PRESS RELEASE: Pleasing first-quarter earnings performance

HORNBACH HOLDING AG / Pleasing first-quarter earnings performance processed and transmitted by Hugin AS. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. 

Hornbach Group posts satisfactory start to 2010/2011 financial year 

At EUR 59.6 million, EBIT matches high previous year's figure - consolidated sales
up 0.8% 

Neustadt  a. d. Weinstrasse,  July 1, 2010. The Hornbach  Group can afford to be
satisfied  with  its  start  to  the  new 2010/2011 financial year. Its earnings
performance  in the first quarter of 2010/2011 (March 1 to May 31, 2010) latched
seamlessly  onto the  successful performance  in the  previous year's period. At
EUR 59.6 million,  operating earnings  (EBIT) at  the overall  Hornbach Holding AG
Group  matched the previous year's figure. The Group's net income for the period
rose  2.0% to  EUR 37.8 million,  resulting  in  earnings  per preference share of
EUR 3.76  (previous year: EUR 3.72). An improvement  in the gross margin enabled the
Group to make up for subdued garden sales at its DIY stores with garden centers,
which  felt the effects  of the poor  weather in spring 2010. Consolidated sales
showed  slight  growth  of  0.8% to  EUR 826.6 million  in  the first three months
(previous year: EUR 819.8m). 

The   131 DIY   megastores   with  garden  centers  operated  across  Europe  by
Hornbach-Baumarkt-AG,  the Group's  largest operating  subgroup, increased their
sales  by 0.7% overall to  EUR 779.9 million (previous year:  EUR 774.8m). The sales
performance  in the first three months was affected by periods of very cold, wet
weather.  This led  to a  decline in  sales in  the garden product division. The
other  product divisions, by contrast, reported  more or less stable or positive
developments.  On a  like-for-like basis,  i.e. excluding  sales at stores newly
opened  in the  past twelve  months, and  net of  currency items,  sales slipped
2.0%. Including  currency items for  the non-euro countries  of Romania, Sweden,
Switzerland, and the Czech Republic, like-for-like sales decreased by only 0.8%
across  the Group. Driven in particular by the positive development in the gross
margin,  the  subgroup's  operating  earnings  reached EUR 49.6 million, thus also
matching the previous year's figure. 

The  Hornbach Baustoff Union  GmbH subgroup provided  further positive momentum.
Sales at the unchanged total of 21 builders' merchants outlets improved by 3.6%
to  EUR 46.7 million in the  first quarter of  2010/2011 (previous year: EUR 45.0m).
Earnings showed clearly disproportionate growth. 

The  Hornbach Group can still point to  very robust balance sheet figures. As of
May 31, 2010,  its equity  ratio amounted  to 41.2% (February 28, 2010: 42.4%).
Cash  and cash equivalents are reported at EUR 463.2 million (EUR 335.1m). The Group
expects  to open three new DIY megastores with garden centers outside Germany by
the  end of the  2010/2011 financial year (February 28, 2011).  Due to increased
outlays  to boost its market position, Hornbach expects its EBIT for the year as
whole  to fall slightly short of  the level reported for the 2009/2010 financial
year (overall Group: EUR 151.5m). 

Further  details  can  be  found  in  the  extensive interim reports of Hornbach
Holding  AG and Hornbach-Baumarkt-AG published  and available for downloading in
the     "Investor     Relations"     section     of    the    Group's    website
atwww.hornbach-group.com. 

[HUG#1428517] 

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HORNBACH HOLDING AG
Le Quartier Hornbach 19 Neustadt an den Weinstraße Germany 

WKN: 608343;ISIN: DE0006083439;
Listed: Prime Standard in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse,
Regulierter Markt in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse; 

    Interim Report Q1 2010/2011 HORNBACH HOLDING AG Group: http://hugin.info/130429/R/1428517/375898.pdf
    Interim Report Q1 2010/2011 HORNBACH_Baumarkt-AG Group: http://hugin.info/130429/R/1428517/375899.pdf
    Press Release Q1 2010/2011: http://hugin.info/130429/R/1428517/375897.pdf 

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http://www.hornbach-holding.com 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 01, 2010 01:03 ET (05:03 GMT)