitals newly acquired in2005 (Dachau, Indersdorf, Erlenbach, Miltenberg, München-Pasing,München-Perlach, Hildesheim, Gifhorn, Wittingen, Salzgitter-Lebenstedt,Salzgitter-Bad), revenues grew by 35.5% to € 1,415.8 million (previousyear: € 1,044.8 million). EBITDA* rose 14.4% to reach € 206.9 million(previous year: € 180.8 million). The operating cash flow stood at € 155.6million, 12.9% above the previous year’s level (€ 137.8 million). EBIT**posted a 13.2% gain to reach € 140.1 million (previous year: € 123.8million). EBT *** saw a 10.4% rise to € 123.5 million (previous year: €111.9 million).2005 net consolidated profit according to IFRS – before minorities – roseby € 8.1 million (10.1%) to reach € 88.3 million (previous year: € 80.2million), slightly exceeding the Management’s own expectations.Earnings-per-share (EpS) was € 1.61 (previous year: € 1.47, adjusted/+9.5%).During the year ended 31 December 2005, the Group's hospitals treated atotal of 949,376 patients (previous year: 598,485 /+58.6%), of which410,585 (previous year: 287,204) in the acute inpatient, 529,860 (304,214)in the outpatient and 8,931 (7,067) in the rehab and other areas. The newlyadded hospitals raised bed capacities (+3,188) after the decline in beds atthe long-standing hospitals (-182) by a total of 3,006 beds (from 9,211 to12,217 /+32.6%).At 31 December 2005, the Group employed a staff of 21,226 (previous year:14,977).The 45.2% rise in personnel expenditure to € 793.6 million (previous year:€ 546.6 million) was slightly disproportionate to the trend in revenues.The trend comes notwithstanding the initial successes at the newly acquiredclinics in optimising their personnel structures and procedures, as pastexperience shows that it takes some time before these measures can feedthrough to the numbers. Growth in material costs was slightlydisproportionate to revenues (+36.1%) and stood at € 343.6 million(previous year: € 252.4 million). “This is where we see rationalisationpotential”, said Dietmar Pawlik, board member with responsibility forFinancing, Investor Relations and Controlling.Forecast for the further course of 2006 ... and more“RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG was, is and will continue to be the market leader forhealthcare services in Germany“, a convinced Wolfgang Pföhler declared.“Over the past five years the growth we have achieved has well outstrippedthe slightly stagnating/shrinking aggregate market, and have made goodheadway towards achieving our long-term goal of a market share of over 8%.With our current market share of just under 3 per cent, we still have aways to go.The acquisition of Universitätsklinikum Gießen/Marburg not only representsa qualitative jump in growth but also puts us on a totally new trajectoryas an aspiring corporate group: with our link-up to Gießen/Marburg we havegained direct access to the latest innovations in medicine. At the sametime we are setting the pace in the medical area. With the construction ofthe world’s first combined proton/heavy ion unit in Gießen/Marburg – slatedfor completion by 2012 – we are catapulting ourselves to the very cuttingedge of technological development._______________________* Earnings before depreciation/amortisation, interest and income tax =operating result** Earnings before interest and income tax*** Earnings before tax / earnings from ordinary operationsAgainst the background of the most radical transformation in the history ofthe German hospital landscape, creative ideas and the courage to embracenew business models are called for to fix structural problems in theaggregate economy. Our concepts for removing long-standing inefficienciesinherent in the German healthcare system have their roots in history. Theyare born from what is perhaps the most comprehensive industry expertise andare largely owing to my predecessor and current chairman of the SupervisoryBoard, Mr. Eugen Münch”, Wolfgang Pföhler declared. “Our strategy of taking over public hospitals amid mounting losses and ofturning these into permanently profitable healthcare providers throughinvestments in rationalisation and restructuring measures is whollymaintained.”Here, RHÖN-KLINIKUM follows a two-pronged strategy: firstly, it continuesto pursue takeover activities proactively. This is born out of theconviction that the German hospital market is being redistributed now, notin five years. Right now, then, failing to move forward automatically meansmoving backwards. Anyone today not participating proactively in theprivatisation wave will tomorrow be counted among the losers in the vyingfor market shares.Second, quickly integrating the newly acquired hospitals into the Group andbringing them up to its operating standards will also be key. “Ourrestructuring expertise will stand us in good stead here – our track recordwhen it comes to the integration of new hospitals into the Group speaks foritself.”The proceedings pending before the Düsseldorf Court of Appeals in thematter of the “hospitals of the district of Rhön-Grabfeld” will not standin the way of the Group’s growth. The impression that the German CartelOffice is a serious obstacle is as superficial as it is misleading: from 31December 2004 to February 2006 alone, 15 new hospitals were consolidated,including the heavyweight Gießen/Marburg – all of which were known to theCartel Office without any objections being raised. RHÖN-KLINIKUM AGoperates just 45 of the nearly 2,200 hospitals in Germany, making the –under German cartel law fully unobjectionable – privatisation and growthpotential enormous. The interferences by the Cartel Office are thusconfined to individual cases, and as such are annoying, but hardly of anyquantitative significance.Notwithstanding, RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG will continue to pursue the courtproceedings unrelenting.Own forecast for 2006 confirmed with presentation of Q1 2006The management of the Group sees their own revenue and earningsexpectations for 2006 confirmed by the report on the first quarter of 2006:Revenues – excluding further acquisitions – are expected to reach € 1.9billion, and the target for net consolidated profit is put at roughly € 93million. Brigitte SallweySallwey & PartnerTelemannstr. 18D-60323 Frankfurt/MainTel.: (+49)069 97 203 628Handy: (+49) 0171 6942 140DGAP 26.04.2006 
 language: Englishcompany: RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG Salzburger Leite 1 97616 Bad Neustadt/ Saale Deutschlandphone: +49 (0)9771 - 65-0fax: +49 (0)9771 - 97 467email: fire.ir@rhoen-klinikum-ag.comWWW: www.rhoen-klinikum-ag.comISIN: DE0007042301WKN: 704230indices: MDAXstockmarkets: Amtlicher Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), München; Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News-Service