Delticom reports stable profits for H1 2019

Delticom AG has managed to maintain its gross profit level in the first half of the year despite a slight decrease in sales compared with the prior-year period. Revenues amounted to 285 million euros in the six months to 30 June 2019, 2.1 per cent less year-on-year. Gross profit was 76.9 million euros, nearly unchanged compared to the previous year; stable profits and lower sales meant that the gross margin slightly grew to 21.9 per cent (H1 2018: 21.7%).

Second quarter revenues were more markedly down year-on-year, decreasing 9.6 per cent to 162 million euros.

In the reporting period, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to -3.7 million euros (H1 2018: 6.8 million euros), a year-on-year decrease of 154 per cent). This corresponds to an EBITDA margin of -1.3 per cent (H1 2018: 2.3%). The increased cost base in the first half of the year 2019 mainly results from the acquisition of Allyouneed Fresh in the last quarter of the previous financial year.

A total of 497,000 repeat customers used the various Delticom national portals (including mytyres.co.uk in the UK) in H1 2019, 1.8 per cent fewer than in the first half of last year. Delticom attributes this slight dip to the increasing popularity of all-season tyres. Noting that its core business is replacement tyres for private customers, Delticom writes: “In our estimation, this development is based, among other things, on the trend towards all-season tyres, which has a short-term effect on repurchase rates. Anyone who bought all-season tyres, will – depending on the individual driving behaviour – not need new tyres in the following two to four years. However, we believe that the increasing demand for all-season tyres will shorten the replacement cycle, so that we will be able to welcome customers back to one of our online shops more quickly.”

A total of 616,00 new customers used Delticom’s tyre and car parts portals across Europe, 2.5 per cent more than a year earlier. The company believes this development “is essentially based on the measures taken in recent months to increase the efficiency of our marketing activities.”

The number of active buyers in the first half of 2019, both new customers and repeat buyers (the latter counted only once, regardless of the number of purchases made) was 0.5 per cent lower than in the previous year.