AHRENSBURG. GERMANY-Basler AG is releasing its audited annual report for 2010. The camera specialist realized the best results in the company's history in 2010, merely one year after the global economic and financial crisis.

The group's turnover increased in fiscal year 2010 by 51.3 % to € 51.0 million (previous year: € 33.7 million). The gross profit margin increased to 43.5 % from 35.0 % in the previous year. The earnings before taxes increased to € 5.0 million (previous year: € -7.3 million). The pre-tax return amounted to 9.8 % (previous year: -21.7 %). Resulting from newly valued capitalized loss carry forwards the group's annual surplus increased to € 8.0 million (previous annual deficit: € -10.1 million). The previous forecast for fiscal year 2010 was surpassed again slightly due to the fourth quarter having been better than expected.

“The strategic realignment of the company undertaken in the past 18 months, with focus on the camera business has proven successful” says the chairman of the Management Board, Dr. Dietmar Ley. “We will continue developing our product portfolio and our international sales force in 2011 in order to increase the market share of Basler AG for industrial cameras and video surveillance cameras.”

For 2011, Basler AG expects a positive result in the middle single-digit percentage range due to the unchanged positive trends in incoming orders and sales.

Basler Vision Technologies is a leading global manufacturer of digital cameras for industrial applications, medical devices, traffic systems, and the video surveillance market. Product designs are driven by industry requirements and offer easy integration, compact size, and a very strong price/performance ratio. These characteristics are the decisive factors allowing Basler to hold a leading position in the GigE Vision arena today. Founded in 1988, Basler has more than 20 years of experience in vision technologies and offers one of the broadest product portfolios in the industry. The company employs about 300 people at its headquarters in Ahrensburg, Germany, as well as in international subsidiaries and offices in the U.S., Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and Japan.