Leifheit Aktiengesellschaft: Leifheit continues its sustainable growth and confirms earnings forecast

Leifheit continues its sustainable growth and confirms earnings forecast for 2016

Nassau, 9 February 2017 - According to provisional figures, in the 2016 financial year Leifheit AG achieved group turnover of EUR 237.1 million, continuing its sustainable growth. Group turnover increased by 2.3 percent, up from EUR 231,8 million in the previous year. Due to positive effects from the development of the Leifheit brand and growth in the e-commerce distribution channel, turnover increased by 4.1 percent in the brand business. Based on these figures, Leifheit confirmed its earnings forecast for the 2016 financial year, which predicted EBIT of EUR 21 million and was concretised in November 2016.

Regional turnover development in the 2016 financial year was subject to a number of special effects. An important mail-order customer moved its deliveries from Germany to Luxembourg, so the resulting turnover was also shifted to Luxembourg. The group also ceased contract manufacturing for a German customer as planned at the end of the 2015 financial year. In Germany, that led to an overall decrease in turnover of 4.4 percent to EUR 94.5 million, down from EUR 98.8 million in the previous year. On a comparable basis, turnover in Germany would have increased by almost two percent. Meanwhile, in Central Europe, turnover increased by 4.5 percent to EUR 107.8 million, up from EUR 103.2 million in the previous year. In the Eastern Europe region, turnover increased by 27.8 percent to EUR 25.0 million, compared to EUR 19.6 million in the previous year. That growth was driven, in particular, by Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The positive development of the strategically important brand business continued in the 2016 financial year, with turnover for the year amounting to EUR 195.8 million. The increase of 4.1 percent compared to the previous year of EUR 188.1 million was slightly lower than expected. That was partly due to promotional business that was not fully utilised by customers in the final quarter. As in the previous year, higher demand for Leifheit brand products in the cleaning segment and a double-digit increase in the e-commerce distribution channel, were crucial to the growth achieved in the group's brand business.

As expected, in 2016 the company's significantly smaller volume business was not able to sustain the development achieved in the 2015 financial year. Turnover from the volume business in 2016 amounted to EUR 41.3 million, a decrease of 5.7 percent from the previous year's figure of EUR 43.7 million. That development was recognisable by the third quarter and was due to the basic effect of initially stocking a new retail customer in France in the second half of the previous year, as well as the planned end to contract manufacturing for third parties. Project business planned for the fourth quarter was also postponed.

"Our sustainable growth continues the positive trend from the two previous years. Overall, we are satisfied and continue to work consistently on the successful implementation of our Leifheit 2020 strategy," says Thomas Radke, CEO of Leifheit AG.

By publishing its provisional turnover figures, Leifheit confirmed its earnings forecast for the 2016 financial year, which predicted EBIT of over EUR 21 million and was concretised in November 2016. The company will release its final figures for 2016 when it publishes its full annual financial report on 29 March 2017.
 

About Leifheit

Leifheit AG, founded in 1959, is one of the leading European brand suppliers of household items. The company stands for high quality, innovative products with great utility and functional design in the sectors of cleaning, laundry care, kitchen goods and wellbeing. Leifheit and Soehnle are among the best-known brands in Germany. In addition to the Brand Business, Leifheit AG operates in the service-oriented Volume Business via its French subsidiaries Birambeau and Herby. The Leifheit Group and its international branches combined have around 1,000 employees. More information on Leifheit is available online at www.leifheit-group.com, www.leifheit.de, www.soehnle.de.