Hamburg, 20 October 2006. The wine merchant and trading group Hawesko Holding AG (HAW GR, HAWG.DE, DE0006042708) has announced today on the basis of preliminary numbers for the third quarter that it expects EBIT to be EUR 0.9 million for the period July to September 2006, thus falling below the previous year's figure of EUR 2.1 million. The main reason for the drop in earnings is a reduction in advertising activities of the mail-order segment effected in the third quarter; this was necessary in the course of the complete switchover to a new IT system. In total a 20 % reduction was posted in the mail-order segment's quarterly sales. Beyond this, one-off costs were incurred due to the IT switchover. According to preliminary calculations, the earnings development of the other business segments - wine-shop retailing and wholesale - will not suffice to compensate the third-quarter drop in mail-order EBIT. Group EBIT is nevertheless expected to be EUR 5.8 million, 10 % above the previous year. A detailed analysis as well as the complete interim report at 30 September 2006 will be published in the upcoming nine-month interim report on 27 October 2006.

 

For the Hawesko Management Board there is no great material change in full-year 2006 targets due to the earnings weakness in this quarter: The Board expects a sales increase against the previous year (EUR 287 million). Regarding EBIT from existing activities the Board now assumes that the previous year's figure (EUR 18.9 million) will not be surpassed. Expenditures for the start-up of new activities - in particular for the first pilot stores with the new specialist retail concept multiwein - will place a charge on the EBIT for 2006, as already announced. From today's standpoint the Management Board estimates group EBIT on the magnitude of EUR 18 million, whereby a normal course of business is assumed for the important pre-Christmas trading period in the fourth quarter. The current month's good business development at the beginning of this quarter supports this forecast. Normally the Hawesko Group generates over one-third of its annual sales and over three-quarters of its annual operating profit in the fourth quarter.

 

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Herausgeber:
Hawesko Holding AG
Postfach 20 15 52
20205 Hamburg

 

Investor Relations: Thomas Hutchinson, Hawesko Holding AG
Tel. (040) 30 39 21 00
Fax (040) 30 39 21 05
e-mail: ir@hawesko.com