Ad-hoc | 3 January 2003 08:26

Grenke Leasing AG english

GRENKELEASING AG – quarter-on-quarter growth of 15 percent in new business Ad-hoc-announcement transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– GRENKELEASING AG – quarter-on-quarter growth of 15 percent in new business Baden-Baden, January 3, 2002: GRENKELEASING closed the year 2002 with earnings in new business of EUR 278m (previous year: EUR 235m) – new business being computed as the total acquisition costs of newly purchased least assets. This corresponds to 18.6 percent year-on-year growth in new business for the full year. New business earnings came to EUR 78m in Q4, representing 15 percent quarter-on- quarter growth (Q3: EUR 68m). The margin of new business (contribution margin 1), on the basis of which the financial result is derived over the term of the contract and which is thus an important key figure for measuring the profitability of new business, rose correspondingly to EUR 28.5m compared to EUR 24m in the previous quarter. This corresponds to an increase of 18.5 percent. GRENKELEASING’s foreign subsidiaries made a superproportional contribution to the group’s new business of 34.4 percent. However, domestic business also bucked the general trend of a dampened economic climate and showed a substantial growth of 14.7 percent. The company will publish the annual accounts for 2002 on March 6, 2003. The Executive Board Should you have any enquiries, please contact: GRENKELEASING AG, Neuer Markt 2, 76532 Baden-Baden Renate Hauss Tel: +49 – (0) 7221/5007-204 Email: investor@grenkeleasing.de Internet: http://www.grenkeleasing.de end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 03.01.2003 Issuer’s information/explanatory remarks concerning this ad-hoc-announcement: “The public debate of a possible trade tax burden on leasing investments did not impact our new business. Apparently a tax benefit/burden of this magnitude plays a minor role in the field of small-ticket IT leasing. Nevertheless, a special tax on leasing investments is counter-productive for the economy and the labour market. I therefore hope that the government parties will ultimately not lend support to the proposals made by the Ministry of Finance,” said Wolfgang Grenke, Chairman of the Executive Board of GRENKELEASING AG. He went on to say that although annual growth in 2002 had lagged behind the 20 percent target announced in spring, given the poor economic climate and a general decline in new business figures in the trade, there was no reason to complain. Wolfgang Grenke was confident that the company could again achieve double-digit growth in new business and earnings in 2003. The group recorded 81,770 leasing enquiries in the financial year 2002, leading to the conclusion of 39,546 new leasing contracts. The average value per closed contact came to EUR 7,000 and was thus slightly higher year-on-year (2001: EUR 6,500). GRENKELEASING AG has been admitted to the Prime Standard stock exchange segment as of January 1, 2003, having already fulfilled requirements hitherto. The company has also, immediately after its IPO, continuously subjected its quarterly reports to examination by auditors – as is now recommended by Deutsche Börse (Frankfurt stock exchange). The company’s Prime Standard listing is the prerequisite for being included in a selective index. Deutsche Börse will publish its decision on the final composition of the indices in mid-February 2003. Within the scope of cooperation agreement with CANCOM IT Systeme AG, according to its own statements Germany’s and European market leader in the area of desktop-publishing, this provides CANCOM systems houses with the opportunity to offer their customers leasing contracts with GRENKE. GRENKELEASING currently has 18 domestic branch offices. Its successful foreign business activities are to be expanded further. There are presently 11 GRENKELEASING foreign branch offices – apart from 4 locations in France, the company has a respective subsidiary in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain, the Netherlands, and Denmark. Preparations for the planned expansion into Great Britain and Scandinavia are on schedule. A further branch office is to be opened in Rostock (eastern Germany) at the start of 2003. GRENKELEASING AG is Germany’s market leader in the field of small-ticket IT leasing, i.e. covering products such as PCs, notebooks, copiers, printers, or software up to an acquisition value of EUR 25,000. The company has been listed since 2000. Further information on the company and its products is available under http://www.grenkeleasing.de. ——————————————————————————– WKN: 586590; ISIN: DE0005865901; Index: Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt; Freiverkehr in Berlin, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart 030826 Jän 03