EANS-Adhoc: Arcandor AG / Consolidation programme for Arcandor decided

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ad-hoc disclosure pursuant to section 15 of the WpHG transmitted by euro
adhoc with the aim of a Europe-wide distribution. The issuer is solely
responsible for the content of this announcement.
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20.04.2009

Essen/Germany, April 20, 2009 Consolidation programme for Arcandor
decided The Arcandor AG Management Board presented to the Supervisory
Board a far-reaching consolidation programme. The goal of the
programme is to improve cash flow on a sustained basis. Arcandor
should thus generate positive cash flows and earnings in all three
core business divisions. The mid-term target for Primondo is an
EBITDA margin of 7%; for Karstadt of 6%. Thomas Cook has announced a
target EBIT margin of 4.8%. The Group expects a further financing
requirement of up to EUR 900 million over the coming 5 years for the
implementation of these measures in addition to the pending
refinancing in the summer of 2009. Within the scope of the
consolidation programme, the Group will concentrate on the profitable
core areas of Primondo and Karstadt. The core business of Primondo
will consist of the e-commerce and Quelle´s catalogue business in
Germany and abroad, the home shopping specialist HSE24 and the
existing special mail order providers. The core business of Karstadt
will in future consist of 81 Karstadt branches and 27 Karstadt Sports
branches. The Tourism division of Thomas Cook is, and remains,
Arcandor´s core business. Business units which no longer belong to
the core business or require restructuring are to be developed on an
individual basis in the Arcandor cross-divisional unit ATRYS. The
units which are not part of the Primondo core business include the
over-the-counter retail business of Quelle with 115 technical centres
and approximately 1,500 Quelle shops. From the Karstadt portfolio,
among others eight branches and the Premium stores will be developed
further in the future Management Board division. The operating and
disciplinary management remains in the respective retail companies,
Karstadt and Primondo. ATRYS has the goal to reduce the average
annual negative cash flows of approximately EUR 300 million (average
figure of several years) to zero as quickly as possible. In future,
Arcandor will rigorously separate the procurement and the assortment
responsibility in the trading segments. Procurement is planned to be
bundled centrally in a division to be established at Management Board
level. It will include the previous capacities of both trading
companies. Via the new organisation of the processes and the bundling
of volumes, the objective is to achieve synergies of up to 5% of the
entire purchasing volume at Arcandor (excluding Thomas Cook) of over
EUR 7 billion within two to three years. The Management Board

end of announcement euro adhoc
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ots Originaltext: Arcandor AG
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Further inquiry note:

Detlef Neveling

Telefon: +49 (0) 201 727-9816

E-Mail: detlef.neveling@arcandor.com

Branche: Retail
ISIN: DE0006275001
WKN: 627500
Index: Midcap Market Index, MDAX, CDAX, Classic All Share, HDAX,
Prime All Share
Börsen: Börse Frankfurt / regulated dealing/prime standard
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