News

03/03/2009 - Profit 2008

APRIL GROUP recorded consolidated sales of €735.78m in the year ended 31 December 2008, an
increased of 21.8% as published and 14.9% on a pro forma basis.

Operating profit declined by 9.1% to €95.1m, mainly because of a significant deterioration in net
financial income linked to conditions in the financial markets. As announced mid-December, APRIL
GROUP recognised impairment losses of €16m in respect of certain financial assets in its income
statement, in application of IFRS requirements. The markets' deterioration also affected the
performances of the British subsidiary L&E, its title insurance activity being totally correlated to the
mortgage market, and affected the start up of the Group Life & Savings activity. In addition to these
economic factors, the Group pursued a particularly active investment policy in 2008, notably to roll out
the APRIL Santé network (53 points-of-sales opened to date).

For the reasons detailed above, the operating margin represented 12.9% of sales in 2008
compared with 17.3% the year before, a decrease of 4.4 points, of which half is due to the impairment
loss recognised in respect of financial assets and one percentage point to operating charges
associated to the launch of the APRIL Santé network.

Income tax expense having risen by 3.3% to €33m, net attributable profit declined by 16%, equivalent
to a net margin of 8.2%, while earnings per share reached €1.49 in 2008 and return on equity
19.9%. At the Shareholders' General Meeting, the board will propose that a net dividend of €0.37 per
share be distributed for 2008.

Besides the headway made in rolling out the APRIL Santé network, the Group was particularly active
in 2008, completing seven acquisitions, of which five outside France, and following this up with the
acquisition of 51% of the capital of the Swiss health insurance broker Sano Concept in January 2009.
These acquisitions, notably the purchase of Coris, empowered the Group to take a decisive step in
its international development, increasing its global presence from six to 25 countries.

In 2009, APRIL GROUP will press ahead with the development of its activities, combining further
robust organic growth and opportunities for expanding through acquisitions, at the same time
smoothing over the pace of its investments to adapt to the prevailing environment,
characterised notably by lesser visibility, and also to help margins recover to normative levels.
On these bases, given the recurring business generated by the Group and its diversified activities, as
well as its particularly sound financial situation, with hardly any debt, APRIL GROUP expects doubledigit
sales and earnings growth in 2009 barring exceptional market conditions, underlining the
solidity of its strategic and financial model even in the context of a crisis.

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