Tipp24: Group earnings for 2006 higher than expected, Share buyback programme agreed

Feb 12, 2007 10:13 AM

Tipp24 AG / Preliminary Results/Miscellaneous



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The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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Tipp24: Group earnings for 2006 higher than expected
- EBIT increased to € 7.2 million (previous year: € 6.0 million)
- Number of customers registered considerably larger than planned at about
1.8 (1.3) million

Share buyback programme agreed

(Hamburg, 12. February 2007) Tipp24 continues growth path in the 2006
fiscal year and exceeds expected earnings.

The company increased the number of its customers considerably to about 1.8
million (previous year: 1.3 million) in the 2006 fiscal year. The billings
- – essentially lottery tickets that are sold – climbed to EUR 264.2
(204.7) million, growth of 29.1 per cent. The revenue by Tipp24 of EUR 34.6
(26.1) million was up 32.6 per cent, which was within the forecast growth
range.

Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) improved by 20.0 per cent to EUR
7.2 (6.0) million. Group earnings increased far more – more than doubling
to EUR 7.5 (3.3) million, an increase of 127.3 per cent. Tipp24‘s Group
earnings were higher than expected as a result.

Dr Hans Cornehl, Chief Financial Officer of Tipp 24: 'We consider the
continued dynamic growth of our company in a difficult regulatory
environment to be a complete success. Particularly in view of the fact that
there were special negative effects in 2006: higher marketing expenses in
connection with the record jackpot, costs of lobbying activities and the
elimination of ExtraLotto.'


Share buyback programme

The price of the Tipp24 AG share does not reflect the positive development
of the company’s business in the past business year. Great ongoing
uncertainty about the legal situation with regard to private Internet
providers of state lottery products is the reason for this. 'The market is
making a maximum risk discount in the case of Tipp24 and is not taking into
account the fact that a growing proportion of sales is being generated
outside Germany and that the company has growth potential there. We have
therefore decided to implement a share buyback programme for  up to five
per cent of the Tipp24 shares', says Jens Schumann, one of the founders and
management board members of Tipp24AG.

Tipp24 plans to acquire a total of up to 443,615 of its own shares in the
context of this programme. The shares are to be used primarily as
acquisition currency. In addition to this, all or some of the shares can be
withdrawn instead. The planned share buyback programme starts on 19.
February and ends on 30. September 2007. The company will be publishing
further details about this programme in good time on the Tipp24 AG website
(www.tipp24-ag.de).

About Tipp24 AG: Tipp24 was established in 1999 and is now the market
leader for lottery products in the Internet on the basis of billings. The
company has succeeded in achieving impressive growth rates right from the
start. Almost all state lottery products are supplied. It only takes a few
mouse clicks to buy a lottery ticket round the clock, quickly and
anonymously. The ticket receipt is kept safely, winners are notified about
their prizes automatically by text message and e-mail and prizes are
credited automatically. No extra charge is made for this service.
Subsidiaries of Tipp24 (www.tipp24.de) are Ventura24 in Spain
(www.ventura24.es) and Puntogioco24 (www.puntogioco24.it) in Italy.



Press contact:
Tipp24 AG
Andrea Fratini
Press and Public Relations Manager
Tel.: +49 40 32 55 33-660
E-mail: presse@tipp24.de
Internet: www.tipp24.de/presse/


DGAP 12.02.2007 
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Language:     English
Issuer:       Tipp24 AG
              Straßenbahnring 11-13
              20251 Hamburg Deutschland
Phone:        +49 (0)40 325533-0
Fax:          +49 (0)40 325533-77
E-mail:       office@tipp24.de
WWW:          www.tipp24-ag.de
ISIN:         DE0007847147
WKN:          784714
Indices:      
Listed:       Amtlicher Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in
              Berlin-Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München, Stuttgart
 
End of News                                     DGAP News-Service
 
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