EANS-Adhoc: Arcandor AG
Consolidation programme for Arcandor decided
ad-hoc disclosure pursuant to section 15 of the WpHG transmitted by euro adhoc with the aim of a Europe-wide distribution. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
20.04.2009
Essen/Germany, April 20, 2009 Consolidation programme for Arcandor decided The Arcandor AG Management Board presented to the Supervisory Board a far-reaching consolidation programme. The goal of the programme is to improve cash flow on a sustained basis. Arcandor should thus generate positive cash flows and earnings in all three core business divisions. The mid-term target for Primondo is an EBITDA margin of 7%; for Karstadt of 6%. Thomas Cook has announced a target EBIT margin of 4.8%. The Group expects a further financing requirement of up to EUR 900 million over the coming 5 years for the implementation of these measures in addition to the pending refinancing in the summer of 2009. Within the scope of the consolidation programme, the Group will concentrate on the profitable core areas of Primondo and Karstadt. The core business of Primondo will consist of the e-commerce and Quelle´s catalogue business in Germany and abroad, the home shopping specialist HSE24 and the existing special mail order providers. The core business of Karstadt will in future consist of 81 Karstadt branches and 27 Karstadt Sports branches. The Tourism division of Thomas Cook is, and remains, Arcandor´s core business. Business units which no longer belong to the core business or require restructuring are to be developed on an individual basis in the Arcandor cross-divisional unit ATRYS. The units which are not part of the Primondo core business include the over-the-counter retail business of Quelle with 115 technical centres and approximately 1,500 Quelle shops. From the Karstadt portfolio, among others eight branches and the Premium stores will be developed further in the future Management Board division. The operating and disciplinary management remains in the respective retail companies, Karstadt and Primondo. ATRYS has the goal to reduce the average annual negative cash flows of approximately EUR 300 million (average figure of several years) to zero as quickly as possible. In future, Arcandor will rigorously separate the procurement and the assortment responsibility in the trading segments. Procurement is planned to be bundled centrally in a division to be established at Management Board level. It will include the previous capacities of both trading companies. Via the new organisation of the processes and the bundling of volumes, the objective is to achieve synergies of up to 5% of the entire purchasing volume at Arcandor (excluding Thomas Cook) of over EUR 7 billion within two to three years. The Management Board
end of announcement euro adhoc
Further inquiry note:
Detlef Neveling
Telefon: +49 (0) 201 727-9816
E-Mail: detlef.neveling@arcandor.com
Branche: Retail
ISIN: DE0006275001
WKN: 627500
Index: Midcap Market Index, MDAX, CDAX, Classic All Share, HDAX,
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Börsen: Börse Frankfurt / regulated dealing/prime standard
Börse Berlin / regulated dealing
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