QUANTEL (EPA:QUA) Quantel: partial deleveraging of the Group

Transparency directive : regulatory news

21/06/2012 08:30

Press release
Les Ulis, June 21st, 2012

Partial deleveraging of Quantel Group
Quantel disposes of assets of its Dermatology branch and confirms the terms of
the sale of its head office building

QUANTEL is today announcing the sale of its Dermatology-Aesthetics Lasers
business. This transaction ties in with the Group's deleveraging strategy and
follows the sale of the head office building, which was announced in May and
has just been finalized.

Sale of the head office building

The final contract of sale of QUANTEL's head office building in Les Ulis was
closed on Monday June 11 th, 2012 with an investment company for
EUR6.6 million. Moving forward, Quantel will remain in the building as tenant.
As a reminder, this building had been acquired in 2005 under a contract of
financial lease, of which the remaining capital before the transfer was around
EUR 3 million.

This transaction is reflected in an accounting capital gain of over
EUR3 million, increasing the Group's shareholders' equity by the same amount,
combined with a reduction in net financial debt by over EUR5 million.

The increase in annual costs between, on the one hand, the new rent, and on the
other, the previous finance lease charges and the financial expenses linked to
the portion of debt that has been paid down will be less than EUR1 50,000 per
year. Over 2012, this increase will be negligible.

The net proceeds from the sale of the building attributed to Quantel, i.e.
EUR 2 million, was allocated to cash requirements for current operations of the
Group.

Sale of the Dermatology branch

Quantel has just signed an agreement with the Israeli firm ALMA Lasers to sell
its Dermatology-Aesthetics Lasers business.

Under this agreement, QUANTEL would be selling the non-current, tangible and
intangible assets corresponding to this business line, as well as part of its
inventories. The non-current assets and inventories required for producing
these devices will continue to be owned by the Group.

QUANTEL will continue to produce the devices from the dermatology range on
behalf of ALMA. This manufacturing agreement is being entered into for a
minimum of one year and may be renewed if requested by ALMA.

The Dermatology branch generated EUR9.3 million in revenues over 2011 and
recorded a negative consolidated margin, which affected the Group's
consolidated earnings.

This sale, which will only become definitive once a certain number of
conditions have been met over the coming weeks, will enable the QUANTEL Group
to improve its profitability and reduce its debt. It will also pave the way for
the Medical Division to focus on developing the Ophthalmology business, which
is continuing to increase its market shares thanks to the innovative products
released during the last few years.
The operation should generate a consolidated capital loss of around
EUR2.5 million, which would be offset by the capital gain recorded on the sale
of the head office building.

Reduction in the Group's debt

Alongside these two operations, and in connection with the acquisition of the
company EOLITE by the American group ESI, QUANTEL has sold its stake in EOLITE
for around EUR400,000, equivalent to the cost price of this interest, acquired
in 2006.

Overall, these sales should enable the QUANTEL Group to bring its net financial
debt down by around EUR11 million in time. In view of the sums locked in as
guarantees for these two operations, the deleveraging will be lower in 2012,
although still coming in at over EUR9 million.

These strategic operations will help Quantel to cover the refinancing
installments scheduled for 2013 more easily and realign its activities around
its original businesses, on which it has strong commercial positions globally.

The Group indeed keeps studying different opportunities to diversify its
funding sources and is still considering the best options to refinance the
Oceane maturing in January 2013 for a total of EUR 6.6 million.

Founded in 1970, the QUANTEL Group has over the last 10 years established
itself as one of the world's leading specialists for scientific (research
laboratories, universities), industrial (marking) and medical (ophthalmology,
dermatology) laser technologies.
Present in France, the US and Germany, through its subsidiaries QUANTEL USA and
QUANTEL DERMA, the QUANTEL Group generated EUR59.7 million in revenues in 2011,
with over 75% internationally, split between scientific and industrial laser
applications (50%) and medical applications (50%).
Quantel's shares are listed on Euronext C (NYSE Euronext). FR0000038242 - QUA
www.quantel.fr

Quantel

Alain de Salaberry                         Luc Ardon
Chairman of the Management Board           Chief Financial Officer, Management
T: +33(0) 1 69 29 17 00 -                  Board member
info@quantel.fr                            T: +33(0) 1 69 29 17 00 -
                                           info@quantel.fr
Calyptus

Mathieu Calleux
Investor Relations
T: +33(1) 53 65 37 91 - quantel@calyptus.net

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