A.S. Création Tapeten AG, Gummersbach
(ISIN DE000A1TNNN5)

Annual General Meeting of Shareholders approves dividend of € 0.90 per share for 2019. Q1 2020 in line with expectations.

Due to the contact restrictions imposed in the context of the coronavirus crisis, today's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of A.S. Création Tapeten AG, Europe's leading wallpaper manufacturer, was held as a virtual meeting without the physical presence of shareholders. In view of the positive earnings performance in 2019, it was decided to distribute a dividend of € 0.90 per share for the past fiscal year. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Mr Jochen Müller, thanked all employees of A.S. Création for their great commitment in the past fiscal year. The acts of the Managing Board and the Supervisory Board were ratified of the shareholders.

The interim report for the period ended March 31, 2020 was also presented. At € 37.8 million, the Group's revenues in the first three months of 2020 were down by a moderate 1.1% on the previous year's € 38.2 million. In Germany, A.S. Création was able to increase its revenues slightly by 0.5% in spite of the lockdown imposed in March. This reflects the success of the company's two campaigns "New Walls" and "Neue Bude 2.0", which were presented at the International Partner Days in autumn 2019 and for which deliveries were mostly made in the first two months of 2020. A.S. Création's revenues in the rest of the EU declined by a noticeable 5.1%, however. In some of these countries, stricter restrictions than in Germany were imposed in the context of the coronavirus crisis. Especially in France, sales of wallpapers and furnishing fabrics came to an almost complete standstill in the second half of March. By contrast, strong revenue growth of 5.2% was achieved by A.S. Création in Eastern European countries outside the EU. Total consolidated revenues in the first quarter of 2020 were in line with the company's plans, although the economic conditions became increasingly difficult.

The earnings performance in the first quarter of 2020 was adversely affected by non-cash exchange losses of € -3.5 million resulting from the sharp depreciation of the Russian and Belarusian rouble against the euro. These are the reason why A.S. Création posted a loss in the first three months of 2020 in terms of both earnings before interest and taxes (€ -1.5 million) and earnings after taxes (€ -2.3 million). The situation in the first quarter of 2019 was different, when the Eastern European currencies appreciated slightly against the euro, leading to exchange gains of € 0.7 million at that time.

Adjusted for these exchange losses, A.S. Création's earnings position improved in the first three months of the current fiscal year. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes rose by € 0.5 million from € 1.5 million in the first quarter of 2019 to € 2.0 million in the reporting period, which was in line with expectations. Apart from cost savings, this increase reflects the successful development of A.S. Création's product range over the past years, which enabled A.S. Création to maintain its gross profit margin at the high level of the previous year in spite of a highly competitive environment.

At this point in time, the Managing Board is unable to reliably estimate the effects the coronavirus crisis will have on the full fiscal year. Therefore, the Managing Board is also unable to make a well-founded statement as to whether and, if so, to what extent the plans and budgets for the full year 2020 should be downgraded. The Managing Board therefore intends to decide at a later date on a possible adjustment of the plans and budgets for the full fiscal year.

The Group's key figures for the first three months of 2020 are summarised below:

Gummersbach, May 14, 2020

A.S. Création Tapeten AG

The Managing Board

Inquiries:
Maik Krämer, Director of Finance and Controlling
phone +49-2261-542 387, fax +49-2261-542 304
e-mail: [email protected]

The full interim report is available at:
www.as-creation.de or from
A.S. Création Tapeten AG,
Frau Börngen, Südstr. 47, D - 51645 Gummersbach,
phone +49-2261-542 350,
e-mail: [email protected]