Cewe Color announces growth in the first quarter

Due to non-recurring effects including the insolvency of the German drugstore chain Schlecker and costs related to the Saxoprint acquisiton, the operating result (EBIT) decreased by Euro 1.6 million to a negative 6.8 million Euro. In the imaging services business, the first quarter is traditionally negative.

The turnover in Cewe Color’s largest business, imaging services, increased by 2.3 percent to Euro 65.5 million. Sales of the Cewe Photobook rose by 11.6 percent to 1.027 million units. In the retail segment, the result was affected by short supply of certain camera models due to the Great Earthquake in Japan and the flood desaster in Thailand. As a result, Cewe’s retail sales declined slightly to Euro 23.1 million. EBIT was flat a negative Euro 0.5 million.

Commercial online printing contributed Euro 6.9 million to Cewe Color’s first quarter sales, while scheduled initial investments had a short-term negative effect on the segment’s operational result, which amounted to a negative Euro 1.2 million. Cewe Color intends to reinforce the weaker quarterly periods for the photofinishing business by expanding its commercial online printing operations.

During the first quarter, Cewe Color processed a total of 496.2 million prints (+4.7 perceht), 93 percent came from digital sources (461.8 million/+9.2 percent). In line with the market development, the numer of prints from films dropped 32.7 percent to 34.4 million units.

For the full year, Cewe Color’s Board of Management confirmed its forecast of sales in the range of Euro 500 to 525 million (+7 to 12 percent) with earnings per share in the range of Euro 2.44 to 3.06.

“We are right on track with our targets for 2012,” said Dr. Rolf Hollander, CEO of Cewe Color. “With Saxoprint, we have now commenced with increasing online printing to make it a business segment of the future, which will promote our future growth.”