GRENKELEASING AG / Miscellaneous/Miscellaneous
02.04.2008
Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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-Increase in new business of the GRENKE Group by 7.2 %
-Contribution Margin 2 of new business of the GRENKE Group reaches EUR
17.7 million (up 9.5 % yoy)
Baden-Baden, 02 April 2008: In the first quarter of 2008 GRENKE Group
(incl. franchise partners) generated a volume of new business i.e. the
sum total of acquisition costs of newly purchased leasing assets and
factoring volume amounting to EUR 132 million (Q1-2007: EUR 123.2
million).
As expected, the growth of new business slowed down slightly due to the
lower number of working days in the 1st quarter of 2008, remaining below
our target for the year as a whole. As the shift in Easter holidays will be
reversed in the 2nd quarter, we still expect the volume of new business in
the GRENKE Group including franchise partners to grow by more than 10 % for
fiscal 2008.
Development of contribution margins 1 and 2 was highly encouraging, both
compared to the previous year quarter and in relation to new business
volume. In this respect, management of new business along high CM margins,
the declining intensity of competition and lower interest rates are
contributing positively.
Primary drivers of growth are unchanged the foreign markets with a growth
rate of 31 %.
New business volumes in EUR million<pre>
Q1-2008 Q1-2007 % change
GRENKE Group including franchise partners 132.0 123.2 7.2
- of which: Germany 69.4 75.4 -7.9
- of which: International 62.6 47.8 31.0
GRENKE Group leasing business* 120.2 112.7 6.7
Franchise partners** 18.0 23.2 **-22.1
- of which Factoring business (Germany) 11.8 10.5 12.3</pre>
* excl. factoring
** The new business acquired in the United Kingdom and Poland will not be
included in the volume of the franchise partners from 2008 since we took
over the franchise partners in the UK and Poland in January 2008.
As in the past, both new business growth recorded by the GRENKE Group
abroad, at 31 % compared with the previous year and contribution margin 2
(CM2) with an increase of 27.5 % reflect a highly dynamic trend. The
international segment contributed a share of 47 % (Q1-2007: 39 %) to the
new business of the GRENKE Group.
France remains the primary growth driver abroad, with volume up by 28.8 %.
In Switzerland, where the positive trend continued, we succeeded in
recording 8.5 % growth.
In the first quarter, the dynamic growth recorded in Italy remained in
place; compared to the previous year, we doubled the volume of our new
business (Q1-2008: EUR 6.4 million). In January we took over the franchise
partners in the United Kingdom and Poland. In the UK we recorded healthy
new business growth of 30.3 % in the first quarter. In Poland, the entire
leasing market was weak, impacting on the level of new business.
In Spain, new business growth of 29.4 % documents the success of our market
development strategy via our franchisee in Madrid.
New business from leasing by foreign markets in EUR million<pre>
Q1-2008 Q1-2007 % change
France 31.2 24.2 28.8
Switzerland 4.0 3.6 8.5
Italy 6.4 3.2 102.5
Spain (incl. franchise Madrid) 4.1 3.2 29.4
United Kingdom 4.0 3.1 30.3
Poland 2.6 2.9 -10.7</pre>
The CM1 margin of the GRENKE Groups leasing operations (contribution
margin 1 at acquisition values), at 11.7 % in the first quarter of 2008,
substantially exceeded our target margin of 10 %, reaching a value of EUR
14 million (Q1-2007: EUR 11.4 million comparative figure for leasing
operations). The corresponding CM2 amounts to EUR 17.6 million, up by 9.5 %
year-on-year (Q1-2007: EUR 16.1 million).
Development of contribution margin 2 (CM2) in EUR million<pre>
Q1-2008 Q1-2007 % change
GRENKE Group including franchise partners 17.7 16.2 9.5
- of which: Germany 8.6 9.0 -4.8
- of which: International 9.2 7.2 27.5
GRENKE Group leasing business* 17.6 16.1 9.5
Franchise business** 1.1 1.4 **-23.4
France 4.4 3.8 16.1
Switzerland 0.8 0.8 2.1
Italy 0.8 0.5 70.2
Spain (incl. franchise Madrid) 0.6 0.4 68.1
United Kingdom 0.6 0.4 52.3
Poland 0.3 0.3 -3.0</pre>
* exkl. Factoring
** Contribution margin 2 of the United Kingdom and Poland will no longer be
included in CM2 of the franchise partners from 2008 since we took over the
franchise partners in the UK and Poland in January 2008.
The profit margin in relation to the factoring volume of EUR 11.8 million
amounted to 2.1 % (Q1-2007: 2.3 %). This margin relates to the average
period of a factoring transaction, amounting to approx. 30 days (Q1-2007:
approx 40 days). The reduction in the factoring margin is essentially
related to the reduction of the average period and has no impact on
profitability.
In the first quarter of 2008 GRENKE Group recorded a total of 33,852
leasing inquiries (ex Germany 18,196) and of which 15,968 new leasing
contracts (ex Germany 8,462) were generated. The average value per contract
concluded came to approx. EUR 7,530 and is nearly unchanged compared to the
previous year (Q1-2007: EUR 7,695 comparative figure adjusted
accordingly).
'Against the severe uncertainties in the capital markets, we got off to a
very good start to the new year with a significant increase in
profitability of our new business. Taking account of the shift of the
Easter holidays in the first quarter, we are well on our way to reaching
our growth target of more than 10 % for new business', said Dr. Uwe Hack,
Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of GRENKELEASING AG in explaining
the result.
He added: 'We expect the declining intensity of competition and more
restrictive lending policies of banks to bring about a positive trend in
our market environment. This has already been evident in the contribution
margins achieved in the past quarter. We will consistently exploit these
market opportunities; in the current phase of uncertainty with regard to
further developments on the capital market and a possible spilling over
into the real economy, however, we plan to focus more strongly on CM growth
rather than volume growth. In the process we benefit from our ability to
assess risk and factor them into the prices of our services. Up until now,
we have managed to pass on the increased refinancing costs due to the
subprime crisis to the market in full and we believe we will succeed in
doing so in future too. We also continued to improve the Groups liquidity
position during the last quarter.'
The GRENKE Group (incl. franchise partners) now operates in nineteen
European countries.
The GRENKELEASING AG Group (excluding franchise partners) is represented in
20 German cities. In addition to eight branches in France, three in
Switzerland and two in Italy, the enterprise operates with subsidiaries in
Austria, Czechia, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, United
Kingdom, Poland and Belgium.
In the Norway, Hungary, Romania, Spain (Madrid), Portugal and Slovakia as
well as in Germany in the field of car leasing and factoring, GRENKELEASING
has a franchise system in place.
GRENKELEASING offers contracts predominantly in the field of small-ticket
IT leasing for such products as PCs, notebooks, copiers, printers or
software of a relatively low asset value.
GRENKELEASING AG shares are listed at Frankfurt Stock Exchange (SDAX) with
the code GLJ, ISIN DE0005865901.
Information on the company and its products is available on the Internet
under http://www.grenke.de
The company will publish its detailed three months report for 2008 on
April 28, 2008.
Should you have any queries, please contact:
Renate Hauss
Tel.: 0049-7221/5007-204
Fax: 0049-7221/5007-112
Email: investor@grenke.de
Internet:http://www.grenke.de
DGAP 02.04.2008
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Language: English
Issuer: GRENKELEASING AG
Neuer Markt 2
76532 Baden-Baden
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)7221 50 07-204
Fax: +49 (0)7221 50 07-112
E-mail: investor@grenke.de
Internet: www.grenke.de
ISIN: DE0005865901
WKN: 586590
Indices: SDAX
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr
in Berlin, Stuttgart, München, Düsseldorf, Hamburg
End of News DGAP News-Service
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DGAP-News: GRENKELEASING AG: New Business first quarter 2008
| Source: EQS Group AG