(February 14, 2000) - Organic sales growth over 12%
- Operating profit (EBIT, preliminary) over DM 36 m
- Sales increase of about 15% expected for 2000
- Strong push in 2000 for internet site Winegate.de
Hamburg, 14 February 2000. Hawesko Holding AG (HAWG.F, 604270), the German wine retailer, and subsidiaries announced preliminary sales and results today for fiscal year 1999. Group sales, net of sales tax, were DM 413 million, up by 36 % against fiscal 1998. Not including the effects of Wein Wolf, which was acquired in 1999, sales increased by over 12 %. Hawesko said the preliminary figure for the Group's operating profit (EBIT) would be between DM 36 million and DM 37 million (fiscal year 1998: DM 35.2 million). The final figures, together with the full set of audited accounts, will be published at the annual results press conference at the end of April 2000.
"We had a big run in the fourth quarter, with a record number of customer orders in December in mail-order and strong demand in the retail shops. The whole Group showed a great effort in handling the peak traffic generated in particular by the Christmas business and the newly-enlarged mail-order catalog" said Sven Ohlzen, Management Board Member and Finance Director.
Group sales in the fourth quarter of 1999 were up a total of 47% to DM 168 million (Q4 1998:
DM 114 million). The mail-order line recorded an increase of 24% to DM 86 million (Q4 1998: DM 70 million); this includes sales of the newly-launched internet wine site "winegate.de", which made sales in the fourth quarter of DM 1.2 million (Q4 1998 under the old "hawesko.de" site:
DM 0.2 million). The retail-shop line (Jacques' Wein-Depot) recorded an increase of 16% to DM 45 million (Q4 1998: DM 39 million). At 31 December 1999 there were 163 (148) depots in operation. Underlying like-for-like sales growth was over 12% due mainly to the introduction of the customer card. The wholesale line showed nearly a six-fold increase to nearly DM 37 million with the new acquisition of Wein Wolf (Q4 1998 without Wein Wolf: DM 7 million); organic wholesale growth at CWD Champagner Wein Distribution was 19%.
For the whole of fiscal year 1999, the mail-order line of business recorded sales of DM 195 million (up 10% against fiscal 1998), of which nearly DM 2 million were made in E-commerce - more than three times higher than in fiscal 1998. The sales of retail wine shops increased to DM 127 million (up 13%) and wholesale to DM 91 million (up a over a six-fold total with the Wein Wolf acquisition, CWD Champagner Wein Distribution alone up 23%). The calculation of earnings under the DVFA guidelines will require an adjustment with respect to Wein Wolf; in total, DVFA earnings in 1999 will be somewhat below the 1998 level (fiscal 1998: DM 21.8 million or DM 4.96 per share).
For fiscal 2000 the main strategic initiatives will include a strong push to expand the internet business beyond the German-language site to include an English-language and a French-language site: thus the internet business will provide a platform to take Hawesko's expertise in procuring, shipping and selling top wines into more European countries. Online sales for the year 2000 are expected to be between DM 5 million and DM 10 million; Hawesko said it expects total group sales between DM 470 million and DM 480 million.
Management Board Chairman Alexander Margaritoff: "We have the unique opportunity as Germany's leading seller of premium wines and champagne and our excellent product sourcing to build up sales using the internet. As we ramp up into the European online market, the year 2000 will carry a large part of the costs and we expect operating profit in 2000 to dip below the 1999 level. But we are determined to use this company's strong position in Germany, which is the world's largest imported wine market, and our resources as the undisputed wine mail-order leader to continue our edge in this exciting luxury market."
Hawesko Holding AG is Germany's leading seller of premium wines and champagne. With three distribution channels - mail-order and internet (main brands: Hanseatisches Wein- und Sekt-Kontor, Winegate.de), wine stores (Jacques' Wein-Depot) and wholesale (Wein Wolf; Champagner Wein Distribution) - the Group achieved sales of DM 413 million in 1999 with 450 employees.