euro adhoc: freenet.de AG
Quarterly or Semiannual Financial Statements /
freenet.de with strong revenue growth in 2nd quarter 2005
Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
08.08.2005
freenet.de with strong revenue growth in 2nd quarter 2005 Record revenues of 178.28 million euros (+ 63 percent versus Q2/04) EBITDA of 31.15 million euros (+ 6.4 percent versus Q2/04) Earnings before taxes of 20.35 million euros despite high marketing expenses - slightly up on the same quarter last year
freenet.de AG / Hamburg - freenet.de AG remains on course for growth, regardless of the increasingly stiff competition. The company succeeded in increasing total revenues in the second quarter of 2005 by a further 22 percent on the record level of the first quarter of 2005 to 178.28 million euros; in comparison with the same quarter of the previous year the increase amounts to almost 63 percent. After deducting cost of materials amounting to 100.65 million euros a gross profit of 77.63 million euros calculates for the second quarter - an increase of 45 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year, which corresponds to a gross profit margin of nearly 44 percent. With total revenues of 324.54 million euros the following results and growth rates calculate for the first half-year of 2005 compared to the same period in 2004: EBITDA rose by 7 percent to 67.74 million euros (31.15 million euros of this in Q2/2005). Earnings before taxes (EBT) rose compared to the same period last year by 9 percent to 48.40 million euros (20.35 million euros of this in Q2/2005) and the group result by 11 percent to 29.92 million euros (12.49 million euros of this in Q2/2005). The traditionally low Internet usage in the summer months as well as high marketing expenses for TV advertising and for the launch campaign for the DSL offer of the newly-acquired STRATO group led to a decline as planned in the result indices in the second quarter of 2005 compared to the previous quarter (all results for Q1/2005: EBITDA 36.59 million euros, EBT 28.06 million euros, group result 17.43 million euros). Cash and cash equivalents increased markedly in comparison with the end of the first quarter of 2005, by almost 31 million euros or 34 percent, to 121.9 million euros. "This demonstrates that we have absorbed very well the acquisitions we made at the end of the fourth quarter of 2004 and paid for in the first half of 2005," said Eckhard Spoerr, CEO of freenet.de AG. The segment with the strongest revenues by far remains the Internet access with 79.88 million euros - an increase of 24 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Thanks to the successful growth of DSL customers the total number of Internet access customers at the end of June 2005 of 3.71 million was at the same level as the comparison reference date at the end of June 2004 - despite a decline of about nine percent in the number of narrow band customers during the same period. From May onwards freenet again took a more active part in the DSL business amidst increasingly hard competition. The number of new customers showed a correspondingly clear growth from May 2005 on, after a rather restrained April: in the second quarter freenet gained 60,000 new DSL customers. Compared to the end of the first half-year of 2004 freenet increased the number of its DSL customers on 30 June 2005 by over 150 percent or 320,000 customers, to 525,000. In the voice segment sales climbed by 10 percent compared to Q2/2004 to 39.71 million euros. The number of call-by-call customers likewise rose by 10 percent compared to Q2/2004, to nearly 4.2 million. In pre-selection customers and direct lines, the company grew by roughly 25 percent year-on-year, to approx. 570,000 - remaining on a par with the high level seen in the previous quarter. The strongest growth in the second quarter was in the B2B segment, soaring to 34.57 million euros, up by more than 1,500 percent over Q1/2005 and 2,700 percent over Q2/2004. Here, the revenues of the value-added services provider Next-ID (previously Talkline ID) are included for the first time following the consolidation in early April 2005. The portal business also continues to show a very gratifying development, with second-quarter revenues tripling year-on-year to currently 24.13 million euros. "This reflects the first-time consolidation of the newly acquired STRATO group over an entire quarter - and the prudence of our strategy of relying on a combination of organic and inorganic growth", commented Eckhard Spoerr.
Q2/2005 Q1/2005 Q2/2004 1.half 05 1.half 04
adjusted adjusted
Revenues 178,279 146,256 109,624 324,535 229,100
Segment: Internet 79,876 84,187 64,355 164,063 141,115
Segment: Voice 39,709 39,914 35,944 79,623 70,574
Segment: Portal 24,129 20,041 8,091 44,170 14,881
Segment: B2B Services 34,565 2,114 1,234 36,679 2,530
Gross profit 77,627 73,842 53,404 151,469 120,497
EBITDA 31,150 36,588 29,287 67,738 63,256
Earnings before taxes (EBT) 20,346 28,056 19,919 48,402 44,320
Group result 12,490 17,429 12,401 29,919 27,070
Capital and reserves 281,304 268,814 161,517 281,304 161,517
Balance sheet total 516,432 463,664 317,282 516,432 317,282
Cash and cash equivalents 121,891 90,925 155,589 121,891 155,589Financial data per IFRS; in TEUR / Source: freenet.de AG
All those who are interested can find the report on the second quarter at: www.freenet-ag.de in the area of Investor Relations.
end of announcement euro adhoc 08.08.2005 07:30:00
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
Index: TecDAX, Prime Standard, CDAX, Prime All Share, HDAX,
Technologie All Share, Midcap Market Index
Börsen: Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse / regulated dealing
Berliner Wertpapierbörse / free trade
Hamburger Wertpapierbörse / free trade
Baden-Württembergische Wertpapierbörse / free trade
Börse Düsseldorf / free trade
Niedersächsische Börse zu Hannover / free trade
Bayerische Börse / free trade
Bremer Wertpapierbörse (BWB) / free trade