Grenke AG — Earnings Release 2005

Apr 4, 2005

News Details

Ad-hoc | 4 April 2005 07:58

GRENKELEASING AG:- profitability increases

Ad hoc announcement §15 WpHG Result New Business GRENKELEASING AG:- profitability increases Ad hoc announcement transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— Baden-Baden, April 4, 2005: GRENKELEASING reports new business of EUR 95 million in Q1 2005. The margin of new business (contribution margin 1) came to EUR 10.9 million. GRENKELEASING closed the first quarter of 2005 with earnings in new business – i.e. the total acquisition costs of newly purchased leased assets – of EUR 95 million (previous year EUR 88 million). Its new business thus grew by 8.8 % compared with the same period of last year, with the fewer working days in Q1 of this year holding back growth. 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, grew superproportional to EUR 10.9 million in Q1 2005 against last year’s comparable of EUR 10 million, representing an increase of 9.3 %. The company’s new business in Germany was particularly hard hit by the early Easter holidays and merely grew by 1.6 %. Its foreign subsidiaries accounted for 30 % of the group’s total new business. Its new business in France grew by 22 % and in Switzerland by 40 %. The company will publish its detailed Three Month’s Report for 2005 on April 28, 2005. The Executive Board Should you have any queries, please contact: 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 report GRENKELEASING AG Neuer Markt 2 76532 Baden-Baden Deutschland ISIN: DE0005865901 (SDAX) WKN: 586590 Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin- Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart End of ad hoc announcement (c)DGAP 04.04.2005 Issuer’s information/explanatory remarks concerning this ad hoc announcement: “New business in Q1 2005 showed restrained year-on-year growth. This is attributable to the fact that Q1 2005 held two working days less than the comparison period and the Easter holidays lay almost entirely within Q1. “This effect, which we put at around EUR 4 million, should see a corresponding turnaround in Q2, since we then have two more working days than last year,” said Wolfgang Grenke, Chairman of the Executive Board, commenting on the figures. “We are sticking to our full-year target for 2005 – a double-digit increase in new business and profits through organic growth. We are pleased to post an above-average increase in contribution margin 1 within the first quarter, which is primarily attributable to more favourable refinancing conditions.” GRENKELEASING placed a EUR 100 million bond with a coupon 60 basis points above Euribor in the past quarter. The company reckons with a premium of 70 basis points, including all costs. The group recorded 26,572 leasing enquiries in Q1 2005, leading to the generation of 13,328 new leasing contracts. The average value per concluded contract came to EUR 7,154, marking an increase over the previous year (Q1 2004: EUR 6,721). 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 subsidiaries each in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Ireland. 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 having relatively small transaction values. 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 . End of message (c)DGAP 040758 Apr 05