Leifheit Aktiengesellschaft: After strong growth in the previous year, again turnover and earnings growth in 2021, however, increasing raw material, freight and energy costs weigh on H2 2021

• Group turnover up approximately 6% to around EUR 288 million in 2021
• Preliminary Group EBIT 2021 of approx. EUR 20 million at the upper end of the last published forecast range, exceeding previous year's figure by approx. 6%
• Scaling up Success strategy established at the end of 2019 has been delivering very good results also in the second year: Group EBIT 2021 more than doubled compared to 2019. 2021 turnover Household (Brand Leifheit) up 27% on 2019. 2021 Turnover Wellbeing (Brand Soehnle) up 29% on 2019.
• Strained supply chains and huge increases in procurement prices significantly affected earnings development in the second half 2021
• Supervisory Board extends contract with CEO Henner Rinsche

Nassau, 21 February 2022 - Following exceptionally strong turnover growth of 16% and close to doubling EBIT in the previous year, Leifheit AG, one of the leading brand suppliers of household products in Europe, continued growth in the financial year 2021. On a preliminary basis, the Leifheit Group generated turnover of EUR 288.2 million in 2021, corresponding to a year-on-year rise of 6.1%.

According to preliminary status of the consolidated financial statements Group earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for the financial year 2021 is expected at approx. EUR 20 million (2020: EUR 18.8 million). Thus, Group EBIT is expected to be at the upper end of the most recent downward-adjusted forecast range of between EUR 15 million and EUR 20 million. The Leifheit Group found itself confronted with a challenging market environment characterised by global supply chain disruption, raw material shortages, and huge increases in procurement prices, above all for raw material, freight, and energy, particularly in the second half of the year.

"We were able to continue our successful business development in 2021 despite the challenging market environment, especially in the second half of the year," says Henner Rinsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Leifheit AG. "Over the past two business years - with all the volatility caused by the pandemic - we have managed to generate average annual turnover growth of roughly 11% and an exceptionally positive development in earnings. This has mainly been down to the positive momentum from our Scaling up Success growth strategy, which we continued to systematically pursue in 2021. The Leifheit and Soehnle products advertised in TV and print campaigns made a major contribution to turnover growth. Nevertheless, many target markets saw rising uncertainty towards the end of the business year ahead of decisions on lockdowns, which led to subdued order figures in the retail industry."

In the domestic market of Germany, the Leifheit Group was able to confirm the general upward trend and increase turnover by 12.6% from EUR 112.1 million in the prior year to EUR 126.3 million in 2021, marking a seamless continuation of the positive development recorded since the launch of the new growth strategy.

The Leifheit Group was also able to record significant turnover growth in all other key target markets. In Central Europe, the Leifheit Group successfully increased its turnover by 4.0% to EUR 116.4 million in the financial year 2021, up from EUR 112.0 million in the prior year. The Leifheit Group once again generated strong turnover growth in Eastern Europe, standing at 11.6% in the financial year 2021. Turnover in this sales and distribution region stood at EUR 37.9 million in the reporting period, compared to EUR 33.9 million in the prior year. By contrast, turnover in non-European markets declined from EUR 13.6 million to EUR 7.6 million due to pandemic-related effects in the financial year 2020.

Looking ahead to the current financial year, Henner Rinsche, whose contract was recently extended by a further three years by the Supervisory Board, says: "Rising costs caused by ongoing disruption to global supply chains and the continued shortage of raw materials have been dominant features at the start of 2022 and will continue to pose a challenge for the Leifheit Group in the months ahead. We will be tackling these issues through strict cost management and expect the necessary sales price increases having a gradual effect in the current business year. At the same time, we will be pressing ahead with our Scaling up Success growth strategy in 2022 and making targeted investments in TV and print advertising campaigns for our Leifheit and Soehnle brands. We will continue to focus on our award-winning bestsellers and were delighted to see the Clean Twist Disc Mop Ergo and the Clean Twist M Ergo flat mop take the spoils in the recent product test published by the consumer magazine IMTEST."

In the Household segment, by far the largest segment with the Leifheit brand, turnover increased significantly year on year from EUR 213.1 million to EUR 230.6 million. In the Wellbeing segment, which is significantly smaller than the Household segment, turnover declined slightly from EUR 26.5 million to EUR 25.5 million. This was due to the particularly strong impact on this segment by measures to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the financial year 2020. In the Private Label segment with the French subsidiaries Birambeau and Herby, the Leifheit Group recorded turnover of EUR 32.1 million compared to EUR 32.0 million in the prior year.

Leifheit will publish the final figures for the financial year 2021 and the forecast for 2022 with the full annual financial report on 29 March 2022.

About Leifheit
Leifheit AG, founded in 1959, is one of the leading European brand suppliers of household items. The Leifheit Group divides its operating business into the Household, Wellbeing and Private Label segments. Leifheit and Soehnle products - two of Germany's best-known household brands - are known for high quality and great utility for consumers. Its French subsidiaries Birambeau and Herby are active in the service-oriented Private Label segment with a selected product range. In each segment, the company focuses on its core product categories of cleaning, laundry care, kitchen goods and wellbeing. The Leifheit Group employs some 1,100 people. More information on Leifheit is available online at www.leifheit-group.com, www.leifheit.de and www.soehnle.de.

Contact:
Leifheit AG
56377 Nassau
Germany
[email protected]
+49 2604 977218