Munich, August 29, 2018: windeln.de SE ("windeln.de" or "Group"), one of the leading online retailers of baby and toddler products in Europe and for customers in China, announces that the sale of the Eastern European subsidiary Feedo Sp. z o.o and its subsidiary ("Feedo") to the Czech wholesaler and retailer of baby and toddler products ags 92 s.r.o. ("ags"), following the announcement of July 20, 2018, was completed on August 24, 2018.
The sale of the independent Feedo business is part of the Group's previously announced efficiency and profitability measures. With the sale of Feedo, windeln.de benefits from the deconsolidation of a loss-making and cash flow-negative subsidiary (2017: adjusted EBIT of EUR -3.4 million, operating cash flow of EUR -3.3 million) and from a resulting Group-wide fully integrated infrastructure in which all shops run on the same technical platform. As part of the restructuring measures, windeln.de has announced that it will reduce the Group's headcount from 387 FTEs at the beginning of 2018 to around 250 FTEs by the end of the year. With Feedo's 74 FTEs and the reduction in headcount already implemented at windeln.de, this target is already being achieved with 237 FTEs remaining for the Group, which has a positive impact on selling and administrative expenses. In connection with the integration of the southern European subsidiary Bebitus in October 2017, the closure of the loss-making Italian business pannolini.it in February 2018 and the stronger focus on margin and cost structure, the Group plans to reach break-even at the beginning of 2019.
Matthias Peuckert, CEO of windeln.de: "We are pleased to have completed the transaction within a few weeks. The sale is a further step in our ongoing efforts to sustainably improve the Group's profitability as well as its cost and organizational structure. We are pushing ahead with the restructuring rapidly and are confident that we will be able to develop windeln.de into a profitable company."
GCA Altium acted as financial advisor to windeln.de on the sale of Feedo.