by Dr Hermann Pilz
The Hawesco Holding in Hamburg saw its turnover increase by 10.3% in 2007 to €334m in 2007. According to Alexander Margarithoff, chairman of the board, this was not only his group’s strongest performance since 2001, but also far above
the market as a whole. At €18m, operating profit was marginally below last year (€18.6m) due to a one-off investment and slightly higher operating costs. For that reason, the board has proposed a dividend of €0.83 per share.
All three major sectors of the group contributed to the growth. Retail sales through Jacques Weindepot were up 3.9% to €105.1m. Mail order via Hawesco was up 9.3% to €89m, showing again the kind of growth that had once made the company the envy of the trade. The strongest growth, however, came through the wholesale operations of Wein Wolf, CWD and Arianne Abayan, which together were up 16.6% to €139.5m.
