Board of Directors approves results of first quarter 2018
CIR GROUP: HIGHER REVENUES (€ 710.1 MLN; +4.5%) AND EBITDA (€ 84.8 MLN; +5.3%)
NET INCOME € 9.9 MLN (€ 13.5 MLN IN 1Q 2017)
NET FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE PARENT COMPANY AT 31/3 POSITIVE FOR € 336.2 MLN
Milan, April 27 2018 – The Board of Directors of CIR-Compagnie Industriali Riunite S.p.A., which met today under the chairmanship of Rodolfo De Benedetti, has approved the Interim Financial Report as of March 31 2018 presented by Chief Executive Officer Monica Mondardini.
The CIR group operates mainly in three sectors: automotive components (Sogefi), media (GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and healthcare (KOS).
Consolidated results
The revenues of the CIR group for the first quarter of 2018 came in at € 710.1 million, with a rise of 4.5% from € 679.5 million in the same period of 2017. The increase was due in particular to the growth of the revenues of KOS (+13.4%) mainly because of the acquisitions made last year, and of GEDI (+20.7%) after the merger of the ITEDI group.
The gross operating margin (EBITDA) came to € 84.8 million (11.9% of revenues) and was up by 5.3% from € 80.5 million (11.8% of revenues) in the first quarter of 2017.
The net income of the group was € 9.9 million, down from € 13.5 million in the first quarter of 2017, on account of the lower results from financial management.
The contribution of the industrial subsidiaries (Sogefi, GEDI and KOS) to the earnings of first quarter 2018 came to € 12.6 million, up from € 11.6 million in the same period of 2017.
Sogefi reported a decline of 2.7% in revenues caused by a fall in the value of currencies other than the Euro, but a rise of 2.8% at constant exchange rates; EBITDA came in at € 53.1 million, in line with the first quarter of 2017. Net income was € 12 million, up from € 10.5 million in the same period of 2017.
GEDI, in the presence of a difficult environment for the publishing sector, reported a rise in revenues of 20.7% (-5.8% on a like-for-like basis) and net income of € 3 million (€ 5.8 million in the first quarter of 2017).
Lastly, KOS reported a rise in revenues of 13.4%, due to growth in all areas of its business and to the full contribution of the acquisitions made in 2017. EBITDA was up by 33.3% at € 23.8 million and net income was € 7.5 million (€ 4.6 million in first quarter 2017).
The contribution of the parent company (including the non-industrial subsidiaries) was a negative € 2.7 million (a positive contribution of € 1.9 million in 2017), negatively affected by the lower result of financial management due to the recognition to the income statement of the adjustment to the fair value of private equity investments in application of the new IFRS 9 and to foreign exchange losses.
Consolidated net debt stood at € 274.7 million at March 31 2018, substantially unchanged from € 272.5 million at December 31 2017 (€ 144.7 million at March 31 2017).
The total net debt of the industrial subsidiaries amounted to € 610.9 million at March 31 2018, slightly lower than the figure at December 31 2017 (€ 615.5 million), but significantly higher than at March 31 2017 (€ 476.3 million), mainly because of the disbursements made by GEDI in the last quarter of 2017 to settle a tax dispute for events going back to 1991.
The net financial position of the parent company (including the non-industrial subsidiaries) at March 31 2018 was a positive € 336.2 million, which was slightly lower than at the end of 2017 (€ 343 million) mainly as result of the buyback of own shares in the quarter (€ 3.2 million).
The equity of the group amounted to € 964.9 million at March 31 2018, up from € 959.8 million at December 31 2017. The increase of € 5.1 million was due substantially to the result for the period net of the own shares bought back.
At March 31 2018 the CIR group had 15,957 employees (15,839 at December 31 2017).
Results of the industrial subsidiaries of the CIR group
Automotive components: Sogefi
Sogefi is one of the main producers worldwide in the sectors of suspensions, filtration, and air and cooling systems for motor vehicles with 41 production plants in three continents. The company is controlled by CIR (56.6%) and is listed on the Stock Exchange.
Sogefi’s sales revenues in first quarter 2018 came in at € 421.1 million, up by 2.8% at constant exchange rates and down by 2.7% at historical exchange rates, compared to the same period of 2017 (€ 432.9 million).
By geographical area, business in Europe and North America was stable on the previous year (+0.1% and +0.4% respectively, at constant exchange rates) but grew significantly in Asia and South America (+8.5% and +16.3% respectively, at constant exchange rates). By Business Unit, Suspensions reported growth of 2.5% (+7.2% at constant exchange rates), Filtration reported a decline of 3.7% (+3.3% at constant exchange rates) and Air and Cooling a decline of 7.9% (-3.1% at constant exchange rates).
EBITDA came in at € 53.1 million, in line with the first quarter of 2017 (€ 53.3 million); at constant exchange rates EBITDA would have risen by 5.1%. Profitability (EBITDA/revenues) improved from 12.3% to 12.6%.
Net income came to € 12 million, up from € 10.5 million in the first quarter of 2017, after tax charges of € 5.8 million in 2018 (€ 7.3 million in first quarter 2017).
Net debt stood at € 254.3 million at March 31 2018, with an improvement of € 9.7 million compared to December 31 2017 (€ 264 million).
For further information on the results of Sogefi, see the press release published by the company on April 23 (goo.gl/mGaJ8g).
Media: GEDI Gruppo Editoriale
GEDI Gruppo Editoriale (formerly Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso), after the merger of ITEDI (publisher of the newspapers La Stampa and il Secolo XIX) in 2017, is now the leading publisher in Italy of daily and multimedia news, as well as being one of the main players in Europe. It operates specifically in the following sectors: newspapers and magazines, radio, the internet and the collection of advertising. The group is controlled by CIR (45.8%) and is listed on the Stock Exchange.GEDI’s revenues for the first quarter of 2018 came in at € 155.8 million, up by 20.7% on first quarter 2017 (-5.8% on a like-for-like basis).Circulation revenues, totalling € 71.7 million, rose by 33% compared to the same period of the previous year but were down by 7.5% on a like-for-like basis, in a market that that is continuing to experience a significant decline in newspaper circulation (-8.5%).Advertising revenues were up by 14.3% compared to first quarter 2017 but were down by 3.1% on a like-for-like basis. As regards the group media, orders for the radio grew by 4.4%, those for the internet rose by 8.1% and those for the printed press were up by 9%.Costs were up by 24.9% but on a like-for-like basis declined by 3.2%.EBITDA came to € 11.4 million versus € 13 million in the first quarter of 2017.Net income came in at € 3 million, down from € 5 million in the first quarter of 2017 (€ 5.8 million on a like-for-like basis).The net financial position at March 31 2018 came to € 110 million, down from € 115.1 million at December 31 2017.For further information on the results of GEDI, see the press release published by the company on April 26 (goo.gl/oMbieV).Healthcare: KOSKOS, which is controlled by CIR and in which F2i Healthcare has an interest, is one of the largest groups in Italy in the sector of healthcare and care homes (nursing homes, rehabilitation units, oncology treatments, diagnostics and management of hospital facilities). The group manages 83 facilities in Italy, mainly in the centre and north, for a total of around 7,900 beds and is also active in India and the United Kingdom.In the first quarter of 2018 KOS reported revenues of € 133.2 million, posting an increase of 13.4% from € 117.5 million in the same period of 2017, thanks to the growth of all areas of the business, to the full contribution of the acquisitions made in 2017 and to the revenues of the three acquisitions made in the first quarter of 2018.
EBITDA came to € 23.8 million, up by 33.3% from € 17.8 million in the first quarter of 2017.
Net income was € 7.5 million versus € 4.6 million in the first quarter of 2017.
Net debt totalled € 247.3 million at March 31 2018, up from € 237.1 million at December 31 2017.
Non-core investments
The non-core investments of the CIR group consist of private equity initiatives, non-strategic shareholdings and other investments with a total value at March 31 2018 of € 68.2 million (€ 74 million at December 31 2017).
More specifically the CIR group has a diversified portfolio of funds in the private equity sector. The fair value at March 31 2018 was € 47.3 million, down by € 5.7 million compared to December 31 2017 mainly as a result of write-downs, exchange rate differences and distributions.
At March 31 2018, CIR directly or indirectly had investments in non-strategic shareholdings worth € 9.9 million and a portfolio of non-performing loans worth a total of € 11 million.
Outlook for 2018
As regards the performance of the CIR group in the whole of 2018, the trends seen in the first quarter are expected to be confirmed unless there are any extraordinary events that cannot at the moment be foreseen.
Significant events that have occurred since March 31 2018
On April 26 2018, at the end of the Annual General Meeting, Monica Mondardini announced her decision not to accept a further mandate as Chief Executive Officer of the publishing company. The Board of Directors of GEDI has therefore appointed Laura Cioli as Chief Executive and John Elkann and Monica Mondardini as Deputy Chairmen. Monica Mondardini remains Chief Executive of the CIR group.
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The executive responsible for the preparation of the company’s financial statements, Giuseppe Gianoglio, hereby declares, in compliance with the terms of paragraph 2 Article 154 bis of the Finance Consolidation Act (TUF), that the figures contained in this press release correspond to the results documented in the company’s accounts and general ledger.
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Alternative performance indicators
Below the meaning and content are given of the “alternative performance indicators”, not envisaged by IFRS accounting standards but used in this press release to provide a better evaluation of the economic and financial performance of the CIR group
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EBITDA (gross operating margin): an indicator of operating performance calculated by adding ”amortization, depreciation and write-downs” to the EBIT figure (earnings before financial items and taxes);
Consolidated net financial debt: an indicator of the financial structure of the group; it is the algebraic sum of financial receivables, securities, available-for-sale financial assets and cash and cash equivalents in current assets, of bonds and other borrowings in non-current liabilities, and of bank overdrafts, bonds and other borrowings in current liabilities.
