CEWE Group increases turnover and earnings in the first half of 2023

CEWE Group increases turnover and earnings in the first half of 2023

• Turnover increases significantly by +10.7%, EBIT improves by +2.2 million euros
• CEWE PHOTOBOOK sales volume increases by +7.3
• Commercial Online-Print also continues to grow and increases earnings
• Improvement in earnings in the first half-year confirms annual forecast for 2023

Oldenburg, August 11, 2023 CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA (SDAX, ISIN: DE 0005403901) has successfully concluded the first half of H1 2023 with +10.7% growth in turnover and an improvement in earnings of +2.2 million euros: Group turnover increased significantly by 29.0 million euros to 299.9 million euros (H1 2022: 270.9 million euros). At the same time, Group EBIT improved by 2.2 million euros to -0.1 million euros (H1 2022: -2.3 million euros). The earnings growth is largely driven by the Photofinishing business segment (plus 2.9 million euros EBIT) and Commercial Online-Print (plus 1.0 million euros EBIT). The improved result includes two special effects totaling -1.3 million euros, namely a write-down at futalis in the "Other" business segment and a provision for software licenses. Before these special effects, the operating earnings improvement in the first half of 2023 is actually +3.4 million euros. "My very warm thanks for the first-class result in the first half of 2023 go to the entire CEWE team. Success is always a team effort, which only succeeds together with all employees," emphasizes Yvonne Rostock, CEO of CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA. "With the improvement in earnings that we have achieved, we have now established a good starting position for the second half of the year with the fourth quarter, which is particularly important for us. We are already preparing intensively for this in production, marketing, customer service and all other areas of the company. Here, too, we are in a very positive state of mind, as many new photos are being taken by our customers during these weeks on the vacation trips that are in particularly high demand this year. This is a good basis for many photo product orders directly after the end of the vacations or as a gift for Christmas," explains Rostock. With the strong development of the first six months, the company is on track to achieve its annual targets: CEWE's management forecasts Group turnover in a range of up to 780 million euros and a Group EBIT of up to 82 million euros for the full year 2023.

Ongoing turnover growth with improved earnings in Photofinishing

Photofinishing turnover increased significantly by +10.6% to 236.5 million euros in the first half of 2023 (H1 2022: 213.8 million euros). The number of photos sold in total grew by +9.1% to 957 million units in this period (H1 2022: 877 million units), the sales figures of the CEWE PHOTOBOOK rose by +7.3% to 2.333 million copies (H1 2022: 2.174 million copies). EBIT improved by +2.9 million euros to 1.1 million euros (H1 2022: - 1.8 million euros). In Q2 2023, turnover of the Photofinishing business segment increased by +9.0% to 110.4 million euros (Q2 2022: 101.2 million euros), EBIT improved by 0.2 million euros to - 4.1 million euros (Q2 2022: - 4.3 million euros).  Due to the high fixed cost remanence, the Photofinishing EBIT is traditionally negative in Q2, which is seasonally weaker in terms of demand. The visible Q2 earnings increase is reduced by an extraordinary provision for software licenses no longer required amounting to 0.5 million euros. Excluding this extraordinary effect, the operating earnings improvement in Q2 was actually EUR +0.7 million and EUR +3.4 million in the first half of the year.

Commercial Online-Print increases significantly and improves earnings

Commercial Online-Print (COP) grew strongly in the first half of 2023, recording turnover growth of +14.8% to 44.4 million euros (H1 2022: 38.7 million euros). Based on the consistently optimized cost structure and the higher top-line base, the business unit recorded an improved EBIT of +1.0 million euros in this period at 0.8 million euros (H1 2022: -0.2 million euros). In the second quarter, COP achieved turnover growth of +4.7% to 21.8 million euros (Q2 2022: 20.8 million euros). The quarterly result improves to 0.4 million euros (Q2 2022: 0.1 million euros).
The cost efficiency achieved in production at SAXOPRINT and the resulting "best price guarantee" for its customers allow COP to continue to grow profitably.

Retail segment in good shape with slight improvement in turnover and earnings

The retail business with photo hardware (cameras, lenses, photo accessories) reported in the Retail segment developed slightly positively with turnover growth of +1.1% to 14.6 million euros in the first half of 2023 (H1 2022: 14.4 million euros). The business unit improved EBIT slightly to -0.3 million euros in the first half of the year, which is typically still negative due to seasonal factors (H1 2022: -0.4 million euros). In the second quarter, the retail business achieved turnover of 7.8 million euros, which is almost in line with the previous year's level (Q2 2022: 7.9 million euros). Q2 EBIT improves to - 0.1 million euros (Q2 2022: - 0.2 million euros).
For years, CEWE's retail business has focused on business with products whose turnover and earnings contribution are reported in the Photofinishing business segment. The photo hardware business is to continue to be optimized with a focus on margins.

Business segment "Other" with futalis special effect

CEWE manages its structural and corporate costs as well as the result from real estate holdings and investments as a cost center in the segment "Other". In the first half of 2023, the business segment contributed EBIT of - 1.7 million euros to Group EBIT (EBIT H1 2022: 0.1 million euros). This decline in earnings was mainly due to lower earnings at futalis, which also included a necessary machine write-down of -0.8 million euros as a special effect due to the recent impairment test. In preparation for the initiation of the sale process of futalis, an update of the futalis planning for the full year 2023 was carried out at the end of the first half of the year, on the basis of which the impairment test was performed.

Solid equity ratio, ROCE at a strong 17.8%

After an already very solid level in the previous year (June 30, 2022: 60.0%), the equity ratio increased further to currently 66.1%. The return on capital employed (ROCE) also developed positively, rising from 16.1% in the previous year to a very respectable 17.8% as of June 30, 2023.

Outlook 2023 confirmed with results of the first half of the year

CEWE's management sees the results of the first half of the year as reinforcing the targets set and confirms the outlook for 2023: Group turnover is expected to reach a value in the range of 720 to 780 million euros in 2023, Group EBIT is expected to be in the corridor of 70 to 82 million euros in 2023. The ranges of these targets reflect the uncertainties that could potentially arise from inflation-related increases in the cost of sales and demand. At present, however, the persistently high inflation has no noticeable influence on the ordering behavior of customers and thus on the development of CEWE's turnover. The increased demand for vacations and long-distance travels is currently also giving occasion for many new photo images and has thus already strengthened the order situation in Photofinishing at CEWE in Q2. This should continue to positively support the business development in the coming months - especially in the decisive Christmas business.

Overview Results H1 and Q2 2023

Rounding differences may occur. Exact values have always been used for percentage deviation calculations.

Notes to the "Earnings by Business Segment" chart

(1) Photofinishing:  Production and sale of photo products such as the CEWE PHOTO BOOK, calendars, greeting cards, wall art and individual (analogue and digital) photos as well as other photo products

(2) Retailing: Trading in photo hardware, such as cameras and lenses, in Norway, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia

(3) Commercial online printing: Production and sale of commercial print products in the online printing portals of SAXOPRINT, viaprinto and LASERLINE

Should you have any queries, please contact:
CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA, Axel Weber (Investor Relations)
Tel.: 0441 / 404 - 552, Fax: 0441 / 404 - 421, Email: IR@cewe.de

Internet:  cewe.de , pixum.de , deindesign.de , whitewall.com , cheerz.com ,   

saxoprint.de, viaprinto.de , laser-line.de

The CEWE apps are all available in the app stores: CEWE PHOTO WORLD, CEWE POSTCARD and other photo apps, and the CEWE Investor Relations app for iPad© or android tablets, with annual reports and quarterly reports, presentations and sustainability reports.

You are welcome to join us at one of these investment conferences or to follow up on our pending publications:

Financial schedule

(insofar as already scheduled)

24.08.2023 Montega Conference HIT, Hamburg

19.09.2023 Berenberg & Goldman Sachs German Corporate Conference 2023, Munich

20.09.2023 Baader Investment Conference 2023, Munich

10.11.2023 Publication Interim Statement Q3 2023

28.11.2023 Deutsches Eigenkapitalforum 2023, Frankfurt

About CEWE:

The CEWE Group is Europe's leading photo service and online printing supplier.

From its beginnings in 1912, CEWE has progressed to become the leading photo service company for all those wanting to make more of their photos. This is mainly due to the much-awarded CEWE PHOTOBOOK, with about six million books being sold each year. Customers can purchase other personalised photo products under the brand names of CEWE, Pixum, WhiteWall and Cheerz – and from many leading retailers in Europe. They are inspired to produce a variety of creative designs from their personal photos in these brand environments, entrusting the company with more than 2 billion photos every year.

The CEWE Group has also set up a highly efficient production system for advertising prints and business prints for the online printing market. Every year billions of high-quality printed products are delivered reliably to their purchasers through the SAXOPRINT, LASERLINE and viaprinto sales platforms.

The CEWE Group, through the founder family of Neumüller as an anchor shareholder, focuses on sustainable corporate management and has already received many awards for this effort:  economically sustainable in the long term; cooperative and fair in dealings with customers, employees and suppliers; socially responsible and protective of the environment and resources. An example of this is the climate-neutral process used to produce all the CEWE brand-name products.

The CEWE Group has a staff of 4,000 employees and operates in 21 countries. CEWE is listed on the SDAX. More information is available at company.cewe.de.