Ad-hoc | 13 August 2003 08:18

GRENKELEASING AG english

GRENKELEASING reports clear profit growth Ad-hoc-announcement transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– Baden-Baden, August 13, 2003: GRENKELEASING AG reports 27 percent profit growth in HY1 2003. GRENKELEASING posts earnings before taxes (EBT) of EUR 13.7m in HY1 2003. This means an increase of 27 percent against last year’s comparable of EUR 10.8m. As already reported in advance, GRENKELEASING closed its books for HY1 2003 with EUR 146m in earnings from new business – i.e. the total acquisition costs of newly purchased leased assets. New business thus grew by 11 percent year-on- year. The margin of new business (contribution margin1), from which the financial result over the life of a contract is derived and which is thus a key indicator of profitability, grew superproportionally in HY1 2003 to a level of EUR 16m against last year’s comparable of EUR 13.3m. This represents a 20 percent increase. Its German business grew considerably by 16 percent – despite negative economic and political conditions. GRENKELEASING’s foreign subsidiaries are currently still showing the effect of a – compared to the previous year – more restrictive acceptance policy. They made a 23 percent contribution to the group’s new business. The earnings situation has continued to develop favourably. After-tax profits increased by 27 percent to EUR 8.4m (compared to EUR 6.6m in the first six months of 2002). DVFA earnings per share for the first six months rose from EUR 0.49 to EUR 0.62. The full half-year report for 2003 is available under www.grenkeleasing.de Investor Relations – Financial Data. The Executive Board end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 13.08.2003 Issuer’s information/explanatory remarks concerning this ad-hoc-announcement: “The HY1 figures confirm our full-year expectations. We continue to seek double- digit growth in our new business and a superproportional growth in profits,” explains Mr. Wolfgang Grenke, Chairman of the Executive Board of GRENKELEASING AG. He added that it was particularly gratifying to see strong growth currently coming from the company’s domestic market in Germany. This showed the unchanged high potential of the small-ticket leasing sector. The group recorded 44,576 leasing enquiries in HY1, leading to the generation of 21,442 new leasing contracts. The average value per concluded contract came to EUR 6,813 and is thus slightly lower than in the previous year (HY1 2002: EUR 7,134). The number of employees (excluding the executive board) rose from 260 (HY1 2002) to 263 (HY1 2003). Given the opening of two further branches in Rostock and Magdeburg, GRENKELEASING currently has a domestic presence in 20 cities. GRENKE has been in the UK market since April, meaning that GRENKELEASING now has a foreign presence in 12 locations. In addition to its four French locations, it has one each in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Great Britain. The start-up in Sweden is planned for this autumn. With a debut euro bond in the pipeline for autumn, GRENKELEASING seeks to set the course for further growth. Such borrowing will be realised within the scope of a “debt-issuance programme” for EUR 500m, creating a standard framework for several bonds. Consequently the issue will only be for a partial amount. GRENKELEASING AG is Germany’s nationwide market leader in small-ticket IT leasing, i.e. for products such as PC’s, notebooks, copiers, printers, or software up to an acquisition value of EUR 25,000. GRENKELEASING AG is listed in the Prime Standard segment of the German stock exchange in Frankfurt and has been taken up into the SDAX (small-cap) index. Information on the company and its products is available on the Internet under http://www.grenkeleasing.de Should you have any queries, please contact: GRENKELEASING AG, Neuer Markt 2, 76532 Baden-Baden Renate Hauss Tel: +49 (0) 7221/5007-204 Fax: +49 (0) 7221/5007-112 E mail: investor@grenkeleasing.de Internet: http://www.grenkeleasing.de ——————————————————————————– WKN: 586590; ISIN: DE0005865901; Index: SDAX Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin- Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart 130818 Aug 03