DGAP-News

SHOP APOTHEKE EUROPE grows more than twice as fast as the overall Continental European market in 2016. Accelerated growth projected for 2017 as well. - Seite 2

The number of orders rose from 2.8 million to 4 million during the reporting period. At 73.4%, the share of orders placed by existing customers remained at a consistently high level while the return rate continues to remain at less than 1% and site visits increased to 42 million in 2016.

SHOP APOTHEKE EUROPE's gross profit increased in line with revenues, up from EUR 25.7 million in 2015 to EUR 36.3 million in 2016. The gross margin remained stable at 20.5% despite the company's accelerated growth and new customer acquisition through coupon promotions in the fourth quarter 2016 which had a negative margin impact. Due to the successful customer acquisition initiatives, the number of active customers increased substantially from 1.3 million at the end of 2015 to 1.8 million at the end of 2016.

The consolidated adjusted EBITDA MARGIN (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and non-recurring effects from the IPO and the integration of FARMALINE) improved by 0.9% to -3.3% from -4.2% the previous year. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA was EUR -5.8 million compared to EUR -5.3 million in 2015. The adjusted EBIT (earnings before taxes and interest) for fiscal year 2016 was EUR -9.1 million with an EBIT margin of -5.1% compared to EUR -7.4 million or -5.9% respectively in 2015. Improvements were accomplished primarily in relative administrative costs (including depreciations): Due to economies of scale and increased efficiency, they increased at a lower rate than revenues from EUR 6.7 million (adjusted for one-off costs of EUR 1.7 million mostly related to the IPO) to EUR 7.4 million (EUR 9.1 million excluding one-off costs).

Adjusted for non-recurring costs related to the application of IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) to the repayment of shareholder loans as announced prior to the IPO, which negatively impacted interest income by EUR 6.9 million, the net loss for 2016 was EUR 10.7 million (after EUR 9.1 million during fiscal year 2015). The repayment of shareholder loans means that SHOP APOTHEKE EUROPE is now debt-free.

Revenues for SHOP APOTHEKE EUROPE's profitable core segment "Germany" increased by 26% to EUR 145.6 million (previous year: EUR 115.7 million). Increases in efficiency, economies of scale, progress in process automation and the high share of repeat orders made by existing customers led to a 1.5% improvement in the sales and distribution cost ratio to 18.9% (previous year: 20.4%) in the company's German core market. In line with this development, the "Germany" segment's gross margin increased from 20.1% in fiscal year 2015 to 20.4%; segment EBITDA** grew by EUR 3.2 million from EUR 0.8 million in fiscal year 2015 to 4 million in fiscal year 2016, corresponding to a margin of 2.7% versus 0.7% the previous year.