Business News

CEWE increases dividend after a successful business year

Thursday 20. March 2014 - - Fifth consecutive dividend increase - Board of Management and Supervisory Board propose dividend of EUR 1.50/share

After a successful business year in which CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA (SDAX, ISIN: DE 0005403901) reached or exceeded all its targets, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board will be proposing a dividend increase for the 2013 business year to the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting on 4 June. According to the proposal, the dividend is to be increased by 5 cents a share, to 1.50 euros a share. This is thus the fifth consecutive dividend increase by CEWE. “We wish to continue to allow our shareholders to participate in the rising earning power of the company. For us, dividend continuity means increasing the dividend year by year, provided that our balance sheet is sound enough to continue to allow for this,” explains Dr. Olaf Holzkämper, Financial Director of the CEWE Group.
New record high in sales, increasing earning power and expansion in online printing
Following the first-time, half-billion euro turnover in 2012, CEWE achieved turnover of 528.6 million euros in 2013, an increase of 4.2%, and hence a new record high. The EBIT also rose to 29.4 million euros, an increase of 1.0%. Without the restructuring costs for the operations in Dresden and Graudenz, EBIT would have improved by as much as 12.3% to 32.6 million euros. Earnings before tax (EBT) increased by 3.5% to 27.8 million euros in 2013. Earnings after tax , at 21.6 million euros, also clearly exceeded the target corridor of 16 to 20 million euros, one of the reasons being the change in the legal form of the company, and earnings per share (undiluted), at 3.29 euros, was higher than ever before in the history of the company (target corridor: 2.44 to 3.06 euros). Strong growth in the share of added-value products – such as the CEWE PHOTO BOOK – saw the company doing more than increasing its profitability: CEWE exploited the considerable earning power in photofinishing to make advance payments in the new, promising business area of online printing, and to expand strongly in this area. Online printing turnover rose by 40% to around 60 million euros in 2013. CEWE is thus well on the way to reaching its target turnover of 100 million euros in this business segment by 2016.
Fourth-quarter EBIT rises by 15 %
While operative earnings (EBIT) were still negative at -4.1 million euros in the first three quarters due to the seasonal shift to the Christmas quarterly period, which has persisted for years, CEWE generated fourth-quarter turnover in the amount of 188.1 million euros, which is an increase of 5.6%, and a resulting increase in EBIT of almost 15%, to 33.5 million euros. The fourth quarter thus contributed around 35.6 percent to the total annual turnover and far more than 100 % of income.
Since 1 January 2013 shareholders have achieved returns of 67.8 %
On the basis of the share price at the end of 2012 (31.04 euros) the CEWE share price grew from 11.72 euros to 42.75 euros (+?37.7?%) in the period up to the end of December 2013. The CEWE share has thus developed far better than the DAX, which increased by 25.5% in the same period. On the inclusion of the dividend paid out for the business year of 2012, the yield for CEWE shareholders in 2013 was 42.4 percent. In terms of the current share price of 50.57 euros (XETRA share price at 10.53 a.m. on 19 March 2014), the total return for shareholders amounted to as much as 67.8 percent. In addition, the dividend now proposed would correspond to a dividend yield of 3.0 percent. The trading volume also developed positively in 2013, growing by 17.2 percent to 4.4 million CEWE shares traded.
Sound financing enhances strategic freedom of action: security plus growth
In spite of the dividend payout for the 2012 business year and the advance payments in the growing area of online printing, the capital ratio of the company improved by 2.0 percentage points to 42.4% in 2013. “Our sound balance sheet makes us stable and strategically free to take action,” says Olaf Holzkämper. “This strength enabled us to significantly expand the business segment of online printing by acquiring Saxoprint in 2012.” In addition to its considerable earning power in photofinishing, CEWE is now focusing on growing strongly in online printing with its CEWE-PRINT, Saxoprint and Viaprinto brands.
CEWE will be presenting its forecast for the 2014 business year and the full set of annual financial statements at the balance sheet and analysts’ conference in Frankfurt am Main on 26 March 2014.