DGAP-News: HolidayCheck Group AG achieves substantial revenue and earnings growth in first quarter of 2018

Quarterly media release

HolidayCheck Group AG achieves substantial revenue and earnings growth in first quarter of 2018

Munich, Germany, 8 May 2018 - HolidayCheck Group AG can look back on a successful first quarter in the financial year 2018. Both revenue and earnings ended the period significantly higher compared with the first quarter of 2017, exceeding the Management Board's original forecast.

Based on the company's own assessment, providers operating in the online package holiday segment, including the HolidayCheck Group, benefitted particularly in the first quarter of 2018 from a continuation of the buoyant conditions in this market in Central Europe in the fourth quarter of 2017. At the same time, the Management Board believes that the investments made in personnel, IT and marketing over the course of 2017 have had a positive impact on Group revenue.

Against this background, HolidayCheck Group AG achieved a 24.0 percent (EUR 8.0 million) increase in revenue in the first quarter of 2018 to EUR 41.4 million compared with EUR 33.4 million in the same period of 2017.

At EUR 6.0 million, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) ended the period 44.2 percent higher (plus EUR 1.8 million) compared with the first-quarter figure of EUR 4.2 million in 2017.

Operating EBITDA (operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) increased by 40.9 percent (plus EUR 1.8 million) from EUR 4.4 million in the first quarter of 2017 to EUR 6.2 million in the period under review.

EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) improved by 60.7 percent from EUR 2.8 million in the first quarter of 2018 to EUR 4.5 million (plus EUR 1.7 million).

EBT (earnings before tax) rose by 57.1 percent from EUR 2.8 million to EUR 4.4 million in the period under review (plus EUR 1.7 million).

At EUR 3.4 million, consolidated net profit/(loss) from continued operations was up by EUR 1.5 million in 2018 from the corresponding 2017 figure of EUR 1.9 million (plus 78.9 percent).

Basic and diluted earnings per share from continuing operations rose by 100.0 percent from EUR 0.03 in the same period of the previous year to EUR 0.06 in the first quarter of 2018 (plus EUR 0.03).

Outlook
The HolidayCheck Group's vision is to become the most holidaymaker-friendly company in the world. Our goal is to continuously expand our portfolio of holiday services. The company therefore intends to invest consistently in measures to speed up the further development of its existing products and services (with an emphasis on the core fields of package holidays, 'hotel only' bookings and cruises). We also have plans for the development of new products and services in adjoining areas and for the steady expansion of our data intelligence systems and customised travel advice service. This will entail a moderate increase in personnel at HolidayCheck Group AG's subsidiaries, mainly in the areas of product and IT development and travel advice, and consequently a modest increase in personnel costs.

HolidayCheck Group AG's subsidiaries also intend to make further investments in marketing in the form of direct sales promotions and other measures designed to give a sustained boost to the profile of their various brands. We plan to continue the brand marketing campaign successfully launched by HolidayCheck in June of last year throughout the whole of 2018. As such, over the first six months, we will be investing much more heavily in brand advertising (e.g. TV advertising) than in the same period of 2017.

For the time being, despite the very positive revenue and earnings figures achieved in the first quarter of 2018, the Management Board intends to maintain its forecast for 2018 as a whole unchanged. In specific terms, the Management Board anticipates a year-on-year increase of between 8 and 13 percent in the HolidayCheck Group's total revenue in 2018, after adjusting for any acquisitions or disposals of long-term equity investments and any new company formations.

As a result of the personnel and marketing investments mentioned above, the Management Board expects operating EBITDA in financial 2018 to lie between EUR 2.5 million and EUR 6.5 million.

Note on publication
The German version of the interim report for the first quarter of 2018 will be published during the course of the day on the company's website at www.holidaycheckgroup.com under the heading 'Investor Relations'. The English version will be published shortly thereafter, also at www.holidaycheckgroup.com.

About HolidayCheck Group AG:
HolidayCheck Group AG (ISIN DE005495329), Munich, Germany, is one of Europe's leading digital travel firms for holidaymakers. With a total workforce of around 450, HolidayCheck Group AG comprises HolidayCheck AG (which operates hotel review and travel booking portals by the same name), Driveboo AG (which operates the car rental portal MietwagenCheck) and WebAssets B.V. (which operates the Zoover hotel review portals and the MeteoVista/WeerOnline weather portals). HolidayCheck Group's vision is to become the world's most holidaymaker-friendly company in the world.

Media and Investor Relations HolidayCheck Group AG
HolidayCheck Group AG
Armin Blohmann
Neumarkter Strasse 61
81673 München
Germany

phone: +49 (0)89 357 680 901
fax: +49 (0)89 357 680 999

email: armin.blohmann@holidaycheckgroup.com

www.holidaycheckgroup.com
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