hotel.de announces key figures for first quarter of 2011
- Sales growth of 11.0% to Euro 8.29 million - Earnings performance affected by investments brought forward - Full-year forecast for 2011 confirmed
Nuremberg, 17 May 2011 – hotel.de AG increased its sales by 11.0% from Euro 7.46 million to Euro 8.29 million in the first quarter of 2011. International sales improved year-on-year by 12.6% from Euro 2.95 million to Euro 3.32 million. The international share of sales thus amounted to 40.0% in the first quarter (previous year: 39.5%). Due to seasonal factors, the first quarter of the financial year is always the weakest quarter. Higher growth rates are therefore expected as the year progresses.
hotel.de AG invested around Euro 1.31 million in total, with a corresponding charge to earnings, in the first three months of the new financial year. Of this sum, Euro 0.88 million related to budgeted investments in the company’s internationalisation (full-year budget: Euro 3.50 million). Over and above these outlays, additional expenses of Euro 0.43 million were incurred for external project management and in the hunt for suitable personnel to support the company’s IT development. These one-off investments were necessary to counter delays apparent in this area since the beginning of this year. Moreover, the translation of online service offerings into the relevant languages not yet covered was accelerated, as was the development of mobile applications. The related investments were brought forward to the first quarter of the year.
What’s more, the budgeted increase in marketing expenses by around Euro 0.50 million in the period from January to March 2011, involving a significant expansion in marketing coverage, has yet to show its desired impact in the form of additional sales. This was due in particular to delays in the IT development of the next expansion stage for the company’s own Hotel Centre, as a result of which the development of hotel content in popular international B and C destinations could not be implemented at the pace initially planned.
Given these factors, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for the first quarter, in any case generally weak, amounted to Euro -1.67 million (previous year: Euro -0.79 million). Net income for the period amounted to Euro -1.53 million, down from Euro -0.60 million in the previous year’s period.
Outlook
The Management Board of hotel.de AG is upholding its forecast for the 2011 financial year as a whole and accordingly expects to see sales growth in a low double-digit percentage range and a year-on-year improvement in EBIT. A similar level of sales growth, accompanied by disproportionate EBIT growth, is budgeted for 2012.
Dr. Heinz Raufer, CEO of hotel.de AG: “Following a certain delay, the increased marketing investments and expenses incurred to accelerate IT development projects should impact positively on sales in the further course of the year. We expect to see higher growth rates in the coming quarters. Assuming a more dynamic business performance in the second and especially the third quarter, these measures should also be reflected in an improvement in the company’s key earnings figures.”
The complete quarterly report is available for downloading from the Investor Relations section of the company’s website at www.hotel.de.
About hotel.de AG
hotel.de AG operates a global hotel reservation service for companies and private customers at its www.hotel.de and www.hotel.info addresses. Available in 37 languages, these websites enable customers to book accommodation at more than 210,000 hotels in all categories easily, quickly and at optimal prices. More than 4 million private and business customers from all around the world now place their trust in this service to book hotels. When selecting their hotel they can refer to more than 1.5 million personal hotel evaluations. Well-known companies such as BASF, SAP AG, Texas Instruments , Ernst & Young AG and many more use hotel.de’s corporate application to book hotels for business travel.
Based in Nuremberg, hotel.de AG also has a branch in Hamm (Westphalia) and sales offices in the UK (London), France (Paris), Spain (Barcelona), Italy (Rome), China (Shanghai) and Singapore. The company was founded in 2001 and was publicly listed in October 2006. In 2010, the company mediated reservation volumes in excess of Euro 390 million.
Press contact:
hotel.de AG Aleksander Szumilas Hugo-Junkers-Str. 15-17 90411 Nuremberg Phone: +49 (0)911-59832-0 Fax: +49 (0)911-59832-11 E-mail: press@hotel.de www.hotel.de
