Steinhoff International Holdings reports a net loss of € 3.994bn in the consolidated financial statements for the 2016/2017 business year published more than one year late. In the 15-month period from July 2015 to September 2016, which was used for comparison with the previous year, the loss of €237 million was significantly lower. Steinhoff had changed its fiscal year 2015/2016, which ended in September instead of June as before.
The other key earnings figures for the 2016/2017 financial year were also clearly negative. Group EBITDA was negative at €3.257bn, compared with a positive €633m in the previous year. The high loss was mainly due to write-downs totaling €3.995bn, which were offset by EBITDA of €738m (-16%) generated in the individual divisions. EBIT, including the aforementioned write-downs, is reported at € -3.676bn, compared with an operating profit of € 278m in the previous year.
In contrast to the key earnings figures, Group sales increased by 17% to €18.818bn. This growth is mainly attributable to the acquisitions in the USA. Mattress Firm, the mattress retailer acquired on 30 September 2016, contributed € 2.981bn to Group sales in the reporting period. The US mattress manufacturer Sherwood Bedding, which was acquired on 25 May 2017 and consolidated as of 1 July, contributed a further € 13m in sales. In addition, Steinhoff was able to increase its sales in the "Australasia" division by 9 % to € 1.285bn. By contrast, sales in Africa (-3% to €5.269bn) and Europe (-3% to €9.268bn) both declined.
In Europe, Conforama accounted for €3.472bn. Compared with the same period of the previous year, this corresponds to a decline of 21%. A total of € 1.761bn (-36 %) was generated in the "ERM" segment, of which € 699m was generated via the furniture discounter Poco. Due to a change in the basis of consolidation in the reporting period, Poco revenue is only included until March 2017. For the period from April to September 2017, Steinhoff reported separate sales of €601m for Poco. The Kika/Leiner Group, which is also assigned to the segment, posted a decline of 19 % to € 898m. The furniture activities in Great Britain and Switzerland combined in the "Other" segment contributed a total of € 895m (-24 %) to Group sales.
