DGAP-News: Beate Uhse presents preliminary 9-month results

Beate Uhse AG / Preliminary Results

10.11.2008

Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer / publisher is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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- German Equity Forum in Frankfurt
- Beate Uhse presents preliminary 9-month results and business strategy

Frankfurt/Flensburg, 10 November 2008. The Beate Uhse Group is announcing
its preliminary 9-month results at the analysts’ conference held today at
the German Equity Forum (Eigenkapitalforum) organised by the German Stock
Exchange (Deutsche Börse) in Frankfurt. In the first nine months of the
year earnings before taxes have risen to Euro 8.5 million (first nine
months 2007: Euro 2.6 million), although this figure includes an insurance
payment of Euro 4.0 million. In line with the budget, the Group’s sales of
Euro 186.8 million are lower than the equivalent figure of Euro 202.5
million for the previous year. This decline is chiefly due to the strategy
of cleansing the store network of unprofitable stores. The total number of
stores has been cut from 291 to 276. At the investors’ conference, Otto
Christian Lindemann, Spokesman of the Management Board, affirmed the
company’s forecast for the 2008 financial year as a whole. ‘Our strongest
quarter with the Christmas business is still to come’. Earnings before
taxes are still expected to range between Euro 3 million and Euro 5
million, while sales should decline by around three percent due to the
continuation on schedule of the store closure programme. Questioned as to
the current crisis, Lindemann replied that ‘especially in times such as
these, it’s not love or fun which consumers opt to do without, but rather
the larger outlays, such as new cars or holidays in distant climes’.

On course to becoming a digital marketplace

The Beate Uhse Group is increasingly aligning its sales activities away
from stationary stores and towards online retail. In recent months, the
share of orders made online has risen to a pleasing 35.3 percent. In the
Netherlands, this figure has even exceeded 48 percent, while in Germany
42.2 percent of orders are placed online. The market entry in Spain was
also launched with an online shop. The first telecommunications companies
with high-coverage internet platforms have been acquired as partners for
marketing film rights as videos-on-demand.

The 9-month report of Beate Uhse AG will be published on 14 November and
will be available online in German and English in the IR section of our
corporate homepage at www.beate-uhse.ag.

The Beate Uhse Group has subsidiaries in 16 countries and operates in 60
markets. With an annual turnover of Euro 268 million, the Group is the
market leader in the erotica business and distributes its products via its
wholesale, mail order, and retail channels, as well as by internet. Beate
Uhse has 276 shops in eleven European countries. Millions of customers in
ten countries prefer to shop with Beate Uhse by ordering products from the
mail order catalogue or via the internet. The company website
www.beate-uhse.com has become one of the world’s best-known addresses for
home shopping and erotic entertainment. Its extensive movie programme is
available across all new media platforms, such as IPTV, handhelds and VoD,
and includes the international programme available on the MovieOn streaming
platform. Proprietary adult movies are sold under the Daring! label, which
is synonymous with top-quality productions. The proprietary sex toy and
wellness line, Mae B., the first of its kind to be certified by the German
Technical Inspection Agency (TÜV), is manufactured at the company’s factory
in Hungary. Beate Uhse has 1,350 employees and has been listed on the
German stock exchange since 1999. Its vision is to be the universal
provider of sex and erotica products for the entire world.

Contact:
Beate Uhse AG
Assia Tschernookoff
Leiterin Unternehmenskommunikation
Gutenbergstraße 12
24941 Flensburg
www.beate-uhse.ag
Fon: 0049 461 / 99 66 125
Fax: 0049 461 / 99 66 377

10.11.2008 [1] Financial News transmitted by DGAP

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Language: English
Issuer: Beate Uhse AG
Gutenbergstraße 12
24941 Flensburg
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (461) 99 66 307
Fax: +49 (461) 99 66 440
E-mail: atschernookoff@beate-uhse.de
Internet: www.beateuhse.ag
ISIN: DE0007551400
WKN: 755140
Indices: CDAX, PRIMEALL, CLASSICALLSHARE
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr
in Berlin, Hannover, Stuttgart, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf

End of News DGAP News-Service

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