zooplus SE — Earnings Release 2009

Sep 30, 2009

News Details

Corporate | 30 September 2009 07:58

zooplus AG with significant growth in H1 2009

zooplus AG / Half Year Results

30.09.2009

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• Total sales up by 62,5% to EUR 59,3 mm
• EBIT decreases slightly from EUR -0,6 mm to EUR -0,7 mm y-o-y
• New customer acquisition record with 320k new accounts

Munich, September 30th 2009 - zooplus AG (WKN 511170, ISIN DE0005111702,
ZO1), Europe's leading online pet supplies retailer has today published its
H1 2009 results. Despite a severe consumer recession zooplus has generated
significant total sales growth during the first six months of the year.
Dynamic new customer acquisition and the increase of the company's market
share were major focal points during the period.

Total sales of the company have increased by 62,5% y-o-y to EUR 59,3 mm for
the first six months of 2009. Total sales consist of sales revenue (EUR
54,7 mm) as well as other income (EUR 4,5 mm).

In the context of the company's preparations for a relisting onto the
Frankfurt stock exchange's regulated 'Prime Standard' segment as well as
the overall market backdrop during the summer, zooplus has taken the
opportunity to grow considerably faster than initially envisaged and
therefore retracted its earlier 2009 forecasts. Correspondingly, this has
happened partly at the expense of the company's 2009 earnings profile.

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) decreased from EUR -0,6 mm to EUR
-0,7 mm y-o-y. Excluding the one-off costs of the IPO preparations, the
company saw an EBIT decrease from EUR 1,4 mm to EUR -0,7 mm. This is due
mostly to increases in marketing spending and new customer rebates in the
context of the company's strong growth and accelerated new customer
acquisition as well as to some degree of unexpected price- and margin
pressures which became evident during the course of the year. At the same
time, these measures contributed substantially towards zooplus AG's
accelerated growth and expansion during the period.

As a result of a positive tax one-off of EUR 4,8 mm during H1 2008 net
profits declined from EUR 4,2 mm in H1 2008 to EUR -0,6 mm in H1 2009.
Earnings per share declined to EUR -0,24 (previous year: EUR 1,74) on an
undiluted and to EUR -0,23 (previous year: EUR 1,72) on a diluted basis.

zooplus will continue to focus its 2009 and 2010 strategy on organic
expansion and dynamic growth within its European markets and give this
course of action priority over short-term earnings maximization. Record new
customer numbers have vindicated this strategy during the first six month
of 2009 with an all-time record customer build-up from 190k new customers
in H1 2008 to 320k new customers in H1 2009. These developments are crucial
for the company's medium- to long-term perspective in terms of scaling and
efficiency effects in areas such as logistics, sourcing, personnel and
technology. Today the company is creating the basis for substantially
increased future profitability levels. With respect to the above zooplus
already expects significant results from 2010 onwards.

In the words of Dr. Cornelius Patt, CEO and co-founder of zooplus AG: 'We
have managed to grow the company significantly faster than expected. In the
course of doing so we have prioritized strong and sustainable growth over
short term earnings. It is now all about positioning zooplus as a strong
and dominant European market leader. We have anticyclically grown by more
than 60% and built a solid base for the coming years. For the second half
of the year we foresee a slight reduction of these strong expansionary
dynamics without substantially leaving our path of growth of recent
quarters and years.

The full H1 2009 report will be published on September 30th 2009 and made
accessible under http://investors.zooplus.com/en/welcome

Company profile:
zooplus is a leading online retailer for pet products in Germany and Europe
and by its own estimate holds - with respect to overall online sales - a
leading position in all key European markets. zooplus offers products for
all standard breeds and races (including equine supplies) via websites in
Germany/Austria, UK, France, Holland, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Spain and
Poland and also, via zooplus.com, in 6 other international markets.

Through its websites zooplus offers a wide range of pet products, i.e.
particularly pet food (dry and wet pet food, pet food supplements such as
chewing bones, snacks, etc) as well as pet accessories in a wide range of
prices and categories.

zooplus is a predominantly growth-oriented company. zooplus intends to
continue to grow aggressively in all its existing as well as new geographic
markets whilst at the same time continuously improve its earnings and
profitability levels over the coming years.

Online: http://investors.zooplus.com/en/welcome/

Contact Investor Relations:
cometis AG
Henryk Deter
Tel.: +49 (0)611-205855-13
Fax: +49 (0)611-205855-66
E-mail: deter@cometis.de

30.09.2009 Financial News transmitted by DGAP

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Language: English
Company: zooplus AG
Sonnenstraße 15
80331 München
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)89 95 006 - 100
Fax: +49 (0)89 95 006 - 500
E-mail: contact@zooplus.com
Internet: www.zooplus.de
ISIN: DE0005111702
WKN: 511170
Listed: Freiverkehr in Stuttgart; Open Market (Entry Standard) in
Frankfurt

End of News DGAP News-Service

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