At its meeting on 12 April 2018, the Supervisory Board of Fielmann AG approved the consolidated annual accounts for the financial year 2017. In the reporting year, Fielmann increased units sold, sales revenue and profits. The German market leader sold 8.11 million pairs of glasses (previous year: 7.99 million), achieved external sales totalling € 1.61 billion (previous year: € 1.55 billion) and consolidated sales of € 1.39 billion (previous year: € 1.34 billion). Pre-tax profit rose to € 248.6 million (previous year: € 241.5 million) and net income for the year increased to € 172.9 million (previous year: € 171.2 million).
The Supervisory Board and Management Board of Fielmann AG will recommend to the Annual General Meeting on 12 July 2018 to pay a dividend of €1.85 per share (previous year: € 1.80). This would represent the thirteenth consecutive dividend payment increase. Based on the year-end closing price, the dividend yield amounts to 2.5%. The total dividend pay-out would amount to € 155.4 million (previous year: € 151.2 million).
After an extremely mild January, footfall dropped sharply in the months of February and March due to adverse weather conditions and a serious wave of influenza. Against this background, the units sold in the first three months amounts to 1.92 million glasses (previous year: 1.95 million). External sales incl. VAT and changes in inventories reached € 401.7 million (previous year: € 402.9 million). Consolidated sales for the first quarter grew to € 349.9 million (previous year: € 341.9 million). Fielmann generated a pre-tax profit of € 61.4 million (previous year: € 60.6 million) and the net income for the quarter amounted to € 43.3 million (previous year: € 42.1 million).
Fielmann will continue to grow, open new stores, expand existing ones and move into better locations. On 22 March, Fielmann opened its first Italian flagship store in Verona. We currently operate 12 stores in Northern Italy and plan with 40 stores in the medium term.
April showed a significant increase in footfall in our stores. We are confident of expanding our market position and expect a positive development for the financial year 2018.
Hamburg, 26 April 2018
Fielmann Aktiengesellschaft
The Management Board
