freenet AG

Earnings Release • Feb 18, 2003

News Details

Ad-hoc | 18 February 2003 07:53

freenet.de AG english

Annual Balance 2002: freenet.de Shows Profit / More Than 3.7 Million Customers Ad-hoc-announcement transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– Annual Balance 2002: freenet.de Shows Profit / More Than 3.7 Million Customers Make It Germany’s Second-Biggest Online Service 2002 brought record revenues of 42.22m Euro (+51% year-on-year), with an 88% gross yield margin; EBITDA (IAS) of 8.81m Euro(21.6m Euro improvement year-on- year); Positive group earnings (IAS) of 1.29m Euro (up by 11.1m Euro year-on- year); Positive cash flow of 10.2m Euro; liquid assets of 64.5m Euro; currently more than 3.7m active access customers; 5.68 million members. With revenues of 13.39m Euro for Q4/2002, freenet.de has generated record revenues for the fifth consecutive time, and increased its revenues by 32 % over the previous quarter (10.16m Euro). The company’s earnings were also up again in Q4/2002, with EBITDA at 4.13m Euro, pre-tax earnings(EBT) at 2.86m Euro and group result at 1.55m Euro (all IAS). The year-on-year increase in quarterly revenues was 53% (Q4/2001: 8.73m Euro). All earnings were negative in Q4/2001: EBITDA was at -1.75m Euro, earnings before taxes (EBT) at -3.31m Euro and group result at -1.8m Euro (all IAS). Compared with 2001 (27.95m Euro), freenet.de AG was able to improve its annual revenues by over 50% to 42.22m Euro in 2002. EBITDA (IAS) for the year was up by 21.6m Euro to 8.81m Euro compared with the previous year (-12.8m Euro). Annual earnings before taxes (EBT/IAS) showed a similar impressive development, improving by 20.11m Euro from minus 16.43m Euro to 3.68m Euro. freenet.de thus ended 2002 with positive group result (IAS) totaling 1.29m Euro (2001: -9.84m Euro). Advertising revenues grew by nearly 100% in 2002 to 13.42m Euro (PY: 6.78m Euro); e-commerce revenues rose by 60% to 10.19m Euro (PY: 6.35m Euro); and connectivity revenues reached 17.58m Euro (up by 35% over 2001: 13.02m Euro). Q4/2002 Q3/2002 Q4/2001 2002 2001 Revenues 13,387 10,163 8,724 42,224 27,946 E-Commerce 4,131 2,384 1,749 10,185 6,346 Advertising 4,111 3,338 2,422 13,415 6,775 Connectivity 4,816 4,122 4,356 17,577 13,023 B-2-B 329 319 197 1,047 1,802 EBITDA 4,130 3,884 -1,749 8,805 -12,800 EBT 2,860 2,539 -3,312 3,677 -16,434 Group result 1,549 1,289 -1,797 1,291 -9,837 (Financial data: IAS; in thousand Euro/Source:freenet.de AG) end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 18.02.2003 Issuer’s information/explanatory remarks concerning this ad-hoc-announcement: “As Germany’s second-biggest online service, with positive cash flow of 10.2m Euro at year-end 2002 and nearly 65m Euro in liquid assets, we are coming from a position of strength. The proposed acquisition of the fixed network will fundamentally extend both our business model and our profit prospects,” said freenet.de AG CEO Eckhard Spoerr. Thanks to these positive fourth-quarter figures, the company significantly exceeded its 40m Euro revenue target. As of today, 3.7 million customers use freenet.de to access the Internet. freenet.de gained 630,000 new customers in 2002, and the company has lastingly established itself as the No.2 in the German Internet market. About 100,000 customers avail themselves of one of the many paid services offered by freenet.de AG. ——————————————————————————– WKN: 579200; ISIN: DE0005792006; Index: Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart 180753 Feb 03