Corporate | 14 June 2001 14:00

HAWESKO Holding AG english

Corporate-News announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– Hawesko continues with over 20% growth in sales and profits – Positive development of the first quarter is sustained Hamburg, 14 June 2001. The wine trading group Hawesko Holding AG (HAWG.F, 604270) is continuing to post sales growth of more than 20% in the current fiscal year 2001 (1 January – 31 December). As CEO Alexander Margaritoff announced at today’s annual general meeting of shareholders, Group sales in the first five months of 2001 rose by 22% compared to the same period of the previous year. The operating result (EBIT) for the same five months rose at a proportionally higher rate. The company is optimistic that Group sales will expand by 9% to DM 495 million and that the operating result will rise by an even higher percentage in the entire fiscal year 2001. The management board was particularly satisfied with the development of the new activities under Carl Tesdorpf – Weinhandel zu Lübeck and the specialist wine retailer Jacques’ Wein-Depot. Tesdorpf, with its special catalogue assortment of wines in the ultra-premium class (usually over DM 50 per bottle), reached the break-even point for the first time in the first quarter of 2001. The Group plans to pull its mail-order and e-commerce businesses even more closely together, as they are increasingly regarded as two sides of the same coin. In the past fiscal year 2000, Hawesko’s e-commerce business, which was recognized in Germany as “Internet Retailer of the Year”, increased its sales nearly sixfold to DM 11 million. The shareholders at the annual general meeting passed resolutions on the payment of a dividend of DM 1.65 per share, the renewal of the company’s authority to purchase its own shares and on the conversion to the Euro. Hawesko Holding AG is Germany’s leading seller of premium wines and champagnes. Through its three distribution channels – mail-order/e-commerce (particularly Hanseatisches Wein- und Sekt-Kontor and Winegate), specialist wine retail (Jacques’ Wein-Depot) and wholesale (Wein Wolf and CWD Champagner & Wein Distributionsgesellschaft) – the company achieved sales of DM 454 million in fiscal year 2000. The Group employs 515 people. # # # Published by: Hawesko Holding AG Postfach 20 15 52 20205 Hamburg Internet: http://www.hawesko.com (corporate web site) http://www.winegate.de or http://www.hawesko.de (online shop) Press/Media: Investor Relations: Vera Maria Bau, VMB Consulting Thomas Hutchinson, Hawesko Holding AG Tel +49 2244 / 91 27 36 Tel +49 40 / 30 39 21 00 Fax +49 2244 / 91 27 38 Fax +49 40 / 30 39 21 05 e-mail: vmb@nsag.de e-mail: ir@hawesko.com end of message, (c) DGAP 14.06.2001