38% YEAR ON YEAR SALES GROWTH IN THE SECOND QUARTER

CDON Group AB (NASDAQ OMX Stockholm’s Mid Cap market: CDON) today announced its financial results for the second quarter and first half of the year, the period 1 January – 30 June 2012.

Second Quarter

• Net sales up 38% year on year to SEK 952.1 (689.1) million and organic growth of 25%*
• Gross profit of SEK 109.0 (126.4) million with a gross margin of 11.4%; when excluding non-recurring items of SEK -33,9 million the gross margin is 15.0%**
• Operating profit of SEK -43.5 (19.1) million and operating margin of -4.6%; when excluding non-recurring items of SEK -37.7 million the operating margin is -0.6%**
• Net income of SEK -37.1 (10.4) million
• Basic earnings per share of SEK -0.54 (0.16)

Half Year

• Net sales up 51% year on year to SEK 1,906.4 (1,260.9) million and organic growth of 33%*
• Gross profit of SEK 244.6 (236.3) million with a gross margin of 12.8%; when excluding non-recurring items of SEK -47.9 million the gross margin is 15.3%**
• Operating profit of SEK -55.6 (39.2) million and operating margin of -2.9%; when excluding non-recurring items of SEK -51.7 million the operating margin is -0.2%**
• Net income of SEK -50.1 (23.1) million
• Basic earnings per share of SEK -0.72 (0.35)

* Excluding Tretti AB for the period Jan-May 2012
** There are non-recurring items of SEK -37.7 million in the Group’s result for the second quarter mainly attributed to the Nelly.com warehouse relocation, of which SEK -33.9 million affect the gross profit. The first half of the year also includes further non-recurring costs of SEK -14.0 million of which SEK 7.0 million was attributed to the Nelly.com warehouse relocation and SEK 7.0 million was attributed to Nelly.com’s adjusted return offset model.

 
CEO’s statement
Paul Fischbein, President and CEO of CDON Group commented: “The second quarter was another strong growth quarter for CDON Group with a sales increase of 38%. We continue to grow faster than both the traditional retail and online market, thereby strengthening our position in the e-commerce market.”

”During the second quarter, we worked intensively to consolidate CDON.com as the leading internet shopping mall in the Nordic region. Tretti.com’s assortment of white goods, household appliances and outdoor products were recently added to CDON.com, further strengthening our consumer offering. At the same time we are creating opportunities for other group companies to capitalize on CDON.com’s leading market position in the Nordics.”

“We performed one of our largest internal reorganisations ever in the period, as we moved the entire Nelly.com warehouse operations. This was a necessary measure that made a considerable impression on the Fashion segment’s results in the quarter, both through higher than expected moving costs but also through a decreased growth rate in the period. We have now recruited a new management for the Group's Fashion segment which, combined with our new and more efficient warehouse, makes us a well positioned as we again accelerate our marketing efforts. At the same time we will continue to fine-tune our internal processes.”

Forward looking statement
CDON Group operates in a sector with a high underlying market growth. The Group is in an intense growth phase and the strategy is to strengthen its market position through a retained high growth momentum. This includes substantial investments in expansion and in improving the infrastructure to ensure long-term growth, earnings and customer satisfaction. The objective is to deliver a positive operating result, including non-recurring items, for the full year. (The Group replaces its previous guidance, which was that “the underlying operating margin, adjusted for expansion, will continue to improve over the previous year”).

 
The company will host a conference call today at 15.00 Stockholm time, 14.00 London time and 09.00 New York time.

To participate in the conference call, please dial:
Sweden:                                         +46 (0)8 587 694 45
International:                                 +44 (0)20 336 453 81
US:                                                   +1 646 254 33 61

The access pin code for the conference call is 7947471.
To listen to the conference call online, please go to www.cdongroup.com.

***

For additional information, please visit www.cdongroup.com or contact:

Paul Fischbein, President & Chief Executive Officer
Phone:                                             +46 (0) 10 703 20 00

Press, Investor and analysts enquiries:
Fredrik Bengtsson, Head of Communications
Phone:                                             +46 (0) 700 80 75 04
E-mail:                                              press@cdongroup.com, ir@cdongroup.com
 

About CDON Group
CDON Group is the leading e-commerce group in the Nordic region. Established in 1999, the Group has continuously expanded its product portfolio and is now a leading e-commerce player in the Entertainment (CDON.COM, BookPlus.fi and Lekmer.com), Fashion (Nelly.com, Heppo.com and Members.com), Sport & Health (Gymgrossisten.com and Bodystore.com) and Home & Garden (Tretti.com and Room21.com) segments. CDON Group’s ten online stores attract approximately 172 million site visits and two million unique customers on a yearly basis.

 
The information in this announcement is that which CDON Group AB is required to disclose under the Securities Markets Act. This information was released for publication at 13:00 CET 18 July 2012.

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