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Hawesko plans to pay a dividend of 1.00 euro per share
(April 08, 2008) - Increase over the previous year reflects performance and outlook - Audited annual figures for 2007 confirm preliminary figures Hamburg, 8 April 2008. The wine trading group Hawesko Holding AG (HAW GR, HAWG.DE, DE0006042708) expects to increase its dividend to 1.00 euro per share for fiscal year 2007 (previous year: 0.85 euro). At its meeting yesterday, the supervisory board of the company approved the corresponding dividend proposal of the management board, on which the annual general meeting will vote on 16 June 2008. The proposed increase in the dividend corresponds to a rise of 18%, and reflects both the performance of the Hawesko Group in fiscal year 2007 as well as the outlook for the current fiscal year 2008. For fiscal year 2007 a total of 8.8 million euros will be paid out to the shareholders (previous year: 7.5 million euros); it is expected that the dividend payment to shareholders domiciled in Germany will be tax-free. Beyond this, in the period from 2 October 2007 to 31 March 2008, an amount of 2.8 million euros was returned to shareholders via the share buyback program. Furthermore, the supervisory board reviewed, discussed and approved the annual and consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2007; the annual financial statement was approved. As previously announced, Group sales in 2007 (1 January to 31 December) rose by 10.3% to 333.7 million euro (previous year: 302.6 million euro). The Group's operating result (EBIT) was slightly higher than originally reported based on preliminary figures, rising to 18.3 million euros (prior year: 18.6 million euros). Consolidated earnings after deductions for taxes and minority interests amounted to 6.7 million euros in 2007 (previous year: 10.8 million euros). This corresponds to a profit per share of 0.76 euros and on a comparable basis - i.e. adjusted for a non-recurring tax effect - 1.07 euros (previous year: 1.23 euros). The Group balance sheet total amounted to 176.6 million euros (previous year: 171.9 million euros). The free cash flow (cash flow from ongoing business activities less capital spending and interest paid out) in 2007 amounted to 13.6 million euros (previous year: 5.6 million euros). The management board will give a detailed presentation of the results of fiscal year 2007 as well as the outlook for fiscal year 2008 on 29 April 2008 at the balance sheet press conference of Hawesko Holding AG. Hawesko Holding AG is a leading supplier of premium wines and champagnes. In fiscal year 2007 the Group achieved sales of Euro 334 million through its three sales channels - specialist wine retail (Jacques' Wein-Depot), wholesale (Wein Wolf and CWD Champagner und Wein Distributionsgesellschaft) and mail order (in particular Hanseatisches Wein- und Sekt-Kontor), and employed 609 people. Publisher: Hawesko Holding AG Postfach 20 15 52 20205 Hamburg, Germany Internet: http://www.hawesko.com (Company information) http://www.hawesko.de (Online shop) http://www.jacques.de (Information about Jacques' Wein-Depot in German) Press/Media: Vera Maria Bau, VMB Public Relations Phone: +49 (0)228 44 96 240 Fax: +49 (0)228 44 96 298 E-mail: vmb@veramariabau-pr.de Investor Relations: Thomas Hutchinson, Hawesko Holding AG Phone: +49 (0)40 30 39 21 00 Fax +49 (0)40 30 39 21 05 E-mail: ir@hawesko.com |