euro adhoc: freenet.de AG
Quarterly or Semiannual Financial
Statements
freenet.de reports record first-quarter results for 2004
(E)
Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
freenet.de reports record first-quarter results for 2004 Revenues of euro 119.5m (+ 792 % vs. Q1/2003) EBITDA of euro 41.3m (+ 1,001 % vs. Q1/2003) Earnings before taxes of euro 31.8m (+ 1,132 % vs. Q1/2003) Group result of euro 19.2m (+ 1,442 % vs. Q1/2003) Cash and cash equivalents increased by euro 31.1m to euro 144.4m in Q1/2004 Continued growth to currently over 7 million customers
freenet.de AG / Hamburg - In the first full quarter after concluding
its investments in the acquired fixed-line business at year-end 2003,
freenet.de AG once again generated a record result. First-quarter
revenues rose by 792 percent year-on-year, to currently euro 119.5
million. They even exceeded the excellent fourth-quarter results in
2003, traditionally strong for seasonal reasons, by euro 2.9 million.
Internet access continues to be the strongest single segment, with
revenues of euro 76.8 million, followed by voice telephony with euro
34.6 million, the portal business with euro 6.8 million, and B2B
Services as a secondary, supplementary line of business with revenues
of euro 1.3 million.
The encouraging first-quarter performance shows how strongly the
newly optimized network infrastructure has enhanced the company's
profitability. freenet.de generated EBITDA of euro 41.3 million - an
increase of about 1,000 percent vs. Q1/2003 and of 36 percent over
the previous quarter. Earnings before taxes (EBT) were up by 1,132
percent year on year, to euro 31.8 million; a 69 percent improvement
over the previous quarter. The group result after taxes improved by
1,442 percent vs. Q1/2003 to currently euro 19.2 million - a 29
percent increase vs. the previous quarter. This translates to
earnings per share of euro 1.02 for the quarter - after euro 2.00 for
the entire 2003 business year.
There was a further increase in cash and cash equivalents in the
first three months of the year - by euro 31.1 million to currently
euro 144.4 million. During the same period, the total number of
customers in the Internet and Telephony segments rose to over 7
million: In Q1/2004 alone, 55,000 new customers signed up for a
freenet.de broadband internet access; this brings the number of
freenet.de AG customers in this segment to over 135,000 at the end of
March. At March 31, 2004, freenet had more than 3.85 million active
internet access customers (+ 4 percent vs. Q1/2003). Above and beyond
this, about 3.2 million customers actively use freenet for phone
calls, either by-call by dialing the 01019 and 01024 discount
prefixes or as pre-selection customers with a permanent prefix before
each call (This segment was not yet offered in Q1/2003).
~
Q1/2004 Q4/2003 Q1/2003
Revenues 119,476 116,638 13,396
Segment: Internet access 76,761 76,613 5,032
Segment: Voice 34,630 30,455 ---
Segment: Portal 6,790 8,262 8,009
Segment: B2B services 1,296 1,308 355
Gross profit 67,093 57,360 11,468
EBITDA 41,327 30,363 3,753
Earnings before taxes (EBT) 31,759 18,820 2,578
Group result 19,178 14,890 1,244
Cash and cash equivalents 144,418 113,259 71,626
~
(all financial indexes in this document under IFRS; in thousand euro)end of announcement euro adhoc 10.05.2004
Further inquiry note:
Andreas Neumann
Tel.: +49 (0)40 51306 778
E-Mail: IR@freenet-ag.de
Branche: Online
ISIN: DE0005792006
WKN: 579200
Index: Prime Standard, TecDAX
Börsen: Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse / regulated dealing
Niedersächsische Börse zu Hannover / free trade
Berliner Wertpapierbörse / free trade
Bayerische Börse / free trade
Hamburger Wertpapierbörse / free trade
Bremer Wertpapierbörse (BWB) / free trade
Börse Düsseldorf / free trade
Baden-Württembergische Wertpapierbörse / free trade