Growth thanks to Max Bahr and foreign markets

Praktiker has reported an increase in group sales of 26.9 per cent to € 1.13 bn for the second quarter of 2007. The company thus broke the two-billion-euro barrier for the first time in the first six months of the current financial year, equivalent to growth of 24.8 per cent compared with the first half of 2006. The strong growth is attributable among other things to the integration of the Max Bahr DIY chain acquired on 1 February 2007 and also growth in foreign markets. The previous year’s result was boosted by 5.7 per cent to € 49.1 mio in the first half of 2007, thus equalizing the negative balance of around € 20 mio from the first quarter with an EBITA of € 69.0 mio in the second quarter. In Germany, second-quarter sales rose by 28 per cent to € 838.6 mio; in the first six months Praktiker achieved sales of € 1.51 bn (previous year: € 1.22 bn), equivalent to an increase of 24.2 per cent. However, this growth is due exclusively to the Max Bahr brand. Sales of the Praktiker brand declined by three per cent in like-for-like terms in the domestic market during the first six months. Praktiker sales abroad grew by 24 per cent in the second quarter to € 288.9 mio. The international segment thus recorded total sales of € 495.4 mio in the first half of 2007, an increase of 26.8 per cent over the same period last year. The company’s eastern European subsidiaries in Romania, Bulgaria and Poland enjoyed particularly high growth rates, according to the company. The Praktiker Group as a whole invested a total of  € 64.5 mio in the first half of the year (previous year: € 11 mio), € 39.2 mio of which went into its foreign operations (previous year: € 6.1 mio). The management expects sales to come to around four billion euros by the end of the current fiscal year.