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TWST: Can we begin with a quick introduction to Plambeck Neue Energien (DE:691032)?

Mr. von Geldern: I will start with our vision and philosophy and that is that we believe the future is moving towards more and more renewable energy and we try to use these renewable energies economically. That makes sense because of the need to protect the limited resources of fossil energy and also because of the reduction in emissions outlined by the Kyoto Protocol and other environmental concerns. From our point of view, it is also a good thing to have a decentralized energy supply both because of the post-September 11th environment we live in and also because of the European Union’s desire to decrease the dependency on imports. We also think that in the future wind energy will become more and more competitive to other energies because there is no increasing coal prices, oil prices and so on; the material we use is without cost. Therefore, I think the effectiveness of the turbines will get better and better to the point where wind energy will be in good shape and competitive without any political help. However, currently we do have political help, not only from the German government but also from the European Union and we see similar development in other European countries like in France, Spain and Portugal. It actually all began 20 years ago in Denmark. So in Europe we see the environment for renewable energy is very positive, not only in the short term but in the mid and long-term period also. From now to 2010 the aim of the European Union is to double the share of renewable energy that produces electricity in every member country. We believe there will be more and more similar legislative moves that will propel our business. As I say, in the future we will be more competitive in our own right, but until then we will get political help through legislation.

TWST: Can you tell us about the history behind Plambeck and how you see the company positioned today?

Mr. von Geldern: We started a daughter company of the Plambeck ContraCon, which means contra contamination. That company is mainly operating in the decontamination field, which means the company cleans contaminated ground. From that company, we started in 1995 with a small company called Windpark Marschland GmbH, a northern German wind development company and it was very successful from the beginning. Three years later in 1998 we decided to make an IPO with this company and changed the form into an AG. We made a very successful IPO on the 15th of December, 1998. That year we had 11 employees and a turnover of €27 million and from then on each year we doubled the turnover and we doubled the earnings to the point where last year we reached €206 million turnover and €20 million earnings before tax. During that time the number of employees went from 11 in the beginning to 137 at the end of last year. This year we expect round about €300 million turnover, €30 million earnings and, as of September 30th, we have 231 employees. So we have made core activity in wind-park development, erecting the parks and selling to the companies, which we ourselves initiate to run it. That means that we also look for the private equity of around about 30% for each company and the rest is loans from banks. Then we have a company which runs the wind park -- we sell it to that company. In the meantime, we start with another one and another one and so on that’s what we do onshore in Germany.