CEWE in Q3 with strong growth and significantly improved result

• Q3 turnover up 14.3% to 151.4 million euros, EBIT improves by a strong 3.1 million euros
• CEWE PHOTO BOOK sales significantly increased by 12.9%
• Outlook for 2022 confirmed: CEWE perfectly positioned for Christmas business

Oldenburg, 11 November 2022. CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA (SDAX, ISIN: DE 0005403901) reported strong growth in all its business segments in the third quarter of 2022. In comparison with the previous year, Group turnover rose by 14.3%, to 151.4 million euros (Q3 2021 turnover: 132.4 million euros), with Group EBIT also improving clearly, by 3.1 million euros to 1.1 million euros (Q3 2021 EBIT: -2.1 million euros). The company is optimistic about the coming Christmas season, when CEWE traditionally generates most of its annual net income. CEO Dr. Christian Friege once again confirms the CEWE annual targets based on the positive Q3 figures: "As in Q2, all business segments have grown in Q3, enabling us to look extremely positively towards our year-end business. During the past few months, international (holiday) trips, celebrations, weddings, concerts, and other events – all of them regular occasions where photos are taken – were finally made possible again. Our customers can now draw on this huge wealth of photos to order individual photo products as very personal, attractively-priced Christmas gifts – particularly in economically difficult times." For many people, photo products such as the CEWE PHOTOBOOK, photo calendar and wall art are of considerable emotional value, especially as Christmas gifts. Besides, many sustainable product innovations – such as hard-cover CEWE PHOTOBOOKS and Nature desk calendars made of 100% recycled paper or ecologically-produced Premium photo puzzles – as well as another wide-ranging marketing campaign will once again be boosting Christmas business. CEWE has also secured a long-term supply of all raw materials, thus underpinning its capacity to deliver in the upcoming seasonal peak as well.

Photofinishing turnover shows a clear 13.0% increase in Q3

Photofinishing turnover rose considerably in Q3, by 13.0% to 120.2 million euros (Q3 2021: 106.3 million euros). This means that turnover was even higher than in 2019, the last year before the coronavirus (Q3 2019: 116.2 million euros). The number of photos rose significantly in the third quarter, by 12.6% to 517 million photos (Q3 2021: 459 million photos). This also reflects the process of normalisation following the coronavirus restrictions and their effect of temporarily lowering the volume of photos. At the same time, CEWE PHOTOBOOK sales also grew, with CEWE customers purchasing a total of 1.229 million books – a marked increase of 12.9% compared to the same quarter of the previous year. EBIT in the business segment of photofinishing also grew strongly in the third quarter, increasing by 3.2 million euros to 1.1 million euros, thus contributing considerably to a positive Group EBIT.

Commercial Online-Print recovery continues: turnover in Q3 climbs by 28.4%

The rising demand for commercial print products continued in the third quarter. Turnover in the Commercial Online-Print (COP) segment rose by 28.4% over that of the same quarter of the previous year, to 21.3 million euros (Q3 2021: 16.6 million euros). Although this means that COP has not yet reached its 2019 pre-coronavirus level of turnover (Q3 2019 turnover: 24.8 million euros), it is already showing a considerably improved, strong EBIT in the amount of 0.2 million euros (Q3 2019 EBIT: -0.8 million euros), mainly due to a generally optimised cost structure in comparison to that of Q3 2019. COP was hence also able to improve its earnings in comparison to that of the same quarter of the previous year (Q3 2021 EBIT: -0.2 million euros). The current improvement in earnings is largely the result of the consistent optimization of the production and cost structure of COP with its SAXOPRINT, viaprinto and LASERLINE brands in recent years.

Slight increase in turnover of 4.4% in the photo hardware retail business

In Q3, the Retail business segment also continued to benefit from recoveries in the period following coronavirus restrictions, achieving a 2.5% increase in sales, at 7.7 million euros (Q3 2021: 7.5 million euros). In this case the EBIT, traditionally always slightly negative in the third quarter, was almost consistent with that of the same quarter of the previous year at -0.1 million euros (Q3 2021: rounded off at 0.0 million euros). In the run-up to the important Christmas season, CEWE Retailing is thus showing itself to be well-positioned with its optimised store structure.

Equity ratio rises to an extremely sound 58.6% with ROCE at a very pleasing 16.7%

As of 30 September 2022, the equity ratio, at 58.6%, continues to rise (30.9.2021: 57.3%). The return on capital employed (ROCE), at a positive 16.7%, even exceeded its pre-coronavirus level (30.9.2019: 15.3%; 30.9.2020: 15.4%). In this case, due to the upswing in photofinishing during the coronavirus lockdown of the previous two years, the ROCE did not match the previous year's level (Q3 2021: 19.8%).

Clearly on track to achieve targets set for 2022

The third quarter of 2022 confirms the estimation of the CEWE Management and the targets set for the full year of 2022. Group turnover is expected to reach a figure in the range of 680 million to 740 million euros and the Group EBIT is forecasted to be in the range of 65 to 80 million euros. Throughout the year to date, the Corona normalization has again provided many occasions for many new photos, especially with an increase in travel activities, which have had a demand-boosting effect on the order situation in photofinishing at CEWE and should also provide positive support in the decisive Christmas business.

An overview of 2022 Q3 and Q1-3 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)

18.11.2022 London Roadshow with Baader Bank

29.11.2022  2022 German Equity Forum

07.12.2022 Zurich Roadshow with Baader Bank

08.12.2022 Geneva Roadshow with Baader Bank

09.01.2023 ODDO BHF Forum 2023

18.01.2023 GCC 2021 – UniCredit/Kepler Cheuvreux Conference

30.03.2023 CEWE 2023 Annual Report and Analysts' Press Conference

30.03.2023  Publication of the 2022 Annual Report

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.