Earnings Release • Mar 24, 2011
Earnings Release
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Ad-hoc | 24 March 2011 07:33
Fiscal year 2010 proves successful for United Internet
United Internet AG / Key word(s): Final Results
24.03.2011 07:33
Dissemination of an Ad hoc announcement according to § 15 WpHG, transmitted
by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Montabaur, March 24, 2011. The Management Board of United Internet AG (ISIN
DE0005089031) today announced the consolidated results according to IFRS
for the fiscal year 2010.
Group development
In its fiscal year 2010, consolidated sales of United Internet AG were up
15.0% from EUR 1,658.9 million in the previous year to EUR 1,907.1 million.
Despite additional expenditure for a DSL quality drive and high start-up
costs for new business fields totaling EUR 71.9 million, earnings before
interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) remained virtually
unchanged at EUR 357.7 million (comparable prior-year figure: EUR 356.1
million - without special items of EUR 60.6 million from the sale of
shares). In contrast to the aforementioned expenses for quality and new
business fields, there were reimbursements for previous periods totaling
EUR 19.3 million concerning pre-service invoices which had been queried by
United Internet. Due in particular to scheduled depreciation of EUR 21.6
million on freenet's DSL customer base acquired in late 2009, earnings
before interest and taxes (EBIT) fell as expected by 9.5% to EUR 271.5
million (prior year: EUR 300.0 million).
Group development 2009 2010 Change
Annual comparison (in EUR million)
Sales 1,658.9 1,907.1 + 15.0%
EBITDA* 356.1 357.7 + 0.4%
EBIT* 300.0 271.5 - 9.5%
* EBITDA and EBIT 2009 without positive special items of EUR 60.6 million
from sale of shares.
Consolidated net income from continued operations decreased from EUR 271.2
million in the previous year to EUR 127.7 million. Consolidated net income
of the previous year included net positive extraordinary income of EUR 75.6
million (sale of freenet and Drillisch shares, write-ups on the MSP holding
and write-downs in particular on Versatel shares) as well as non-recurring,
net positive tax adjustments of EUR 26.6 million. In contrast, consolidated
net income of fiscal year 2010 was burdened by impairment charges
(especially for the shares in freenet still held) of EUR 13.8 million and
by increased losses of associated companies (especially Versatel) of EUR
31.8 million. As a consequence, earnings per share from continued
operations fell from EUR 1.17 in the previous year to EUR 0.57.
Dividend
At the Annual Shareholders' Meeting on May 26, 2011, the Management Board
and Supervisory Board will propose a dividend of EUR 0.20 per share.
Development of business in the 'Access' segment
Sales in the Access segment grew by 19.8% to EUR 1,230.1 million in
fiscal year 2010. United Internet invested an additional EUR 50.2 million
in this segment in 2010 for the establishment and development of new
business fields and a DSL quality drive. In contrast to this,
reimbursements for previous periods totaling EUR 19.3 million from
pre-service invoices which had been queried were used to partially
refinance these expenses. At EUR 122.6 million, EBITDA was only slightly
below the prior-year figure. Due to scheduled depreciation of EUR 21.6
million on the acquired DSL customer base of freenet, EBIT fell as expected
by 22.2% to EUR 92.0 million.
Development of Access segment 2009 2010 Change
(in EUR million)
Sales 1,026.7 1,230.1 19.8%
EBITDA 124.1 122.6 - 1.2%
EBIT 118.3 92.0 - 22.2%
The number of fee-based contracts in the Access segment grew by 130,000
contracts in total, from 3.50 million as of December 31, 2009 to 3.63
million as of December 31, 2010.
Customer contracts in Access segment Dec. 31, Sept. 30, Dec. 31,
(in million) 2009 2010 2010
Access, total 3.50 3.55 3.63
of which DSL complete 1.82 2.21 2.32
of which Mobile Internet 0.09 0.17 0.27
of which narrowband / T-DSL / R-DSL 1.59 1.17 1.04
Development of business in the 'Applications' segment
Sales growth in the Applications segment was slowed by the contract
conversion of a major customer of Sedo's subsidiary affilinet. As a result,
the listed subsidiary Sedo Holding AG posted a fall in sales of 14.2% for
2010 - whereas the rest of the segment enjoyed growth of 12.5%. Against
this backdrop, total segment sales grew by just 7.1% to EUR 676.5 million.
In 2010, United Internet invested an additional EUR 21.7 million in the
development of new applications, the marketing of a new Do-it-Yourself
Homepage and further internationalization (Poland). Despite these high
expenses, segment EBITDA and EBIT were slightly up on the previous year at
EUR 232.7 million and EUR 177.3 million, respectively.
Development of Applications segment
Annual comparison (in EUR million) 2009 2010 Change
Sales 631.5 676.5 + 7.1%
EBITDA 225.4 232.7 + 3.2%
EBIT 175.4 177.3 + 1.1%
The number of fee-based contracts grew by 480,000 to 6.13 million. Business
Applications contributed 290,000 new contracts (total: 4.30 million) and
Consumer Applications added 190,000 new contracts (total: 1.83 million).
Customer contracts in Applications Dec. 31, Sept.30, Dec.31,
segment (in million) 2009 2010 2010
Total fee-based contracts 5.65 6.03 6.13
of which domestic 3.43 3.63 3.68
of which foreign 2.22 2.40 2.45
Ad-financed accounts 26.3 27.3 28.0
Outlook
As already announced in November 2010, United Internet will continue to
pursue its policy of sustainable growth in 2011 and once again invest
heavily in new business fields. In addition to a further increase in
customer acquisition efforts, the focus in 2011 will be placed on
developing new applications, tapping new foreign markets for Business
Applications and - for Consumer Applications - expanding the acquired
Mail.com service and launching De-Mail. Despite the high start-up costs
associated with these projects, EBITDA in 2011 is expected to reach a
similar level to that of 2010 (EUR 357.7 million). Sales growth in 2011 is
expected to reach approx. 5% in the Access segment and approx. 10% in the
Applications segment.
24.03.2011 DGAP's Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements,
Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.
Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de
Language: English
Company: United Internet AG
Elgendorfer Straße 57
56410 Montabaur
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)2602 / 96 - 1100
Fax: +49 (0)2602 / 96 - 1013
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.united-internet.de
ISIN: DE0005089031
WKN: 508903
Indices: TecDAX
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Berlin, Frankfurt (Prime Standard);
Freiverkehr in Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München,
Stuttgart
End of Announcement DGAP News-Service
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