Nuremberg, 15 August 2007 - hotel.de AG today published its figures for the first half of 2007, reporting further substantial sales growth of 37.4% and a positive net income for the period. The Management Board also expects to see sales growth in a medium double-digit range and a continued positive net income for the financial year as a whole.

hotel.de acquires new major customers in Germany and abroad

As one of the leading online hotel reservation services worldwide, the company increased its sales by a notable 37.4% to Euro 11.6 million in the first half of 2007 (first half of 2006: Euro 8.4 million). This growth was chiefly due to the pleasing performance of the international business and the acquisition of further renowned key accounts in Germany and abroad.

The current financial year is characterised by major investments in the company’s international expansion. hotel.de supplemented the office in London with a subsidiary in Paris in February 2007. Moreover, by purchasing the online conference business from the market-leading conference agency, intergerma, in the first quarter, the company has invested in a lucrative niche offering great synergy potential. “In spite of the high level of investment in the first half of the year, we nevertheless achieved an EBIT margin of 4.6%”, reported Dr. Heinz Raufer, CEO of hotel.de AG. The company’s EBIT amounted to Euro 0.5 million (first half of 2006: Euro 1.5 million). The initiation of the expansion strategy led the positive net income to decline from Euro 0.9 million to Euro 0.5 million. hotel.de’s robust financial position is underline by its cash flow from operating activities, which improved sharply to Euro 1.0 million (first half of 2006: Euro -0.4 million).

Positive outlook

The booking volume providing an indication of the company’s future sales volume, also increased substantially in the first six months of 2007. This key figure rose by 50.6% compared to the equivalent period in the previous year. The international business even reported growth of 88.7% from Euro 35.5 million to Euro 67.0 million. The Management Board intends to further expand this pleasing performance in other countries in the second half of the year. “We are planning the establishment of a further office in Spain. Over and above this, we intend to boost our activities in the Italian market”, commented Dr. Raufer.

For the financial year as a whole, the Management Board continues to forecast sales growth in a medium double-digit range, a clearly positive net income and an EBIT margin of almost 10%. “However, if we see any opportunity of gaining a foothold in Spain and Italy more rapidly than planned, we will extend our investment programme and forego the odd margin point”, added Dr. Raufer in view of the success of the international expansion to date. “Following the year of investment in 2007, our consolidated earnings can be expected to show significant growth in 2008”, added the company’s CEO confidently.

hotel.de

hotel.de AG, based in Hamm and Nuremberg, Germany, London, UK and Paris, France runs a free of charge hotel reservation service for companies and private users on www.hotel.de, www.travelres.com, hotel.at and www.hotel.ch. hotel.de/TravelRes offers 210,000 hotels worldwide to be booked online. In 2007, hotel.de has enlarged its business model - focussing on the placing of hotel stays - by the fast-growing segment of procuring conference hotels for corporate clients. Compared to other booking channels, hotel.de/TravelRes customers benefit from considerable cost savings. These partially result from the very low hotel rates which hotel.de/TravelRes is able to negotiate with hotels, thanks to its high booking volume. Additionally, hotel.de/TravelRes always displays all rates available for every single hotel (e.g. promotional rates, corporate or weekend rates), so that the customer can choose the lowest or best-fitting rate. Another major advantage of hotel.de/TravelRes is the fact that booking confirmations are sent right into the hotel's computer - making a reservation fast, safe and reliable. This is enabled by hotel.de/TravelRes' unique integration of the hotels' central reservation systems (so-called CRS) under one consistent user surface. Well-known companies, such as Wella AG (subsidiary of Procter & Gamble), SAP AG, ThyssenKrupp AG, degussa AG, Logica CMG GmbH, Ernst & Young AG, Wal-Mart, Texas Instruments Inc., Deutsche Börse Group, Munich Re Group and others already use the hotel.de/TravelRes corporate application.

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