euro adhoc: freenet.de AG
Quarterly or Semiannual Financial
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freenet.de posts outstanding results for Q1/2005
Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
09.05.2005
freenet.de posts outstanding results for Q1/2005 New record revenues of 146.3 million euros (+ 22 percent vs. Q1/04)
Earnings before taxes rise to 28,1 million euros (+ 15 percent vs. Q1/04) Strong customer growth in DSL (+ 115,000 customers) Management confirms revenue and profit forecast for 2005 freenet.de AG / Hamburg - freenet.de AG continues to amplify its growth and profitability in the current business year. Revenues rose to a new record high of 146.26 million euros in Q1/2005 - up by 22 percent over Q1/2004 and a 16 percent increase over the companys previous record in Q4/2004. All four lines of business enhanced their performance both year-on-year and vs. the previous quarter. The results, too, are significantly improved: Gross profits rose by 22 percent over the previous quarter, to 73.84 million euros. After personnel and other expenses, EBITDA amounted to 36.59 million euros - an eight-percent increase vs. Q1/2004 and 41 percent vs. the previous quarter. Any comparison of the quarterly results must consider the new IFRS 2 rules, which mandate that freenet shows its stock option program on the books: IFRS 2 decrees that the cost of any work performed by the beneficiaries acquired by implementing the programme must be shown at the respective balance sheet date for the period under review. This added 2.25 million euros in personnel expense to the Q1/2005 books, and 7.36 million euros in additional personnel expense to Q1/2004. The various quarterly results in 2004 were adjusted accordingly and after the fact. Earnings before taxes (EBT) increased by 15 percent vs. Q1/2004 and by 60 percent over Q4/2004, to 28.06 million euros. After taxes, the group had net income of 17.43 million euros, up by 19 percent since Q1/2004 and by 53 percent over Q4/2004. Cash and cash equivalents declined by 54.42 million euros in Q1/2005, to 90.93 million euros. This reflects payments of 10 million euros to mobilcom as the final instalment in the takeover of its fixed-line business in 2003 and another 80 million euros paid out as part of the acquisition of the STRATO group in late January 2005. Internet Access is still the strongest mainstay of sales, contributing 84.19 million euros to group revenues. One particularly gratifying development is the strong growth in the DSL customer base, which grew by 115,000 customers to 465,000 customers at the end of March 2005 (including the 20,000 DSL customers added by STRATO). At the same time, the total number of active Internet Access customers rose to a new high at 3.87 million. The time our users spent online also increased slightly to 5.10 billion minutes. With revenues of 39.91 million euros (+ 15 percent vs. Q1/2004), Voice Telephony remains the second-largest segment, although freenet had deliberately opted for a strategy of continual low rates in past months, without trying to undercut every discount rate in the extremely volatile and price-sensitive by-call business. The total volume of call minutes rose year-on-year, to 1.35 billion at the end of March 2005. The Portal business - including digital services - and the supplementary B2B Services segment showed the most rapid growth: the Portal business nearly tripled its revenues year on year, to 20.04 million euros. Factors that contributed to this success include a systematic increase in the attractive paid services available on the freenet online service, which currently count approx. 240,000 subscribers, and the integration of the STRATO group acquired with effect from end January 2005, which added about 1 million customer contracts in the Domain Hosting segment. B2B revenues, which increased by 63 percent year on year, to 2.11 million euros, reflects the managements increasing focus on this income stream. This does not include any revenues from the takeover of Talkline ID, which wasnt finalized until April 2005. In light of these excellent first-quarter results, the management confirms its revenue forecast of 650 million euros for 2005 and expected EBITDA of between 125 and 140 million euros. At the same time, it will propose to the Annual General Meeting a dividend payout of 0.35 euros (per share) for fiscal 2004.
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Financial data* Q1/2005 Q4/2004 Q1/2004
adjusted adjusted
Revenues 146,256 126,466 119,476
Segment: Internet access 84,187 73,049 76,760
Segment: Portal 20,041 12,463 6,790
Segment: Voice 39,914 39,558 34,630
Segment: B2B services 2,114 1,396 1,296
Gross profit 73,842 60,327 67,093
EBITDA 36,588 25,969 33,969
Earnings before taxes (EBT) 28,056 17,482 24,401
Group result 17,429 11,409 14,669
Capital and reserves 268,814 185,054 149,116
Balance sheet total 463,664 315,300 320,129
Cahs and cash equivalents 90,925 145,348 144,418
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*per IFRS; in TEUR / Source: freenet.de AGend of announcement euro adhoc 09.05.2005 06:30:00
Further inquiry note:
Andreas Neumann
Investor Relations
Tel.: +49 (0)40 51306 778
E-Mail: IR@freenet-ag.de
Branche: Online
ISIN: DE0005792006
WKN: 579200
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