Hornbach Holding AG & Co. KGaA: HORNBACH Group expects significantly higher sales and earnings in Q1 2020/21

HORNBACH Group expects significantly higher sales and earnings in Q1 2020/21

Neustadt a. d. Weinstrasse, May 18, 2020.
Board of Management expects financial and earnings position of HORNBACH Holding AG & Co. KGaA Group (HORNBACH Group) to show clearly positive developments in first quarter (March 1 to May 31, 2020).

The measures taken to contain the coronavirus pandemic meant that up to 40% of HORNBACH's DIY stores in Germany and abroad were initially affected by far-reaching restrictions imposed on sales activities by the authorities. As the spring quarter has progressed, however, it has become apparent that these coronavirus-related losses of sales are being more than offset, and that to an increasing extent, by high sales at stores that remained opened or have now reopened, at online shops, and at builders' merchant outlets. Since May 6, 2020, all HORNBACH DIY stores with garden centers have been accessible to customers. From a current perspective, both consolidated sales and adjusted consolidated operating earnings (adjusted EBIT) for the first quarter of the 2020/21 financial year are expected to significantly exceed the previous year's figures.

Given the implications of the coronavirus crisis, which remain difficult to predict, the Board of Management nevertheless sees significant macroeconomic risks for the remaining nine months of the 2020/21 financial year. These are expected to impact negatively on the HORNBACH Group's sales and earnings performance in the further course of the financial year. The Board of Management therefore deems it likely that full-year consolidated sales in 2020/21 will roughly match the figure for the 2019/20 financial year (€ 4.7 billion) and that consolidated operating earnings adjusted for non-operating earnings items (adjusted EBIT) will fall slightly short of the previous year.

The 2019/20 Annual Report will be published on May 27, 2020. The results for the first quarter of 2020/21 will be released on June 26, 2020.