CEWE reports third-quarter revenue up 14.3%

Oldenburg-based photo personalization leader CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA reported strong growth in all its business segments in the third quarter of 2022. In comparison with the previous year, group sales rose by 14.3%, to 151.4 million euros, compared to 132.4 million euros in the same period last year. Group EBIT also improved by 3.1 million euros to 1.1 million euros, up from -2.1 million euros last year.

The company is optimistic about the coming Christmas season.

“As in Q2, all business segments have grown in Q3, enabling us to look extremely positively towards our year-end business,” says Dr. Christian Friege, CEO. “During the past few months, international (holiday) trips, celebrations, weddings, concerts, and other events – all of them regular occasions where photos are taken – were finally made possible again. Our customers can now draw on this huge wealth of photos to order individual photo products as very personal, attractively-priced Christmas gifts – particularly in economically difficult times.”

Photofinishing turnover shows a clear 13.0% increase in Q3

Third-quarter photofinishing turnover rose by 13.0% to 120.2 million euros from 106.3 million euros. (Note: Third-quarter sales were higher than pre-COVID levels of 116.2 million euros). The number of photos rose significantly in the third quarter, by 12.6% to 517 million photos from 459 million photos. The company says this also reflects the process of normalization following the coronavirus restrictions and their effect of temporarily lowering the volume of photos.

At the same time, CEWE PHOTOBOOK sales also grew, with CEWE customers purchasing a total of 1.229 million books, an increase of 12.9% compared to the same quarter of the previous year. EBIT in the business segment of photofinishing also grew strongly in the third quarter, increasing by 3.2 million euros to 1.1 million euros, thus contributing considerably to a positive Group EBIT.

The photofinishing sector is the production and sale of photo products such as the CEWE PHOTOBOOK, calendars, greeting cards, wall art, and individual (analog and digital) photos as well as other photo products.

Commercial Online-Print Q3 turnover climbs by 28.4%

The rising demand for commercial print products continued in the third quarter. Turnover in the Commercial Online-Print (COP) segment rose by 28.4% over that of the same quarter of the previous year, to 21.3 million euros (Q3 2021: 16.6 million euros). Although this means that COP has not yet reached its 2019 pre-coronavirus level of turnover (Q3 2019 turnover: 24.8 million euros), it is already showing a considerably improved, strong EBIT in the amount of 0.2 million euros (Q3 2019 EBIT: -0.8 million euros), mainly due to a generally optimised cost structure in comparison to that of Q3 2019. COP was hence also able to improve its earnings in comparison to that of the same quarter of the previous year (Q3 2021 EBIT: -0.2 million euros). The current improvement in earnings is largely the result of the consistent optimization of the production and cost structure of COP with its SAXOPRINT, viaprinto and LASERLINE brands in recent years.

Commercial online printing concerns the production and sale of commercial print products in the online printing portals of SAXOPRINT, viaprinto, and LASERLINE.

Slight increase in turnover of 4.4% in the photo hardware retail business

In the third quarter, the retail business segment also continued to benefit from recoveries in the period following coronavirus restrictions, achieving a 2.5% increase in sales, at 7.7 million euros (Q3 2021: 7.5 million euros). In this case the EBIT, traditionally always slightly negative in the third quarter, was almost consistent with that of the same quarter of the previous year at -0.1 million euros (Q3 2021: rounded off at 0.0 million euros). In the run-up to the important Christmas season, CEWE Retailing is thus showing itself to be well-positioned with its optimized store structure, the company says.

The retailing segment trades in photo hardware, such as cameras and lenses, in Norway, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.

An overview of 2022 Q3 and Q1-3 results