Hornbach lowers its forecast

The board of Hornbach Holding has updated its sales and earnings forecast for the current financial year 2012/2013 to take account of the unfavourable general economic situation in Europe. Group sales for 2012/2013 as a whole are now expected to remain at the previous year's level of € 3.2 bn.

The target figure before was sales growth in the lower single-digit percentage range. The reason given for the more cautious estimate as to how business will develop is the slowdown in consumption in the second half of the year. The earnings forecast for the group is also being revised due to the poorer sales trend. According to this, the operating income (EBIT) in fiscal 2012/2013 will fall short of the record of €169 mio in 2011/2012.