euro adhoc: freenet.de AG
Financial Figures/Balance Sheet
freenet.de AG in
2005: 50 Percent Revenue Growth, Pre-tax Earnings on Plan
Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
28.02.2006
· Rising revenues in all segments · Adjusted pre-tax earnings on par with previous year despite massive investments in sustained growth · Nearly 700,000 DSL customers at year-end (doubling of DSL customers since year-end 2004)
freenet.de AG / Hamburg - freenet.de AG, Hamburg, significantly increased its revenues in all four of its business segments in 2005. Despite massive investments in future growth, pre-tax earnings - adjusted for merger-related non-recurring expenses - were on par with the previous years levels (the financials reported in the following are preliminary figures under IFRS).
Internet Access - dominated by a thriving broadband business - was the strongest revenue driver, contributing over EUR339.0 million; within a single year, the number of DSL customers doubled from 350,000 to nearly 700,000 at the end of 2005. freenet also managed to add important telephony market shares in 2005. Accordingly, revenues in this segment rose by seven percent to over EUR158.2 million despite dwindling prices. freenets Portal business also delivered a gratifying performance, increasing its revenues by over 182 percent to EUR100.6 million. Apart from the highly successful marketing of the entire freenet.de network, and flourishing Internet sales of products, the successful integration of the STRATO Medien AG (acquired in Q1/2005) and its hosting business played an essential role in this success. B2B revenues surged by over 2,100 percent to EUR117.3 million, fueled by the 2005 acquisition of the value-added services provider NEXT-ID GmbH (formerly Talkline ID GmbH). With annual revenues of EUR715.1 million, freenet not only grew its total revenues by over 50 percent year on year, but also well exceeded the at the beginning of the year 2005 given forecast (over EUR650 million).
The second half of 2005 in particular was fraught with aggressive competition, the intensity of which came as a surprise even to the freenet Executive Board. Despite this freenet invested massively to ensure sustained growth in all its lines of business. Even given this background, the results were on par with the previous year (all financials in the following are reported without taking into account merger-related non-recurring expenses totaling EUR11.7 million): At EUR128.3 million (EUR127.4 million in 2004), adjusted EBITDA is within the range projected for 2005 (EUR125 million to EUR140 million). Adjusted earnings before taxes came to EUR92.6 million (EUR91.7 million in 2004).
freenet is one of Germanys fastest growing telecommunications companies and continues to strive for steady growth in all four of its pillars. In light of the planned amalgamation between freenet.de AG and mobilcom AG, it is not yet foreseeable at this point when the final business figures will be released.
2005 2005 (incl. merger-related 2004 adjusted* non-recurring expenses) adjusted** Revenues 715,085 715,085 471,582 Segment: Internet access 338,970 338,970 282,727 Segment: Portal 100,643 100,643 35,592 Segment: Voice 158,153 158,153 148,132 Segment: B2B Services 117,319 117,319 5,131 EBITDA 128,280 116,596 127,390 Earnings before taxes (EBT) 92,615 80,931 91,683
Financial data per IFRS; in TEUR / Source: freenet.de AG * Adjusted for merger-related non-recurring expenses totaling TEUR 11,684. ** Adjustments as part of the first-time application of IFRS 2 for 2004.
end of announcement euro adhoc 28.02.2006 09:42:58
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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Börsen: Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse / regulated dealing/prime
standard
Börse Berlin-Bremen / free trade
Hamburger Wertpapierbörse / free trade
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