Earnings Release • May 5, 2011
Earnings Release
Open in ViewerOpens in native device viewer
News Details
Corporate | 5 May 2011 15:42
A.S. Création Tapeten AG starts FY 2011 with 3% sales growth; Annual General Meeting decides dividend of EUR 1.35 for 2010; continuity in the composition of the Supervisory Board
A.S. Création Tapeten AG / Key word(s): AGM/EGM/Quarter Results
05.05.2011 / 15:42
Press Release
A.S. Création Tapeten AG, Gummersbach
(ISIN DE0005079909)
A.S. Création starts FY 2011 with 3% sales growth; Annual General Meeting decides dividend of EUR 1.35 for 2010; continuity in the composition of the Supervisory Board
A.S. Création Tapeten AG, Europe's leading wallpaper manufacturer, presented the report for the three-month period ended March 31, 2011 at today's Annual General Meeting in Gummersbach. First-quarter Group sales revenues rose by 3.0% from the previous year's EUR 51.8 million to a new historical high of EUR 53.3 million. The increase in sales is primarily attributable to the domestic market and to exports to non-EU Eastern European countries. Stronger sales growth was prevented by the unsatisfactory situation in other EU countries, where sales revenues remained below the already low level of the previous year.
Due to higher commodity and energy prices, the increased sales revenues did not result in an improved earnings position. As the higher procurement prices were not fully offset by higher sales prices, the gross profit margin remained below the previous year's 50.6% and reached 47.9% in the first quarter of 2011. While the better utilisation of the company's production capacity helped to partially offset these burdens, earnings before taxes, at EUR 4.3 million, were down 6.8% on the previous year's EUR 4.6 million. Accordingly, the profit margin before taxes fell short of the previous year's 8.8% at 8.0%.
An equity ratio of 53.2% on March 31, 2011 (2010: 50.4%) and a low debt repayment period (net financial liabilities divided by cash flow) of 0.9 years (2010: 0.9 years) mean that the financial structure of A.S. Création remains robust and healthy. It gives the company sufficient scope to finance the start-up of a wallpaper production facility in Russia, which A.S. Création will implement together with Russian cooperation partner Kof Palitra. Construction will resume in spring 2011 and each of the two partners will invest about EUR 13.0 million by mid-2012.
While the Managing Board is not satisfied with the performance in the first quarter, it does not regard it as an indicator for the full year 2011. Deliveries to new customers should additionally stimulate sales in the coming months. In spite of the uncertain future trend in commodity and energy prices, the Managing Board believes that A.S. Création is well on track to realise the Group projections for the year 2011, which provide for sales revenues of between EUR 195 million and EUR 205 million and a net profit of EUR 6.5 million to EUR 7.5 million.
The Group's key figures for the first three months of 2011 are summarised below:
| 01.01.-31.03. | 01.01.-31.03. | Change | ||
| 2011 | 2010 | |||
| Sales | EUR '000 | 53,326 | 51,779 | 3.0 % |
| Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) | EUR '000 | 4,658 | 5,048 | – 7.7 % |
| Earnings before income taxes | EUR '000 | 4,257 | 4,569 | – 6.8 % |
| Net profit | EUR '000 | 2,897 | 3,128 | – 7.4 % |
| Earnings per share | EUR/share | 1.05 | 1.13 | – 7.1 % |
| Cash-flow | EUR '000 | 5,132 | 5,155 | – 0.4 % |
| Capital expenditures | EUR '000 | 2,291 | 1,608 | 42.5 % |
| Depreciation | EUR '000 | 2,559 | 2,318 | 10.4 % |
| Number of employees (average) | 781 | 766 | 2.0 % |
The Annual General Meeting thanked all employees of A.S. Création for their commitment. Discharge of the acts of the Managing Board and the Supervisory Board was granted almost unanimously. In addition, it was decided to pay out a dividend of EUR 1.35 per share from the profit for the year 2010. This represents an increase of 12.5% on the previous year's dividend of EUR 1.20 per share.
The regular election of the Supervisory Board members did not result in any changes on the Supervisory Board. Mrs Benner-Heinacher, Dr. Liebs, Dr. Schadt and Mr Schneider were re-elected shareholder representatives by a vast majority of the shareholders. The employees had re-elected their representatives, Mr Mourschinetz and Mr Schmuck, already prior to the AGM. At the constituent meeting of the Supervisory Board, which was held after the Annual General Meeting, Mr Schneider and Dr. Liebs were elected Chairman and Vice Chairman, respectively.
Gummersbach, May 5, 2011
A.S. Création Tapeten AG
The Managing Board
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]
Contact:
Maik Krämer
Vorstand Finanzen
Südstr. 47
D-51645 Gummersbach
Telefon + 49 – (0)22 61/542-387
Fax + 49 – (0)22 61/542-304
E-Mail: [email protected]
End of Corporate News
05.05.2011 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
DGAP’s Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.
Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de
| Language: | English |
| Company: | A.S. Création Tapeten AG |
| Südstraße 47 | |
| 51645 Gummersbach | |
| Deutschland | |
| 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 |
| - - - |
| 123226 05.05.2011 |
Building tools?
Free accounts include 100 API calls/year for testing.
Have a question? We'll get back to you promptly.