Earnings Release • May 3, 2013
Earnings Release
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Corporate | 3 May 2013 08:05
A.S. Création Tapeten AG: Moderate start to new fiscal year for A.S. Création
A.S. Création Tapeten AG / Key word(s): Quarter Results
03.05.2013 / 08:05
Press Release
A.S. Création Tapeten AG, Gummersbach
(ISIN DE0005079909)
Moderate start to new fiscal year for A.S. Création
A.S. Création Tapeten AG, Europe’s leading wallpaper manufacturer has today published the report on the three-month period ended March 31, 2013. A summary is provided below:
Stagnating sales revenues
At EUR 54.5 million, Group sales revenues of A.S. Création were down by a moderate 1.1% on the previous year’s EUR 55.1 million. The decline was due to the difficult environment in the European Union, where A.S. Création reported declining sales in the first three months of the year. By contrast, non-EU Eastern European markets were strong growth drivers and saw A.S. Création boost its sales revenues in the region by 34%. This growth was insufficient, however, to offset the drop in sales revenues in the European Union.
Operating earnings position slightly improved
Despite the stagnating sales revenues, earnings before interest and taxes stayed at the prior year level of EUR 5.2 million in the first quarter of 2013. Accordingly, the EBIT margin improved moderately from 9.4% in the previous year to 9.6% in the reporting period. This was due to the increased gross profit margin. At 52.0%, the latter was up by 2.9 percentage points on the previous year’s 49.1%. The Managing Board is of the opinion that this positive trend primarily reflects the innovation-driven product and marketing strategy pursued by A.S. Création for many years. By contrast, commodity and energy prices were almost unchanged in the first three months of 2013.
The start-up losses incurred by the Russian production company weighed on the bottom line. The joint venture, A.S. & Palitra, took the new production facility into operation at the end of October 2012. During the start-up phase of this new factory, losses naturally occur and are reflected in high reject rates and low efficiency. Accordingly, A.S. Création’s pro-rata share in these losses increased significantly from EUR 0.1 million in the prior year period to EUR 0.5 million in the first three months of 2013. At EUR 2.9 million, net profit for the first quarter was therefore 11% lower than the previous year’s EUR 3.3 million.
Further reduction in liabilities
A.S. Création was able to further reduce its net financial liabilities (difference between interest-bearing liabilities and cash and cash equivalents) by EUR 2.4 million from EUR 21.1 million on December 31, 2012 to EUR 18.7 million on March 31, 2013. As a result, the debt repayment period has declined from 1.2 years in the previous year to 0.8 years. Together with the high equity ratio, which stood at 55.7% on March 31, 2013 (March 31, 2012: 55.1%), this underlines the very robust and healthy financial structure of A.S. Création.
Full-year forecast for 2013 confirmed
While the Managing Board was not fully satisfied with the performance in the first quarter of 2013, it made clear that this should not be interpreted as an indicator for the full year 2013 due to the special situation in Russia. The Managing Board therefore confirmed the Group forecast for 2013, which projects consolidated sales revenues of between EUR 210 million and EUR 220 million and a net profit of EUR 9 million to EUR 11 million.
The Group’s key figures for the first three months of 2013 are summarised below:
| 01.01.-31.03. | 01.01.-31.03. | Change | ||
| 2013 | 2012 | |||
| Sales | EUR ‘000 | 54,529 | 55,146 | -1.1 % |
| Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) | EUR ‘000 | 5,248 | 5,174 | 1.4 % |
| Earnings before income taxes | EUR ‘000 | 4,567 | 4,778 | -4.4 % |
| Net profit | EUR ‘000 | 2,936 | 3,289 | -10.7 % |
| Earnings per share | EUR/share | 1.07 | 1.19 | -10.1 % |
| Cash flow | EUR ‘000 | 5,668 | 5,504 | 3.0 % |
| Capital expenditures | EUR ‘000 | 1,523 | 2,103 | -27.6 % |
| Depreciation | EUR ‘000 | 2,281 | 2,405 | -5.2 % |
| Number of employees (average) | 834 | 808 | 3.2 % |
Gummersbach, May 3, 2013
A.S. Création Tapeten AG
The Managing Board
Inquiries:
Maik Krämer,
CFO,
phone +49-(0)22 61/542-387,
fax +49-(0)22 61/542-304,
e-mail [email protected]
The full 3-month report is available at:
www.as-creation.de
or from:
A.S. Création Tapeten AG,
Frau Börngen,
Südstr. 47,
D – 51645 Gummersbach,
phone: +49-(0)22 61/542-350,
e-mail: [email protected]
End of Corporate News
03.05.2013 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG.
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| Language: | English |
| Company: | A.S. Création Tapeten AG |
| Südstraße 47 | |
| 51645 Gummersbach | |
| Germany | |
| Phone: | +49 22 61 54 2-0 |
| Fax: | +49 22 61 54 2-3 04 |
| E-mail: | [email protected] |
| Internet: | http://www.as-creation.de |
| ISIN: | DE0005079909 |
| WKN: | 507990 |
| Listed: | Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München, Stuttgart |
| End of News | DGAP News-Service |
| - - - |
| 209394 03.05.2013 |
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