Sogefi (Cir group): revenues up by 4.7% in Q1 2016 at 390.1 m

SOGEFI (CIR GROUP):

Revenues up by 4.7% in Q1 2016 at € 390.1m
EBITDA before non-recurring items up by 9% at € 38.5m
Net result at € 2.9m (€ 7.6m in Q1 2015)
Net debt at € 322.6m (€ 322.3m at 31/12/2015)


Milan, April 27 2016
– The Board of Directors of Sogefi S.p.A., which met today under the chairmanship of Monica Mondardini, has approved the Interim Financial Report of the group for the first quarter of 2016.

Laurent Hebenstreit, Chief Executive Officer of Sogefi, made the following statement:
“In the first quarter of 2016, EBITDA before non-recurring items rose by 9%, despite the negative impact of the South American market. For the moment the results confirm the commitment of the company to improving profitability and cash flow”.


Revenues up by 4.7% in Q1 2016

In the first quarter of 2016, Sogefi reported growth in revenues of 4.7% to € 390.1 million (+10.5% at the same exchange rates).


Revenues by geographical area: strong growth in North America and Asia

In Europe revenues remained stable and business continued to develop vigorously in North America (+30%) and in Asia (+45.5%).

In South America, which in first quarter 2016 accounted for less than 10% of total revenues, sales in euro declined by 22.6% because of the devaluation of the local currencies (at like-for-like exchange rates growth was 12.3%).


Revenues by Business Unit: significant increase in the Air & Cooling segment

Growth in the first quarter of 2016 came largely from the Air & Cooling segment, which reported a rise of 16.5% (+20.5% at the same exchange rates); revenues of the Suspensions segment rose by 1.4% (+7.6% at the same exchange rates), while those of Filtration were down by 1% (+5.5% at the same exchange rates).


Operating results and net profit for the first quarter

EBITDA
before non-recurring items came to € 38.5 million and was up by 9% on the same period of 2015; profitability increased slightly (from 9.5% in Q1 2015 to 9.9% in Q1 2016), thanks to the gross margin holding up well and to the lower impact of fixed costs.

Once non-recurring charges are considered (€ 3.8 million versus € 0.4 million in Q1 2015), EBITDA, totalling € 34.6 million, was stable on the first quarter of the previous year (€ 34.9 million). The decline in EBITDA reported in South America was offset by the increases in strongly developing countries, specifically in North America, China and India.

The update in the first quarter of the “product guarantee” risks of the Air & Cooling business unit did not lead to any change in the provision.

EBIT
amounted to € 16 million, down from € 19.1 million in the first quarter of 2015; the lower figure was due to higher amortization and fixed assets write-downs.

The net result was positive for € 2.9 million, down from € 7.6 million in Q1 2015 as an effect of higher financial expense, beyond the already mentioned decline in EBIT; financial expense in the first quarter of 2015 had benefited from a positive non-recurring item linked to the fair value measurement of the convertible bond.

Net debt

Net financial debt
stood at € 322.6 million at March 31 2016, in line with December 31 2015 and showing a decline of € 5 million on the figure at March 31 2015 (€ 327.5 million). Free Cash Flow in first quarter 2016 amounted to € -0.2 million, compared to € -28.9 million in Q1 2015. This improvement is attributable for approximately € 10 million to lower disbursements of a non-recurring nature for product guarantees and restructuring and, for the remaining part, was due to more factoring and less capex and to a better performance in operating cash flow. 

Employees

The Sogefi group had 6,781 employees at March 31 2016 compared to 6,702 at December 31 2015.

Outlook for the year

Sogefi expects the positive trends in North America, China and India to continue. In Europe after the important business expansion seen in 2015, growth could be more limited, while in South America market conditions will remain difficult.

The executive responsible for the preparation of the Company’s financial statements, Yann Albrand, hereby declares, in compliance with the terms of paragraph 2 Article 154-bis of the Finance Consolidation Act (TUF), that the accounting figures contained in this press release correspond to the results documented in the Company’s accounts and general ledger.

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