Business News
CeWe Color concludes restructuring activities
Wednesday 18. March 2009 - Final closures in Paris and Teplice/Czech Republic No longer any extra costs through completion of process of transformation Investments of 250 million euros position CeWe as a digital provider
CeWe Color Holding AG (Prime Standard, ISIN: DE0005403901) will be completing its restructuring activities sooner than originally anticipated. Consultations with factory delegates in France concerning the closure of the plant in Paris have now been concluded. The lab there will be closed down in May 2009 provided that the inspection dates required by French law are met. Customers will receive the full range of services from the remaining plants in Rennes, Montpellier and Freiburg. The Board of Management expects CeWe activities in France to generate considerably improved operative earnings as early as in the 2009 business year thanks to a reduced cost basis.
One Plant in the Czech Republic to be closed down
In addition to the production plant in Paris, CeWe Color will also be closing down the smaller plant in Teplice in the Czech Republic, which the company had taken over in a process of market consolidation in 2007. Business will then be concentrated on the more efficient, far larger plant in Prague.
Target structure reached
With these final plant closures, CeWe Color is already reaching its target structure in 2009. Restructuring expenses in the current business year will not exceed a volume of around 10 million euros, which will nevertheless have a positive effect on operative earnings as early as in 2009. In the period from 2005 to 2009 alone, CeWe Color invested a total of more than 50 million euros while the number of photos from films declined, in order to gradually concentrate the production of digital photos at large, efficient plants. While a plant produced an average of only 108 million photos a year in the business year of 2000, this figure now amounts to approximately 200 million photos. Chairman of the Board of Management Dr. Rolf Hollander: “We commenced with the task of restructuring the company in the process of transformation at an early stage and prepared CeWe Color for the world of digital photography in good time – not only technologically, but also in terms of plant structure. The restructuring phase has now been concluded.
No longer extra costs
As of the business year of 2010, CeWe Color will be operating an efficient system of production throughout Europe, so that the company will no longer be reporting any extra costs relating to restructuring. Restructuring the company for the transition to digital photography has reduced CeWe Color profits by more than 10 million euros per year since 2005 alone. Rolf Hollander: “We are proud to have mastered the process of transformation with positive results every year and to have maintained an extremely sound capital ratio of 42.9%. As of 2010 we will no longer have to bear restructuring costs.”
Investments of 250 million euros in digital transformation
Since the late 1990s, CeWe Color has invested a total of more than 250 million euros in the process of transformation to become a digital provider. As early as in 1997 the company was the first photofinisher in the world to set up a station for taking in digital orders in a retail store as well as a website where orders could be placed. The company now operates almost 50 digital printers in its 13 production plants. As the leading photofinishing company in Europe, CeWe Color is the first choice as a full-service provider among retailer partners. Exceptional digital print expertise, unique software solutions and wide distribution through the Internet as well as services provided to the 50,000 retail stores supplied are a significant competitive advantage.
Increases through CEWE PHOTO BOOKS and commercial digital prints
CeWe Color is ideally positioned for the digital world. With the most popular offer worldwide, the CEWE PHOTO BOOK (more than 2.6 million books in 2008) and with photo gift articles, CeWe Color has successfully transferred its original line of business, photofinishing, into the digital era. The majority of CEWE PHOTO BOOKS are produced with digital printing methods. This newly-acquired digital expertise and the sales know-how of Diron, a company acquired by CeWe Color in 2008, will also enable CeWe to benefit from the strongly growing market of commercial digital prints.
Rolf Hollander: “CeWe Color is emerging stronger from the analogue/digital transformation. We are now in a position to once again focus the strength of the entire company on increasing sales and earnings.”