Business News
CEWE aims for consistent increase in dividends
Thursday 05. June 2014 - - Payout rate of 50% - Dividend yield at 3.5% - Free float reaches 69.8% - Long-term investors targeted
The regular Annual General Meeting of CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA (SDAX, ISIN: DE 0005403901) approved all the agenda items proposed by the management in Oldenburg today. The attendance rate was 62.1%. The dividend rises to 1.50 euros per share – the fifth dividend increase in succession. The Board of Management announced that it intended to continue with this steady rise in the dividend in future. On the basis of the closing price on 30 December 2013 (42.75 euros), the dividend yield is 3.5% and the payout rate 50%. Calculated on the basis of the increased price of 54.22 euros since this date (closing price on 3 June 2014), the dividend yield is 2.8%. The value of the CEWE share has increased by a total of 62.8% in the period from the 2013 Annual General Meeting to the Annual General Meeting held today, on the basis of the closing price on 6 June 2013 (33.31 euros).
CEWE intends to acquire long-term investors
At the Annual General Meeting, Dr. Rolf Hollander, Chairman of the Board of Management of CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA explained: “We would first and foremost like to acquire long-term investors for CEWE. This is why we intend to consistently increase the absolute dividend amount, thus generating attractive yields for our shareholders.” The basis for this increase was sound financing, which had been guaranteed thanks to the capital ratio of more than 50% on 31 March 2014, and investments in growth areas. “We are thus laying the foundation for a sustainable earning power,” Dr. Hollander emphasised. In order to make the company more attractive for institutional investors as well, CEWE also issued 500,000 treasury shares on 8 April 2014, thus increasing its free float to 69.8%. “We made our shares available in order to meet the high demand among institutional investors, while at the same time enhancing our strategic scope for achieving growth through acquisitions,” says Dr. Olaf Holzkämper, the CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA Financial Director. The gross amount of proceeds from the issue amounted to around 27 million euros for CEWE.
CEWE plans to make progress in all its business segments in 2014
CEWE is aiming to make significant progress in all three business segments in 2014. In the high-margin segment of photofinishing, in which other added-value products are becoming established in addition to the main business with the CEWE PHOTO BOOK, CEWE intends to continue to expand its leading market position and at the same time secure income. CEWE is intentionally withdrawing from low-margin wholesale business in the retail segment, thus actively reducing these sales. CEWE is continuing to focus on dynamic growth for online printing, in order to create a basis for future income. In this business segment, CEWE expects to achieve an increase in turnover in the amount of more than 70 million euros (2013: 59.8 million euros).
Outlook makes for another increase in dividends
The Board of Management believes that the positive growth trend in the online printing business segment and the high earning power of photofinishing with enable the company to make further investments in the future in 2014 as well, with consolidated turnover in all the business segments to increase slightly from 528.6 million euros to average in the range of 525 to 540 million euros despite the targeted decrease in retailing. The target earnings corridors are three million euros higher than in the previous year. The EBIT in 2014 is to be in the range of 30 million to 36 million euros, and the EBT is to amount to 28 million to 34 million euros. After-tax earnings are to be achieved in the range of 19 million to 23 million euros. Dr. Hollander: “This is how we intend to continue to sustainably increase the value of the company for our shareholders.”