HORNBACH HOLDING AG / Pleasing first-quarter earnings performance processed and
transmitted by Hugin AS. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this
announcement.
Hornbach Group posts satisfactory start to 2010/2011 financial year
At € 59.6 million, EBIT matches high previous year’s figure – consolidated sales up 0.8%
Neustadt a. d. Weinstrasse, July 1, 2010. The Hornbach Group can afford to be satisfied
with its start to the new 2010/2011 financial year. Its earnings performance in the
first quarter of 2010/2011 (March 1 to May 31, 2010) latched seamlessly onto the
successful performance in the previous year’s period. At € 59.6 million, operating
earnings (EBIT) at the overall Hornbach Holding AG Group matched the previous year’s
figure. The Group’s net income for the period rose 2.0% to € 37.8 million, resulting in
earnings per preference share of € 3.76 (previous year: € 3.72). An improvement in the
gross margin enabled the Group to make up for subdued garden sales at its DIY stores
with garden centers, which felt the effects of the poor weather in spring 2010.
Consolidated sales showed slight growth of 0.8% to € 826.6 million in the first three
months (previous year: € 819.8m).
The 131 DIY megastores with garden centers operated across Europe by
Hornbach-Baumarkt-AG, the Group’s largest operating subgroup, increased their sales by
0.7% overall to € 779.9 million (previous year: € 774.8m). The sales performance in the
first three months was affected by periods of very cold, wet weather. This led to a
decline in sales in the garden product division. The other product divisions, by
contrast, reported more or less stable or positive developments. On a like-for-like
basis, i.e. excluding sales at stores newly opened in the past twelve months, and net of
currency items, sales slipped 2.0%. Including currency items for the non-euro countries
of Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic, like-for-like sales decreased
by only 0.8% across the Group. Driven in particular by the positive development in the
gross margin, the subgroup’s operating earnings reached € 49.6 million, thus also
matching the previous year’s figure.
The Hornbach Baustoff Union GmbH subgroup provided further positive momentum. Sales at
the unchanged total of 21 builders’ merchants outlets improved by 3.6% to € 46.7 million
in the first quarter of 2010/2011 (previous year: € 45.0m). Earnings showed clearly
disproportionate growth.
The Hornbach Group can still point to very robust balance sheet figures. As of May 31,
2010, its equity ratio amounted to 41.2% (February 28, 2010: 42.4%). Cash and cash
equivalents are reported at € 463.2 million (€ 335.1m). The Group expects to open three
new DIY megastores with garden centers outside Germany by the end of the 2010/2011
financial year (February 28, 2011). Due to increased outlays to boost its market
position, Hornbach expects its EBIT for the year as whole to fall slightly short of the
level reported for the 2009/2010 financial year (overall Group: € 151.5m).
Further details can be found in the extensive interim reports of Hornbach Holding AG and
Hornbach-Baumarkt-AG published and available for downloading in the “Investor Relations”
section of the Group’s website at www.hornbach-group.com http://www.hornbach-group.com/
.
HUG#1428517
Interim Report Q1 2010/2011 HORNBACH HOLDING AG Group
http://hugin.info/130429/R/1428517/375898.pdf
Interim Report Q1 2010/2011 HORNBACH_Baumarkt-AG Group
http://hugin.info/130429/R/1428517/375899.pdf
Press Release Q1 2010/2011 http://hugin.info/130429/R/1428517/375897.pdf
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HORNBACH HOLDING AG
Le Quartier Hornbach 19 Neustadt an den Weinstraße Germany
WKN: 608343;ISIN: DE0006083439;
Listed: Prime Standard in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse,
Regulierter Markt in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse;
