DGAP-News: Aragon subsidiary biw Bank für Investments und Wertpapiere AG reports pleasing Q2 figures

ARAGON AG / Miscellaneous

22.07.2008 

Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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++ Aragon subsidiary biw Bank für Investments und Wertpapiere AG reports
   pleasing Q2 figures, despite the ongoing financial crisis

++ Expansion of market position: market share of trading volume still
   rising

Aragon AG’s subsidiary, biw Bank für Investments und Wertpapiere AG (biw),
with its registered office in Willich, has reported pleasing figures for
the second quarter of 2008, despite the ongoing capital market crisis.

The number of trades executed totalling 820,108 represents an increase of
21.1% on the previous year (677,322). In view of the significantly lower
level of general investment activity, the number of trades remained 19.3%
below the figure for the first quarter (1,016,524). However, biw continued
to expand its market position. In the second quarter of 2008, trades
executed amounted to 43.1% of the trading volume achieved by the market
leader. This corresponds to a rise of 58.3% on the previous year (27.2%)
and of 8.6% on the first quarter of 2008 (39.6%).

As of the end of the second quarter, assets under administration (AuA) of
EUR 1.03bn were 26.1% up on AuA of EUR 0.82bn as of the end of the same
period in the previous year. Given that the market is currently marked by a
general buying resistance, at EUR 1.10bn, biw also recorded a slight
downturn of 6.5% in assets under administration compared with the first
quarter of 2008.

Almost habitual, the positive growth trend in customer numbers continued.
With 56,058 customers at the end of the second quarter, biw recorded an
increase of 52.6% on the second quarter of 2007 when the company counted
36,729 customers and a rise of 3.6% compared with the first quarter of 2008
when the number of customers totalled 54,113.

The Management Board of Aragon AG is delighted with biw’s performance,
especially in light of the fact that 15% of the shares in the bank were
sold to a financial investor at the end of the second quarter. Ralph
Konrad, CFO of Aragon, commented: 'With this strong performance, we have
demonstrated that the valuation of EUR 80m, on which the sale of the
shareholding was based, was certainly justified. The current market
environment highlights the superiority of our white label concept that has
enabled us to achieve considerably broader diversification in our business
compared with competitors.'

++ About Aragon AG

Aragon is a broadly diversified financial services company, with the
divisions: Retail Sales, Institutional Sales and Banking & Banking
Services. Aragon is active on the marketplace with multiple independent
subsidiaries. The company’s aim is to integrate various distribution models
under one roof, without disturbing the individual identity of each sales
company. The result is a wide diversification across various asset classes
and distribution types, which generates a high stability in corporate
earnings. Further information about the company and its subsidiaries can be
viewed on the website: www.aragon-ag.de.

Contact:
Aragon Aktiengesellschaft
Achim Pfeffer
Head of Investor Relations

Tel.: +49(0)611 890 575-574
Fax:  +49(0)611 890 575-99
E-Mail: achim.pfeffer@aragon-ag.de


DGAP 22.07.2008 
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