DGAP-News: HAWESKO Holding AG

Hawesko Group posts record figures for sales and earnings

- Consolidated sales in 2017 grew by 5.5%, exceeding half a billion euros for the first time

- Good progress in digitalisation: online sales up by 15%.

- Improved efficiency in the core business forms basis for further growth

Hamburg, 31 January 2018. Today the wine-trading group Hawesko Holding AG (HAW GR, HAWG.DE, DE0006042708) announced that, based on preliminary figures, it set new records in fiscal year 2017. At EUR 507 million, consolidated sales exceeded half a billion euros for the first time, and the operating result (EBIT), just over EUR 30 million, reached another new high.

CEO Thorsten Hermelink put the group's success into concrete terms: "We achieved our goals for 2017. We have significantly accelerated growth compared to the previous years as well as increased efficiency and profitability in our core business, so that we are able to finance additional growth initiatives from our own resources. With the sales increase of 5.5% we once again outperformed the wine market, which was stagnant taken as a whole. As in the past two years, we have been working successfully on our efficiency, achieved proportionally higher growth in EBIT in our core business and used the resulting financial latitude to invest in growth. Our online sales - an important driver of growth in the group - rose by 15% compared to the previous year. We will continue to invest consistently in this area - for example in the expansion of WirWinzer or in Enzo, our new concept for Italian wines." Hermelink added, "In the current fiscal year, we want to make further progress on our path of profitable growth, expand our existing concepts and test promising new ones. We will also keep an eye out for appropriate acquisition targets."

Consolidated sales in 2017 rose by 5.5% from EUR 480.9 million in the previous year to EUR 507.5 million. Excluding the acquisitions of WirWinzer, WeinArt and Grand Cru Select, consolidated sales rose by 2.5%. According to preliminary calculations, the consolidated operating result (EBIT) of the Hawesko Group is just over EUR 30 million, as planned (previous year, adjusted for special effects - with a positive overall result -: EUR 29.1 million).

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Hawesko Holding AG is a leading seller of premium wines and champagnes. In fiscal year 2016, the group achieved sales of EUR 481 million and employed 940 persons in the company's three sales channels: omnichannel (Jacques' Wein-Depot), B2B (Wein Wolf and CWD Champagner- und Wein-Distributionsgesellschaft) and digital (especially Hawesko.de and Vinos.de).
The shares of Hawesko Holding AG are listed on the Hanseatic Stock Exchange in Hamburg as well as in the prime standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

The complete 2017 annual report and accounts will be presented at the annual press conference on 19 April 2018.

Publisher: Hawesko Holding AG
Elbkaihaus
Grosse Elbstrasse 145d
22767 Hamburg

hawesko-holding.com (Company information)
hawesko.de (Online shop)
jacques.de (Jacques' Wein-Depot information and online shop)
vinos.de (Spanish wines sold through Wein & Vinos)
wirwinzer.de (German wines directly from the producers)

Press and Investor Relations:
Thomas Hutchinson
Phone: +49 (0)40 30 39 21 00
Fax +49 (0)40 30 39 21 05
E-mail: ir@hawesko-holding.com