Grenke AG — Earnings Release 2006

Apr 27, 2006

News Details

Ad-hoc | 27 April 2006 07:55

GRENKELEASING AG: After-tax profit (net profit for the period) up 9 % to EUR 7.5 million

Ad hoc announcement transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— Baden-Baden, 27/4/2006: After-tax profit (net profit for the period) amounted to EUR 7.5 million in the first quarter of 2006. This represents an increase of 9 % against last year’s comparable of EUR 6.9 million. EPS (according to IFRS) rose from EUR 0.51 in the previous year to EUR 0.55 in Q1 2006. Group earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) came to EUR 12 million in the first quarter of this year against EUR 11 million in Q1 2005. It thus increased by 8 %. As already reported, the company’s new business volume (i.e. the total acquisition costs of newly purchased leased assets) rose by 21 % to EUR 115 million in Q1 2006 (previous year: EUR 95 million). Its business in foreign markets grew by 42.4 % against the previous year and contributed 35 % (previous year: 29.7 %) to the group’s new business. Its French subsidiary achieved growth of 42.5 %. In Switzerland, business improved by 15.1 %, whereas in Germany new business rose by 11.8 %. The contribution margin 1 (M1) – a key ratio for the profitability of new business – improved to EUR 12 million in the first quarter of 2006 (against last year’s comparable of EUR 11 million). Our M1-ratio (M1 in relation to acquisition costs) has however exceeded our 10 % target margin. The full three months report for 2006 is available on the internet under www.grenkeleasing.de Investor Relations – Financial Data. The Executive Board Should you have any queries, please contact: Renate Hauss Tel: 07221/5007-204 Fax: 07221/5007-112 E mail: investor@grenkeleasing.de Internet: http://www.grenkeleasing.de End of ad hoc announcement ————————————————————————— Information and Explaination of the Issuer to this News: “The development of after-tax profit (net profit for the period) was as expected for the first quarter of 2006, compared to the same period of last year. It rose by 9 %, which is slightly below our historical growth rate. This is due, firstly, to the impact of the interest rate increase seen over the last few months and, secondly, due to the rise in certain expense items corresponding to investments in further growth. During the last few months, we have invested in new personnel as part of our push to expand our European business, leading to a slightly above proportionate increase in our personnel expenses in this last quarter”, explains Dr. Uwe Hack, CFO of GRENKELEASING AG, commenting on the quarterly financial statements. As regards the future trend, he added, “This year we want to focus on the consistent expansion of our European activities, the continued development of our cooperation’s, and the growth in our franchise partnerships, with a view to become the European market leader in small-ticket IT leasing in the medium term. The signing of the agreement with our franchise partner in Hungary marks a further step in this direction. We again expect to achieve double-digit growth rates in our new business and profits for the full-year 2006 through steady and profitable growth.” The number of employees rose from 311 in Q1 2005 to a figure of 375 (on a full-time basis, excluding the Board of Directors). 46 employees work for the group’s franchise operations. The company now has operations in 16 European countries. GRENKELEASING is represented in 20 cities throughout Germany. In addition to its six French branch offices and three branch offices in Switzerland, the company has subsidiaries in Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, and Belgium. A franchise system gives GRENKELEASING a presence in the UK, Poland, Norway, and Hungary. GRENKELEASING mainly offers small-ticket IT leasing contracts, i.e. for products such as PCs, notebooks, copiers, printers, or software having relatively small transaction values. The company is the German and Swiss market leader in this segment. 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. (c)DGAP 27.04.2006 ————————————————————————— language: English emitter: GRENKELEASING AG Neuer Markt 2 76532 Baden-Baden Deutschland phone: +49 (0)7221 50 07-204 fax: +49 (0)7221 50 07-112 email: investor@grenkeleasing.de WWW: www.grenkeleasing.de ISIN: DE0005865901 WKN: 586590 indexes: SDAX stockmarkets: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, Hannover, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News-Service —————————————————————————