Leifheit Aktiengesellschaft: Leifheit AG sees business development burdened by global impact of the pandemic

Leifheit AG sees business development burdened by global impact of the pandemic

• Group turnover in 9M 2021 increased on a preliminary basis by around 12% to EUR 226 million
• Business activities in Q3 2021 affected by distortions in global supply chains
• Scaling Up Success growth strategy will continue to be consistently implemented
• Forecast 2021: Earnings forecast (EBIT) adjusted to EUR 15 to 20 million;
  Group turnover increase of at least 5% year-on-year expected unchanged

Nassau, 14 October 2021 - Based on preliminary calculations, Leifheit AG (ISIN DE0006464506), one of the leading brand suppliers of household products in Europe, has achieved a Group turnover of EUR 226 million in the first nine months of business year 2021(Q1-Q3 2020: EUR 201.9 million). This corresponds to an increase of 11.9% compared to the previous year's figure. In the third quarter of 2021, the Group achieved a turnover of EUR 69.7 million (Q3 2020: EUR 71.6 million).

At the same time, according to preliminary calculations, Leifheit increased Group earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to EUR 16.6 million (Q1-Q3 2020: EUR 15.4 million) in the first nine months of 2021, an increase of around 8% above the comparable previous year figure of EUR 15.4 million.

EBIT in the third quarter stood at EUR 3.0 million (Q3 2020: EUR 6.6 million). In addition to an extraordinarily strong prior-year quarter, among other things due to Corona, further increases in raw material prices in the last few weeks, the low availability of cargo space and the associated cost increases and delivery bottlenecks influenced business development in the third quarter. The distortions in global supply chains will remain a challenge for the coming months. At the same time, necessary sales price increases can only be passed on to the market with a time lag and thus only have a partial effect in the current financial year.

Henner Rinsche, CEO of Leifheit AG, comments: "We continued to consistently implement our Scaling Up Success growth strategy this year, which has improved the company significantly in terms of sales and earnings so far. This also reflects the significant turnover growth in the current reporting period. At the same time, our strategic initiatives contributed to the fact that we increased EBIT in 2020 by impressive 90.2% to EUR 18.8 million; in the first half of 2021 there was a strong improvement of 54.9% to EUR 13.6 million compared to the same period last year. In the third quarter, we have now seen that the global effects of the pandemic on the procurement market are noticeably worsening and increasingly affect the Leifheit Group's business activities. This burdened EBIT in the third quarter and will also have an impact in the final quarter. We will continue to work on keeping the effects of delivery bottlenecks and cost increases on the Leifheit Group as low as possible. Besides that, we continue our advertising measures as part of our strategy, including the Soehnle print campaign in the fourth quarter and TV campaigns for our bestselling Leifheit brand products in selected European markets."

Based on the preliminary figures for the third quarter the Management Board has reassessed the expectations for the Business year 2021. The Board of Management now assumes Group earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of between EUR 15 million and EUR 20 million. So far, an EBIT of EUR 20 million to EUR 24 million was expected. The turnover forecast remains unchanged, an increase of Group turnover of at least 5% year-on-year is still expected.

The final financial figures for the third quarter of 2021 will be published in the quarterly statement on 11 November 2021.

About Leifheit
Leifheit AG, founded in 1959, is one of the leading European brand suppliers of household items. The Leifheit Group divides its operating business into the Household, Wellbeing and Private Label segments. Leifheit and Soehnle products - two of Germany's best-known household brands - are known for high quality and great utility for consumers. Its French subsidiaries Birambeau and Herby are active in the service-oriented Private Label segment with a selected product range. In each segment, the company focuses on its core product categories of cleaning, laundry care, kitchen goods and wellbeing. The Leifheit Group employs some 1,100 people. More information on Leifheit is available online at www.leifheit-group.com, www.leifheit.de and www.soehnle.de.

Contact:
Leifheit AG
56377 Nassau
Germany
ir@leifheit.com
+49 2604 977218