The Hamburg optician group Fielmann continues its growth of the past few years despite the global crises, the weakening German economy and US customs policy. In the first quarter, sales climbed 13 percent to 603 million euros in the first quarter, as the company announced in the presentation of its final years in Hamburg on Wednesday. According to preliminary calculations, the adjusted result before interest, taxes and depreciation (EBITDA) rose by 28 percent to 146 million euros.
Fielmann expects 2.5 billion euros in turnover this year
Steffen Bätjer predicted the sale of around 9.5 million glasses for the entire year. He put the expected sales of the group at around 2.5 billion euros. The EBITDA will be around 580 million euros. The group confirmed the figures for 2024: sales last year increased by 15 percent to EUR 2.3 billion. The company benefited from the integration of its US takeovers. The bottom line is that Fielmann earned a fifth with 154 million euros.
“There are people who pay too much for their glasses do not get the service they earn,” said CEO Marc Fielmann. The further growth potential is correspondingly high. He mainly called the United States, Spain and Eastern Europe. In Germany he does not expect many new branches. There it is more about the enlargement of existing branches.
Customs dispute with the USA is hardly affected by Fielmann
The customs dispute with the USA hardly affects the optician group. “Because we produce all glasses and a large part of the glasses in the United States, the influence of any trading duties on our business is comparatively low,” said Fielmann. Even if the tariffs remained as they are, “the maximum risk in the perennial area is at group level in relation to our sales”.
Drivers for the sales increases are also a further centralization of the glasses production, which reduces the unit costs and the opticians in the branches receive more time for customers. There is also a lowering of the central costs. Sometimes that is simply the waiver of expenses, said Fielmann. There is also a lot of standardization, standardization and automation of processes. “Sounds not that exciting, but makes great margins,” said Fielmann.
Fielmann: Rendite in Europe will be 25 percent as planned
With regard to the corporate strategy “Vision 2025”, Fielmann said that all goals had been achieved or overfilled. In this way, sales will have increased by one billion euros compared to the beginning of the “Vision 2025”. This corresponds to growth of around 70 percent and is almost twice as much as planned. The return in Europe will be 25 percent as planned.
The general meeting with the provisional half -year figures is scheduled for July 10th. Then Fielmann also wants to present the corporate strategy “Vision 2035” including the goals for 2030.
