Ahlers reports FY17 earnings below expectations

According to the preliminary figures, consolidated earnings after taxes at Ahlers Ag for the full year were the company said below expectations at 1.9 million euros (2.3 million dollars) due to increased expenses and lower gross profit margin.

The company increased its sales revenues by 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter despite discontinuation of Gin Tonic and the private label business with the continued operations growing by 1.4 percent or 3.3 million euros (4.1 million dollars) in the full year 2016/17. Total sales revenues in 2016/17 amounted to 235.9 million euros (293 million dollars) compared to 237.8 million euros (295 million dollars).

The company said that as the management board had expected much stronger increases, the full-year EBITDA target and the full-year consolidated EAT target were not reached and stood at 8.3 million euros (10.3 million dollars) against previous year’s 9.2 million euros (11.4 million dollars). The company plans to propose a stable dividend of 0.15 euros (0.19 dollar) per common share and 0.20 euro (0.25 dollar) per preferred share to the annual shareholders’ meeting on April 24, 2018.