Ad-hoc | 8 May 2003 08:09

freenet.de AG english

freenet once again against seasonal downtrend: also in Q1/03 anew record figures Ad-hoc-announcement transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– freenet.de once again against seasonal downtrend: also in Q1/03 anew record figures Q1/03: revenues of 13.4 mill. euro and 2.6 mill. euro EBT (IAS); 6th consecutive quarter of record revenues; Q1 group earnings (IAS) of 1.24 mill. euro are on par with annual group results 02; Cash and cash equivalents up by 7 mill. euro to 71.6 mill. euro; During Q1/03, freenet.de generated 13.4 mill. euro in revenues, thereby again exceeding its record set last quarter. Primary growth engines included E-commerce, with 4.36 mill. euro (+183% vs. Q1/02; +5% vs. Q4/02) and connectivity with 5.03 mill. euro (+12% vs. Q1/20; +4% vs. Q4/02). Advertising was the only segment to show the expected seasonal effect, with revenues declining by 0.46 mill. euro vs. Q4/02, to 3.65 mill. euro. However, income from advertising grew by 30% year-on-year. EBITDA for Q1/03 amounted to 3.75 mill. euro and earnings before taxes (EBT) totaled 2.58 mill. euro. At 1.24 mill. euro, group earnings for the first quarter are already approaching the group result for the full year of 2002 (1.29 mill. euro; all figures reported under IAS). Thanks to the excellent results, the company’s cash and cash equivalents have risen by over 7 mill. euro and are now at 71.63 mill. euro. This translates to a 3.59 euro increase (end of Q4/02) in cash per share, to 3.99 euro. These positive figures demonstrate the strength of freenet.de AG’s core business to date – including commissions from connectivity and portal income – shown for the last time without the fixed line business that the company took over from mobilcom on Apr 01, 2003. “This is the last quarter in freenet.de’s success story with revenues in the eight-digit range; by next quarter, the new freenet.de AG will generate revenues of over 100 mill. euro,” declared freenet.de AG CEO Eckhard Spoerr. Q1/2003 Q4/2002 Q1/2002 Revenues 13,396 13,387 9,009 E-Commerce 4,355 4,131 1,539 Advertising 3,654 4,111 2,808 Connectivity 5,032 4,816 4,479 B-2-B 355 329 183 EBITDA 3,753 4,130 -1,589 EBT 2,578 2,860 -2,743 Group result 1,244 1,549 -1,545 Financial data: IAS in thousand euro / Source: freenet.de AG end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 08.05.2003 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 579200; ISIN: DE0005792006; Index: NEMAX 50 Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin- Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart 080809 Mai 03