Boursorama: First Half 2008 Results

Stable Consolidated net income at EUR 23.1 million

Solid operating performance in all businesses

Peripheral businesses in Germany sold for EUR 42 million
BOULOGNE-BILLANCOURT, France--(Business Wire)--
Regulatory News:

Boursorama (Paris:BRS):

Highlights

Results

-- Stable operating income at EUR 132.7 million and flat net
banking income.

-- Slight decline in gross operating income to EUR 32.1 million,
compared with EUR 33.4 million in H1 2007, as a result of a
proactive strategy of investment in marketing (EUR 10.7
million in H1 2008 compared with EUR 8.5 million in H1 2007).

-- Net income was flat at EUR 23.1 million.

Business performance

-- Brokerage: weaker market conditions led to the number of
orders placed in the first half of 2008 falling by 14%
compared with the first half of 2007. Gross commission per
order increased within the first half.

-- Banking: Boursorama Banque maintained its momentum with a 71%
increase in the number of new bank accounts opened in the
first half compared with the first half of 2007. New account
openings hit a record level in July 2008.

-- Savings: assets under management (life insurance plus mutual
funds excluding Veritas) were flat at EUR 3.23 billion thanks
to net positive inflows which offset falling financial
markets.

-- Media: there was a good performance in France, where the Media
business grew by 6% over the half.

Developments

-- Germany: peripheral businesses were sold for EUR 42 million,
and OnVista Bank was launched.

-- Spain: a detailed action plan has been prepared for expansion
of the online banking joint venture with La Caixa.

Vincent Taupin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Boursorama, comments: "Boursorama has once again demonstrated the
strength of its model, reporting stable net income for the first half
despite very difficult market conditions. Boursorama can look forward
with confidence to continuing to expand in France and the rest of
Europe thanks to its more diversified and more complementary
businesses, a broad product range that better meets different market
conditions and a media business whose strength is continuously
reconfirmed."

-- Adverse stock market conditions were the key feature of the
first half

In the first half of 2008, the Group reported a slight decline in
operating income to EUR 132.7 million, with stable net income compared
with the first half of 2007 at EUR 23.1 million. European economic
conditions were unfavourable, with inflation rate rising and growth
forecasts for 2008 often revised down.

-- Brokerage business: weak stock market conditions affected
activity

2007 brought rising stock market indices, followed by sustained
volatility as a result of the subprime crisis. In turn, the first half
of 2008 brought weaker stock market conditions, leading to a
double-digit decline in the indices of the main European countries.

As a result, the number of broking transactions was down 14%
compared with the first half of 2007. There were 2.7 million orders in
the first half.

Sales momentum also remained positive, with 21,850 new "brokerage"
accounts opened in the first half, taking the total number of
"brokerage" accounts to 365,610.

This momentum was also illustrated in France by Boursorama's good
performance in terms of number of transactions in the first half of
2008 (-15% compared with the first half of 2007) relative to all
online ACSEL(1) brokers (-21%).

Finally, gross commission per order rose to EUR 19.2 in the second
quarter of 2008, compared with EUR 18.1 per transaction in the first
quarter, thanks to the Group's introduction of new prices in France.
The gross commission per order was affected by the elimination of
stock market duty at the beginning of the year.

"Brokerage" operating income amounted to EUR 47.7 million, or 36%
of total revenues.

(1) ACSEL: Association pour le Commerce et les Services en Ligne.
Broker members of ACSEL are: Barclays Bank, Bourse Direct-Capitol-ABS
(+ Wargny), Boursorama, Cortal-Consors, CPR-Online - TopTrades,
Fortuneo, ING Direct, Natixis, Compagnie 1818 and Euronext Paris for
total market figures.

-- Banking business: momentum maintained

Banking business sales momentum was confirmed in France in the
first half of 2008, with a record 10,300 new bank accounts, a 71%
increase compared with the first half of 2007. This trend has
continued in July, with 2,200 new accounts opened in the month. At the
end of June 2008, the number of bank accounts stood at 70,620.

At the Group level, outstanding loans stood at EUR 1.8 billion and
customer deposits were EUR 2.46 billion at the end of June 2008
(compared with EUR 2.40 billion at the end of June 2007). Passbook
account outstandings continued to grow very strongly, reaching EUR 323
million at the end of June 2008 compared with EUR 91 million at the
end of June 2007.

In the first half of 2008, banking revenues totalled EUR 45
million, up slightly from the first half of 2007. These consisted of
EUR 40.7 million of net interest income, which includes interest
income for the "brokerage" business (sight deposits on securities
accounts) and EUR 4.3 million of "banking" commission.

-- Savings business: holding up well

Despite generally less favourable conditions for savings
businesses, Boursorama demonstrated its dynamism in the first half
thanks in particular to the success of the "zero percent" offer in
France. In the first half of 2008, Boursorama opened 8,820 Savings
accounts, taking the total number of accounts in Europe at the end of
June 2008 to 93,290 (excluding Veritas), compared with 73,620 at the
end of June 2007.

-- Life insurance: Boursorama outperformed the market, growing
outstandings by 10% to EUR 1.59 billion at the end of June
2008 (vs 3% growth for the market - source: FFSA monthly
review, June 2008).

-- Mutual funds (excluding Veritas): mutual fund assets under
management stood at EUR 1.64 billion at the end of June 2008
compared with EUR 1.88 billion at the end of June 2007,
representing a decline of 13% compared with a European market
decline of 15% (Eurostoxx 50 performance from 31 December 2007
to 30 June 2008).

Operating income from the "Savings" business came to EUR 13.3
million in the first half of 2008, and represented 10% of revenues.

-- Media business: strong growth in France, resilience in Germany

Boursorama has significantly increased the share of revenues from
the media business following the acquisition in Germany of the leading
online financial information portal www.onvista.de at the end of 2007.

In France, against a difficult economic background in the first
half, Boursorama took advantage of its position as online financial
information leader. As the crossroad of financial community audience,
the site www.boursorama.com is still an effective advertising medium
and is sought by advertisers. As a result, media business revenues in
the first half were up 6% compared with the first half of 2007 to EUR
6.6 million. This growth was mainly due to favourable trends in the
"financial products" segment with the development of annual
partnerships, the acquisition of new mutual fund customers and a
successful wealth tax campaign.

In Germany, despite adverse conditions and the suspension by two
key advertisers of their advertising investment, revenues generated by
the core businesses (www.onvista.de) proved resilient at EUR 5.5
million compared with EUR 6.3 million in the first half of last year
(against a background of a 19% decline by the DAX between 1 January
2008 and 30 June 2008).

In the first half of 2008, "Media" operating income amounted to
EUR 19.6 million (of which EUR 13.1 million came from OnVista AG) and
represented 15% of operating income.

-- Continuing roll-out of the Boursorama model in Europe

-- Germany: continuing reorganisation

In the first half of 2008, Boursorama sold Veritas to Augur
Capital for EUR 15 million. Veritas, the Boursorama group's German
asset management subsidiary managed EUR 887 million of assets at the
end of June 2008. Still with the aim of focusing on its core business,
OnVista AG announced the sale of its advertising space-selling
companies, Ad2Net and Ligatus, together with the medical portal
www.onmeda.de, for a total of EUR 27 million.

The financial impact of these disposals will be manifest when
Veritas is deconsolidated in the third quarter of 2008 and a gain of
EUR 7.5 million is recognised on this disposal. The sale of OnVista
AG's peripheral businesses will lead to a EUR 18.3 million reduction
in purchased OnVista AG goodwill.

The disposals raised a total of EUR 42 million represent an
important step in the reorganisation of Boursorama's businesses in
Germany. They follow the recent launch of the www.onvista-bank.de
site, which takes the place of www.fimatex.de.

-- Spain: detailed action plan for developing the banking joint
venture with La Caixa

Following the announcement at the beginning of 2008 that a direct
bank would be created in Spain through a joint venture with La Caixa,
the two parties have recently signed a shareholder agreement. At the
same time, Boursorama has filed a request for a banking licence with
the Bank of Spain.

The legal launch of the joint venture is scheduled for December
2008, with the operational launch of the new bank expected to take
place in the first quarter of 2009.

Boursorama will be a 51% shareholder in the new bank, which will
use the expertise of the online bank Selftrade, and will be supported
by La Caixa's electronic banking infrastructure.

ABOUT Boursorama

Founded in 1995, Boursorama is a major player in online savings in
Europe and is part of the Société Générale Group, with more than 2.7
million orders executed in S108, 590,200 direct accounts and total
assets under management of EUR 11.6 billion at end-june 2008. The
Boursorama Group is present in four countries. In France, it is market
leader in online financial information with the www.boursorama.com
portal and a key player in online banking under the Boursorama Banque
brand. It is one of the top three online brokerage in the United
Kingdom and Spain under the respective brands of Self Trade and Self
Trade Bank. In Germany, Boursorama holds 82.49% of the shares of
OnVista AG, and is present under the brand OnVista Bank. Boursorama is
listed on Eurolist by Euronext Paris - compartment B - ISIN:
FR0000075228 (BRS) - Reuters: FMTX.LN - Bloomberg BRS FP. For all the
latest financial news on Boursorama, go to:
http://Groupe.boursorama.fr

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*T
Consolidated quarterly income statement

(in EUR m) Q2 2008
--------------------------------
Group France Germany UK Spain
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating income 64,9 43,8 11,7 7,6 1,7
Order processing costs -8,3 -6,4 -0,3 -1,4 -0,2
Other banking operating expenses -3,5 -0,9 -2,7 0,0 0,0
Net banking income 53,0 36,6 8,7 6,2 1,5
Overheads (excl. Mkg) -30,6 -18,8 -7,1 -3,4 -1,3
marketing costs -5,5 -4,4 -0,6 -0,9 0,4
Depreciation -1,5 -0,9 -0,4 0,0 0,0
Total operating expenses -37,5 -24,1 -8,1 -4,3 -1,0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Gross operating income 15,5 12,5 0,6 1,9 0,5
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Risk costs 0,2 0,2 0,0 0,0 0,0
Gains/losses on fixed assets 0,4 0,4 0,0 0,0 0,0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Profit before tax 16,1 13,1 0,6 1,9 0,5
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tax -4,2 -3,6 -0,4 0,0 -0,2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Net income 11,9 9,5 0,2 1,9 0,4
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Net income attributable to equity
holders of the parent 11,8 9,5 0,1 1,9 0,4
----------------------------------------------------------------------

(in EUR m) Q2 2007
--------------------------------
Group France Germany UK Spain
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating income 65,9 47,5 6,7 8,8 2,9
Order processing costs -10,5 -7,5 -0,8 -1,9 -0,3
Other banking operating expenses -2,2 -0,7 -1,6 0,0 0,1
Net banking income 53,2 39,4 4,2 6,9 2,6
Overheads (excl. Mkg) -31,3 -22,0 -3,9 -4,0 -1,4
marketing costs -3,7 -1,8 -0,3 -0,8 -0,8
Depreciation -1,1 -0,9 -0,1 0,0 -0,1
Total operating expenses -36,1 -24,7 -4,2 -4,9 -2,2
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Gross operating income 17,1 14,7 0,0 2,0 0,4
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Risk costs 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0
Gains/losses on fixed assets 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Profit before tax 17,1 14,7 0,0 2,0 0,4
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Tax -5,2 -5,2 0,0 0,0 0,0
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Net income 11,9 9,5 0,0 2,0 0,4
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Net income attributable to equity
holders of the parent 11,9 9,5 0,0 2,0 0,4
---------------------------------------------------------------------
*T

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Consolidated half-yearly income statement

(in EUR m) H1 2008
--------------------------------
Group France Germany UK Spain
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating income 132,7 87,8 24,1 15,2 5,7
Order processing costs -17,8 -13,2 -1,2 -3,0 -0,5
Other banking operating expenses -7,3 -1,9 -5,5 0,0 0,1
Net banking income 107,5 72,7 17,4 12,2 5,2
Overheads (excl. Mkg) -61,9 -38,8 -13,9 -6,6 -2,5
marketing costs -10,7 -7,0 -1,0 -1,8 -0,9
Depreciation -2,8 -1,8 -0,9 -0,1 -0,1
Total operating expenses -75,5 -47,6 -15,8 -8,5 -3,5
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Gross operating income 32,1 25,1 1,6 3,7 1,7
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Risk costs 0,0 0,1 0,0 0,0 0,0
Gains/losses on fixed assets 0,4 0,4 0,0 0,0 0,0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Profit before tax 32,4 25,5 1,5 3,7 1,7
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tax -9,4 -7,9 -0,9 0,0 -0,5
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Net income 23,1 17,6 0,6 3,7 1,2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Net income attributable to equity
holders of the parent 22,9 17,6 0,4 3,7 1,2
----------------------------------------------------------------------

(in EUR m) H1 2007
--------------------------------
Group France Germany UK Spain
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating income 134,1 97,0 13,2 17,2 6,6
Order processing costs -22,5 -16,0 -1,6 -4,0 -0,9
Other banking operating expenses -5,3 -2,3 -3,2 0,0 0,1
Net banking income 106,3 78,7 8,5 13,2 5,9
Overheads (excl. Mkg) -62,3 -44,3 -7,7 -7,6 -2,7
marketing costs -8,5 -4,4 -0,7 -1,7 -1,7
Depreciation -2,2 -1,7 -0,2 -0,1 -0,1
Total operating expenses -72,9 -50,4 -8,6 -9,4 -4,5
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Gross operating income 33,4 28,3 -0,1 3,8 1,3
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Risk costs -0,3 -0,2 0,0 0,0 0,0
Gains/losses on fixed assets 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Profit before tax 33,1 28,1 -0,1 3,7 1,3
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Tax -10,0 -10,0 0,0 0,0 0,0
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Net income 23,1 18,1 -0,1 3,7 1,3
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Net income attributable to equity
holders of the parent 23,1 18,1 -0,1 3,7 1,3
---------------------------------------------------------------------
*T

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Follow-up of business indicators

2007
-------------------------------------------------------
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of B2C
orders
executed
----------------------------------------------------------------------
France 1,266,559 1,117,539 1,133,008 1,120,600 4,637,706
Germany 114,708 106,240 122,260 103,689 446,897
Spain 85,797 63,965 59,923 66,778 276,463
United Kingdom 210,071 198,629 207,790 198,322 814,812
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Group 1,677,135 1,486,373 1,522,981 1,489,389 6,175,878
----------------------------------------------------------------------

New accounts
openings
----------------------------------------------------------------------
France 12,996 11,876 11,221 12,915 49,008
o/w savings
(Bvie+0%) 5,692 4,777 3,899 4,142 18,510
o/w bank
accounts 2,937 3,080 3,906 4,813 14,736
Germany 933 879 965 620 3,397
Spain 1,126 853 723 886 3,588
United Kingdom 9,351 7,528 6,725 5,198 28,802
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Group 24,406 21,136 19,634 19,619 84,795
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saving accounts 260 1,190 2,773 3,882 8,105
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of
direct
accounts
----------------------------------------------------------------------
France 241,347 249,119 256,108 264,690 264,690
o/w savings
accounts 68,189 72,491 75,783 79,954 79,954
o/w banking
accounts 57,107 58,577 60,852 63,793 63,793
Germany 101,112 96,609 93,001 91,389 91,389
Spain 20,743 21,200 21,921 22,618 22,618
United Kingdom 184,644 190,384 195,761 200,080 200,080
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Group 547,846 557,312 566,791 578,777 578,777
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saving accounts 4,021 4,927 7,549 11,295 11,295
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Assets under
management
(EUR '000)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Securities
accounts and
PEA equity 6,251,346 6,463,522 6,374,491 6,193,979 6,193,979
Mutual funds 1,756,870 1,880,960 1,879,916 1,808,788 1,808,788
Veritas mutual
funds 1,196,682 1,234,666 1,177,879 1,130,123 1,130,123
Life insurance 1,356,867 1,443,635 1,484,713 1,508,026 1,508,026
Cash deposits 2,235,775 2,396,904 2,421,426 2,511,102 2,511,102
o/w saving
accounts 69,385 91,327 169,080 233,014 233,014
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Group 12,797,541 13,419,688 13,338,424 13,152,017 13,152,017
----------------------------------------------------------------------

2008
----------------------
Q1 Q2
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of B2C orders executed
---------------------------------------------------------------------
France 1,104,554 930,354
Germany 118,101 91,038
Spain 58,036 42,995
United Kingdom 199,725 187,469
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Group 1,480,416 1,251,856
---------------------------------------------------------------------

New accounts openings
---------------------------------------------------------------------
France 14,575 11,562
o/w savings (Bvie+0%) 3,850 4,094
o/w bank accounts 5,747 4,558
Germany 554 496
Spain 660 471
United Kingdom 7,278 5,386
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Group 23,067 17,915
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Saving accounts 3,973 3,395
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of direct accounts
---------------------------------------------------------------------
France 274,842 282,291
o/w savings accounts 83,412 87,120
o/w banking accounts 67,921 70,621
Germany 87,544 82,567
Spain 23,123 23,440
United Kingdom 206,302 201,916
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Group 591,811 590,214
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Saving accounts 15,011 18,203
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Assets under management (EUR '000)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Securities accounts and PEA equity 5,351,322 5,065,414
Mutual funds 1,641,685 1,642,230
Veritas mutual funds 919,814 887,267
Life insurance 1,529,228 1,591,855
Cash deposits 2,482,734 2,458,294
o/w saving accounts 298,250 323,198
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Group 11,924,783 11,645,059
---------------------------------------------------------------------
*T

Boursorama
Directrice de la Communication
Sandra Bos, 01 46 09 49 40
sandra.bos@boursorama.fr
or
Publicis Consultants
Relations presse
Stéphanie Tabouis, 01 44 43 66 20
stephanie.tabouis@consultants.publicis.fr

Copyright Business Wire 2008