• Praktiker in Germany with stable sales trend in 4th quarter
• Growth in Eastern Europe hampered by exchange rate effects

Kirkel – January 8, 2009. Based on still preliminary figures, Praktiker Bau- und Heimwerkermärkte Holding AG achieved net consolidated sales of EUR 3.91 billion in the 2008 business year. This corresponds to a 1.0 percent decline from the record level of the previous year (currency adjusted 0.6 percent).

Praktiker Group thus just missed its target to increase Group sales in 2008 by a low single-digit percentage. This was commented by Wolfgang Werner, CEO of Praktiker Bau- und Heimwerkermärkte Holding AG: “Although we did not quite succeed in reaching our sales target, we nevertheless see it as a success that we have almost matched the prior-year record mark in the current difficult economic situation of the year 2008.”

In 2008, sales at Group level were strongly influenced by the German business. Sales in Germany declined at 6.9 percent to EUR 2.67 billion following the decision to cut the number of 20-percent-campaign days of the Praktiker brand to virtually half. In the second half of the fiscal year, Max Bahr also skipped a number of promotional offers. But as Max Bahr had only been included in the consolidated accounts for eleven months in 2007, overall a slight increase in sales was recorded for the Hamburg-based subsidiary in fiscal 2008.

In the international business, sales increased by 14.6 percent to EUR 1.24 billion in 2008. However, the strong devaluation of most Eastern European currencies during the last few months of the year decelerated the growth dynamics as reported in Euros. Assuming constant exchange rates, international sales would have increased by 16.3 percent. Compared with the original planning, lower growth was also attributable to the circumstance that 13 new locations were opened outside Germany in 2008 instead of 15 to 20 stores.

Net of changes in selling space, Group sales declined by 6.0 percent. In Germany, the decrease was 8.0 percent on a like-for-like basis. In the international business a minus of 0.5 percent was reported at the end of the year after the first three quarters had invariably closed positively. Had the exchange rates remained constant, like-for-like sales in the international business would have been up by 0.6 percent and at Group level the minus would only have been 5.7 percent.

At year end, the Praktiker Group operated a total of 436 stores (previous year 425), thereof 336 in Germany (previous year 337) and 100 abroad (previous year 88).

Fourth quarter: steady sales trend at Praktiker in Germany

In the period from October through December 2008, the sales trend for the Praktiker brand in Germany experienced a distinct stabilization. After a 12.0 percent decrease was recorded for the first nine months, the fourth quarter closed with a minus of only 0.7 percent. In the fourth quarter the number of promotion days was curbed further, although the reduction from 18 to 15 days was less pronounced than the changes in the first three quarters.

Nonetheless, group sales in Germany fell short of the prior-year by 3.9 percent owing to the fact that Max Bahr also refrained from repeating many of the promotions it had offered in the previous year in an effort to stabilize earnings and in anticipation of the 130th anniversary of the company in 2009. Max Bahr thus deliberately put up with a certain loss in sales which fell 10.4 percent below the comparable prior-year level.

Like for like, sales in Germany in the fourth quarter 2008 were down 3.2 percent. In Germany the number of stores decreased from 337 to 336.

Internationally, the Praktiker Group succeeded in increasing sales further in the fourth quarter. Sales of around EUR 303 million attained in the International Segment correspond to a growth of 4.5 percent. In prior quarters of the year, two-digit growth rates had invariably been recorded. This would also have been the case in the fourth quarter, at 10.4 percent, had exchange rates stayed constant.

On a like-for-like basis, the international business recorded a minus of 7.8 percent in euro and of 3.4 percent in local currency in the fourth quarter registering the weakest growth in the fiscal year. But particularly in Bulgaria, Poland and Romania sales trends (in local currency) continued to be steady.

In the fourth quarter, six new stores were opened outside Germany, two each in Romania, Ukraine and Hungary. Just before the end of the year, however, one location was temporarily lost. The store in Zabrze (Poland) was destroyed in the night to December 26 by fire.

For the reasons explained above, Praktiker Group did not succeed in increasing sales in the fourth quarter 2008 in year-on-year comparison, other than expected still at the beginning of the quarter. In total, sales in this period reached EUR 893 million, corresponding to a decrease of 1.2 percent from the comparable prior-year quarter. With exchange rates unchanged, by contrast, sales would have increased by 0.5 percent. Like for like, the minus was 4.6 percent, though it would only have been 3.3 percent on the assumption of constant exchange rates.

To which extent the mentioned trends, especially the changes in Eastern European exchange rates, will impact on earnings, can only be ascertained in the further course of the preparation of the annual financial statements. That is why, just one week after year end, no precise prediction of earnings can be made yet.

Praktiker Group will publish its final annual financial statements on March 27, 2009.

Sales Figures in 2008* and Q4 2008*

in € m	2008	2007	Change in % (€)		Change in % (local currency)
			abs.	lfl	abs.	lfl
Konzern	893	904	-1,2	-4,6	0,5	-3,3
Germany	590	614	-3,9	-3,2	-3,9	-3,2
International	303	289	4,5	-7,8	10,4	-3,4
* preliminary figures

Development of Number of Stores in 2008

Stores	Dec 31, 2008	Dec 31, 2007	Change
Germany	336	337	-1
Praktiker	260	261	-1
Max Bahr	76	76	0
International	100*	88	12
Greece	11	10	1
Luxembourg	3	3	0
Poland	20*	20	0
Hungary	19	17	2
Turkey	10	9	1
Romania	25	20	5
Bulgaria	9	8	1
Ukraine	3	1	2
Praktiker Group	436*	425	11
* excluding the store in Zabrze (Poland) which burnt down on 26 December 2008

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