Annual General Meeting resolves to suspend dividend
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Hamburg, 29 September 2011 – The Hamburg costume jewellery group Bijou Brigitte introduced another new shop fitting concept in Germany. The first to display the new design was the Sulzbach store (Main-Taunus-Zentrum) on 1 September 2011. This was followed by the shops in Dresden (Altmarkt-Galerie), Dortmund (Thier-Galerie) and Ludwigsburg (Breuningerland). On 28 September 2011, the Bijou Brigitte shop of Stettin’s Galeria Kaskada in Poland opened in the fresh glance. Impressive shop elements, e.g. optimised light and wall concepts, present the manifold selection of classic costume jewellery, new must-haves as well as the newest accessories in the Bijou Brigitte stores. Bijou Brigitte opened the first shop of this type in Belgian Antwerp on 1 July 2011. With the flagship store, located in the historic ambience of the Stadsfeestzaal, the group was successfully launched in Belgium.
Bijou Brigitte continues its international expansion strategy and is now represented with in 21 countries with more than 1,150 stores.
Hamburg, 7 July 2011 – At its meeting today, the supervisory board of Bijou Brigitte modische Accessoires AG appointed Jürgen Gödecke (47) deputy member of the management board effective 1 January 2012. The third member of the management board will be responsible for sales and distribution. Since 1 January 2011, Jürgen Gödecke has been sales director in the Bijou Brigitte group. He has over 30 years of retailing experience and held a management position in an international clothing retail firm for the previous nine years. “With Mr Gödecke we gain additional valuable knowledge and expertise for our company,” according to Roland Werner, chair of the management board, in his address to the annual general meeting of Bijou Brigitte modische Accessoires AG. Along with the essential key figures for the 2010 fiscal year, Bijou Brigitte announced the proposed dividend distribution. As in the past four years, the proposal this year lies at EUR 6.50 per common share. Moreover the interim business figures for the first half of 2011 were announced. According to these the group generated EUR 174.3 million in sales approaching the prior year’s level (EUR 174.6 million). Like-for-like group sales were 4.5 % lower than the comparable prior year’s figures.
The economic situation in Spain and Portugal has not yet relaxed. Sales in both these segments continued to decline significantly in the first half of 2011, while sales were stable in the German and Italian market segments. Bijou Brigitte Group expanded its shop network to 1,177 stores (31.12. 2010: 1,167 stores) in the first months of the current fiscal year. On 1 July 2011, the Hamburg costume jewellery group implemented its market launch in Belgium and opened a flagship store with more than 130 m2 of shop space in Antwerp. Bijou Brigitte will continue expansion of its international store network during the 2011 fiscal year. 60 to 70 store openings have been planned. Moreover the concessions distribution channel will be expanded.
Detailed business figures as of the first half of 2011 will be published in the semi-annual financial report at the end of August.
Hamburg, 28 April 2011 – Bijou Brigitte Group generated sales in the amount of EUR 377.9 million in the 2010 fiscal year, EUR 12.2 million resp. 3.1 % less than in the prior year (EUR 390.1 million). Group sales declined like-for-like by 7.2 %. The main reason for this development was the slack business conditions in the Spanish and Portuguese market segments. As of 31 December 2010, the Bijou Brigitte store network comprised 1,167 stores (prior year: 1,125). Due to the like-for-like decline in sales and the general increase in costs, pre-tax earnings in the fiscal year ended dropped from EUR 108.9 million to EUR 84.7 million. Correspondingly the group’s after tax profit was reduced to EUR 58.3 million (prior year: EUR 75.4 million). Earnings per share totalled EUR 7.40. The management board and supervisory board propose a dividend of EUR 6.50 per common share to retain the past years’ level. The dividend proposal will be submitted to the Annual General Meeting on 7 July 2011. In the first quarter of 2011, Bijou Brigitte’s business development was influenced by the continuing difficult economic situation in Spain and Portugal. Moreover, Easter business was in April this year, i.e. the second quarter. Sales in the Bijou Brigitte Group declined by 2.9% from EUR 78.5 million to EUR 76.2 million in the first quarter of 2011. Like-for-like sales fell by 6.8 %. The projection for the first quarter, based on estimated inventories, yields an after tax profit of EUR 4.9 million after EUR 7.2 million last year.
Bijou Brigitte will continue store expansion in the 2011 fiscal year. 60 to 70 new store openings are planned. Five new stores were added in the first quarter of 2011.
Hamburg, 15 July 2010 – At the 23rd regular annual general meeting, Bijou Brigitte modische Accessoires AG announced the provisional figures for the first half of 2010. In comparison to the prior year, group sales revenues declined by EUR 1.7 million resp. 1.0 % from EUR 176.1 million to EUR 174.4 million. That means like-for-like a 5.4 % decline in sales revenues. The continuing economic crisis in Spain had particularly negative effect on sales figures. In the first half of 2010 the group expanded its store network by 34 from 1,103 to 1,137 stores in comparison to the prior year. Distribution of a dividend for fiscal year 2009 in the amount of EUR 6.50 plus a bonus of EUR 0.50 per common share was proposed to the annual general meeting. In his speech, the management board chair, Roland Werner, told shareholders about the major events during the 2009 reporting year and the development in the first half of 2010. The management board chair also explained the group’s expansion strategy. There is to be a further increase in the density of the existing shop network and new markets for costume jewellery and accessories are to be exploited.
Bijou Brigitte expects country-specific problems in the coming months. In particular there is not yet an indication when the economic situation will recover in Spain, the group’s second largest market. Moreover, the Spanish government increased VAT by two percentage points on 1 July 2010. Other EU countries have to pursue consolidation measures that could have a negative impact on consumer behaviour. Given this situation, the Group does not expect any significant growth in sales for 2010 as a whole. The group has the resources necessary to counter the adverse conditions. Whereby Bijou Brigitte can rely on the support of a very strong financial and organisational base. In the course of the annual general meeting, the company disclosed other details and information. The figures for the first half of 2010 will be published in the semi-annual financial report to be released at the end of August.
Hamburg, 29 April 2010 – In fiscal year 2009, Bijou Brigitte Group increased its sales by EUR 14.4 million from EUR 375.7 million to EUR 390.1 million. The growth in sales resulted from international shop expansion. The shop network increased from 1,085 stores to 1,125. On the other hand like-for-like sales declined by 3.5 %. Pre-tax earnings in 2009 totalled EUR 108.9 million (prior year: EUR 117.4 million). The impact of the worldwide financial and economic crisis in 2009 meant that the group after tax profits were unable to improve on the record earnings of the prior year. The group profit of EUR 75.4 million lay EUR 7.1 million below the prior year’s result of EUR 82.5 million. The poor economic conditions led to decline in sales and earnings especially in Spain. Earnings per share totalled EUR 9.56. The supervisory board and executive management propose retention of the dividend level of the past three years, EUR 6.50, and due to the enterprise’s sound liquidity, declaration of a EUR 0.50 bonus per share. The proposal for dividend distribution will be submitted to the annual general meeting on 15 July 2010. First quarter sales exhibited growth of 3.4 % to EUR 78.5 million. Like-for-like sales dropped by 2.0 %. The Group plans to continue its international expansion strategy in the current fiscal year with 65 store openings. In the first quarter, Bijou Brigitte expanded the existing shop network by eight locations, among others opening its first shop in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.
In combination with the general rise in costs, decline in sales had a negative impact on after-tax earnings, compared to the prior year dropped by EUR 1.6 million from EUR 8.8 million to EUR 7.2 million.
The epicentre of this decline was Spain, a country particularly hard hit by the real estate and financial crisis in the first three months of the fiscal year. The segment sales and segment earnings decreased accordingly in Bijou Brigitte’s second largest market. Moreover extremely low interest rates in the financial markets led to an interest result significantly lower than in the prior year. On the other hand the German and Italian markets proved especially stable.