DGAP-Adhoc: hotel.de AG publishes preliminary figures for 2008

hotel.de AG / Preliminary Results

13.02.2009 

Release of a Adhoc News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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Ad-hoc announcement pursuant to Section 15 of the German Securities Trading
Act (WpHG)

hotel.de AG publishes preliminary figures for 2008
- Sales grow by 26% to Euro 32.7 million
- At Euro 1.2 million, EBIT down on previous year (Euro 1.9m) 


Nuremberg, 13 February 2009 – Thanks to its strong market position in
Germany and abroad, hotel.de AG increased its sales, based on preliminary
figures, by 26% to Euro 32.7 million in the past 2008 financial year. The
company generated operating earnings (EBIT) of Euro 1.2 million (previous
year: Euro 1.9m).

hotel.de reached several important milestones in the past financial year.
In particular, the acquisition of www.hotel.info, a self-explanatory and
easily remembered domain, represents a strong growth driver. The domain has
successfully replaced TravelRes, the previous international brand. At the
same time, the company established an outlet in Italy, its fourth location
in other European countries, to acquire additional hotels and booking
customers. Similar to the situation in 2007, hotel.de invested around Euro
4.5 million – at the expense of EBIT – in its further international
expansion in the past financial year.

The company’s internationalisation strategy was affirmed once again by the
strong performance of the international business in 2008. Based on
preliminary calculations, international sales rose by 42% to Euro 14.8
million (previous year: Euro 10.4m). The company’s sales in Germany
amounted to Euro 17.9 million in the past financial year, up from Euro 15.5
million in 2007. The economic crisis and resultant cost savings introduced
by numerous companies and private individuals, also in terms of travel, led
to a more marked slowdown in the pace of growth towards the end of the year
than initially assumed. With preliminary sales of Euro 32.7 million,
revenues thus fell slightly short of the forecast figure of Euro 34.0
million. Earnings also fell as a result, leading hotel.de to post EBIT of
Euro 1.2 million. Operating earnings were thus clearly positive in spite of
the economic downturn, but nevertheless lower than the forecast and the
previous year’s figure of Euro 1.9 million. The annual net surplus is also
positive.

By further optimising processes, the company has introduced improvements to
its cost situation for 2009. Moreover, the company aims to generate
additional commission revenues, especially abroad, by stepping up its sales
activities. These measures should compensate for the impact of the economic
crisis on the company’s growth. Given the increasing trend now apparent
among companies towards opting for cost-saving online hotel booking sites,
the management is confident that hotel.de AG will outperform its sector
once again in the current year.




hotel.de AG
hotel.de AG with its international brand hotel.info runs a free of charge
hotel reservation service for companies and private users on www.hotel.de
and www.hotel.info. The company offers 210,000 hotels worldwide to be
booked online. Since January 2007, hotel.de has also been offering
conferences. Compared to other booking channels, customers benefit from
considerable cost savings (on average 40% for business customers).
Additionally, all available rates for every single hotel are always
displayed, so that the customer can choose the lowest or best-fitting rate.
Further, all bookings via hotel.de are sent right into the hotel’s computer
- making a reservation fast, safe and reliable. This is enabled by
hotel.de/hotel.info unique integration of the hotels' central reservation
systems (so-called CRS) under one consistent user surface. Well-known
companies, such as Procter & Gamble, SAP AG, Texas Instruments Inc. And
Ernst & Young AG already use the hotel.de/hotel.info corporate application.

hotel.info
hotel.info is the international brand of hotel.de AG. This brand was
established for pushing ahead its expansion into the European countries. In
order to acquire customers and hotels abroad, offices in London, Paris,
Barcelona and Rom have been set up, to be followed by other important
countries. The strong customer loyalty and the high ratio of business
customers facilitate hotel.info’s entry into the new markets as many
foreign-based subsidiaries or parent enterprises of German companies
contracted by hotel.de already have been using hotel.info. The aim is to
establish hotel.info as the leading online hotel reservation service for
business as well as private customers in the foreign markets mentioned and
– step by step – in Europe as a whole.


Contact:

hotel.de AG
Timo Vavrinec
Hugo-Junkers-Str. 15-17
90411 Nürnberg
Tel.: +49-(0)911-59832-0
Fax: +49-(0)911-59832-11 
E-Mail: presse@hotel.de
www.hotel.de


Haubrok Investor Relations GmbH 
Thomas Vormann 
Kaistr. 16
40221 Düsseldorf 
Tel.: +49-(0)211-30126-0 
Fax: +49-(0)211-30126-172 
E-Mail: t.vormann@haubrok.de 
www.haubrok.de 


DGAP 13.02.2009 
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Language:     English
Issuer:       hotel.de AG
              Hugo-Junkers-Str. 15-17
              90411 Nürnberg
              Deutschland
Phone:        +49 (0)911 59832 2600
Fax:          +49 (0)911 5983 211
E-mail:       kleindienst@hotel.de
Internet:     www.hotel.de
ISIN:         DE0006910938
WKN:          691093
Listed:       Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (General Standard);
              Freiverkehr in Düsseldorf, München, Stuttgart
End of News                                     DGAP News-Service
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