AWD Holding AG / Final Results
24.03.2009
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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Total revenue of 633.0 million
Concentration on core competencies of long-term investment and pension
planning
Earnings impacted by restructuring - EBIT of EUR19.7 million
429,100 customers benefit from AWD's advice including 181,500 new customers
Carsten Maschmeyer will move to Advisory Board of Swiss Life, Manfred
Behrens AWD's CEO as of 1 April 2009
Hannover, 24 March 2009 (AWD Holding AG). AWD, Europe's biggest independent
financial adviser, maintained its position in core market Germany in 2008
in a turbulent market environment that was impacted by the financial
crisis. Despite the trend in the industry, AWD posted revenue of EUR385.6
million in Germany (+0.2%). And AWD's business situation was stable in
Switzerland: revenue of EUR69.3 million was close to the prior-year level
(-1.6%). Developments in the United Kingdom were particularly affected by
the consequences of the international financial and property crisis:
revenue in the UK amounted to EUR64 million (-33%). This was partially due
to extensive restructuring actions: as of 12 December 2008, in the context
of a strategic refocus, AWD disposed of the AWD Home Finance unit in the
United Kingdom. 'The current impact of the credit and property crisis,
which is particularly acute in the UK, was one of the factors behind this
decision,' stated Manfred Behrens, Co-CEO of the AWD Group. In the region
Austria and CEE, revenue declined to EUR114.5 million (-30.8%). This was
primarily due to developments in Austria, where the previous years had been
affected by the focus on equity-based and property-based products. Revenue
in Central and Eastern Europe continued to climb, although the rate of
expansion slowed down in the second half of the year for economic reasons.
Due to the ongoing distortions and price falls in the equity markets and
the very difficult market environment in the challenging year 2008, AWD
achieved total revenue of only EUR633.0 million (-11.8%).
Group-wide extraordinary expenses for marketing and recruiting actions and
the one-time restructuring expenditure in the United Kingdom had a negative
impact on earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in 2008. On the basis
of continuing operations, EBIT amounted to EUR19.7 million, which is
significantly less than the prior-year result (EUR83 million). Net profit
of continuing operations for the year fell accordingly: from EUR55.2
million to EUR2.1 million. As already reported in November 2008, AWD
Holding AG will not distribute a dividend for 2008. At the Annual Press
Conference on 26 March 2008, the Board of Management of AWD Holding had
pointed out that 2008 would be a year of transition.
'The international financial crisis and the loss of confidence in financial
and investment products are currently slowing the growth of the financial
sector,' explained Carsten Maschmeyer, founder of the AWD Group. 'However,
we see this period of transition as an opportunity, and we are positioning
AWD for the future with an even stronger focus on long-term insurance and
pension products throughout the Group.' The AWD Group generated more than
81% of its revenue in the area of long-term insurance and pension products
in 2008.
In total, 429,100 customers benefited from AWD's financial advice in 2008,
demonstrating their trust in the independent advice provided by the Group.
With a total of 181,500 new customers advised for the first time, customer
acquisition was at a high level compared with the rest of the sector.
247,600 existing customers sought AWD's advice once again in 2008.
6,009 advisers were active for the AWD Group at the end of 2008,
representing a slight decrease of 4.7% compared with the previous year. The
decrease was primarily the result of increased fluctuation in the Austria
and United Kingdom regions. 67 advisers left the Group with the sale of AWD
Home Finance. The Germany region posted a small increase in the number of
advisers in the fourth quarter. This resulted from the first successes of
the recruitment campaign that was started in April 2008. The Group also
acquired 333 advisers through the takeover of Deutsche Proventus AG. Last
year alone, more than 700 advisers successfully took the examination set by
the Chamber of Industry and Trade with a pass rate of approximately 80%.
'Compared with the developments in the market, our investment in recruiting
already led to positive results last year,' stated Carsten Maschmeyer.
AWD founder and Co-CEO Carsten Maschmeyer, the biggest single shareholder
of Swiss Life with a stake of 8 percent, will be appointed to the Advisory
Board of Swiss Life. In this context, he will step down from his current
position as Co-CEO of AWD as of 31 March 2009. Carsten Maschmeyer will
remain associated with AWD also in his new function and will continue to be
available to the company for sales events. Manfred Behrens, to date Co-CEO
of AWD together with Carsten Maschmeyer, will be the company's sole CEO
(Chairman of the Board of Management) as of 1 April.
The results of the first quarter of 2009 will be published on 5 May.
Annual Report 2008 can be downloaded at www.AWD Group.de/ir.
AWD Holding AG, AWD-Platz 1 * 30659 Hanover * Germany
Béla Anda
Public Relations
Telefon: +49 (0) 511 90 20-53 87
Fax: +49 (0) 511 90 20-53 30
E-Mail: Presse@awd.de
Hartmuth Höhn
Investor Relations
Telefon: +49 (0) 511 90 20-56 60
Fax: +49 (0) 511 90 20-51 21
E-Mail: Investor.Relations@awd.de
If this publication contains any forecasts or expectations or if our
statements refer to the future, such statements can involve risks and
uncertainties. We therefore cannot guarantee that the expectations will
prove to be correct. Actual events and developments can differ
significantly from the expectations and assumptions expressed herein. The
factors that can cause such deviations include changes in the general
economic situation and the competitive situation, particularly in the core
business areas and markets, exchange-rate and interest-rate fluctuations,
changes in national and international legislation, especially pertaining to
tax regulations, and changes in investment or business strategy. The
company does not assume any obligations to update the statements made in
this publication.
Please note: Unless otherwise indicated, all figures and details given here
relate to the continuing operations of the AWD Group and exclude the
operations of AWD Home Finance, which were discontinued on 12 December
2008. Deutsche Proventus AG was fully acquired on 9 December 2008. Due to
the first-time consolidation on 31 December 2008, the figures of Deutsche
Proventus are included only in the balance sheet and adviser numbers of the
AWD Group.
DGAP 24.03.2009
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Language: English
Issuer: AWD Holding AG
AWD-Platz 1
30659 Hannover
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)511 9020-5120
Fax: +49 (0)511 9020-5121
E-mail: investor.relations@awd.de
Internet: www.awd.de
ISIN: DE0005085906
WKN: 508590
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), Hannover;
Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München,
Stuttgart
End of News DGAP News-Service
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DGAP-News: AWD Holding AG: Corporate Release FY 2008
| Source: EQS Group AG