DGAP-News: CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA / Key word(s): Dividend
CEWE increases dividend again after a successful business year
19.03.2015 / 13:32
---------------------------------------------------------------------
CEWE increases dividend again after a successful business year
- Sixth consecutive dividend increase
- Board of Management and Supervisory Board propose dividend of 1.55
euros /share
- Dividend yield of 3.0% on the basis of the share price at the end of
2014
Oldenburg, 19 March 2015. After a successful business year in which CEWE
Stiftung & Co. KGaA (SDAX, ISIN: DE 0005403901) reached all its earnings
targets, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board will be
proposing a dividend increase for the 2014 business year to the
shareholders at the Annual General Meeting on 3 June. The dividend is to be
increased by 5 cents a share, to 1.55 euros a share. This is thus the sixth
consecutive dividend increase by CEWE. "We are having our shareholders
participate in the rising earning power of the company. For us, dividend
continuity also means increasing the dividend absolutely year by year,
provided that our balance sheet is sound enough to continue to allow for
this," explains Dr. Olaf Holzkämper, Financial Director of the CEWE Group.
Excellent Christmas business increases annual net incomes in 2014
Constant innovation was also the basis for sustained business success in
2014: the Christmas season was successful thanks to the wide range of
high-quality products and the excellent delivery service provided by all
the CEWE operations. The high level of brand awareness and the first-class
image of the CEWE PHOTO BOOK and the other CEWE brand products - also
advertised on TV - meant that they were once again greatly in demand as
Christmas gifts, with a rising proportion of orders being placed through
one of the many CEWE apps for mobile devices such as smartphones and
tablets. The CEWE approach, delivering finished photo products from the
stores operated by CEWE retail partners in addition to mail deliveries once
again proved to be extremely successful during the Christmas season.
2014 earnings targets all reached
CEWE significantly improved its operative earnings (EBIT) from 28.9 m.
euros in 2013 to 32.6 million, with turnover at 523.8 m. euros in the
business year of 2014. Earnings before tax (EBT) increased from 27.1
million euros in 2013 to 31.5 million in 2014.
Commercial Online-Print and photofinishing increase strongly
The biggest CEWE business division grew even more than expected in the 2014
business year: with turnover at 386.0 million euros (+2.8 %) and EBIT at
38.4 million euros (+7.2 %), photofinishing accounts for 73.7 % of the
Group turnover and for 117.8 % of the Group EBIT. The photofinishing margin
for the full year reached 10.0 % (2013: 9.5 %). The Group EBIT margin was
raised from 5.4 % to 6.2 %, in particular on the basis of the positive
development in photofinishing and commercial online-print, while CEWE
downsized its low-margin wholesale business in retailing, decreasing
turnover by 33.4 % to 67.3 million euros. CEWE reported a negative EBIT of
- 2.9 million euros due to retailing problems and essential adjustment
measures, particularly in Poland. Online printing met the high expectations
for growth, increasing turnover by 17.8 %, to 70.5 million euros. EBIT
generated with online printing improved by 4.1 million euros, to - 2.9
million euros, in spite of considerable initial funding for marketing
measures. "As previously announced, we used the photofinishing earning
power to further expand our new business segment of online printing," says
Dr. Rolf Hollander, CEO of CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA.
Since 1 January 2014 shareholders have earned returns of 29.0 %
On the basis of the share price at the end of 2013 (42.75 euros) the CEWE
share price grew from 8.76 euros to 51.51 euros (+â20.5â%) in the period up
to the end of December 2014. The CEWE share has thus developed far better
than the DAX, which only increased by 2.7â% in the same period. On the
inclusion of the dividend paid out for the business year of 2013, the yield
for CEWE shareholders in 2014 was 24.0 %. In terms of the current share
price of 58.12 euros (XETRA share price at 12:29 pm on 19 March 2015), the
total return for shareholders amounted to as much as 29.0 %.
On the basis of the price at the end of 2014, shareholders are furthermore
getting a dividend yield of 3.0 % with the dividend now proposed.
Capital ratio: 51.1 % - debt-free company and a high dividend
The CEWE capital ratio continued to improve significantly, by 8.4
percentage points to 51.1 %. Equity increased from 142.8 million euros to
173.7 million euros. Thanks to the positive trend in the previous business
year, CEWE is now a debt-free company paying out high dividends every year.
After reporting a net financial debt of 16.3 million euros at the end of
2013, CEWE had net assets of 23.5 million euros at the end of 2014. Dr.
Hollander: "Our strong business model in terms of earnings and cash flows
and our capital ratio put us in a position to rapidly expand new growth
sectors such as online printing, and to be well positioned for more growth
irrespective of the financing environment - and at the same time offer a
high dividend which has increased steadily in the past six years.
CEWE will be presenting its forecast for the 2014 business year and the
full set of annual financial statements at the balance sheet and analysts'
conference in Frankfurt am Main on 25 March 2015.
Full year of 2014 in comparison to the previous year
<pre>
CEWE Group Unit 2013 2014 target 2014
actual
Digital prints in billion 2.25 2.15 - 2.20 2.20
units
Prints from films in billion 0.11 0.075 - 0.09
units 0.085
Total prints in billion 2.37 2.23 - 2.29 2.29
units
CEWE PHOTO BOOK in m. units 5.8 5.8 - 5.9 5.9
Turnover in EUR m. 536.2 525 - 540 523.81
EBIT before other taxes in EUR m. 29.7 30 - 36 33.5
EBIT in EUR m. 28.9 32.6
EBIT margin % 5.4 6.2
EBT before other taxes in EUR m. 27.8 28 - 34 32.3
EBT in EUR m. 27.1 31.5
Earnings after tax in EUR m. 22.3 19 - 23 21.4
Earnings per share in euros/share 3.39 2.84 - 3.45 3.07
undiluted
1 adjusted by currency effects 527.5 million euros
Fourth quarter of 2014
<pre>
CEWE Group Unit Q4 2013 Q4 2014 Diff. % Diff. abs.
Digital prints in m. units 759 746 -1.7 -13
Prints from films in m. units 22 18 -19.1 -4
Total prints in m. units 781 763 -2.2 -18
CEWE PHOTO BOOK in m. units 2.2 2.3 +1.4 +0.1
Turnover in EUR m. 191.2 194.8 +1.9 +3.6
EBIT in EUR m. 33.6 37.3 +11.0 +3.7
EBIT margin % 17.6 19.1
EBT in EUR m. 32.9 37.1 +13.0 +4.3
Earnings after tax in EUR m. 27.7 25.8 -6.9 -1.9
Percentage deviations have all been calculated at the exact values.
Should you have any queries, please contact:
CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA, Axel Weber (Investor Relations)
Tel.: 0441 / 404 - 2288, Fax: 0441 / 404 - 421, Email: IR@cewe.de
Internet: cewe-photobook.com , cewe.de , cewe-fotobuch.de , cewe-print.de ,
viaprinto.de , saxoprint.de
The CEWE apps are all available in the app stores: CEWE PHOTO WORLD, CEWE
POSTCARD, CEWE SERVICE and other photo apps, and the CEWE Investor
Relations app for iPad(c) or android tablets, with annual reports and
quarterly reports, presentations and sustainability reports.
Financial schedule:
25 March 2015 2014 Annual Report
25 March 2015 Annual report and analysts' press conference,
Frankfurt
12 May 2015 Publication of the Q1 2015 interim report
3 June 2015 2015 Annual General Meeting, Weser-Ems-Halle,
Oldenburg
11 August 2015 Publication of the 2015 H1 half-year financial
report
12 November 2015 Publication of the Q3 2015 interim report
About CEWE: The photo and online print service company CEWE, with 11
highly-technical production operations and a staff of around 3,200
employees in 24 European countries, is both market and technological
leader. In 2014 CEWE delivered around 2.3 billion prints, 5.9 million
copies of the CEWE PHOTO BOOK and photo gift articles to around 30,000
retail partners to generate consolidated turnover of 523.8 million euros.
CEWE is continuously generating new impulses in the photographic industry
with innovations for people who enjoy taking photos. In the new business
segment "Commercial Online-Print", printed material for advertising is
marketed through the sales platforms CEWE-PRINT.de, Saxoprint und
Viaprinto. In 1961 CEWE was founded by Senator h.c. Heinz Neumüller. The
company went public under the leadership of Hubert Rothärmel in 1993. CEWE
Stiftung & Co. KGaA is listed on the SDAX.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
19.03.2015 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a
service of EQS Group AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements,
Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.
Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Language: English
Company: CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA
Meerweg 30-32
26133 Oldenburg
Germany
Phone: +49 (0)441 40 4-1
Fax: +49 (0)441 40 4-42 1
E-mail: IR@cewe.de
Internet: www.cewe.de
ISIN: DE0005403901
WKN: 540390
Indices: SDAX
Listed: Regulated Market in Berlin, Frankfurt (Prime Standard);
Regulated Unofficial Market in Dusseldorf, Hamburg,
Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart
End of News DGAP News-Service
---------------------------------------------------------------------
335091 19.03.2015
DGAP-News: CEWE increases dividend again after a successful business year
| Source: EQS Group AG