hotel.de AG / Release of an announcement according to Article 37x of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act]
30.04.2008
Interim report according to Article 37x of the WpHG
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Interim Announcement from hotel.de AG - 31st March 2008
hotel.de continues to grow significantly
Nürnberg, 30 April 2008 - hotel.de AG, one of the leading online
reservation services for worldwide hotel accommodation, has again achieved
a significantly increased sales volume during the first three months of
2008 compared with the first quarter last year.
Business performance within the reporting period
In accordance with its international growth strategy, hotel.de acquired all
rights to the domain www.hotel.info and also took over hotel.info HI GmbH
during the first quarter of 2008 With this new domain a platform for hotel
evaluation and booking has been put online at no cost to users. In addition
to the hotels' key information, such as room prices and amenities,
customers in search of a room can now view hotel evaluations made by
hundreds of thousands of guests worldwide in order to help them make their
decision. The selected hotel can then be booked directly online. The global
hotels, which are bookable are drawn from the hotel.de database. Due to
its easily remembered internet address, www.hotel.info has already gained
high popularity in the first few weeks of its release amongst international
users.
Even during the first quarter, which is traditionally the weakest travel
season of the year, hotel.de successfully increased its booking volumes by
56.2% to a new quarterly record of 107.1 million euros. The first
beneficial results of the modified commission structure already became
apparent towards the end of the first quarter. This resulted in an
increased average commission of 10% to hotel.de
Significant growth in sales
With a dynamic increase of 37.7% compared with last year's first quarter,
sales rose to 6.9 million euros, comparing well with previous quarters. The
international business proved particularly strong once again. With an
increase of nearly 60%, international sales grew from 1.9 million euros to
3.0 million euros, thus further confirming hotel.de's international
strategy of 2006. National sales increased from 3.2 million euros to 4,0
million euros. The international share of total sales amounted to 42.7% and
is constantly growing reflecting the strong progress of hotel.de's
international policies (c.f. first quarter 2007: 37.0%)
Balanced profit despite high investments
Based on the very positive response of international hotels and customers
to hotel.de's/hotel.info's booking portals, there were higher expenditures
on this ongoing internationalisation amounting to approx. 1.1 million
euros, e.g. the translation of new hotel descriptions into fourteen
languages, as well as for the acquisition of new hotels in foreign markets.
The enhancement of the IT platform with expenditures of 0.3 million euros
has also to be included in the investments of the first quarter. The
company nevertheless managed to achieve a balanced financial result. First
successes from the company's margin improvement plan also became apparent.
For this fiscal year the Board expects to achieve an increase in sales
within a medium double-digit range and a continued distinct growth in EBIT
and annual surplus. More details will be available in the quarterly report
to be published on 28th May 2008.
Contact:
hotel.de AG
Wibke Garbarukow
Hugo-Junkers-Str. 9
90411 Nürnberg
Tel.: 0911-59832-0
Fax: 0911-59832-11
E-Mail: presse@hotel.de
www.hotel.de
Haubrok Investor Relations GmbH
Thomas Vormann
Kaistr. 16
40221 Düsseldorf
Tel.: 0211-30126-0
Fax: 0211-30126-172
E-Mail: t.vormann@haubrok.de
www.haubrok.de
DGAP 30.04.2008
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Language: English
Issuer: hotel.de AG
Hugo-Junkers-Str. 9
90411 Nürnberg
Deutschland
Internet: www.hotel.de
End of News DGAP News-Service
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DGAP-IRE: hotel.de continues to grow significantly
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