euro adhoc: KarstadtQuelle AG
quarterly or semiannual financial statement /
Consolidated earnings (after minority interests) reaches EUR558.1 million -
high positive extraordinary income from real estate disposals
Adjusted EBITDA minus EUR41.7 mill
Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
09.08.2006
Essen, Germany, 9 August 2006. After a successful financial restructuring, KarstadtQuelle Group is concentrating on improving operating performance and deploying its scope for growth. The group has new strategic options available. With the settlement of a first tranche of the property disposal, the Group received inflows amounting to EUR2.7 billion on 3 July 2006. As a result, the (pro forma) equity ratio improved to 16.7% (2.8% in the previous year). The (pro forma) net financial liabilities are already down considerably to EUR0.6 billion. By year-end, there should be an equity ratio of approximately 20%. What is more, by year-end, there should be no net financial liabilities. In the first six months, adjusted Group sales totalled EUR6.47 billion (EUR6.76 billion in the previous year), equivalent to a decline of 4.2%. Adjusted for the sales effect from the catalogue pages no longer published in Mail Order, sales in the first half-year of 2006 are only 1.2% under those of the previous year and in the second quarter at the same level as the previous year. In the first six months, KarstadtQuelle generated consolidated earnings (after minority interests) of plus EUR558.1 million (minus EUR271.9 million in the previous year). Adjusted EBITDA was minus EUR41.7 million (plus EUR19.4 million in the previous year). Karstadt and Thomas Cook are on schedule and posted an adjusted EBITDA well up on the level of the previous year. However, Universal Mail Order in Germany considerably lagged the figures of the previous year and those scheduled, both in terms of sales and result. For this reason, additional restructuring measures were introduced for Universal Mail Order Germany. They focus is on a further, significant reduction of infrastructure costs in the Service group. An extraordinary restructuring charge of approximately EUR200 million has been planned for this. In the second half of 2006, the management expects an improvement in the development of group sales. The Mail Order segment ought to reduce the negative deviation to previous years shown in the first half of the year, but will not be able to compensate for it. On the other hand, the Department Store and Tourism segments should continue to develop above plan and well above the previous year. At the current moment, the Management Board does not consider it realistic to anticipate that these two segments will compensate for the shortfall in Mail Order by overperforming against the previous year in the second half of the year in order to achieve the 20% increase of the adjusted Group EBITDA (without consideration of the real estate transaction) which was forecast at the beginning of the year. On current facts, the Management Board anticipates that adjusted EBITDA (without consideration of the Real Estate segment) will improve from the previous-year figure of EUR199 million (adjusted for the ABS effect in Mail Order of EUR50 million) by approximately 10%. The reduction of the free cash flow relative to plan will be partially offset by the expected above-plan reduction of working capital.
Essen/Germany, August 9, 2006 The Management Board
end of announcement euro adhoc 09.08.2006 08:16:23
Further inquiry note:
Detlef Neveling
Tel.: +49 (0)201 727 9816
E-Mail: detlef.neveling@karstadtquelle.com
Branche: Retail
ISIN: DE0006275001
WKN: 627500
Index: CDAX, Classic All Share, HDAX, MDAX, Midcap Market Index,
Prime All Share
Börsen: Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse / official dealing/prime standard
Börse Berlin-Bremen / official dealing
Hamburger Wertpapierbörse / official dealing
Baden-Württembergische Wertpapierbörse / official dealing
Börse Düsseldorf / official dealing
Niedersächsische Börse zu Hannover / official dealing
Bayerische Börse / official dealing