Bastei Lübbe AG

Earnings Release • Jun 30, 2014

News Details

Ad-hoc | 30 June 2014 08:18

Bastei Lübbe AG: Bastei Lübbe AG Sees Strong Growth in Revenues and EBIT for 2013/2014

Bastei Lübbe AG / Key word(s): Final Results

30.06.2014 08:18

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Bastei Lübbe AG Sees Strong Growth in Revenues and EBIT for 2013/2014
Fiscal Year

• Revenue growth of 9.4% to 107.5 million euros (PY: 98.3 million euros)

• EBIT jumps by 24.7% to 14.9 million euros (PY: 12.0 million euros)

• Broad growth stretches across all three publishing divisions (Book,
  Puzzle and Serialised Novels and Non-Book)

• Executive Board and Supervisory Board recommend dividends of 0.28 euro
  per share to annual stockholders meeting

Cologne, 30 June 2014. Bastei Lübbe AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange/Prime
Standard listing code ISIN DE000A1X3YY0) has posted revenue and earnings
growth on a broad basis for the 2013/2014 fiscal year. Revenues grew during
the reporting period by 9.4 percent to 107.5 million euros (PY: 98.3
million euros).

The positive revenue trends extended across all three segments of the
company's business. The strong-performing 'Book' segment rose by 8.4% to
85.8 million euros (previous year: 79.1 million euros). The "Serialised
Novels/Puzzle Magazines" and "Non-Book" saw even higher growth, with
revenues increasing by 18.4% (to 10.2 million euros) and 9.0 percent (to
11.5 million euros) respectively. The fiscal year also saw Bastei Lübbe AG
continue its dynamic growth in the area of electronic media, one of the
greatest pillars of growth for the entire media group. Digital revenues
rose from 9.0 million euros a year ago to 15.5 million euros now,
representing 73.3% year-on-year growth. This totals 18.1% of revenues in
the "Book" segment (PY: 11.3%). When digital audio revenues are included,
digital's share of overall revenues totals more than 14%. Bastei Lübbe
plans to continue expanding into this field. This includes the recent
acquisitions of majority stakes in Daedalic Entertainment GmbH and BookRix
GmbH & Co. KG, although both transactions came after the reporting deadline
in May 2014.

Earnings before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) also increased during the
2013/2014 fiscal year to 14.9 million euros (PY: 12.0 million euros). EBIT
margins improved during the reporting period from 12.1 to 13.9%. The 'Book'
division enjoyed especially strong growth (+49.2% to 14.6 million euros).
The "Serialised Novels/Puzzle Magazines" segment also posted gains (by
5.5%, to 1.1 million euro), while the "Non-Book" segment reported losses of
0.8 million euros (after gains of 1.1 million euros a year ago). Annual
profits grew during the reporting period by 14.5% to 9.1 million euros (PY:
7.9 million euros). Based on the current number of stocks in circulation
(13.3 million), results per share during the 2013/2014 fiscal year totalled
0.68 euros/share (PY: 0.60 euro/share).

Total assets amounted to 108.1 million euro at the end of the 2013/14
fiscal year, up from 88.8 million euro on 31 March 2013. The growth
primarily reflects the capital increase achieved through the public
offering from October 2013. As at 31 March 2014, equity capital had
increased from 26.8 million to 52.1 million euros y/y. As such, equity
capital now represents 48.1% of net assets (up from 30.2%). The operative
cash flow increased to 11.1 million euro (PY: 1.6 million euros).

As announced at the time of the IPO, Bastei Lübbe AG intends to pursue a
sustainable dividend strategy. It calls for shareholders to share
appropriately in the positive annual results. For this reason the executive
board and supervisory board will recommend to the annual shareholders
meeting on 17 September 2014 that a dividend of 0.28 euros/share be issued.
Bastei Lübbe AG's year-end accounts for FY 2013/14 indicate a rise in net
assets to 9.032,714 euros. Based on the 13,300,000 dividend-eligible
shares, that represents an overall dividend payout of 3,724,000 euros. The
remaining 5,308,714 euros will be carried forward onto new account.

For the ongoing 2014/15 fiscal year, Bastei Lübbe is predicting moderate
revenue growth and flat EBIT y/y. The media company's forecasts single out
the 'Book' segment, and in particular digital products, as the major growth
driver. Greater stability is expected for the Serialised Novel and Puzzle
Magazine divisions, while slight growth is forecast for the 'Non-Book'
segment. Foreign revenues, especially from planned joint ventures in China
and the USA, are not expected to impact results until the 2015/16 fiscal
year. The resulting start-up costs will however be counted against the
ongoing fiscal year.

The executive board fundamentally expects continuing growth in the
operational results going forward. The 2014/15 fiscal year will be a
transitional year as Bastei Lübbe AG establishes itself as an international
media house and pushes digital internationalisation. First quarter revenue
and profits are expected to fall short of their y/y levels. The first
quarter of 2013/14 saw tremendous revenue and profits from the best-seller
'Inferno' from Dan Brown, published in May 2013. That one book alone rang
in roughly nine million euros in sales -- but Bastei Lübbe AG does not have
a comparable best-seller in the pipeline for Q1 2014/2015. The lower
revenues from the first quarter will be more than recovered over the course
of the entire 2014/15 reporting year through the expected revenue boosts in
the second and third quarters, the board is predicting. This includes for
example a significant bump in sales and profits from a new book from
best-selling author Ken Follett to be published in Q2 2014/15.

The complete annual report can be found on the internet at
http://www.luebbe.de/Investor-Relations/_investor_finanzberichte_de.

About Bastei Lübbe AG:
Bastei Lübbe AG is a media company organised around its publishing venture.
The Cologne-based company currently has around 335 employees. It publishes
books, audio books, ebooks and digital products in both the literary and
popular science genres, as well as serialised novels and puzzle magazines.
Bastei Lübbe is also actively involved in brand licensing and the
development, production and distribution of gift, decoration and
merchandising articles. Bastei Lübbe has for many years enjoyed an almost
unbroken streak as the market leader in the growing segment of hard-cover
literature; in 2013 its literary ebooks division was also ranked number one
on the market. 2013 saw the company's 60th anniversary celebration and its
launch as a publicly traded company. Shares of Bastei Lübbe AG are listed
in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (WKN A1X3YY,
ISIN DE000A1X3YY0).

Contact for Bastei Lübbe AG:
Barbara Fischer
Director of PR and
Event Marketing
Tel. :+49 (0) 221 / 82 00 28 50
E-Mail: barbara.fischer@luebbe. de

30.06.2014 DGAP's Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements,
Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.
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Language: English
Company: Bastei Lübbe AG
Schanzenstraße 6 - 20
51063 Köln
Germany
Phone: 02 21 / 82 00 - 0
Fax: 02 21 / 82 00 - 1900
E-mail: investorrelations@luebbe.de
Internet: www.luebbe.de
ISIN: DE000A1X3YY0, DE000A1K0169
WKN: A1X3YY, A1K016
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr
in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, Stuttgart

End of Announcement DGAP News-Service

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