18. april 2007
Lekkerland Revenues surpass 10.5 bn euro
Revenues climb by 16 percent
• EBITDA climb to 162 mn €
• Confirmation of strategy as European service pro-vider
Convenience wholesaler Lekkerland GmbH & Co. KG saw revenues increase for fiscal year 2006 to 10.55 bn €, a 16.2 year-on-year increase. "We set an ambitious goal for ourselves for 2006 and have grown both organically and through acquisitions. This is the first time that Lekker-land has crossed over the 10 bn € revenue threshold," explains Christian Berner, Chief Executive Officer for Lek-kerland as part of today's press conference. Adjusted for acquisitions, the company demonstrated revenue growth of 9.4 percent. The results before interest, taxes and de-preciation (EBITDA) increased by 1.1 percent to 162.3 mn €. Earnings before taxes and interest (EBIT) showed a slight 1.8 percent drop year–on-year, totalling 113 mn €, primarily due to acquisitions. Bolstered by a one-time tax effect, annual net profits grew by four percent to 93.5 mn €.
Investments during the fiscal year amounted to 64.9 mn €, or 5.5 mn € less than in the previous year. An additional 38.5 mn € was invested in other intangible assets like software and in fixed assets. Leasing investments (cars, lorries, storage facilities, etc) comprised 13 mn € of that sum.
Fuelled primarily through acquisitions in Poland and Ro-mania, the group's average employee count for the year grew by 958 to 7,550.
Company performance: Growth in all segments
Lekkerland showed growth in all segments. Germany produced 6.3 bn € in revenues, corresponding to a 12.7 percent gain year–over-year. Among the distribution channels, the petrol station target group was a particularly strong contributor to the results, with 20.8 percent growth. Key accounts and regional customers also developed stably at +4.9 and +1.7 percent respectively. The food/non-food product range increased significantly with 1.3 bn € in revenue (+13.6 percent). The 14.3 percent increase in tobacco products can be attributed primarily to the most recent tobacco tax increase. The increasing competition and dropping prices in the telecommunica-tions market took the expected toll, with a minus of 36 percent to 108 mn €. "With a 60 percent share of the group's revenues, Germany remains the backbone of our organisation and is a stable earner," explains Christian Berner. "We're all the more pleased with the positive de-velopment as it confirms our strategy as a full-service specialist for all convenience sales channels, for the do-mestic market as well. Our strict cost management pro-gramme also contributed to the good results."
Revenues for the rest of Western Europe (Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Austria, Switzerland) grew by 3.6 percent to 3.46 bn €. The results can primarily be attributed to new accounts and account renewals. Signifi-cant growth was achieved by the respective regional companies in the Netherlands, Spain and Austria.
Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Poland) have continued to show disproportion-ately high growth, which keeps with the company's expec-tations. Revenue growth of 638 mn € to 764 mn € resulted both from the purchase of the regional companies in Po-land and Romania as well as through planned organic growth through new product ranges and diversification of contracts. Growth adjusted for the acquisitions totalled 27 percent.
"The company performance shows that in the past year Lekkerland has significantly expanded its position as a European service provider," Christian Berner says. "For example, we recently came together with a petroleum company to sign a contract that is the largest in the com-pany's history. It is effective in ten countries, runs for a period of five years and encompasses revenue volumes of six bn €.“
Perspective 2007: Expansion and diversification of business divisions
Given the significant expansion on the customer base in 2006, Lekkerland is aiming for revenues of over 11 bn € in 2007. This would include continued solid revenue growth in Germany and in the other western Europe segment, and a disproportionately improved position in Eastern Europe.
Strategically, the expansion begun in 2004 in other East-ern European companies will also take priority in the fu-ture. Lekkerland's experience and long years of coopera-tion with multinational petroleum concerns provide an excellent starting position. After all, increasing affluence in Eastern Europe will also increase the demand for conven-ience articles.
The standardisation of business processes and the diver-sification of the business divisions will also constitute a pillar of future growth. Behind the motto "best out of all," business models and product ranges that have proven successful in individual countries will be transferred to other countries. Furthermore, potential is seen not only in the customer groups, but also in business divisions like "fresh products" and food service.
Conway Belgium produced 940,6 Mio. € in revenues, an increase of 2 percent. For the deliveries of fresh products Conway constructed a new warehouse. On top of this the introduction of paperless order picking, Pick-by-Voice, and the reorganisation of distribution centres has increased the logistic efficiency.
