United Imaging Group buys company building in Fürth

After 20 years of occupancy, European photo buying group United Imaging Group has purchased the building it has occupied after the long-term lease expired.

“Despite the Corona crisis, the company’s solid financial situation enabled this investment to be made without borrowing,” says Michael Gleich, managing director. “This investment underscores the future viability and long-term orientation of the United Imaging Group.”

In other United Imaging Group mews, consolidated sales including the subsidiaries in Austria and the Netherlands in 2019 were €454.1 million, €79.0 million or 21.1% above the previous year. This was the sixth year in a row in which a significant increase in total sales was achieved and once again the company published the highest sales since the company was founded in 1965, the company said. The total sales of the United Imaging Group GmbH & Co.KG was € 379.8 million in 2019, an increase in 27.6% sales of € 82.1 million from the prior year. The newly acquired europafoto members in July 2019 amount to 17.5% of sales.

The annual profit of the UNITED IMAGING GROUP GmbH & Co.KG in 2019 was € 1,250k above the previous year’s result (€ 1,075k) and thus corresponds to a return on equity or interest on the KG shares to the limited partners of 20.3% (previous year: 19.2%).

Taking into account the bonus of € 14,406 thousand distributed by the UIG headquarters and the bonuses passed on by the suppliers, the members received a total distribution of € 30.9 million in 2019. The total distribution of 33.2% is thus significantly above the previous year’s figure (€ 23.2 million).

“Even if the total turnover is adjusted for the turnover of the new europafoto members, the UNITED IMAGING GROUP can still show a noticeable increase in turnover, which proves the performance of the group in the overall declining market. And the excellent return on capital shows that the sales growth was not generated at the expense of earnings,” says Gleich. At the same time, he also concedes that the success story of the past few years will certainly not be repeated in the 2020 financial year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the group has canceled its shareholders’ meeting and business was conducted a written vote.