CEWE business segments all grow significantly in Q2

• Q2 turnover increases 13.1% versus the same quarter of the previous year, to 132.0 million euros; EBIT improves by 2.1 million euros
• Balance sheet remains extremely strong: capital ratio grows to 60.1%
• Outlook for 2022 confirmed: CEWE expects the continuing rise in holiday travel to stimulate photo orders at Christmas time as well

Oldenburg, 9 August 2022. CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA (SDAX, ISIN: DE 0005403901) business segments all continued to grow in the second quarterly period, generating group turnover of 132 million, exceeding that of the same period of the previous year by 13.1% (turnover in Q2 2021: 116.7 million euros). The company also improved its EBIT by 2.1 million euros to -4.3 million euros (Q2 2021 EBIT: -6.4 million euros). For many years now, due to seasonal factors CEWE has generated the major share of its annual net income in the fourth quarter. Q2 growth and already agreed price increases, some of which have been implemented, are encouraging factors for CEO Dr. Christian Friege, as he forecasts the current financial year: "The positive trend in the second quarter has seen growth in all the business segments, thus confirming the targets we set for 2022. The number of holiday trips, celebrations and events is rising significantly, resulting in many occasions to take photographs so that our business activities were increasingly promoted throughout the second quarter. These photos in particular are to be turned into lasting memories in CEWE PHOTOBOOKS, photo calendars, wall art and many other personal photo gifts in the coming fourth quarter." In the first full half-year period of 2022, CEWE achieved turnover of 270.9 million euros (1. HY 2021: 262.6 million euros) and EBIT at -2.2 million euros  (1. HY 2021: 2.1 million euros). The reason for this lower mid-year result in comparison to that of the previous year is the extremely positive "stay-at-home" effect in 2021: In the first quarter of last year, CEWE reported an upswing based on the lockdown in connection with the coronavirus pandemic, since many customers increasingly used the time spent at home to create photo products.

Photofinishing grows by 8.2% in Q2, improving EBIT by 1.4 million euros

As the coronavirus situation continued to normalise, photofinishing sales rose in Q2, by 8.2% to 101.2 million euros (Q2 2021: 93.6 million euros). The number of photos grew by 10.7% to 410 million photos, thus exceeding the target for the current financial year (-7% to +4%). The company reported a particularly strong growth impulse from sales of the CEWE PHOTOBOOK: in the second quarter, customers ordered 1.031 million books, 14.3% more CEWE PHOTOBOOKS than in Q2 2021. In Q2 of the previous year, the easing of coronavirus restrictions implemented after a long lockdown period still had considerably reduced demand for photo products. EBIT in the photofinishing section improved by 1.4 million euros to -4.3 million euros in the second quarter of 2022 (Q2 2021: -5.7 million euros).

Photofinishing turnover also increased by 4.1% versus Q2 2019, the most recent Q2 before the coronavirus pandemic, with the current Q2 EBIT falling short of the relevant reference figure from Q2 2019 due to cost increases (Q2 2019 EBIT: -1.1 million euros). Due to price increases that have been agreed in the meantime and are balanced in a market-oriented approach, CEWE's management expects increasing contribution margins in the second half of 2022. CEWE regularly generates around 95% of its annual net income in photofinishing during the fourth quarterly period.

Excellently positioned: CEWE stable even in a generally weak economic climate

CEWE customers appreciate the highly-emotional significance of individualised, particularly personal photo gifts – especially at Christmas, so these gifts should be popular among consumers even in the face of an imminent recession. "The company has repeatedly shown in the past that the CEWE business model tends not to be affected by a decline in general consumer spending," Christian Friege continues.

Strong recovery in commercial online printing: turnover increases by 52.5% in Q2

The recovery of business life and the return of a rising number of (large-scale) events have resulted in a considerable rise in demand for printed advertising material: commercial online printing (COP) grew by 52.5% compared to the same quarter of the previous year, achieving turnover of 20.8 million euros (Q2 2021: 13.7 million euros) with COP already generating a balanced EBIT of 0.1 million euros at this sales level (Q2 2021: -0.2 million euros still including effects from short-time work). With an optimised cost structure, the business sector of commercial online printing, with its brands SAXOPRINT, viaprinto and Laserline, the CEWE group is thus once again demonstrating its lower break-even point: in Q2 2019, i.e. prior to the most recent pre-coronavirus Q2, CEWE, with turnover raised to as much as 25 million euros, still reported a loss of 1.1 million euros in COP.

Photo hardware retailing reports 4.4% increase in sales

Retailing also benefits from the ongoing easing of coronavirus measures, achieving an increase in turnover of 4.4% at 7.9 million euros (Q2 2021: 7.6 million euros). At the same time, the retailing EBIT amounted to -0.2 million euros (Q2 2021: -0.3 million euros). Retailing at CEWE is hence in a good position overall. Similarly, when compared with Q2 2019, before the coronavirus, sales were strategically decreased by reducing the number of stores by more than 30%; this was accompanied by improvements in the earnings position (EBIT in Q2 2019: -0.3 million euros). In the retailing segment, the major share of annual net income is also generated in the fourth quarter.

Strong rise in consistently sound capital ratio to 60.1%

The capital ratio as of 30 June 2022 continued to increase slightly and finished the quarter extremely strong, at 60.1% (30 June 2021: 59.8%). The upswing in photofinishing during the course of the coronavirus lockdown of the past two years saw an exceptionally high ROCE in Q2 2021, at 20.3%. As of the end of this report quarter, the current ROCE remains at a very steady 16.1% against that of the most recent comparable pre-coronavirus Q2 in 2019 (Q2 2019 ROCE: 16.5%).

Q2 earnings confirm outlook for 2022

The CEWE management is confirming the targets it set for 2022 on the basis of the results for the second quarter: Group turnover is to reach a figure in the range of 680 million to 740 million euros in 2022; Group EBIT for 2022 is expected to be in the range of 65 million to 80 million euros. The easing of coronavirus restrictions allows for more holiday travel and trips abroad, and for celebrations, festivals and events to take place, with many new photos being taken on these occasions, already resulting in initial improvements in the order situation in photofinishing at CEWE in Q2; this development is likely to be continued in the coming few months, especially during the significant Christmas season.

An overview of Q2 and HY1 2022 results

Rounding differences may occur. Deviations have all been calculated at the exact values.

Notes to the "Earnings by Business Segment" chart

(1) Photofinishing:  Production and sale of photo products such as the CEWE PHOTOBOOK, calendars, greeting cards, wall art and individual (analogue and digital) photos as well as other photo products

(2) Retailing: Trading in photo hardware, such as cameras and lenses, in Norway, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia

(3) Commercial online printing: Production and sale of commercial print products in the online printing portals of SAXOPRINT, viaprinto and LASERLINE

Should you have any queries, please contact:
CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA, Axel Weber (Investor Relations)
Tel.: 0441 / 404 - 2288, Fax: 0441 / 404 - 421, Email: [email protected]

Internet:  cewe.de , pixum.de , deindesign.de , whitewall.com , cheerz.com ,   

saxoprint.de, viaprinto.de , laser-line.de

The CEWE apps are all available in the app stores: CEWE PHOTO WORLD, CEWE POSTCARD and other photo apps, and the CEWE Investor Relations app for iPad© or android tablets, with annual reports and quarterly reports, presentations and sustainability reports.

You are welcome to join us at one of these investment conferences or to follow up on our pending publications:

Financial schedule

(insofar as already scheduled)

25.08.2022 Montega HIT Conference

20.09.2022 2022 Berenberg & Goldman Sachs German Corporate Conference

21.09.2022 2022 Baader Investment Conference

11.11.2022 Publication of the 2022 Q3 interim communication

29.11.2022  2022 German Equity Forum

About CEWE:

The CEWE Group is Europe's leading photo service and online printing supplier.

From its beginnings in 1912, CEWE has progressed to become the leading photo service company for all those wanting to make more of their photos.  This is mainly due to the much-awarded CEWE PHOTOBOOK, with more than six million books being sold each year.  Customers can purchase other personalised photo products under the brand names of CEWE, WhiteWall and Cheerz – and from many leading retailers in Europe.  They are inspired to produce a variety of creative designs from their personal photos in these brand environments, entrusting the company with more than 2 billion photos every year.

The CEWE Group has also set up a highly efficient production system for advertising prints and business prints for the online printing market, which is still a new market. Every year billions of high-quality printed products are delivered reliably to their purchasers through the SAXOPRINT, LASERLINE and viaprinto sales platforms.

The CEWE Group, through the founder family of Neumüller as an anchor shareholder, focuses on sustainable corporate management and has already received many awards for this effort:  economically sustainable in the long term; cooperative and fair in dealings with customers, employees and suppliers; socially responsible and protective of the environment and resources. An example of this is the climate-neutral process used to produce all the CEWE brand-name products.

The CEWE Group has a staff of 4,000 employees and operates in 21 countries. CEWE is listed on the SDAX. More information is available at company.cewe.de.