CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA — Earnings Release 2007

Aug 28, 2007

News Details

Corporate | 28 August 2007 07:00

CeWe Color Holding AG: CeWe Color confirms earnings forecast

CeWe Color Holding AG / Forecast

Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory
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The issuer / publisher is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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Press release

CeWe Color confirms earnings forecast

• Projected turnover raised by 20 million euros to around 400 million
  euros
• Digital business increases considerably: +40.5 percent
• Positive impulses generated with the Internet, order terminals and CeWe
  photo books
• Second-quarter earnings after tax at 4.0 million euros

Oldenburg, August 28, 2007. On the basis of the volume of business
generated during the period up to mid-year 2007, CeWe Color Holding AG,
Oldenburg, (Prime Standard, ISIN DE 0005403901) is confirming its earnings
forecast for the full year and is raising projected turnover, which is now
likely to exceed projections by 20 million euros and reach 400 million
euros (+/- 0 % in comparison to the same period of the previous year). The
Board of Management anticipates that turnover will grow as of 2008.
Investments will be increased to around 36 million euros and will exceed
those for the same period of the previous year by 10 percent. Earnings
before tax and restructuring will comply with projections and are expected
to amount to 24.5 million euros before restructuring and 14.5 million euros
after restructuring.

Second quarter: rise in turnover and considerable increase in digital
business

In the second quarter of 2007 turnover – mainly due to strong growth in
retail business – increased by 5.4 % in comparison to that of the previous
year, to 102.4 million euros. Second-quarter earnings before tax amounted
to 3.1 million euros (2006 second quarter earnings: 7.8 million euros;
earnings after tax amounted to 4.0 million euros (2006 second quarter: 3.7
million euros). Thanks to intensive marketing activities in the second
quarter, CeWe Color has also achieved more growth in digital business than
the market itself and has increased the rate of growth too. Primarily on
the basis of Internet business, a considerable increase in orders placed at
order terminals (DigiPhoto Makers) and the success of the CeWe photo book,
CeWe Color has posted strong growth in the number of digital photos
produced, with growth at 40.5 percent to 324.1 million photos (2006 second
quarter: 230.7 million photos).

Period up to mid-year: digital growth and retail almost offsets decline in
the number of photos from films

Accumulated turnover generated in the period up to mid-year 2007 increased
by 4.4 percent to 182.5 million euros. Strong growth in the number of
digital photos and prints (incl. photo book prints) virtually compensated
for the decline in the number of photos from films. Sales in general
totalled 1,232.7 billion photos (-3.4%), with the number of digital photos
increasing by 43.4 percent to 604.8 million and the number of photos from
films dropping by 26.5 percent (627.9 million photos). CeWe Color was able
to partly offset seasonal-related losses of the first quarter of the year
with a positive contribution to earnings in the second quarter; accumulated
losses before restructuring amounted to 2.6 million euros (mid-year 2006:
1.6 million euros). On inclusion of restructuring costs for the first
quarter of 2007 to the amount of 6.2 million euros for extending capacities
and the related plant closures in Berlin, Nuremberg and Poland, mid-year
losses in 2007 amounted to 8.7 million euros (mid-year 2006: 1.6 million
euros). For the full financial year of 2007 CeWe Color will be spending an
estimated 10 million euros on restructuring measures, as scheduled. This
will enable the company to reduce costs by approximately 4 million euros
per year as of 2008.

Investments boost growth and remain on a high level

Marketing measures and investments are to generate growth in turnover as of
2008. In order to maintain the rate of growth in digital business at a high
level in future too, CeWe Color will be investing 150 million to 200
million euros in product developments and in digital production capacities
over the coming five years. 'Increasing sales of new digital products are
the result of investments made so far and of product developments and
significantly enhanced marketing activities,' says Dr. Rolf Hollander,
Chairman of the Board of Management of CeWe Color Holding AG. As the
leading European finisher, CeWe Color will be emerging as a stronger
company from the process of transformation on the market and will be
opening up new potential for growth with additional skills and services.
Rolf Hollander: 'CeWe Color is well on the way to successfully handling the
transformation from being a company generating business purely with
production to a services company with considerable marketing and IT
skills.'

CeWe Color at a glance:

(I. - II. quarters) Q II. Q II. Change Mid- Mid- Change
2006 2007 year year
2006 2007

Sales (in EUR millions) 97,2 102,4 +5,4% 174,9 182,5 +4,4%

Photos total (in millions) 705,2 680,7 -3,5% 1.276,7 1.232,7 -3,4%

• of which digital photos 230,7 324,1 +40,5% 421,9 604,8 +43,4%

• of which prints from films 474,5 356,6 -24,8% 854,8 627,9 -26,5%

Image CDs from films 1.115 785 -29,6% 1.897,0 1.374,0 -27,6%
(in thousands)

Depreciation (in EUR millions) 8,1 9,5 +17,3% 16,4 19,5 +18,9%

Earnings before tax and 7,8 3,0 -61,5% 1,6 -2,6 -258,1%
restructuring (in EUR millions)
Expenditure for restructuring 0,0 -0,1 -100,0% 0,0 6,1 +100,0%
(in EUR millions)

Earnings before tax (EBT) 7,8 3,1 -60,1% 1,6 -8,7 -632,6%
(in EUR millions)

Earnings after tax 3,7 4,0 +7,3% -3,0 -9,0 -201,7%
(in EUR millions)

Profit per share (in euros) 0,45 0,56 +24,4% -0,45 -1,25 -177,8%

Cash Flow (in EUR millions) 11,8 13,5 +14,4% 13,4 10,4 -22,3%
(earnings after tax plus
depreciation)
Capital expenditure (calculated - - - 32,5 e36,0 +10,8%
for the full year) (in EUR millions)

Employees (extrapolated on a 3.104 3.190 2,8% 3.218 3.216 -0,1%
full-time basis)

Should you have any queries, please contact:

CeWe Color Holding AG, Hella Hahm, Tel.: 0441 / 404 - 400 (Secretary: –
234) or

0171 / 34 50 530, Fax: 0441 / 404-421, email: hella.hahm@cewecolor.de

Internet: www.cewecolor.com

About CeWe Color: Photo service company CeWe Color, with 20
highly-technical production operations and a staff of around 3,000
employees in 23 European countries, is both market and technological
leader. The company supplied around 2.9 billion photos, more than 500,000
CeWe photo books and various photo gift articles to 60,000 retail partners
in 2006. In 2006 turnover amounted to EUR 400.5 million. CeWe Color is
'first mover' in the launch of new digital technologies, for example
ordering digital photos in the Internet or with the help of order terminals
(DigiPhoto Makers) in retail stores. Personalised CeWe digital photo books
are selling very well. In 1961, CeWe Color was founded by Senator h.c.
Heinz Neumüller and, with Hubert Rothärmel at the helm, the company went
public in 1993. CeWe Color Holding AG is listed on the Prime Standard.
28.08.2007 Financial News transmitted by DGAP

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Language: English
Issuer: CeWe Color Holding AG
Meerweg 30-32
26133 Oldenburg
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)441 40 4-1
Fax: +49 (0)441 40 4-42 1
E-mail: info@cewecolor.de
Internet: www.cewecolor.de
ISIN: DE0005403901
WKN: 540390
Indices:
Listed: Geregelter Markt in Berlin, Frankfurt (Prime Standard);
Freiverkehr in Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München, Stuttgart

End of News DGAP News-Service

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