Berentzen-Gruppe Aktiengesellschaft publishes half-year financial report: Better result despite expected decline in revenues

Berentzen-Gruppe Aktiengesellschaft (ISIN: DE0005201602), listed on the Regulated Market (General Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, today published its consolidated half-year financial report. In the first half of the financial year 2021, the Group generated consolidated revenues of EUR 67.7 million - a decrease of 7.9% compared to the same period of the previous year (EUR 73.5 million). Consolidated operating earnings before interest and taxes (consolidated EBIT) amounted to EUR 2.6 million in the first six months of fiscal 2021 (H1 2020: EUR 2.1 million), while consolidated operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (consolidated EBITDA) were EUR 7.1 million (H1 2020: EUR 6.4 million).

"As expected, the lockdown, which lasted well into May, with its dampening effects on social and private life, had a significant impact on our business activities, even though the decline in revenue is attributable for the very most part to the discontinuation of a wage filling contract, which we have already communicated on several occasions," explains Oliver Schwegmann, Executive Board member of Berentzen-Gruppe Aktiengesellschaft. "Without the effect from the discontinuation of contract filling, the cumulative revenue decline at the half-year point would be less than three percent."

Although the reduced business activity in the first half of the year had also reduced gross profit, it had been to a comparatively lesser extent due to a significantly better gross profit ratio - partly because the company had parted with the contract filling order from a very low-margin business. "This, together with efficiency gains from numerous cost savings, meant that we were actually able to report a year-on-year increase in Group EBIT and EBITDA in the first half of the year," Schwegmann continued. "This shows that we have positioned the Group solidly and can respond well with agility even to extreme market disruptions." He added that it was particularly pleasing that the Group was already able to significantly improve results in all business units again in the second quarter compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Despite the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic, there have been some very positive developments in the first six months of fiscal 2021, he said. "We are still particularly pleased with our Mio Mio brand from the Non-alcoholic Beverages segment. Although we had already achieved a high level of sales with it, we were able to achieve a further 14 percent increase in sales in the first half of fiscal 2021," Schwegmann said. Business with premium brand spirits and higher-value private label spirits also developed very positively.

Outlook for the rest of the fiscal year
The Group today reaffirmed its forecast for the 2021 financial year. Specifically, the Group anticipates consolidated revenues in a range of EUR 152.0 million to EUR 158.0 million, consolidated EBIT of between EUR 4.0 million and EUR 6.0 million, and consolidated EBITDA of between EUR 13.0 million and EUR 15.0 million. "Even though the current infection situation with currently still low new infection figures and only relatively few restrictions on public and private life gives us reason to look positively into the future, we have learned so far in the pandemic that new virus variants and correspondingly adapted containment measures can bring renewed challenges. We have therefore entered the second half of the year with cautious optimism," Schwegmann concludes.