CeWe Color Holding AG / Statement
23.10.2008
Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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CeWe Color defies financial market crisis:
sound financing competitive advantage
- Dividend yield of more than 8%
- Capital ratio of around 40%
- Strong financial position in superior market position realised
- Investments in production: largest digital printer in Europe
- In 2008 sales are to increase by two-thirds to more than 2.5 million CEWE
PHOTO BOOKS
Oldenburg, 23 October 2008 CeWe Color Holding AG (ISIN DE0005403901) sees
a clear competitive edge in the stable financial position of the company,
given the background of the current critical capital market environment. A
strong decline in the share price, down to around fifteen euros was not
operation-based nor was the financial market crisis having a negative
impact on the company. 'On the contrary: the extremely sound, low-risk
financing structure, with a low level of dependence on banks and foreign
currency risk, as well as the capital ratio of around 40% was a central
competitive advantage and opened attractive opportunities for growth,'
according to CEO Dr. Rolf Hollander. The European market leader in
photofinishing was financing the investment in growth from its cash flow
and had emerged stronger from the disputes with hedge funds focusing on
short-term earnings. The company was now benefitting from the fact that the
majority of shareholders had voted against the payment of the debt-financed
special dividend demanded by the hedge funds. The new shareholder structure
showed sustained stability, with the joint heirs of Senator h.c. Heinz
Neumüller (ACN Vermögensverwaltungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG (27.4%),
Lincoln Vale (8.9%), NORD/LB (7.8%), and the investment company owned by
Dr. Christian Jacobs (Sentosa Beteiligungs GmbH; 6.7%) all contributing
towards the growth strategy of the company. In addition to the
value-oriented growth strategy, these shareholders also consider the
consistent dividends paid by the company to be attractive; on the basis of
the payout for the 2007 business year (1.20 euros) and the current
share-price level, these dividends resulted in a dividend yield of
approximately 8%. At this share-price level, market capitalisation was
currently even lower than the balance sheet equity.
Low economic risks
'As previous economic cycles have shown, business risks for CeWe Color are
low,' Dr. Hollander says. Even a decline in consumption, which could result
from the financial market crisis spreading to the non-monetary economy,
affects the photofinishing market far less than the camera market.
Growth financing secured
'Investments can be all be financed from gross cash flow. Due to a largely
secured line of capital (totalling more than 70 million euros, of which
currently approximately 35 million euros had been taken up), which we by no
means fully utilise even in peak season times, we have not been affected by
the financial market crisis; this also applies for financing growth,'
Hollander says. The basis of securing this financing is our adequate stock
of available equity which means that the company has a sound credit
standing and a wide scope of liquidity. In their respective internal bank
ratings, the CeWe Color partner banks, Landessparkasse zu Oldenburg,
Oldenburg, Bremer Landesbank, Oldenburg/Bremen, Oldenburgische Landesbank
AG, Oldenburg, Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG, Hamburg and DZ Bank AG,
Frankfurt am Main, have continued to rate CeWe Color as 'investment grade'
and confirmed the good credit standing of the company. HVB explicitly
emphasises the sound financing as well as the considerable potential
resulting from the growth strategy. HVB is an important cashpool bank of
the CeWe Color Group. As they announce themselves, the regional CeWe
partner banks have hardly engaged in any high-risk transactions. In recent
talks, the banks also confirmed that CeWe Color, with its attractive
business model, its sound capital structure, low operative and
balance-sheet related risks and its value-oriented growth strategy had
proved to be one of the winners in the financial market crisis. The banks
shared the opinion that companies which had considerable financial
resources at their disposal in the current financial market crisis were in
a position to actively utilise this advantage to further improve their own
market position.
Promising investment in capacity and efficiency
The company had already invested strongly in production during the current
business year, in order to meet the anticipated growth in the number of
CEWE PHOTO BOOKS produced. CeWe Color, with 42 printers, now has the
largest digital printing works in Europe. 'We have established efficient
industrial production lines which have a clear advantage over those of
competitors,' Hollander points out. On the basis of the positive response
received at the world's largest trade show, the 'photokina', CeWe Color
expects to see a boom in CEWE PHOTO BOOKS in the fourth quarter of the
year. While the company sold 800,000 CEWE PHOTO BOOKS in the period up to
mid-year, CeWe Color expects sales to total more than 1.7 million CEWE
PHOTO BOOKS in the final six months of the year with the focus on
Christmas business. In general, CeWe Color expects to see a two-thirds
growth in sales figures over those of 2007, when 1.5 million CEWE PHOTO
BOOKS were sold. 'The value per CEWE PHOTO BOOK is growing thanks to new,
sophisticated formats and a higher average number of pages per book.
Investments made over the past few years are now paying off,' Dr. Rolf
Hollander emphasises. For 2009 the company expects to see high growth rates
for the CEWE PHOTO BOOK. Rolf Hollander: 'In future our sound financial
position will enable us to rapidly open up and expand in promising,
high-growth business segments, hence turning our strong financial position
into a superior market position.'
About CeWe Color: Photo service company CeWe Color, with 15
highly-technical production operations and a staff of around 2,800
employees in 24 European countries, is both market and technological
leader. The company supplied around 2.8 billion photos, more than 1.5
million CEWE PHOTO BOOKS and photo gift articles to more than 50,000 retail
partners in 2007. In 2007 turnover amounted to EUR 413.5 million. CeWe
Color is 'first mover' in the launch of new digital technologies, for
example ordering digital photos in the Internet or with the help of order
terminals (DigiFoto Makers) in retail stores. Sales of personalised CEWE
PHOTO BOOKS are developing extremely well. In 1961, CeWe Color was founded
by Senator h.c. Heinz Neumüller. The company went public under the
leadership of Hubert Rothärmel. CeWe Color Holding AG is listed on the
Prime Standard.
Should you have any queries, please contact:
CeWe Color AG & Co. OHG, Hella Hahm or Axel Weber
Tel.: 0441 / 404 - 234, Fax: 0441 / 404 - 421,
Email: IR@cewecolor.de, Internet:www.cewecolor.de or www.cewe-fotobuch.de
DGAP 23.10.2008
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Language: English
Issuer: CeWe Color Holding AG
Meerweg 30-32
26133 Oldenburg
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)441 40 4-1
Fax: +49 (0)441 40 4-42 1
E-mail: IR@cewecolor.de
Internet: www.cewecolor.de
ISIN: DE0005403901
WKN: 540390
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Berlin, Frankfurt (Prime Standard);
Freiverkehr in Hannover, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf,
Stuttgart
End of News DGAP News-Service
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DGAP-News: CeWe Color defies financial market crisis: sound financing competitive advantage
| Source: EQS Group AG