• Sales up 76 percent nine months-on-month
• Adjusted EBIT margin improves from -10.0 percent to -8.1 percent
• Internationalization and operational business progress as planned

Munich, 25 November 2015. windeln.de AG, the leading online retailer for baby and toddler products in Europe, continued to grow significantly in the third quarter and has moved significantly closer to its sales and earnings target for the full year 2015. In the first nine months, windeln.de increased sales by 76 percent to EUR 118.3 million and improved the adjusted EBIT margin to -8.1 percent (previous year: -10.0 percent).

In the first nine months, growth was again based on a higher number of active customers (+73 percent) as well as on the increase in the average order value per customer (+4 percent), which also reflects the continuous expansion of the product portfolio. The online shop feedo, which was acquired in July, contributed 3.1 million euros to total sales in the third quarter. Excluding this consolidation effect, windeln.de recorded sales growth of 72 percent in a nine-month comparison. The slightly lower growth in the third quarter compared to the very strong first half of the year is partly due to seasonal effects in the summer months. On the other hand, accounting revenue shifts into the fourth quarter resulted from the successful introduction of direct shipping to China at the end of August, which now handles around 70 percent of the order volume from China.

"With the additional option of direct shipping to China, we can offer our customers faster delivery at a more attractive total cost," says Alexander Brand, co-founder and board member of the company.

Business in Europe outside the DACH region grew significantly disproportionately, to which, in addition to feedo's contribution, the strong growth in Switzerland and the first sales of the Italian online shop launched in the third quarter pannolini.it contributed. The Spanish subsidiary bebitus has only been consolidated since the beginning of October.

The largest segment Deutscher Shop (formerly segment windeln.de) achieved growth of 65 percent to 97.2 million euros. The International Shops segment (formerly the windeln.ch segment), which in addition to windeln.ch now also includes feedo, pannolini.it and, from the fourth quarter onwards, bebitus, recorded an increase of 265 percent to EUR 8.8 million (excluding feedo, an increase of 134 percent to EUR 5.6 million). The Shopping Clubs segment (formerly the diaperable segment) grew by 114 percent to 12.4 million euros and now also includes the shopping club "nakiki.it" for Italian customers, which opened in August.

Profitability meets expectations

The Group's gross profit increased to EUR 30.2 million. This corresponds to a gross margin of 25.5 percent (9M 2014: EUR 15.3 million or 22.7 percent). Despite the first-time consolidation of the online shop feedo, which still has a small share of high-margin consumer goods, the Group is thus above the forecast for the year as a whole of around 25 percent.
The adjusted EBIT margin1 improved to -8.1 percent from -10.0 percent in the first nine months of the previous year (improvement to -7.3 percent excluding feedo). In terms of selling expenses, windeln.de continues to benefit from economies of scale, although in the third quarter additional expenses resulted from the expansion of storage capacities at windelbar. In order to increase brand awareness, windeln.de is also investing more in marketing. At 15.4 percent, other administrative expenses fell slightly both year-on-year and in the second quarter.
The German Shop segment achieved a clearly positive adjusted EBIT margin of 4.0 percent after nine months, although this was slightly lower in the third quarter, mainly due to the introduction of direct delivery and the resulting shift in sales. The International Shops segment improved its profitability, while the Shopping Clubs segment was slightly below the previous year due to the aforementioned expansion costs.

Destinations within reach

For 2015 as a whole, windeln.de including feedo and taking into account the additional consolidation of bebitus, expects sales to increase by around 75 percent compared to EUR 101 million in the previous year, a gross margin of around 25 percent and an adjusted EBIT margin of -8 to -7 percent.