Hornbach Holding Aktiengesellschaft: Hornbach Group posts strong second quarter

Hornbach Group posts strong second quarter

Half-year financial report 2015/2016: Six-month consolidated sales up 4.0 percent / At plus 1.3 percent, like-for-like sales at DIY stores with garden centers regain growth course / Half-year EBIT virtually matches previous year's figure after disproportionate earnings growth in second quarter
 

Neustadt a. d. Weinstrasse, September 29, 2015.
Thanks to higher sales and disproportionate earnings growth in the second quarter, the Hornbach Holding AG Group (Hornbach Group) regained the previous year's level of earnings in the first half of its 2015/2016 financial year (March 1 to August 31, 2015). First-half consolidated sales at the Group grew by 4.0 percent to Euro 2,054.6 million. At Euro 151.1 million, consolidated operating earnings (EBIT) for the first six months approached the previous year's figure (Euro 154.0 million). First-half earnings after interest and taxes, on the other hand, were up on the previous year. Earnings per preference share rose from Euro 4.94 to Euro 5.25.

"Our business performed very well in the second quarter of 2015/2016, with both sales and earnings significantly ahead of the previous year's figures. This growth was generated throughout our European location network. We have continued to grow faster than the DIY sector in most countries and are thus expanding our market share. By the end of the first six months, we had almost entirely made up for the expected dip in earnings in the opening quarter", commented Albrecht Hornbach, Chairman of the Board of Management of Hornbach Holding AG at the half-year conference in Frankfurt. "We have benefited from the increasing digitization of our business model and from dovetailing our traditional stationary business with online retail. Hardly any other company in the German DIY sector is investing so consistently and substantially in combining the old and new economies."
 

Like-for-like sales growth in Germany and abroad

Net sales at Hornbach Baumarkt AG, the largest operating subgroup (DIY retail), rose by 4.2 percent to Euro 1,933.4 million in the first half. Like-for-like sales net of currency items at the Baumarkt AG subgroup grew 1.3 percent in the first six months of 2015/2016. In Germany, like-for-like sales showed a cumulative improvement of 0.6 percent, having jumped 8.9 percent in the previous year's period. Other European countries posted a more dynamic performance than the domestic business, with growth of 2.3 percent in like-for-like sales net of currency items in the first half of the 2015/2016 financial year. The international share of sales at the Hornbach Baumarkt AG subgroup most recently came to 42.3 percent. After three DIY store openings in the current financial year, Hornbach was operating 149 DIY retail outlets across Europe, of which 99 in Germany, as of August 31, 2015.

The business performance of the Hornbach Baustoff Union GmbH subgroup, which focuses above all on the needs of professional customers in the main construction and subconstruction trades, as well as on private construction clients, also gained momentum as the first half of 2015/2016 progressed. Following a slightly weaker performance in the first quarter, cumulative sales at the 26 builders' merchant outlets for the first six months grew by 0.5 percent to Euro 120.2 million.
 

EBIT almost matches previous year - earnings per preference share improve 6.3 percent

Overall, the Hornbach Group can report a pleasing earnings performance for the first half of the 2015/2016 financial year. At Euro 151.1 million, cumulative consolidated operating earnings (EBIT) are now only 1.9 percent, or Euro 2.9 million, short of the previous year's figure of Euro 154.0 million. At the end of the first quarter this shortfall still amounted to Euro 11.4 million. At Euro 122.4 million, first-half EBIT at the Hornbach Baumarkt AG subgroup regained the previous year's level (Euro 122.8 million). Consolidated earnings before taxes at the Hornbach Group rose 0.8 percent to Euro 138.8 million. Due to a lower tax charge than in the previous year's period, consolidated net income for the period increased 7.2 percent to Euro 105.1 million. Earnings per preference share for the first six months improved from Euro 4.94 to Euro 5.25.

For the 2015/2016 financial year as whole, the Board of Management of Hornbach Holding AG still aims for the Group to achieve sales growth in a medium single-digit percentage range and EBIT at around the level reported for the 2014/2015 financial year.
 

Preparations for change of legal form to KGaA progressing on schedule

Company shareholders at the Annual General Meeting held on July 9, 2015 and preference shareholders at the separate meeting held on July 10, 2015 resolved unanimously and with a majority of more than 99 percent respectively that Hornbach Holding AG should be converted to the legal form of a German partnership limited by shares (KGaA). Following the conversion in its legal form, the company will bear the name HORNBACH Holding AG & Co. KGaA. On the stock exchange, there will only be one class of shares in future, namely ordinary shares in the KGaA. The entry of the change of form in the Commercial Register and subsequent listing of the ordinary shares in the KGaA is scheduled to take place in October 2015.

Note: The detailed half-year financial reports of Hornbach Holding AG and Hornbach-Baumarkt-AG can be downloaded from the "Publications" section of the newly designed website for HORNBACH Group Communications under www.hornbach-group.com. The transformation report for Hornbach Holding AG can also be downloaded there (Investor Relations - Corporate Events - Annual General Meetings).
 

Key Figures of the Hornbach Group for the 2^nd Quarter and 1^st Half at a Glance

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

¹⁾ Previous year's figures adjusted due to IFRIC 21; please see Note 1 in the notes to the 2015/2016 Half-Year Financial Report.

2) Net of currency items