Leifheit Aktiengesellschaft: Considerable turnover and earnings growth in 2020

Leifheit AG: Considerable turnover and earnings growth in 2020

• Group turnover up 16% to EUR 271,6 million in 2020
• Turnover up 22.6% in Q4 2020
• Domestic market of Germany sees turnover growth of 14.6% in 2020
• Preliminary EBIT at the upper end of the most recent issued guidance
• TV advertising expansion to other European markets in 2021

Nassau, 19 February 2021 - Leifheit AG (ISIN DE0006464506), one of the leading brand suppliers of household products in Europe, released preliminary figures for financial year 2020 today. On a preliminary basis, the Leifheit Group generated turnover of EUR 271.6 million in 2020, a significant year-on-year increase of 16.0%. The Group expects earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to be at the upper end of the EBIT guidance, recently adjusted upwards to between EUR 17 million and EUR 19 million. In 2019 EBIT totalled EUR 9.9 million.

The Leifheit Group continued on its growth course in the fourth quarter of 2020 with an increase in turnover of 22.6% despite a challenging market environment that continues to be hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Henner Rinsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Leifheit AG: "Overall, financial year 2020 developed very positively for us. We continued determinedly with our Scaling Up Success strategy and the figures quite clearly show that it's working. We invested heavily in consumer advertising and also worked at making the product range leaner and more profitable. Demand for our Leifheit and Soehnle brand products, which we advertised intensively on TV and in print, also increased in the fourth quarter. This has resulted in growth in turnover being slightly above the forecast issued in October. This performance is particularly remarkable in view of the fact that many of our key sales channels were closed during the Christmas season because of the second lockdown. The good turnover growth in the final quarter enabled us to increase our TV budgets again at the end of the year and to implement additional streamlining measures, thereby setting the course to increase consumer demand and improve the margin and cost situation in 2021."

In the domestic market of Germany, the Leifheit Group was able to achieve considerable turnover growth of 14.6% to EUR 107.2 million (2019: EUR 93.5 million) following a recent decline, confirming the positive turnaround for the year as a whole. In all other target markets, the Leifheit Group was also able to record double-digit turnover growth. In Central Europe, turnover grew from EUR 101.3 million in the previous year to EUR 116.9 million, while it rose from EUR 30.7 million to EUR 33.9 million in Eastern Europe in the same period. In the markets outside Europe, the Leifheit Group was even able to increase turnover significantly by almost 60%, from EUR 8.5 million in financial year 2019 to EUR 13.6 million.

Henner Rinsche views the current financial year 2021 with optimism: "In 2021, we will continue to invest specifically in TV advertising, expanding our activities to additional countries and to the Soehnle brand. Our TV campaigns put products such as the Profi XL cleaning system and the Regulus Aqua PowerVac battery-powered vacuum wiper in the consumer spotlight. Both products help consumers clean thoroughly and hygienically at home, scored 'very good' in tests and eliminate up to 99%* of viruses. Based on our successes to date, we are confident that increased consumer advertising will further boost demand for our products and also make the Leifheit and Soehnle brands even more attractive to retailers. In addition, independent test results regularly confirm the high quality of our products. All the products that are being advertised on TV now, or will be in the next few months, scored 'very good' in tests."

In the Household segment, by far the largest Group segment with the Leifheit brand, turnover increased significantly from EUR 182.0 million in 2019 to EUR 213.1 million in 2020. In the significantly smaller Wellbeing segment with the Soehnle brand, turnover increased by as much as 34%, from EUR 19.8 million to EUR 26.5 million. In the Private Label segment with the French subsidiaries Birambeau and Herby, turnover remained stable at EUR 32.0 million (2019: EUR 32.2 million) over the course of the year, following a recent decline.

Leifheit will publish the final figures for the financial year 2020 and the forecast for the current financial year with the full annual financial report on 24 March 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.

* The Profi XL floor mop with micro duo wipe removes up to 99% of viruses and bacteria (tested on modified Vaccinia-Ankara-virus with 25ml Leifheit Power Cleaner to 5l water at water temperature 60˚C). The Regulus Aqua PowerVac vacuum wiper removes up to 99.99% of viruses (tested on modified Vaccinia-Ankara-virus with 5ml Leifheit Universal Cleaner to 500ml water at max. water temperature 60˚C).