EANS-News: Hypoport AG starts 2012 on a robust note
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Corporate news transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer/originator is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- quarterly report Berlin, 7 May 2012 (euro adhoc) - Financial service provider Hypoport continued to grow in the first quarter of 2012, raising its revenue by 16.4 per cent to EUR20.6 million. The key drivers of this growth were the strong performance of the EUROPACE marketplace and the impartial mortgage finance advice offered to customers. However, a lack of big-ticket deals with institutional clients masked the Company's impressive earnings figures, with EBITDA declining marginally year on year to around EUR2 million. The Financial Service Providers business unit was one of the main factors driving Hypoport's double-digit revenue growth to EUR20.6 million (Q1 2011: EUR17.7 million). The EUROPACE platform was bolstered by its success in signing up new partners and by the fact that banks, insurance companies and building finance associations are using this marketplace not only to strengthen their own business but, increasingly, to sell financial products to third-party distributors. Despite tough market conditions in the insurance sector, the Private Clients business unit also made an encouraging start to the year. Insurance companies, distributors and end customers were unnerved by the regulatory changes introduced in the market, which meant that business in insurance was generally subdued in the first quarter. The Institutional Clients unit continued to expand its brokerage activities and consulting services for housing companies, local authorities, municipal entities and commercial customers. However, the first quarter of 2012 suffered from a lack of big-ticket transactions, whose volumes fluctuate sharply over the course of the year. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell slightly year on year to EUR2.0 million (Q1 2011: EUR2.2 million). Ronald Slabke, chief executive officer of Hypoport AG, commented on the first three months of the current year: "On the whole, Hypoport has been moving in the right direction. All three business units significantly strengthened the platforms on which they can generate future growth. This is more important for our business over the year as a whole than temporary operating conditions, which impacted on our first-quarter earnings." Assuming that the market environment remains unchanged, Slabke still expects the Company to achieve double-digit revenue growth and a year-on-year improvement in net profit for 2012 as a whole. Information on Hypoport AG As an independent financial product distributor that runs a B2B financial marketplace, Hypoport operates successfully in two mutually reinforcing segments. It always provides the simplest access to the best financial services. Europace AG - a wholly owned Hypoport subsidiary - develops and operates EUROPACE, which is an online financial marketplace and the largest German platform offering mortgages, building finance products and personal loans. A fully integrated system links roughly 180 partners - banks, insurers and financial product distributors. Several thousand users execute over 20,000 transactions worth a total of more than EUR3 billion on EUROPACE every month. The Hypoport subsidiary Dr. Klein & Co. AG is an independent online distributor of financial products. This firm's specialists provide private clients with a full range of advisory services around mortgage finance, insurance and investments. Dr. Klein & Co. AG has been a major financial service partner to housing companies, local authorities and commercial property investors since 1954. Hypoport AG is headquartered in Berlin, employs more than 500 people and is listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Further inquiry note: Michaela Reimann Pressesprecherin Telefon: +49 (0) 30 42086 1936 E-Mail: michaela.reimann@hypoport.de end of announcement euro adhoc -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- company: Hypoport AG Klosterstraße 71 D-10179 Berlin phone: +49(0)30 42086-0 FAX: +49(0)30 42086-1999 mail: ir@hypoport.de WWW: http://www.hypoport.de sector: Financial & Business Services ISIN: DE0005493365 indexes: CDAX, Prime All Share stockmarkets: regulated dealing/prime standard: Frankfurt language: English
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