BORNHEIM (dpa-AFX) - According to its CEO, the Hornbach DIY group has made a good start to the new financial year. She was "very satisfied" with the first quarter (end of May), Karin Dohm told the Borsen-Zeitung (BoZ, Tuesday). The more favorable weather for Hornbach's business and the improved consumer sentiment had helped. While the forecast for the current financial year presented just under two weeks ago had caused disappointment on the capital market, Dohm considers it to be "cautious", but appropriate.

A strong recovery in the consumer climate, which is important for Hornbach, is unlikely in the short to medium term, said Dohm. She cited the persistently complex macroeconomic challenges as the reason for this. She will continue to focus on costs. "However, the greater levers for improving profitability are our sales and our gross margin," said the manager. The latter in particular has improved sequentially in recent months.

For the 2024/25 financial year as a whole, Hornbach expects sales to slightly exceed the previous year's figure of EUR 6.16 billion. Operating earnings adjusted for special items (adjusted EBIT) are expected to roughly match or at best slightly exceed the 254 million euros of 2023/24./lew/mne/jha/