QUARTERLY INFORMATION

Sales for the 2nd quarter of 2011/2012

  • Confirmation of positive trends recorded during the 1st quarter 

    • Return to growth for High Tech in Q2 

    • Continued strong growth for La Galerie 

  • Group sales: up 2.4% to ? 68.9 million  

  • Business volumes up 10.7% to ? 92.3 million 

  • Sales for La Galerie partners up 46.5% to ? 25.5 million 

Saint-Ouen, 17 November 2011 - 5.45 pm

 

Today, RueDuCommerce Group, the leading independent e-tailer listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, publishes its sales for the second quarter of the 2011/2012 financial year.

Consolidated data (unaudited)

(? millions)1st quarter
(April to June)
2nd quarter
(July to September)
1st half-year
(April to September)
2011 /
2012
2010 /
2011
% change2011 /
2012
2010 /
2011
% change2011 /
2012
2010 /
2011
% change
Group sales58.265.2(10.8%)68.967.32.4%127.1132.5(4.1)%
Business volume*79.879.10.9%92.383.410.7%172.1162.55.9%
La Galerie partners' sales23.415.056.2%25.517.446.5%48.932.450.9%

RueDuCommerce achieved consolidated sales of ? 68.9 million for the 2nd quarter of its financial year from 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012, an increase of 2.4% compared to the 2nd quarter of 2010/2011.  During the same period, the business volume*, which includes all sales of La Galerie partners, increased by 10.7% to ? 92.3 million.  At the same time, La Galerie's e-merchant partners reported strong sales growth of 46.5% to ? 25.5 million, compared to ? 17.4 million during the same period of the previous year.

* See glossary at end of document

Another quarter of strong growth for La Galerie

E-merchant partners recorded further strong growth in sales during the second quarter of the financial year, with growth of 46.5% compared with the second quarter of the previous year, following growth of more than 56% in the first quarter.  During the first half, the total sales growth was 50.9%.

Business volumes also rose to ? 92.3 million during the quarter and ? 172.1 million over the first six months of the financial year.

RueDuCommerce's La Galerie remains the benchmark in France with 2 million products online and in stock and, quarter after quarter, keeps increasing its contribution to the overall performance of the Group.

With La Galerie, RueDuCommerce's offering extends to IT, High Tech, electrical goods, furniture, gardening, interior design, DIY, spare parts and car accessories, cultural products, toys, sport, fashion, music, etc.

High Tech returns to growth

The second quarter performance was in line with that forecast upon the publication of sales for the first quarter last July, with a substantial increase in High Tech sales month after month.

This quarter also marked a return to growth in this historic market sector for RueDuCommerce with consolidated sales growth of 2.4%.  During the first half, consolidated sales reached ? 127.1 million, -4.1% compared to the first half of the previous financial year.

The restructuring of the Group in 2010, along with a better product mix and a revamped marketing platform have offset the ever difficult High Tech market, in particular for brown goods. The Group also confirmed its position among the market leaders in France.

Lastly, the advertising agency developed internally continued to record excellent performances inside as well as outside captive sectors.

* See glossary at the end of the document

Recent events

On 27 October 2011, RueDuCommerce announced the signing of an agreement for the acquisition of a stake in RueDuCommerce by Altacom, a subsidiary of Altarea Cogedim.

On conclusion of the acquisition transaction and an in-kind contribution, Altacom will hold 28.64% of RueDuCommerce's share capital.

At the same time, RueDuCommerce has been informed of Altarea Cogedim's intention, through Altacom, to acquire all outstanding RueDuCommerce shares at a price of ? 9 per share (see press release online at www.rueducommerce.com:
http://www.rueducommerce.com/).

***

2011-2012 financial year shareholders' agenda (after close of trading)

28 November 2011: 1st half-year results

26 January 2012: 3rd quarter sales

Glossary

Business volume: includes consolidated sales of products and services distributed by the Company, plus sales of La Galerie's partners.

Overall Group Traffic: the number of visits, i.e. the number of individual sessions initiated by all visitors to Group websites over the past 12 months.

About RueDuCommerce

Established in 1999, RueDuCommerce is the leading independent e-commerce Group quoted on the Paris Stock Exchange.  

The RueDuCommerce Group:

  • Includes 4 flagship brands: RueduCommerce.com, TopAchat.com, Clust.com and Alapage.com 

  • Was visited more than 170 million times over the past 12 months 

  • Has a customer base of more than 8 million 

  • Markets almost 2 million products from a product offering extending to High Tech, Beauty, Fashion, Electrical Goods, Toys and Games, Sport, DIY and Cultural Goods. 

As the only ISO 9001-certified after-sales-service French e-commerce website, RueDuCommerce was voted best high tech product website by web users in 2009.

The Group is listed on Compartment C of the NYSE Euronext Paris Stock Exchange
(ISIN: FR0004053338 - Ticker: RDC)
                Please visit our website for more information: www.rueducommerce.com/corporate:
http://www.rueducommerce.com/corporate

Contacts

Investor Relations          
Laurent Bertin - Chief Financial Officer        
Laurent.bertin@rueducommerce.com:
mailto:Laurent.bertin@rueducommerce.com                               

Arnaud Salla            
Quadrant Finance            
Tel: +33 6 16 17 52 26          
arnaudsalla@quadrant-finance.com:
mailto:arnaudsalla@quadrant-finance.com                                

Press Relations
Cécile Courtois
cecile.courtois@rueducommerce.com:
mailto:cecile.courtois@rueducommerce.com

Agnès Gilbert
Eudoxie PR
Tel: +33 6 84 61 30 71
a.gilbert@eudoxie-pr.com:
mailto:a.gilbert@eudoxie-pr.com

RDCPRCAT2FY12:
http://hugin.info/143571/R/1564860/485536.pdf



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