Derby Cycle AG Reports Nine Month Sales Up 38 Percent

Even stronger gains were reported in terms of operating profit (EBIT), which was up by around 45% over the same period to reach EUR 19.1 million ($26.3 mm)(previous-year period: EUR 13.1 million). This generated a 9.6 percent EBIT margin in the first nine months of 2010/2011, compared with 9.1% in the corresponding prior-year period.

 

Consolidated net income in the reporting period also rose at a significantly rapid rate of 31.4 percent, increasing from EUR 8.8 million to EUR 11.6 million ($16 mm). This corresponds to EUR 1.55 of earnings per share (previous year: EUR 1.18).

Compared with total sales in the electric bikes segment of around 39,000 cycles in the first nine months of the 2009/2010 financial year, the company had already sold around 73,000 units within the reporting period (+85.8%). In overall terms, approximately 413,000 bicycles from the Kalkhoff, Raleigh, Rixe, Focus and Univega brands were sold at Group level. This represents 16.6 percent growth compared with the previous year's figure of 354,000 units. The foreign share of sales increased to 33.2% (previous year: 30.8%) – evidence of the success of the company's advancing internationalisation. Given this, the company is confirming its forecast of achieving revenue of between EUR 220 million and EUR 240 million in the full 2010/11 year, and an EBIT margin of between 8 percent and 9 percent.

“The April to June 2011 months represented a further record quarter for our company,” said CEO Mathias Seidler. “The weather supported our sales correspondingly. We are proving extremely profitable in pursuing our growth path in this context – with a 9.6 percent EBIT margin in the first nine months of 2010/11, we have again exceeded the previous year's record figure. Our internationalisation, our close relationships to specialist wholesalers and retailers, and our strong positioning in the high-growth electric bikes segment continue to form the basis of our growth path.”

Uwe Bögershausen, the company's CFO, went on to add: “We have already been extremely successful in investing some of the IPO proceeds. Derby Cycle has entered into a 50/50 joint venture with electro-motor developer Daum Forschung und Entwicklung GmbH, which is responsible for the further development of electronic drive systems. Also, we launched direct sales in Australia in June of this year as part of its internationalisation. This was followed by the United Kingdom in mid-July 2011, and direct sales were also recently initiated in Denmark in August of this year. We continue to retain most of the issue proceeds for acquisitions, for an international cycle brand, for example.”