Hornbach-Baumarkt-AG Group

46 GROUP MANAGEMENT REPORT Earnings Performance
year. As a percentage of net sales, selling and store expenses
rose from 30.3% to 31.1%.
Due to the higher number of new store openings, pre-opening
expenses grew from € 6.2 million to € 9.6 million (please also
see Note 4). After three new store openings in the 2011/2012
financial year, operations began at five new HORNBACH locations
in the year under report. The pre-opening expense ratio
increased from 0.2% to 0.3% as a result.
Administration expenses grew by 16.2% to € 123.2 million in
the year under report (2011/2012: € 106.1 million). As in the
previous year, a major share of this increase was due to important
forward-looking projects in the Group’s administrative
departments. Among others, these include developing and
extending our online retail and customer service activities, as
well as innovations aimed at further optimizing our operating
processes. In view of this, the administration expense ratio
increased from 3.5% to 4.1%.
Other income and expenses
Other income and expenses showed a marked increase from
€ 15.7 million to € 20.5 million in the year under report. One
prime reason for this increase was the conclusive clarification
of outstanding issues in connection with the supply of utility
energies in Germany by the energy-related services provider
we commissioned to this end. On this basis, it was possible to
reverse provisions of € 3.9 million recognized in previous
years. Other than this, other income and expenses also include
an amount of € 1.6 million for compensation not yet
invoiced, net of service amounts. A further reason for the
increase in this item related to income from the group allocation,
which rose from € 3.6 million to € 4.1 million. Furthermore,
other income and expenses were positively influenced
by a base effect within other non-operating income and expenses.
In the 2011/2012 financial year, impairment losses in
Romania were the main reason for negative other nonoperating
income and expenses of minus € 1.4 million. In the
year under report, by contrast, there were no material nonoperating
items within other income and expenses.
EBITDA and EBIT
EBITDA in the DIY store segment fell 29.1% to € 107.7 million
in the 2012/2013 financial year (2011/2012: € 152.0 million),
equivalent to an EBITDA margin of 3.6% (2011/2012: 5.1%).
Operating earnings (EBIT) dropped 35.9% to € 74.2 million
(2011/2012: € 115.7 million). EBIT was equivalent to 2.5% of
net sales in the year under report (2011/2012: 3.9%).
Earnings performance in the real estate segment
All the real estate activities in the HORNBACH-Baumarkt-AG
Group are pooled in the real estate segment. Its main business
activities involve building and subsequently letting DIY
store properties within the Group. These either remain in
group ownership or are sold following construction to an
external investor and then leased back. The respective DIY
store properties are charged to the DIY store segment on
rental and other terms customary to the market. Earnings in
the real estate segment were significantly ahead of the previous
year’s figures in the 2012/2013 financial year.
Key earnings figures for the real estate segment
Key figure (€ million, unless otherwise stated) 2012/2013 2011/2012 Change
Rental income 143.6 132.5 8.4%
Real estate expenses 97.8 92.7 5.5%
Net rental income 45.8 39.8 15.1%
Disposal gains/losses 0.3 (0.5) -
Net real estate income 46.1 39.2 17.4%
EBITDA 57.7 47.0 22.8%
EBIT 42.8 35.9 19.2%