Hornbach Holding AG: Hornbach pursues previous year's record

Figures published for first quarter of 2012/2013

Hornbach pursues previous year's record

At Euro 919 million, consolidated sales in Q1 match previous year's record / German project customers still account for above-average demand / Solid earnings situation / New store opening in Sweden / Sales and earnings forecast confirmed

Neustadt a. d. Weinstrasse, June 28, 2012. The Hornbach Group (Hornbach Holding AG Group) successfully tracked down the previous year's record level of sales in the first quarter of 2012/2013. Despite poor April weather and fewer shopping days, consolidated sales showed slight growth of 0.1% to Euro 918.8 million in the period from March to May 2012, thus matching the record figure posted for the first quarter of the previous year (Euro 918.1 million).

Supported by the strong performance of the German construction sector, domestic project customers continue to account for the greatest demand at the DIY megastores with garden centers operated by Hornbach-Baumarkt-AG. Following one new store opening in Sweden in May 2012, this subgroup now has a total of 135 outlets in nine countries across Europe. Sales at the 24 builders' merchants outlets at the Hornbach Baustoff Union GmbH subgroup also virtually matched the previous year's figure.

'The standard to beat was extremely high in the first quarter of 2012/2013. One year earlier, more favorable seasonal conditions enabled the Hornbach Group to boost its sales by 11 %. In Germany, our DIY megastores with garden centers posted like-for-like sales growth of 12 % - the highest jump in sales since our IPO in 1993. The fact we managed to match this record level with fewer business days in the current year is a great achievement', commented Albrecht Hornbach, Chairman of the Board of Management of Hornbach Holding AG at the presentation of the quarterly results.

Sales at Hornbach-Baumarkt-AG, the largest operating subgroup, improved by 0.2 % to Euro 865.1 million in the period under report (previous year: Euro 863.7 million). On a like-for-like basis, i.e. excluding sales at stores newly opened or closed in the past twelve months, and net of currency items the subgroup's sales were 1.1 % down on the previous year. Including currency items, this downturn reduced to 0.9%.

As in the previous year, the German Hornbach stores posted sales of Euro 504 million, with like-for-like sales also matching the previous year's figure. Other European countries reported slight sales growth of 0.6 % to Euro 361 million. Due to the difficult macroeconomic framework outside Germany, sales in the international business excluding newly opened stores and currency items decreased by 2.4%.

Albrecht Hornbach added that it was pleasing to see that the negative sales trend in Eastern Europe had slowed down noticeably in recent months. 'Having marked time for a longer period, the stores in Romania in particular have reported sales growth once again for the first time, and that even excluding sales at new stores.'

Hornbach Baustoff Union GmbH also faced an ambitious basis for comparison, given the sharp rise in sales by almost 16 % to Euro 54 million in the previous year's period. With sales of Euro 53 million in the first quarter of 2012/2013, the builders' merchant subgroup nevertheless almost matched the previous year's figure.

Given the challenging base effects in the previous year's quarter, Hornbach views the company's earnings performance in the first quarter of 2012/2013 as a success. Operating earnings (EBIT) at the Hornbach Group fell by 4.9% to Euro 75.4 million in the first quarter (previous year: Euro 79.3 million). Earnings per preference share are reported at Euro 2.34 (previous year: Euro 2.45). The Hornbach-Baumarkt-AG subgroup, also publicly listed, reported EBIT of Euro 62.3 million (previous year: Euro 67.2 million) and earnings per Baumarkt share of Euro 1.29 (previous year: Euro 1.38). The full-year sales and earnings forecast (balance sheet date: February 28, 2013) has been confirmed. Accordingly, the Hornbach Group expects to generate sales growth in a medium single-digit percentage range and EBIT slightly in excess of the level reported for the 2011/2012 financial year (Euro 169 million).

Note: The extensive interim reports of Hornbach Holding AG and Hornbach-Baumarkt-AG can be downloaded from the internet at: www.hornbach-group.com/reports.

Key figures for 1^st quarter at a glance

¹⁾ currency-adjusted
Rounding up or down may lead to discrepancies between percentages and totals. Calculation of percentage figures based on Euro 000s.