CEWE starts the most important quarter of the year with a lead in earnings

CEWE starts the most important quarter of the year with a lead in earnings

• Group turnover exceeds previous year's figure by +8.9% in Q1-3 and rise to 453.2 million euros
• Group EBIT rises by +3.7 million euros year-on-year after nine months and reaches 2.3 million euros
• Commercial Online-Print further increases turnover and significantly improves earnings
• Annual targets for 2023 confirmed: CEWE perfectly positioned for Christmas business

Oldenburg, November 10, 2023: CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA (SDAX, ISIN: DE 0005403901) is entering the Christmas quarter, which is key for the company, with a strong increase in turnover and a head start in earnings, and confirms its annual targets for 2023: In the first nine months, CEWE increased Group turnover by +8.9% to 453.2 million euros (Q1-3 2022: 416.1 million euros) and at the same time improved Group EBIT by +3.7 million euros to 2.3 million euros (Q1-3 2022: -1.4 million euros). In the third quarter, Group turnover exceeded the previous year's figure by +5.8% and rose to EUR 157.8 million (Q3 2022: 149.2 million euros). Both Photofinishing and Commercial Online-Print contributed to this growth. Group EBIT improved to 1.2 million euros in the third quarter (Q3 2022: 1.0 million euros). The company is optimistic about the upcoming Christmas business, in which CEWE traditionally generates the majority of its annual earnings. CEWE CEO Yvonne Rostock: "We are well prepared and ahead of the game as we enter the home straight for 2023: We are excellently positioned in production, marketing, sales and customer service as well as in all other areas of the company. The entire CEWE team and all employees are looking forward to the peak season of Christmas business and are ready to guarantee our excellent delivery capability. Once again, many product innovations - such as the CEWE PHOTOBOOK or a wall calendar made of 100% recycled paper - as well as a wide-ranging marketing campaign will further strengthen our Christmas business". Photo products in particular have a very high emotional value for many people, especially as Christmas gifts, and are increasingly in demand regardless of the overall economic development.

Photofinishing turnover grows significantly by +7.1% in Q3

Photofinishing turnover rose by +7.1% to 128.7 million euros in the third quarter of 2023 (Q3 2022: 120.2 million euros). This is due to both the higher photo volume and the increase in revenue per photo. The photofinishing EBIT amounted to 0.7 million euros and was therefore slightly below the EBIT of the same quarter of the previous year (Q3 2022: 0.9 million euros). In the first nine months, Photofinishing turnover increased by +9.3% to 365.2 million euros (Q1-3 2022: 334.0 million euros). During this period, the Photofinishing EBIT improved by +2.7 million euros to 1.8 million euros (Q1-3 2022: -0.9 million euros).  Thanks to its brand position and marketing activities, among other things, CEWE is successfully converting this year's high level of vacation travel activity with many new photos taken by consumers into its own business growth. This also gives the company a positive outlook for the upcoming fourth quarter.

Commercial Online-Print continues its profitable growth

Commercial Online-Print (COP) continued to benefit in the third quarter from the cost efficiency achieved in production at SAXOPRINT and the resulting "best price guarantee" for its customers: Turnover grew by +2.7% to 21.9 million euros in Q3 compared to the same quarter of the previous year (Q3 2022: 21.3 million euros). Thanks to the improved cost structure, Commercial Online-Print significantly increased its EBIT by +0.5 million euros to 0.7 million euros (Q3 2022: 0.2 million euros). In the first nine months of the year, COP increased its turnover by +10.5% to 66.3 million euros (Q1-3 2022: 60.0 million euros). EBIT improved by a strong +1.5 million euros to 1.5 million euros in this period (Q1-3 2022: 0.0 million euros).

Photo hardware retail with stable result

In Q3, CEWE retail achieved a slightly lower turnover of 7.2 million euros compared to the previous year (Q3 2022: 7.7 million euros) with the sale of photo hardware (cameras and accessories) due to the focus on higher-margin products. EBIT, which is traditionally always slightly negative in the third quarter, remained constant year-on-year at -0.1 million euros (Q3 2022: -0.1 million euros). In Q1-3, the Retail segment achieved a turnover of 21.8 million euros (Q1-3 2022: 22.2 million euros) and a slightly improved EBIT of -0.4 million euros (Q1-3 2022: -0.5 million euros). Due to the seasonal nature of the business, the retail sector traditionally earns its annual result in the fourth quarter.

Equity ratio rises to a very solid 63.8%, ROCE at a strong 18.1%

The equity ratio increased further to 63.8% as at September 30, 2023 (30/09/2022: 58.5%). At a strong 18.1%, the return on capital employed (ROCE) was again above the previous year's figure (30/09/2022: 16.6%) and therefore remains at a very good level.

CEWE clearly on target for 2023: Outlook confirmed

"Based on the positive development of the first nine months, our very good preparations for the Christmas business and our robust business model, we continue to see ourselves clearly on target for the full year 2023," says CEWE CEO Yvonne Rostock. Based on the positive development of the first nine months, the CEWE management reaffirms its targets for 2023: Group turnover is expected to reach a value in the range of 720 to 780 million euros in 2023, while Group EBIT is expected to be in the corridor of 70 to 82 million euros in 2023.

Explanation on Group turnover and Group EBIT: Due to the initiated sales process of the Group company futalis, this company has been excluded from the income statement of the CEWE Group with immediate effect in accordance with IFRS 5. Including the futalis company, Group turnover for Q1-3 would be +6.7 million euros higher (Q1-3 2022: +6.2 million euros), while EBIT would be -1.5 million euros lower (Q1-3 2022: +0.2 million euros).

Overview Results Q3 and Q1-3 2023

Rounding differences may occur. Exact values have always been used for percentage deviation calculations.
* futalis is excluded from the income statement in accordance with IFRS 5 in the reported figures for 2022 and 2023

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-Print: 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)

22.11.2023 Roadshow London with Baader Bank

28.11.2023 Deutsches Eigenkapitalforum 2023, Frankfurt

05.12.2023 Roadshow Zurich with Baader Bank

06.12.2023 Roadshow Geneva with Baader Bank

16.01.2024 ODDO BHF Forum 2024

17.01.2024 GCC 2024 – UniCredit/Kepler Cheuvreux Conference

22.03.2024 CEWE Annual Press and Analyst Conference 2024

22.03.2024 Publication Annual Report 2023

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, Cheerz, DeinDesign, Pixum and WhiteWall – 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.