Grenke AG — Earnings Release 2004

Nov 11, 2004

News Details

Ad-hoc | 11 November 2004 07:42

GRENKELEASING reports strong profit growth again

Ad-hoc-announcement transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– GRENKELEASING reports strong profit growth again Baden-Baden, November 11, 2004: GRENKELEASING posts an EBIT (earnings before interest, tax and valuation of financial instruments) of EUR 29 million for the first nine months of 2004. This corresponds to an increase of 34 % compared to a figure of EUR 22 million for the same period of the previous year. Earnings before tax (EBT) came to EUR 30 million over the same period. This means an increase of 37 % against last year’s comparable of EUR 22 million. The group increased its after-tax profits by 44 % to EUR 19 million (compared to EUR 13 million in the first nine months of 2003). Earnings per share rose from EUR 1.00 to EUR 1.43. As already reported in advance, the company’s new business (i.e. the total acquisition costs of newly purchased leased assets) came to EUR 257 million in the first nine months of 2004 (compared to EUR 220 million over the same period of 2003), marking an increase of 17 %. Its new business in Germany grew by 11 % – despite the continued weakness of the economy. GRENKELEASING’s foreign subsidiaries accounted for 26 % of the group’s total new business. The margin of new business (contribution margin 1), from which the financial result over the life of a contract is derived and which is thus a key profitability indicator, improved to a level of EUR 29 million in the first nine months of 2004 against last year’s comparable of EUR 24 million, representing an increase of 18%. The full nine-month’s report for 2004 is available under http://www.grenkeleasing.de – Investor Relations – Figures. The Executive Board Should you have any queries, please contact: GRENKELEASING AG, Neuer Markt 2, D-76532 Baden-Baden Renate Hauss Tel: + 49 7221 5007-204 Fax: + 49 7221 5007-112 E mail: investor@grenkeleasing.de Internet: http://www.grenkeleasing.de end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 11.11.2004 Issuer’s information/explanatory remarks concerning this ad-hoc-announcement: “The group’s earnings position improved very favourably in the first nine months of the year – not least thanks to stringent cost management. Earnings before taxes (EBT) rose by 37 % to EUR 30 million. After the valuation of financial instruments had a negative impact on EBT in the first few months of the year, the picture was reversed in Q3”, explains Wolfgang Grenke, Chairman of the Executive Board of GRENKELEASING AG. Grenke is also content with the growth in new business. After a somewhat weaker Q3, business had picked up again in Q4, he said. As regards the future outlook, he commented that “The decisive factor will be the new contracts concluded in the last few weeks of the year, since these are always above average and thus have a stronger impact on the quarterly result.” He added that GRENKELEASING was again seeking double-digit growth in the coming year. The group recorded 74,904 leasing enquiries in the first nine months of 2004, leading to the generation of 37,386 leasing contracts. The average value per concluded contract came to EUR 6,872 and is thus slightly higher than in the previous year (comparable in 2003: EUR 6,752). The average number of employees came to 274 at the end of October, compared to 265 in October 2003. The company now has operations in 13 European countries. GRENKELEASING is represented in 20 cities throughout Germany. In addition to its five French branch offices, it has one subsidiary each in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. An Irish subsidiary took up the operational side of its business in Q3. An additional branch office went into operation in France (Aix-en-Provence) and Switzerland (Lausanne) respectively in October. A franchise system gives GRENKELEASING a presence in the UK and Poland. GRENKELEASING is the German and Swiss market leader in small-ticket IT leasing, i.e. for products such as PC’s, notebooks, copiers, printers, or software up to an acquisition value of EUR 25,000. GRENKELEASING AG is listed in the Prime Standard segment of the German stock exchange in Frankfurt and has a listing on the SDAX (small-cap) index. Information on the company and its products is available on the Internet under http://www.grenkeleasing.de . ——————————————————————————– WKN: 586590; ISIN: DE0005865901; Index: SDAX Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin- Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart 110742 Nov 04