Ad hoc announcement acc. to Sec. 15 WpHG: United Internet on track
Montabaur, April 20, 2009. The Management Board of United Internet AG today announced the Group's results according to IFRS for the first quarter of 2009. All key figures indicate a profitable core business developing in line with the company's published forecasts. Consolidated sales of United Internet AG grew by 5.3% over the previous year, from EUR 402.0 million to EUR 423.4 million. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were up slightly on the previous year at EUR 83.5 million (prior year: EUR 83.2 million) as were earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) at EUR 70.7 million (prior year: EUR 70.4 million). As a result of negative profit contributions from associated companies and increased interest payments, earnings per share (EPS) amounted to EUR 0.16 (following EUR 0.19 in the previous year).
| Quarterly comparison in EUR million | Q1 2008 | Q1 2009 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 402.0 | 423.4 | 5.3% |
| EBITDA | 83.2 | 83.5 | 0.4% |
| EBIT | 70.4 | 70.7 | 0.4% |
Thanks to a business model based mostly on electronic subscriptions, the dominant "Product" segment succeeded in posting further growth - although there was a noticeable decline in the spending of advertising customers in the field of portal marketing.
The key financials of the "Online Marketing" segment were negatively influenced by the ongoing weakness of the online advertising market and by changes in the policy and algorithms of the company's most important partner in the field of search engines.
| Segment development in EUR million | Jan.-Mar. 2008 | Jan.-Mar. 2009 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product segment | |||
| Sales | 346.0 | 372.8 | 7.7% |
| EBITDA | 77.2 | 77.9 | 0.9% |
| EBIT | 64.9 | 65.7 | 1.2% |
| Online Marketing segment | |||
| Sales | 55.8 | 50.4 | -9.7% |
| EBITDA | 5.3 | 3.0 | -43.4% |
| EBIT | 4.8 | 2.5 | -47.9% |
The number of fee-based customer contracts as of March 31, 2009 rose to 8.24 million (prior year: 7.38 million) ? due in part to the initial consolidation of united-domains AG as of March 2009.
| Customer contracts in million | Mar. 31, 2008 | Dec. 31, 2008 | Mar. 31, 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Information Management | 1.24 | 1.36 | 1.41 |
| Webhosting | 3.31 | 3.62 | 3.86 |
| - of which abroad | 1.63 | 1.93 | 1.98 |
| Internet Access | 2.83 | 2.97 | 2.97 |
| - of which DSL | 2.70 | 2.82 | 2.82 |
| - of which all-inclusive DSL packages | 0.20 | 0.78 | 1.05 |
| - of which resale DSL/T-DSL | 2.50 | 2.04 | 1.77 |
| Total | 7.38 | 7.95 | 8.24 |
The quarterly financial statements will be published together with the report on the 1st quarter of 2009 on May 13, 2009.