Gräfelfing/Munich, July 13, 2001. - Munich-based securities house MWB"s result in the first half of 2001 is well below the level in the previous year"s same period. As a result of a stock market environment that has worsened even further since the 1st quarter of 2001, financial and commission result in the 1st half year dropped compared to the previous year"s period from EUR 20.9 million to EUR 1.8 million. So the Group showes a loss in earnings before tax of EUR -4.0 million compared to a plus of EUR 14.8 million in the 1st half year 2000. Responsible for this is mainly the strong drop in turnover of foreign shares in Germany, which again fell markedly from the 1st quarter to the 2nd quarter of 2001, dropping to EUR77.5 billion compared to EUR141.9 billion in the 2nd quarter of 2000.

Thomas Posovatz Speaker of the board expressed concern about the strong fall of the MWB share price, which has dropped by 43 % since the ex dividend date. "We see massive selling pressure from the institutional side. Naturally, this worries the investors who view MWB shares as a long-term investment. There"s nothing to gloss over or talk down about the current situation. Although no investments require any depreciation, we have the absurd situation that our share price has fallen clearly below our company"s net asset value."