• Sales up 9.1% to new all-time high of EUR 1.537 billion
• Earnings before taxes grow by 15.7% to EUR 210.2 million
• Earnings per share up 30.2% to EUR 0.69
• Growth of 610,000 new customer contracts to 10.37 million
• Full-year "customer growth" guidance raised once again

Montabaur, November 10, 2011. The Management Board of United Internet AG (ISIN DE0005089031) today announced the consolidated results according to IFRS for the first nine months of 2011.

Group development
In the first nine months of 2011, consolidated sales of United Internet AG grew by 9.1% from EUR 1.409 billion last year to EUR 1.537 billion. United Internet also achieved strong growth in customer contracts: with the addition of 610,000 new contracts to 10.37 million, growth easily exceeded that of the previous year (430,000 new contracts). The marketing campaign launched in September 2011 to accompany the roll-out of the 1&1 Do-it-Yourself Homepage in five foreign markets had not yet impacted customer figures as of September 30, 2011, as customers are only registered as "genuine contractual customers" when their free 30-day trial is completed. A total of EUR 35 million has been budgeted for this campaign in the second half of 2011, of which EUR 9.3 million was expensed in the third quarter. United Internet expects a positive impact on contract figures with a noticeable acceleration of customer growth in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Despite the costs for this campaign, heavy smartphone subsidizing in its Mobile Internet business, and heavy investment in the development of new products and further international expansion, United Internet posted a very good result. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew by 5.6% to EUR 285.9 million (prior year: EUR 270.8 million), while earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) reached year-on-year growth of 6.2% to EUR 223.6 million (prior year: EUR 210.6 million). Earnings before taxes (EBT) increased by 15.7% from EUR 181.6 million to EUR 210.2 million. These earnings include a positive net balance of EUR 16.3 million resulting from the sale of Versatel shares in the second quarter of 2011, the valuation of call options received in this connection, and the at-equity result of Versatel. The resulting positive earnings effect amounted to EUR 0.07 per share. Earnings per United Internet share (EPS) rose by 30.2% from EUR 0.53 last year to EUR 0.69.

Development of business in the "Access" segment As a consequence of the positive development in customer contracts, sales in the "Access" segment grew by 10.4% to EUR 1.008 billion. Despite a significant increase in costs for new customer acquisition, especially for smartphone subsidizing in the Mobile Internet business, there was year-on-year growth in segment EBITDA of 6.3% to EUR 109.1 million (prior year: EUR 102.6 million), while segment EBIT rose by 5.3% from EUR 82.8 million to EUR 87.2 million.

The number of fee-based Access contracts grew by a total of 280,000 contracts, from 3.63 million as of December 31, 2010 to 3.91 million as of September 30, 2011.

Development of business in the "Applications" segment Sales of the "Applications" segment also grew strongly by 6.7% to EUR 528.7 million. Adjusted for currency effects, segment growth amounted to 8%. Business outside Germany grew by 9.8% and contributed a total of EUR 161.9 million (prior year: EUR 147.4 million) to segment sales. Key earnings figures in this segment comprise high expenditure for the development of new Cloud products, the cost of international expansion, and greatly increased marketing expenses as of the third quarter - especially for the marketing of the 1&1 Do-it-Yourself Homepage. In the third quarter of 2011 alone, EUR 9.3 million was expensed of the total marketing campaign budget of EUR 35 million for the international roll-out of the 1&1 Do-it-Yourself Homepage. Against this backdrop, there was an expected year-on-year decline in segment EBITDA to EUR 153.0 million (prior year: EUR 172.8 million) and in segment EBIT to EUR 112.7 million (prior year: EUR 132.5 million).

The number of fee-based Applications contracts grew by 330,000 to 6.46 million in the first nine months of 2011 (of which 2.63 million abroad). Ad-financed accounts rose from 28.0 million to 30.4 million - whereby the 1.5 million free accounts of Mail.com were included for the first time.

Outlook
In view of its successful performance in the first nine months of 2011, United Internet can confirm its guidance for fiscal year 2011. To be precise, the company expects consolidated sales of around EUR 2.050 billion, EBITDA of approx. EUR 350 million, EBT of approx. EUR 250 million and an EPS figure of around EUR 0.80. On publication of its half-yearly figures, United Internet raised its guidance for customer growth from 700,000 new contracts to 840,000. Following the roll-out of its foreign marketing campaign for the 1&1 Do-it-Yourself Homepage, the company has once again raised its guidance and now expects growth of around 900,000 contracts (comparable prior-year figures: 440,000 contracts in 2009, 610,000 contracts in 2010).

back to overview