DGAP-News: FAST Casualwear AG / Key word(s): Quarter Results FAST Casualwear: Good financial position despite a challenging first quarter 2013 29.05.2013 / 08:33 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Results Q1 2013 FAST Casualwear: Good financial position despite a challenging first quarter 2013 * Revenues of 20.8 million Euros on previous year's level * EBIT decreased by 16.8 per cent to 4.6 million Euros * Sales of own FAST casualwear products increased * Improved equity and cash position * Revenue growth and stable EBIT margin expected for 2013 Hamburg, May 29, 2013 - FAST Casualwear AG, a manufacturer of casual footwear and apparel in China, looks back to a challenging first quarter 2013. While revenues remained nearly stable compared to 2012, profit margins decreased slightly. Nevertheless, FAST expects growth for the full year 2013 and disposes of a good cash position, allowing the company to further invest in its production facilities as well as in the expansion of its distribution network. Within the first three months of the financial year 2013 FAST Casualwear realized revenues of 20.8 million Euros, showing a slight decrease of 1.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2012 with total revenues of 21.1 million Euros. The main reason for this decrease was lower sales in the OEM/ODM segment. Revenues in this segment are mainly derived from the sale of casual and sport shoes manufactured for various international brand owners mainly in Europe and the United States. The segment of FAST's own brand casualwear products remained the major revenue driver in the first three months of 2013, representing a share of 86.0 per cent (Q1 2012: 79.0 per cent) amounting to 17.9 million Euros of total revenues. Especially sales from shoes strongly increased in the reporting period, realizing 58.2 per cent (Q1 2012: 51.0 per cent) of total revenues and generating revenues of 12.1 million Euros (Q1 2012: 10.7 million Euros). The sales in FAST's second product segment OEM/ODM products decreased by 34.6 per cent to 2.9 million Euros year-on-year, mainly due to the company's focus on the higher profit margin FAST brand products. Decline of gross profit and EBIT Gross profit went down by 8.0 per cent to 5.5 million Euros (Q1 2012: 6.0 million Euros) while the gross profit margin slightly decreased by 1.9 percentage points to 26.7 per cent (Q1 2012: 28.6 per cent). The lower gross profit resulted from a net effect of an increase in the gross profit within the FAST brand shoes segment and a decrease of the gross profit in the FAST branded apparel segment as well as the OEM/ODM business. The profit from operations (EBIT) went down by 16.8 per cent, from 5.5 million Euros in the first quarter 2012 to 4.6 million Euros in the first quarter 2013. However, with a gross profit margin of 26.7 per cent (Q1 2012: 28.6 per cent) and an EBIT margin of 21.9 per cent (Q1 2012: 26.0 per cent) FAST Casualwear continues to be very profitable - despite higher costs due to increased promotion and advertisement in order to boost FAST's brand awareness. Net profit decreased from EUR 3.9 million in Q1 2012 by 18.5 per cent to EUR 3.2 million in Q1 2013. This represents a net profit margin of 15.4 per cent (Q1 2012: 18.7 per cent). Strong financial basis FAST's equity increased by 8.5 per cent from 67.6 million Euros to 73.3 million Euros. In the first three months of 2013 FAST further improved its equity ratio to 68.3 per cent (December 31, 2012: 68.1 per cent), which provides the company with a favourable starting position for further development. Further growth expected For the full financial year 2013 the company expects increasing revenues due to its strong production capabilities and its expanding distribution network, even if the growth might be slightly slower than in 2012 due to the uncertain market environment. All in all, FAST anticipates a revenue growth of 10 per cent measured in the local currency Renminbi and a stable EBIT margin of around 20 per cent. In the future FAST will focus on further increasing its production capacities by building a new production facility to serve the FAST brand, which is expected to have a higher production capacity than the existing facility. In the first quarter 2013 FAST made an important step into this direction and paid a further deposit for the acquisition of a property. The anticipated date for the start of construction is the end of 2013 or the beginning of 2014. Furthermore, FAST will continue to work on the improvement of its brand awareness by producing innovative products. During the first three months of 2013 FAST introduced approximately 130 new footwear styles and around 60 new apparel styles to the market. 'In regards to our increasing coverage of sales outlets, the joint effort with our distributors and the increasing popularity of FAST products, we're confident to increase sales and maintain our profit margins in order to meet the given guidance for 2013,' says Wing Chi Chong, CEO of FAST Casualwear. About FAST Casualwear AG FAST Casualwear AG is the German holding company of FAST Group, a Chinese group of companies engaged in the design, production and sale of casualwear, consisting of footwear and apparel including accessories. It mainly designs and produces casualwear under its own brand name 'FAST', targeting consumers aged between 16 and 35 primarily in the lower tier cities in China. FAST distributes its own brand products through 26 unaffiliated regional distributors, who sell the products via retail outlets operated either by themselves or by third party sub-distributors. Its distribution network consists of 900 retail outlets in over 100 cities throughout China. FAST also designs and produces footwear as contract manufacturer for international brand owners, mainly from Europe and the U.S. FAST's operating facilities are located in the southeast of China in Jinjiang City, Fujian Province, one of the largest footwear manufacturing hubs in China. FAST employs around 1,000 employees. For further information please visit www.fast-casualwear.com or contact Kirchhoff Consult AG Dr. Kay Baden Tel: +49 (0)40 609 186 39 E-mail: [email protected] Disclaimer concerning prognoses This communication contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts instead they reflect FAST Casualwear's current views and expectations and the assumptions underlying them about future events. Forward-looking statements are subject to many risks and uncertainties. If any of such risks and uncertainties materialise or if the assumptions underlying any of FAST Casualwear's forward-looking statements are proving to be incorrect, FAST Casualwear's actual results may be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. FAST Casualwear does not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made. End of Corporate News --------------------------------------------------------------------- 29.05.2013 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. DGAP's Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: FAST Casualwear AG c/o Kirchhoff Consult AG, Herrengraben 1 20459 Hamburg Germany Phone: 040 60 91 86 0 Fax: 040 60 91 86 60 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.fast-casualwear.com ISIN: DE000A1PHFG5 WKN: A1PHFG Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard) End of News DGAP News-Service --------------------------------------------------------------------- 213561 29.05.2013