• Sales up 7.7% to record figure of EUR 498.6 million
• EBITDA maintains high prior-year level at EUR 90.5 million
• Earnings per share (EPS) grow 17.6% to EUR 0.20
• 210,000 additional customer contracts
• CEO Ralph Dommermuth: "We feel our strategy has been vindicated and will continue to invest in customer growth and new business fields."

Montabaur, May 12, 2011 - United Internet AG, Europe's leading internet specialist with brands such as 1&1, GMX and WEB.DE, got off to a successful start in its fiscal year 2011 with strong growth in sales and customer figures. In the first quarter of 2011, sales grew by 7.7% to EUR 498.6 million (prior year: EUR 462.8 million). The company's investments in customer satisfaction and new business fields, such as Mobile Internet and Cloud Computing, are paying off: United Internet added 210,000 new customer contracts in the first quarter - 30,000 more than in the first quarter of 2010 and much more than in all other quarters last year. The number of customer contracts has thus increased to a total of 9.97 million.

Despite increased sales and marketing expenses in this connection of EUR 10.3 million compared to Q1/2010 and high costs for the development of new products, United Internet achieved very good earnings. With EBITDA of EUR 90.5 million (prior year: EUR 90.3 million) and EBIT of EUR 70.3 million (prior year: EUR 70.7 million), earnings reached the same high level as last year. Earnings before taxes (EBT) grew by 13.5% from EUR 57.1 million to EUR 64.8 million. Earnings per share (EPS) improved by 17.6% from EUR 0.17 to EUR 0.20.

"Fiscal 2011 has begun very positively," commented Ralph Dommermuth, founder and CEO of United Internet. United Internet will continue to pursue its business strategy geared toward sustainable growth and innovations. The company's management is particularly optimistic for the rest of the year in view of the record increase in contracts: "We can confirm our forecast of breaking the EUR 2 billion mark for the first time in 2011," states Dommermuth.

Segments

As a result of the positive development in customer figures, sales of the "Access" segment grew by 6.8% to EUR 321.2 million in the first quarter of 2011 (prior year: EUR 300.8 million). The number of fee-based Access contracts rose by a total of 80,000 contracts, from 3.63 million as of December 31, 2010 to 3.71 million as of March 31, 2011. This growth was driven above all by the segment's mobile internet access business.

Thanks to new products and increased marketing efforts, United Internet AG also enjoyed strong customer growth in its second business segment, "Applications", adding 130,000 new contracts. With its market entry in Canada and Argentina, the company continued to drive its international expansion and is now active in 10 countries. Sales in the Applications segment rose by 9.6% to EUR 177.3 million in the first quarter of 2011 (prior year: EUR 161.8 million).

Outlook

Against the backdrop of its successful start to the fiscal year, United Internet confirms its forecast for 2011 and expects consolidated sales to exceed EUR 2 billion for the first time. Sales growth is expected to reach around 5% in the Access segment and around 10% in the Applications segment. The company aims to add a total of 700,000 new fee-based customer contracts in 2011. United Internet will continue to pursue its business strategy geared toward sustainable growth during the year and invest heavily in new business fields and customer growth. Despite the high costs associated with these projects, EBITDA in 2011 is expected to reach the level of 2010 (EUR 357.7 million). EBT is likely to be around EUR 250 million and EPS around EUR 0.80.

About United Internet

With around 10 million fee-based customer contracts and over 28 million ad-financed free accounts, United Internet AG is Europe's leading internet specialist. At the heart of United Internet is a high-performance "Internet Factory" with over 5,100 employees, of which more than 1,100 are engaged in product management, development and data centers. In addition to the high sales strength of its established brands (1&1, GMX, WEB.DE, united-domains, fasthosts, InterNetX, Sedo and affilinet) and distribution channels (some of which are exclusive), United Internet stands for outstanding operational excellence with over 38 million customer accounts worldwide. United Internet also holds equity interests in listed companies, such as freenet or Versatel, and owns numerous other investments in young internet companies.

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