Berentzen Group publishes interim report Q1-2022: First quarter closed with very positive revenue and earnings momentum

Berentzen-Gruppe Aktiengesellschaft (ISIN: DE0005201602), listed on the Regulated Market (General Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, published its interim report for the first quarter of the 2022 financial year. In the first three months of this year, the Group generated consolidated revenues of EUR 36.1 (Q1/2021: 31.4) million - an increase of 15%. Adjusted for a contract filling business in the Non-alcoholic Beverages segment, which still had a sales volume of 2.6 million euros in the first quarter of the previous year and was subsequently terminated, consolidated sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2022 would even have been around 25% higher than in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Consolidated operating earnings before interest and taxes (consolidated EBIT) increased to 1.2 million euros in the first quarter (Q1/2021: 0.5 million euros), while consolidated operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (consolidated EBITDA) rose to 3.2 million euros (Q1/2021: 2.7 million euros).

"The significant increases in revenues and earnings make it clear that in the first three months of the 2022 financial year we have succeeded in returning to the dynamic growth path we embarked on in the years before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic," commented Oliver Schwegmann, Executive Board member of Berentzen-Gruppe Aktiengesellschaft, on the interim report published today. "Although there were still some public and private restrictions in the first quarter, we have already returned to the level of a Q1 quarter before the coronavirus pandemic in our consolidated revenues."

He added that the strategically important core themes in particular contributed to the growth success. In the Spirits segment, the two umbrella brands Berentzen and Puschkin, which are key to the liqueur offensive launched last year, posted impressive sales growth of 58.0% and 33.3%, respectively. In the private-label spirits segment, the higher-value product concepts would also have achieved sales growth of 36.1%. Overall, the Spirits segment reported a 23.9% increase in sales. Although net sales in the Non-alcoholic Beverages segment were down 12.7% year-on-year, this was exclusively due to the aforementioned termination of a high-revenue but low-profit contract filling business at the end of the first quarter of 2021. Excluding this effect, the Non-alcoholic Beverages segment would have achieved sales growth of 20.0%. The company's own brands would again have developed positively, driven by sales growth of around seven percent for both the Mio Mio brand products and the regional brands. In the Fresh Juice Systems segment, sales were up 33.5%. All system components - fruit presses, fruit and bottles - contributed to this success with double-digit growth, he said. "We are pleased to have shown such impressive growth rates in all the topics that are important to us," Schwegmann said.

Further outlook for the 2022 financial year
The Berentzen Group today reaffirmed its outlook for the 2022 financial year, expecting consolidated revenues in a range of €154.0 million to €162.0 million, consolidated EBIT between €5.0 million and €8.0 million, and consolidated EBITDA between €14.0 million and €17.0 million. The key earnings figures for Group EBIT and EBITDA would thus remain at around the same level as the previous year, despite the forecast significant growth in sales. The background to this is, among other things, expected cost increases for energy, raw materials and materials, which will take effect in particular from the second quarter. "The figures for the first quarter show the growth momentum that is possible in the Berentzen Group. Therefore, despite the challenges on the procurement side, we are convinced of the long-term and sustainably successful path of the corporate group," Schwegmann concluded.