Leifheit Aktiengesellschaft: Strong rise in earnings in the third quarter, raised forecast for full year 2020

Leifheit AG: Strong rise in earnings in the third quarter, raised forecast for full year 2020

Nassau, 21 October 2020 - Leifheit AG (ISIN DE0006464506) has achieved significant growth of earnings in the third quarter 2020. According to preliminary calculations earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of the Leifheit Group stood at EUR 6.5 million in the third quarter, tripling EBIT compared to the previous year's figure of EUR 2.1 million. The positive development of the quarterly result is mainly based on a strong EBIT and turnover growth in September 2020 compared to the same period last year, particularly driven by TV advertising.

In the first nine months of the 2020 financial year Group EBIT reached EUR 15.4 million (previous year: EUR 7.1 million), an increase of 115.4 %. As at 30 September 2020 Group turnover increased by 13.9 % to EUR 201.9 million (previous year: EUR 177.2 million). At the same time, the improvement in gross margin from 42.8 % to 44.7 % and a strict cost management contributed particularly to the EBIT growth.

Forecast 2020

The Board of Management has raised its forecast for the financial year 2020 and now assumes a growth of Group turnover between 11 % and 13 % and Group EBIT of between EUR 17 million and EUR 19 million for the financial year 2020. Previously the Management Board assumed a turnover growth of 7 % to 9 % and EBIT of EUR 12 million to EUR 15 million in the financial year 2020.

The forecast is based on the assumption that there will be no further significant restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the markets and sales channels relevant to Leifheit.

Information on the development in the third quarter and in the nine months of the financial year 2020 is based on preliminary calculations. As a result, there may be deviations from this information in the financial figures that will be published in the quarterly statement for the period ending 30 September 2020 on 11 November 2020.