DGAP-News: A.S. Création Tapeten AG: Improved Earnings in H1 2018

A.S. Création Tapeten AG, Gummersbach
(ISIN DE000A1TNNN5)

Improved Earnings in H1 2018

A.S. Création Tapeten AG, Europe's leading wallpaper manufacturer, today published the interim report for the period ended June 30, 2018. A summary is provided below:

Sales revenues not satisfactory
At EUR 72.8 million, A.S. Création's consolidated sales revenues were down by EUR 2.9 million or 3.9% on the previous year's EUR 75.7 million. In spite of the successful "Bude 2.0" advertising campaign in Germany, which helped push domestic revenues up by 4.1%, and the taking into operation of the Belarus production company, which made the first contributions to the Group's revenues in the second quarter of 2018, A.S. Création was unable to increase its global consolidated revenues. One of the main reasons was the lower demand in the countries of the European Union (excl. Germany), where A.S. Création's revenues declined by 12.0%. The Managing Board of A.S. Création is not satisfied with the revenue trend in the current fiscal year to date.

Improved earnings
A.S. Création has been able to improve its earnings in the current fiscal year. In the first half of 2018, the Group generated an operating profit of EUR 0.9 million, compared to a loss of EUR -0.3 million in the same period of the previous year. Apart from a reduction in other operating expenses and depreciation, the measures taken last year to reduce personnel expenses made a major contribution to this EUR 1.2 million improvement in earnings. A further improvement in the operating result was prevented in the reporting period by the decline in revenues described above as well as by a sharp increase in commodity and energy prices.

At EUR -1.3 million (previous year: EUR -1.5 million), the consolidated financial result also improved slightly in the first half of 2018. The result posted by the Russian production company, A.S. & Palitra, in which A.S. Création Tapeten AG holds a 50% stake, has the biggest influence on the consolidated financial result. Half of A.S. & Palitra's result after taxes is recognised in A.S. Création's consolidated financial result. Due to translation-related exchange losses, the joint venture posted a loss in the first half of 2018, leading to an improved but still negative consolidated financial result in the reporting period.

The improvement in earnings before interest and taxes and in the financial result is reflected in increased earnings after taxes. At EUR -1.1 million, the latter were up by EUR 1.1 million on the previous year's EUR 2.2 million. While this improvement, just like the improvement in EBIT, is gratifying, the Managing Board had expected earnings to increase more strongly in H1 2018 based on higher sales revenues. In view of the unsatisfactory revenue trend, especially in the second quarter of 2018, the Managing Board now assumes that A.S. Création will probably fail to achieve the projections for the full year 2018.

The Group's key figures for the first six months of 2018 are summarised below:

Gummersbach, August 2, 2018

A.S. Création Tapeten AG

The Managing Board

Inquiries:
Maik Krämer,
Chairman of the Managing Board, Director of Finance and Controlling,
phone +49-22 61-542-387,
fax +49-22 61-542-304,
e-mail: m.kraemer@as-creation.de

The full 6-month report is available at:
www.as-creation.de or from
A.S. Création Tapeten AG,
Frau Börngen,
Südstr. 47, D - 51645 Gummersbach,
phone: +49-22 61-542-350,
e-mail: investor@as-creation.de