GROHE Increases Sales and Earnings in the First Half of 2013

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY--(Marketwired - Sept. 9, 2013) - GROHE, the world's leading provider of sanitary fittings, continues to implement successfully its growth strategy in the first half of 2013. The GROHE Group grew sales by five per cent to EUR730 million (H1 2012: EUR695 million) in a challenging market environment. Excluding the Chinese subsidiary Joyou, which has been fully consolidated since July 2011, sales grew by six per cent to EUR566 million (H1 2012: EUR536m).

"Our international growth strategy enabled us to increase sales across all regions," said David Haines, CEO of GROHE. "This positive sales trend was also partly driven by the success we have seen in our attractive, high-end product range, Made in Germany."

Operating earnings grew by six per cent during the reporting period: on a group-wide basis, GROHE generated an adjusted EBITDA of EUR141 million (H1 2012: EUR133m). Before the consolidation of Joyou AG, normalised EBITDA amounted to EUR108 million (H1 2012: EUR102m) and GROHE's EBITDA margin remained consistently high at over 19 per cent. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to EUR144 million (H1 2012: EUR152m).

Once again, GROHE performed well in Germany: sales in its home market increased by more than seven per cent compared with the year before. Of total sales in the first half of 2013, 15% can be attributed to Germany. The Group also grew in Europe and Asia. GROHE even achieved double-digit growth from the American continent and in the Middle East/Africa region.

"We intend to strengthen our market-leading position further in the coming years. As manufacturers of innovative products, we are benefiting in particular from megatrends such as urbanisation, lifestyle bathrooms and growing demands for modern water technology," said David Haines. "Meanwhile, we can always rely on the support of our owners. Together, we continue to assess all strategic options available to us in order to fully exploit our company's growth potential."

About GROHE

Under the management of Grohe Group S.a.r.l. Luxemburg, GROHE Group comprises Grohe Holding GmbH, Hemer; Grohe AG, Hemer; Joyou AG, Hamburg (fully consolidated since 1 July 2011) and other subsidiaries in foreign markets.

GROHE Group is Europe's largest and the world's leading provider of sanitary fittings under one brand. As a global brand for sanitary products and systems, GROHE relies on its brand values quality, technology, design and responsibility in order to be able to offer "Pure Freude an Wasser".

GROHE Group employs some 9,000 people on average worldwide (including around 3,400 at Joyou). There are about 2,300 employees working at GROHE in Germany. In 2012, the company's kitchen and bathroom fittings and showers, automatic fittings for the commercial and contract sectors, and installation and flushing systems generated consolidated sales of EUR1,400 million.

GROHE Group has nine production plants, of which six are located outside Germany, namely in Portugal, Thailand, Canada and China. The company currently generates 85 percent of its sales outside Germany.

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