(April 03, 2002) - Dividend to increase by 37%
- Thomas R. Fischer nominated for the supervisory board
Hamburg, 3 April 2002. At its meeting today, the supervisory board of the wine trading group Hawesko Holding AG (HAWG.DE, DE0006042708) has decided to adopt the proposal of the management board and to propose a dividend of Euro 1.15 per share for fiscal year 2001 to the annual general meeting on 13 June 2002. A total of Euro 5.1 million will be paid out to the shareholders. In the previous year, a dividend of Euro 0.84 per share or Euro 3.7 million overall was distributed.
The supervisory board also discussed changes in its constituent members: at the end of the annual general meeting on 13 June 2002, Dr. Norbert Käsbeck will resign from the supervisory board at his own wish. The supervisory board expressed its thanks to Dr. Käsbeck for his valuable service. The supervisory board will nominate Dr. Thomas R. Fischer as his successor at the annual general meeting.
Dr. Fischer, 55, was a member of the management board of Deutsche Bank until January of this year, where he held the positions of Chief Risk Officer, Chief Operating Officer and head of the Treasury. He holds a position on the supervisory board of Audi AG and is a member of the advisory council of KanAM International GmbH and der KanAM Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH as well as being a non-executive director of LTG Technologies PLC.
Upon publication of its preliminary sales figures for 2001, the Hawesko Group had announced on February 13 that consolidated Group sales rose by 14% over the previous year to Euro 264 million, while EBIT rose by 95% to Euro 17 million. The management board had forecast a dividend of at least Euro 1.00 per share. In the current fiscal year, sales are expected to increase to between Euro 280 million and Euro 285 million, and the EBIT to Euro 18 million.
Hawesko Holding AG is Germany's leading seller of premium wines and champagnes. Through its three distribution channels - mail order/e-commerce (particularly Hanseatisches Wein- und Sekt-Kontor), stationary specialist retail (Jacques' Wein-Depot) and wholesale (Wein Wolf and CWD Champagner- und Wein-Distributionsgesellschaft) - the Group achieved sales of Euro 264 million in fiscal year 2001. The Group employs about 500 people.
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Published by:
Hawesko Holding AG
P.O. Box 20 15 52
20205 Hamburg
Internet:
http://www.hawesko.com (corporate site)
http://www.hawesko.de (online shop)
Press/Media:
Vera Maria Bau, VMB Consulting
Tel. +49 (0)2244 91 27 36
Fax +49 (0)2244 91 27 38
e-mail: vmb@nsag.de
Investor Relations:
Thomas Hutchinson, Hawesko Holding AG
Tel. +49 (0)40 30 39 21 00
Fax +49 (0)40 30 39 21 05
e-mail: ir@hawesko.com