CEWE reports increase in nine-month earnings, 2024 targets confirmed

CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA enters the all-important Christmas quarter with an increase in turnover and a lead in earnings. The company confirmed its annual targets for 2024: in the first nine months, CEWE increased group turnover by +6.3 % to 481.6 million euros (Q1-3 2023: 453.2 million euros) and at the same time improved group EBIT by +3.2 million euros to 5.5 million euros (Q1-3 2023: 2.3 million euros). In the third quarter, group turnover exceeded the previous year’s figure by +4.2% to 164.4 million euros (Q3 2023: 157.8 million euros). Group EBIT for the third quarter, at 0.1 million euros, reached a balanced level that is typical for the season (Q3 2023: 1.2 million euros), although the company has already invested around 1.5 million euros more in marketing measures than in the same quarter of the previous year, partly also in preparation for the important Christmas business in the fourth quarter. CEWE is optimistic about the upcoming Christmas business, which traditionally generates the lion’s share of the annual result.

“The company is well prepared in all areas and the entire CEWE team, with all employees, is very much looking forward to the upcoming Christmas business,” said Yvonne Rostock, CEO, CEWE. “We will again be investing more in the market to inspire many people to design and share top-quality photo products. We stand for this with our intuitive design software, our quality promise and our excellent delivery capability.”

Photofinishing business segment continues to grow

Photofinishing turnover rose by +5.8% to 136.1 million euros in the third quarter of 2024 (Q3 2023: 128.7 million euros). This is due to both the slightly higher photo volume and the further increase in turnover per photo resulting from an even higher-quality product mix. At 0.4 million euros, Photofinishing EBIT is at a typical Q3 level and thus – despite, for example, around EUR 1.5 million in additional costs for marketing measures also in preparation for the Q4 Christmas business – only slightly below the EBIT of the prior-year quarter (Q3 2023: 0.7 million euros). In the first nine months, photofinishing turnover increased by +8.5% to 396.3 million euros (Q1-3 2023: 365.2 million euros). Photofinishing EBIT improved significantly by +3.1 million euros to 4.9 million euros during this period (Q1-3 2023: 1.8 million euros). CEWE continues to successfully expand its photofinishing business through continuous innovation, strong brand positions and extensive marketing activities. This year, too, many product and software innovations – such as the panorama page in the CEWE PHOTOBOOK, the Fineline wall calendar, many new photo gifts or the new editor in the order software – will additionally support the Christmas business.

Commercial Online-Print succeeds with best price guarantee

Commercial Online-Print (COP) is showing a better demand trend than the market as a whole at present, with a -3.0% decline in turnover to 21.2 million euros in the third quarter (Q3 2023: 21.9 million euros). In a printing market that was particularly weak and competitive in Q3, COP thus achieved an EBIT of 0.2 million euros (Q3 2023: 0.7 million euros). In the first nine months of 2024, the COP generated a slightly reduced turnover of 64.2 million euros (Q1-3 2023: 66.3 million euros; -3.0%). At the same time, COP significantly improved its EBIT by +0.5 million euros to 2.0 million euros (Q1-3 2023: 1.5 million euros): This successful development in a difficult market shows how COP at CEWE has established a strong position with cost efficiency in production and the (thereby possible) “best price guarantee” for its customers.

CEWE retail business remains well-positioned

The retail business with photo hardware (e.g. cameras, lenses, photo accessories) achieved a slight reduction in turnover of -3.4% to 21.0 million euros in the first nine months of 2024 (Q1-3 2023: 21.8 million euros), with a Q3 turnover of 7.1 million euros (Q3 2023: 7.2 million euros, as expected. In the area of photo hardware, CEWE continues to avoid lower-margin trading business and focuses on the business with photofinishing products (reported in the photofinishing segment). As a result, the business unit improved its EBIT in the nine-month period, which is typically still negative due to seasonal factors, by +0.1 million euros to -0.3 million euros (Q1-3 2023: -0.4 million euros) with an EBIT of -0.1 million euros in Q3 (Q3 2023: -0.1 million euros). The retail sector also generates the majority of its annual earnings during the Christmas business in the fourth quarter.

Solid equity ratio rises to 65.8%, ROCE at a strong 18.8%

At a very solid 65.8%, the equity ratio was even slightly higher than in the previous year (September 30, 2023: 63.8%). At the same time, return on capital employed (ROCE) developed positively, rising to a strong 18.8% as of September 30, 2024, compared to 18.1% in the previous year.

Overview Results Q1-3 and Q3 2024 

Rounding differences may occur. Exact values have always been used for percentage deviation calculations.

Notes to the “Earnings by Business Segment” chart

(1) Photofinishing:  Production and sale of photo products such as the CEWE PHOTOBOOK, calendars, greeting cards, wall art and individual (analogue and digital) photos as well as other photo products

(2) Retail: Trading in photo hardware, such as cameras and lenses, in Norway, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia

(3) Commercial Online-Print: Production and sale of commercial print products in the online printing portals of SAXOPRINT, viaprinto and LASERLINE