DGAP-News

CEWE wants to see a renewed rise in earning power - Seite 2

of 2013: 536.2 million euros), and operative earnings (EBIT) improved
considerably, from 28.9 million to 32.6 million euros. Earnings before tax
(EBT) increased from 27.1 million euros in 2013 to 31.5 million in 2014. In
the previous year, after-tax earnings benefited considerably from positive
non-recurring effects resulting from the change in the legal form of the
company (+ 3.3 million euros). For this reason after-tax earnings in 2014,
at 21.4 million euros, were 0.9 million euros lower than in the previous
year (2013: 22.3 million euros). Against the background of a return to a
normal tax rate of 32.1 % for the Group (2013: 17.7 %), earnings per share
reached 3.07 euros in the year of the report (2013: 3.39 euros). The return
on capital employed improved considerably to reach 16.9 % (2013: 15.0 %).
The free cash flow was more than doubled, to 28.1 million euros (2013: 13.1
million euros).

CEWE increases fourth-quarter EBIT by 11.0 per cent
The trend towards a seasonal shift continued into the fourth quarter of
2014: for years now, CEWE has been generating a growing share of its
turnover and earnings in the Christmas quarter. While operative earnings
(EBIT) for the first three quarters were still at -4.7 million euros, the
final quarter of the year contributed sales of 194.8 million euros, around
2 % higher thanks to the strong Christmas business. After-tax earnings in
the fourth quarter increased by as much as 11.0 %, to 37.3 million euros
(Q4 2013: 33.6 million euros). CEWE thus generated around 37.2 % of its
total annual turnover and far more than 114 % of its income in the vital
fourth quarter. It was mainly the strong demand for the CEWE PHOTO BOOK,
and for the CEWE brand products such as CEWE CALENDARS, CEWE CARDS and CEWE
WALL PICTURES, which contributed to the positive development in the fourth
quarter as well: "Photo products are highly popular as gifts because they
are always individual, personal and self-made. At CEWE, photo gifts have
resulted in increasing sales in the Christmas season," Dr. Hollander says.
The turnover per photo increased by 7.5 %, from 19.02 eurocents in the same
quarter of the previous year to 20.44 eurocents. A rising share of the
prints came from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, with the
share of orders placed with the numerous CEWE apps for these mobile devices
also continuing to rise.