Hornbach Holding AG & Co. KGaA: Hornbach posts substantial sales growth in first quarter

Hornbach posts substantial sales growth in first quarter

Pleasing start to 2016/2017 financial year:
Consolidated sales up 6.1 % to Euro 1,116 million / Impressive like-for-like growth as well / EBIT of Euro 76.5 million at previous year's level / Forecast confirmed

Neustadt a. d. Weinstrasse, June 24, 2016.
Defying what were at times extreme weather conditions in the spring months, the Hornbach Group (Hornbach Holding AG & Co. KGaA Group) began the 2016/2017 financial year on a successful note. Consolidated sales for the first three months (March 1 to May 31, 2016) grew by 6.1 % to Euro 1,116 million. At Euro 76.5 million, consolidated operating earnings (EBIT) at the Hornbach Group matched the previous year's figure. The company has confirmed its full-year sales and earnings forecast for 2016/2017.

Sales at Hornbach Baumarkt AG, the largest operating subgroup, exceeded the one billion euro mark for the first time. Consolidated sales here rose by 6.4 % to Euro 1,058.9 million (2015/2016: Euro 995.2 million). "Given weather conditions that were at times extreme and that impeded the implementation of construction and renovation projects in many regions, this level of growth is pleasing", commented CFO Roland Pelka with regard to the Group's first-quarter performance. These figures account for the opening of two new DIY megastores in Innsbruck (Austria) and Prague (Czech Republic), as well as the closure of a small former location in Mannheim due to the lack of any possibility to extend the site. On a like-for-like basis, i.e. excluding stores newly opened or closed in the past twelve months, consolidated sales rose by 4.4 % net of currency items in the first three months, and by 4.0 % including currency items for non-euro countries.

The Hornbach Baumarkt AG Group currently operates 154 DIY megastores with garden centers in nine European countries. Net sales at the 98 Hornbach stores in Germany increased by 2.8 % to Euro 591.9 million in the first quarter (2015/2016: Euro 575.7 million). Like-for-like sales here rose by 2.7 %. Based on its own figures, Hornbach thus significantly outperformed the sector average once again and acquired additional market share (2015: 11.0 %).

Outside Germany, Hornbach upheld the positive sales trend seen in the past two financial years in the first quarter of 2016/2017, and that to an impressive extent. Including the new store openings referred to above, sales in other European countries, the segment in which the DIY business activities in eight countries outside Germany are pooled, grew by 11.3 % to Euro 467.0 million (2015/2016: Euro 419.6 million). The international share of sales at the Hornbach Baumarkt AG subgroup rose from 42.2 % to 44.1 %. Like-for-like sales in other European countries grew by 6.6% net of currency items, and by 5.7% including currency items.

The Hornbach Baustoff Union GmbH (HBU) subgroup also showed a robust sales performance in the period under report. Even though private construction clients and professional customers in the subgroup's key target groups of the main construction and sub-construction trades were obliged to curtail or postpone their projects due to difficult weather conditions, HBU's sales for the first three months rose by 0.8 % to Euro 56.8 million (2015/2016: Euro 56.4 million). As of May 31, 2016, this subgroup operated an unchanged total of 24 builders' merchants outlets in south-western Germany and two locations close to the border in France (Lorraine).

Operating earnings at Hornbach Group at previous year's level

Within its interconnected retail strategy, the Hornbach Group further stepped up its efforts to expand e-commerce in the first quarter of 2016/2017. As expected, the higher expenses incurred as a result and a lower gross margin meant that the Group's earnings performance was unable to keep up with sales growth in the first quarter of 2016/2017. At Euro 76.5 million, operating earnings (EBIT) at the Hornbach Holding AG & Co. KGaA Group maintained their ground at the previous year's level (Euro 76.8 million). Earnings per Holding share are reported at Euro 2.56 for the first three months (2015/2016: Euro 2.57). The Board of Management confirmed the full-year sales and earnings forecast for 2016/2017.

Note: The quarterly statements of Hornbach Holding AG & Co. KGaA and Hornbach Baumarkt AG can be downloaded online under "Publications": www.hornbach-group.com/reports.

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.