hotel.de AG / Release of an announcement according to Article 37x of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act]
05.05.2009
Interim report according to Article 37x of the WpHG
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First-quarter performance underlines forecast for overall year
Nuremberg, 5 May 2009 - hotel.de AG, one of the leading worldwide online
hotel reservation services, generated sales of EUR 6.9 million in the first
quarter, traditionally the weakest period in the year, and thus matched the
previous year's figure (EUR 6.9 million) in spite of the intensification in
the global economic crisis. In terms of the regional distribution of sales,
there was a slight shift in favour of the domestic business, which reported
sales of EUR 4.3 million, and thus 62.6% of total sales (previous year: EUR
4.0 million; 57.3%). The international business posted sales of EUR 2.6
million, compared with EUR 2.9 million in the previous year, and thus
accounted for a 37.4% share of total sales (previous year: 42.7%). This
development is attributable on the one hand to a decline in travel activity
abroad due to the economic downturn. On the other hand, the economic crisis
has obliged foreign booking customers as well to achieve greater travel
cost savings.
Business performance in period under report
hotel.de AG consistently maintained its expansion strategy in the first
quarter of 2009. In doing so, it continued to focus on the targeted
expansion of its international business. The company today announced the
opening of a representative office in Shanghai. hotel.de intends to support
its European booking customers in Asia from this office and to acquire new
hotel customers. The pace of expansion in Spain and the UK has been
curtailed for the time being, as growth in these markets has been
excessively affected by the current economic crisis.
Alongside the investments in its further growth, at the beginning of the
year the company also successfully maintained the process optimisation and
cost-saving measures already initiated in the 2008 financial year. Given
the IT adjustments thereby required and the time-intensive programming
processes involved, these measures are only expected to have a positive
impact on earnings for the first time from the second quarter of 2009 at
the earliest.
The marketing and sales campaign launched at the end of 2008 was also
stepped up in the first quarter of the new financial year. The aim is to
optimise sales potential with existing private and business customers and
to acquire new customers. Alongside large corporate customers, hotel.de is
now also increasingly targeting small and medium-sized companies. These
measures already led to an increase in the number of new customers in the
first quarter of 2009 (160,990 / Q1 2008: 153,992).
Earnings affected by investments and economic developments
The earnings performance was significantly influenced by the investments
made in the company's international expansion. First-quarter operating
earnings were thus negatively affected to the tune of EUR 1.1 million.
Given its strategic importance for the company's further growth, hotel.de
AG plans to invest further sums in this area in the coming months.
Furthermore, earnings also suffered from reduced momentum in the travel
sector due to the deterioration in the macroeconomic situation. There has
been a marked increase in recent months in private booking customers' need
to economise and in pressure on costs at companies, as a result of which
travel activity has fallen sharply. Moreover, the effects of the overall
decline in hotel room prices by around 7.5% have also been felt. The
countermeasures introduced, such as the cost saving programme and sales
campaign will only have a positive impact on earnings as the year
progresses. All in all, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted
to EUR -1.1 million, compared with neutral earnings in the previous year.
Management Board confirms forecast for overall year
For the 2009 financial year as a whole, the Management Board continues to
expect sales to match the previous year's figure with neutral annual
earnings.
hotel.de will deliberately exploit this period of macroeconomic weakness to
further expand its market situation so as to be optimally positioned once
the crisis is over. Alongside the measures to optimise the cost structure
outlined above and the further expansion, this also involves marketing
expenses, which will be maintained at ongoing high levels.
The cost awareness currently prevalent among private customers and
companies is reinforcing the trend towards cost-cutting online
reservations. The Management Board of hotel.de is confident that the
company will benefit from this trend, provided that there is no substantial
deterioration in the economic situation in the coming months.
Detailed information on the company's business performance in the first
quarter and further key figures will be published in the quarterly report
on 26 May 2009.
hotel.de AG
hotel.de AG, with its international brand hotel.info, operates a free hotel
reservation service for companies and private customers at www.hotel.de and
www.hotel.info. The company offers more than 210,000 hotels worldwide for
booking online. Customers benefit in this respect from considerable cost
savings. hotel.de shows all available room rates for each hotel, thus
always enabling customers to select the lowest or most appropriate rate.
All bookings are forward simultaneously, securely and directly to the
individual hotel. This is guaranteed by the unique integration of hotels'
own reservation systems (so-called CRS and PMS systems) and hotel.de's own
myRES reservation system under hotel.de's standard user surface. hotel.de's
corporate application is already used by well-known companies, such as
BASF, SAP AG, Texas Instruments and Ernst & Young AG. Since January 2007,
hotel.de has extended its portfolio to include a conference enquiries and
booking system. Business customers in particular stand to save time and
money due to the optimised conference organisation processes facilitated by
this conference tool.
hotel.info
hotel.info - the international brand of hotel.de AG - was created to
promote the company's expansion into international markets. To acquire new
customers and hotels abroad, sales offices have already been opened in the
UK (London), France (Paris), Spain (Barcelona), Italy (Rome) and China
(Shanghai). The company's high share of business customers with
international operations facilitates its entry into new markets. The aim is
to establish hotel.info as the leading online hotel reservation service for
business and private customers in the foreign markets mentioned and then
step by step across the whole of Europe.
DGAP 05.05.2009
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Language: English
Issuer: hotel.de AG
Hugo-Junkers-Str. 15-17
90411 Nürnberg
Deutschland
Internet: www.hotel.de
End of News DGAP News-Service
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DGAP-IRE: hotel.de AG: First-quarter performance underlines forecast for overall year
| Source: EQS Group AG