Hornbach Holding AG & Co. KGaA: Hornbach maintains sales growth in first quarter of 2021/22

Hornbach maintains sales growth
in first quarter of 2021/22

Key Figures of the Hornbach Group for the 1^st Quarter at a Glance

Rounding up or down may lead to discrepancies between percentages and totals. Calculation of percentage figures based on Euro 000s.

¹⁾ Adjusted to exclude non-operating income and expenses
²⁾ of which 161 HORNBACH DIY stores with garden centers and two BODENHAUS outlets

 

- Persistently high customer demand for DIY store products: Consolidated sales 6.4 % up on strong previous year's quarter

- Online sales surge more than 70 % and first exceed 1 billion euro mark
on 12-month rolling basis.

- At Euro 169.1 million, adjusted EBIT close to previous year's record - long-term profitability trend still significantly higher than before pandemic

- Full-year outlook for 2021/22 specified in greater detail: Slight sales growth and adjusted EBIT of between Euro 290 million and Euro 326 million expected

Bornheim/ Pfalz, June 25, 2021.
The Hornbach Group (Hornbach Holding AG & Co. KGaA Group) further increased its sales compared with the previous year's record figure in the first quarter of 2021/22 (March 1 to May 31, 2021). Consolidated sales grew by 6.4 % to Euro 1,678.1 million (2020/21: Euro 1,577.0 million). Multiyear comparison shows that the company's profitability is still significantly higher than in the years prior to the coronavirus pandemic. At Euro 169.1 million, operating earnings adjusted to exclude non-operating earnings items (adjusted EBIT) for Q1 2021/22 almost matched the record figure reported for the previous year's quarter (Euro 172.8 million). The Board of Management has specified the outlook for the current 2021/22 financial year in greater detail. The pleasing first-quarter performance, persistently high customer demand for DIY and construction products, and the visible progress currently being made in combating the pandemic mean that, despite all uncertainties, the Hornbach Group expects to generate slight sales growth and adjusted EBIT of between Euro 290 million and the previous year's figure of Euro 326 million in the 2021/22 financial year as a whole.

"We are very satisfied with the continued strong sales trend in all the countries where we operate, and in particular with the growth in our online retail business, including click & collect, in the first quarter of 2021/22, not least given the importance of the spring season to our business. We managed to improve on the previous year's sales, and that although our activities were restricted even more severely than in the first quarter of the previous year and the weather was also unusually cold for large parts of the period. Our earnings performance has settled at a significantly higher level than prior to the pandemic. With an adjusted EBIT margin of 10.1 % in Q1 2021/22, the Hornbach Group posted what was - after the record figure of 11.0 % one year ago - its second-highest first-quarter margin since converting to IFRS accounting 20 years ago.

Based on this strong first quarter, we remain cautiously optimistic about the 2021/22 financial year and expect our full-year sales to develop positively at a level slightly ahead of the previous year", commented Albrecht Hornbach, CEO of Hornbach Management AG.

DIY stores with like-for-like growth of 4.3 % net of currency items - DIY online retail up 71 %

At Hornbach Baumarkt AG, the largest operating subgroup (DIY retail) which operated an unchanged total of 163 DIY megastores with garden centers and online shops in nine European countries as of May 31, 2021, sales increased by 5.6 % to Euro 1,575.8 million (2020/21: Euro 1,492.1 million). On a like-for-like basis and net of currency items, DIY sales showed subgroup-wide growth of 4.3 % in the first three months.

Particularly strong growth was reported for online orders and click & collect sales in the first quarter of 2021/22. Overall, online sales (including click & collect) surged year-on-year by 71.2 % to Euro 375.0 million. On a twelve-month rolling basis, online sales thus exceeded the 1 billion euro mark for the first time and reached a 19.4 % share of total sales.

Net sales at the Hornbach DIY stores in Germany increased by 0.8 % to Euro 814.9 million in the first quarter (2020/21: Euro 808.4 million). Even though the stores in Germany were affected more significantly by pandemic-related restrictions in Q1 2021/22 than in the previous year's quarter, their like-for-like sales, which slipped by a mere 0.1 %, basically matched the previous year's record level (2020/21: plus 24.4 %). Sales in the Other European Countries region, where the DIY business activities in eight countries outside Germany are pooled, grew by 11.3 % to Euro 760.9 million (2020/21: Euro 683.7 million). The international share of sales at the Hornbach Baumarkt AG subgroup therefore rose from 45.8 % to 48.3 %. On a like-for-like basis and net of currency items, sales in Other European Countries grew by 9.5 %.

The sales performance in the first quarter of 2021/22 was affected by restrictions on sales, which varied from region to region and were more far-reaching overall than in the previous year's quarter. There were no notable restrictions in Luxembourg, Romania, Sweden, or Switzerland. In the other 5 countries in which Hornbach operates, stationary sales to private customers were at times not permitted, restricted to specific product ranges, such as garden centers, or possible at the whole store but only following prior arrangement of an appointment (click & meet).

The Hornbach Baustoff Union GmbH (HBU) subgroup, which currently operates 34 builders' merchant outlets in south-western Germany and at two locations close to the border in France (Lorraine), increased its sales by 20.5 % to Euro 101.9 million (2020/21: Euro 84.5 million). This growth is predominantly attributable to the sharp rise in demand for construction materials from professional customers in the main and secondary construction trades, who already experienced bottlenecks in the specialist retail sector due to difficulties in the international supply of goods. Thanks to its high-performance network of outlets and its good stocking policies, HBU was able to further boost its competitive position in the quarter under report.

Adjusted operating earnings just below previous year's figure

Thanks to its interconnected retail strategy, Hornbach was still well able to satisfy the persistently high demand from customers despite the challenging circumstances. Having said that, the pandemic-related restrictions in many of the regions and countries in which the company operates meant that the sales growth also involved increased expenses for store operations and logistics. In particular, the jump in click & collect sales during the restrictions on stationary sales to private customers required a higher degree of personnel input. Not only that, the further year-on-year increase in order volumes in the online shop led to higher expenses for fulfillment services (B2C logistics). Earnings were also held back by marketing and maintenance expenses, which returned to normal higher levels having initially been scaled back significantly during the first wave of the pandemic a year earlier. Against this backdrop, the adjusted EBIT of the Hornbach Group nevertheless maintained its ground well, showing only a relatively marginal reduction of 2.2 % to Euro 169.1 million (2020/21: Euro 172.8 million). At 10.1 % in Q1 2021/22, the adjusted EBIT margin was significantly higher than the equivalent figure of 7.2 % for the pre-pandemic Q1 2019/20. Earnings per Holding share stood at Euro 5.83 (2020/21: Euro 6.06).

Hornbach Group specifies outlook for 2021/22 financial year in greater detail: Slight sales growth and adjusted EBIT of between Euro 290 million and Euro 326 million expected

The full-year outlook for 2021/22 published on May 27, 2021 has now been specified in greater detail: Due to not least to the foreseeable great need for DIY and construction products, the Board of Management believes it likely that the Hornbach Group's sales will slightly outperform the previous year's figure and grow in a range of around 1 % to 5 % (2020/21 financial year: Euro 5,456 million).

With regard to the earnings forecast, the Hornbach Group currently expects its adjusted consolidated operating earnings (adjusted EBIT) to fall slightly short of the record figure reported for the 2020/21 financial year and to range between Euro 290 million and Euro 326 million. The company aims to achieve an adjusted EBIT margin in a range of 5.3 % to 5.7 % in 2021/22. This would significantly exceed the figure for the financial year prior to the coronavirus pandemic (2019/20: 4.8 %) and the average for the past 20 years (4.5 %). The Hornbach Baumarkt AG subgroup expects adjusted EBIT of between Euro 240 million and Euro 278 million and an adjusted EBIT margin of between 4.6 % and 5.2 %.