(August 03, 2012)
- Half-year sales above the € 200 million mark for the first time
- EBIT increase higher than sales growth
- Continued optimism for 2012
Hamburg, 3 August 2012. Today the wine-trading group Hawesko Holding AG (HAW GR, HAWG.DE, DE0006042708) published its six-month report for the first half of fiscal year 2012 as well as the figures for the second quarter. During the quarterly period from 1 April to 30 June the Group increased its sales compared to the same quarter in the previous year (€ 95.1 million) by 14.6% to € 109.0 million before sales tax. The growth extended across all three business segments. With an increase of 46.8%, the mail order segment posted the strongest growth in sales, due primarily to the initial consolidation of the Spanish wine specialist Wein & Vinos. In the specialist retail segment, Jacques' Wein-Depot grew by 4.9% (adjusted for new openings by 3.3%), even though a large part of the Easter business already took place in the previous quarter. The wholesale segment posted a sales increase of 3.7% thanks to solid domestic business. The consolidated operating result (EBIT) in the second quarter of 2012 rose by 34.7% to € 7.4 million, a higher increase than sales growth - the previous year's figure was € 5.5 million. The extraordinarily high number of 2009 vintage Bordeaux wines delivered in the quarter under review played a significant role in this. Interest expenditures rose from € 0.1 million to € 0.2 million. Consolidated net income after deductions for taxes and non-controlling interests for the quarter amounted to € 4.8 million and € 0.54 per share (same quarter in the previous year: € 3.6 million and € 0.40 per share).
In the first six months of 2012 (1 January to 30 June), the Hawesko Group increased its sales by 12.9% to € 212.4 million (same period in the previous year: € 188.0 million) and the operating result (EBIT) increased by 19.1% to € 12.0 million (previous year: € 10.1 million). Consolidated net income after deductions for taxes and non-controlling interests for the quarter amounted to € 7.7 million and € 0.85 per share; the figures for the same quarter in the previous year were € 6.6 million and € 0.73 per share.
After the outstanding performance in the first six months, business progress for the full year 2012 is taking on more shape, so that the Hawesko management board can now estimate developments in individual areas more precisely. The secondary market for premium Bordeaux wines of the pre-2009 vintages remains very quiet around the globe, and there are no signs that this market will recover any time soon. That has an impact on the outlook for our Bordeaux-based subsidiary Château Classic, which achieved sales of just under € 27 million in fiscal year 2011. Based on today's assessment, its sales will most likely be in the range of € 10-15 million for the current fiscal year. In contrast, assumptions going forward for the other divisions of the Group remain very positive, so that we expect an increase overall between 10-12% in consolidated sales compared to the previous year (€ 411 million) and an EBIT margin between 6.6% and 7.0% (previous year: 6.5%).
CEO Alexander Margaritoff: 'Last year the first half was very strong and the second showed rather restrained growth. With this half-year financial report, we have successfully taken the high hurdle of the previous year's baseline and can now look forward to the second half of the year with unruffled optimism, and we are aiming for further increases in sales and profit in 2013.'
Hawesko Holding AG is a leading supplier of premium wines and champagnes. In fiscal year 2011, the Group achieved sales of € 411 million and employed 750 persons in the company's three sales channels: specialty retail (Jacques' Wein-Depot), wholesale operations (Wein Wolf and CWD Champagner- und Wein-Distributionsgesellschaft) and mail order (especially Hanseatisches Wein- and Sekt-Kontor). The shares of Hawesko Holding AG are listed on the Hanseatic Stock Exchange in Hamburg as well as in the SDAX small-cap index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.