2019

• Preliminary business results confirmed: marginal year-on-year revenue growth; EBIT up 6.3% and EBITDA up 5.6%
• Consolidated profit twice previous-year level at EUR 5.2 Million
• Proposed dividend of EUR 0.28 per share
• Innovation campaign started in 2019
• Forecast for 2019 financial year: increasing revenues, financial performance broadly on a par with previous-year Level

Haselünne, March 21, 2019 – Berentzen-Gruppe Aktiengesellschaft, which is listed on the regulated market (General Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN: DE0005201602), today published its Annual Report for the 2018 financial year. In the report, the Group confirms its preliminary business results published on February 5, 2019 for the previous financial year. Based on those figures, the corporate group recorded consolidated revenues of EUR 162.2 million (2017: EUR 160.4 million). Consolidated earnings before interest and taxes (consolidated EBIT) increased by 6.3% to EUR 9.8 million in the 2018 financial year (2017: EUR 9.2 million), while consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (consolidated EBITDA) totalled EUR 17.3 million (2017: EUR 16.4 million). The Berentzen Group recorded consolidated profit of EUR 5.2 million overall (2017: EUR 2.6 million).

Against this backdrop, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board will propose a dividend of EUR 0.28 per share to the annual general meeting to be held on May 22, 2019 (2017: EUR 0.22 per share). This means that roughly 51% of the consolidated profit is to be distributed.

“Today we are looking back at a successful 2018 financial year overall”, explains Oliver Schwegmann, member of the Executive Board of Berentzen-Gruppe Aktiengesellschaft. He goes on to say: “We succeeded in recording growth in our three key performance indicators. This gives us tailwind for our business performance going forward.” He cites the increases achieved in EBIT and EBITDA as particularly pleasing developments. “By contrast, we had hoped for better consolidated revenues”, says Schwegmann. “Unfortunately, there were a number of individual factors at play that prevented us from implementing our ambitious growth plans in full.” For example, he says, the market and sales situation in the business with fruit presses in France and the USA posed a challenge in the Fresh Juice Systems segment. In the Non-alcoholic Beverages segment, the expansion of the distribution for the Mio Mio brand in the south of Germany still proved complex, leading to delays. “Nevertheless, we once again recorded an excellent rate of sales increases with Mio Mio of roughly 40% in the past year, with significantly higher revenue growth at the same time”, emphasises Schwegmann.

“The 2018 financial year was a year of transition for us in many ways. We made numerous internal procedural and structural changes and investments. These intensive preparations were necessary in order to propel us onto our transformative journey to becoming a powerful, integrated and innovative beverages group”, explains Schwegmann. He feels that the 2019 financial year will be a year of executing action in many areas. “Back in January, we launched the largest innovation campaign in the history of the Berentzen Group, and we will continue on this path”, promises Schwegmann.

He says that a range of real innovations will be introduced on the markets this year in all business segments. According to Schwegmann, these include a large number of innovative product concepts in the Spirits segment, both for branded spirits and dealer brands. In the Non-alcoholic Beverages segment, a new contemporary lemonade brand will be presented alongside additional Mio Mio varieties. In the Fresh Juice Systems segment, innovative types of devices will respond above all else to the issues of digital connectivity and ease of cleaning. “First of all, it is important to establish our innovations in the highly competitive markets that we operate in so that they can go on to develop their full positive impact”, says Schwegmann.

He says that additional resources will need to be used in order to structure the launch of the innovations successfully. Schwegmann explains planned additional expenses as follows: “Among other things, we will invest in excellent staff, creative marketing, efficiency-enhancing technology and – last but not least – a powerful sales function in order to facilitate not just short-term success but also long-term profitability”.

Accordingly, he says, the Executive Board expects the 2019 financial year to result in rising revenues and a performance that is more or less on a par with the 2018 financial year overall. Consolidated revenues are set to rise to somewhere in the region of EUR 164.7 million to EUR 173.4 million. Consolidated EBIT and consolidated EBITDA are expected to range from EUR 9.0 million to EUR 10.0 million and from EUR 17.0 million to EUR 18.8 million respectively.

The 2018 Annual Report is published here.