Tessenderlo Group nv — Earnings Release 2015

Oct 27, 2015

Brussels, 27 October 2015 Press release

Regulated information¹

Tessenderlo Group Third quarter 2015 trading update

Key Events

• On July 15, 2015, Tessenderlo Chemie NV issued two series of bonds with a maturity of 7 years (the "2022 bonds") and 10 years (the "2025 bonds"). The total issue amount was 250.0 million EUR, of which 192.0 million EUR for the 2022 bonds and 58.0 million EUR for the 2025 bonds. The net proceeds of the bonds issue will be used, amongst others, to refinance the group's currently outstanding 150.0 million EUR private placement, which matures in October 2015.
• On October 2, 2015, Tessenderlo Kerley, Inc. (TKI), a U.S. subsidiary of Tessenderlo Group, announced the purchase of certain product business assets of DuPont Crop Protection's global Hexazinone solo product and its Hexazinone/Diuron-only mixture. Hexazinone is a broad spectrum herbicide used on crops such as alfalfa, blueberries, pineapples and sugarcane and is marketed globally under the Velpar®, Pronone® and Advance® brands.

Strong performance in 3Q15 driven by the operating segment Industrial solutions

3Q15	3Q14	% Change	Million EUR	9M15	9M14	% Change
364.5	338.7	7.6%	Revenue Group	1,214.6	1,114.4	9.0%
-	-1.9		- Revenue Other segment	-	-33.0
364.5	336.8	8.2%	Revenue at comparable scope	1,214.6	1,081.4	12.3%
39.2	31.9	22.8%	Rebitda Group2	142.0	116.6	21.8%
-	-0.2		- Rebitda Other segment2	-	-1.4
39.2	31.8	23.5%	Rebitda at comparable scope2	142.0	115.2	23.3%
			Net debt	90.6	210.3
			Notional net debt	90.6	297.2

Revenue

At comparable scope, revenue of the 3 segments Agro, Bio-valorization and Industrial solutions, rose by 8.2% in 3Q15 compared to the same period last year (or by 2.2% when excluding the foreign exchange effect). Reported revenue increased within Industrial solutions and Agro, while Biovalorization revenue was in line with prior year.

Rebitda

The 3Q15 Rebitda at comparable scope amounts to 39.2 million EUR, compared to 31.8 million EUR in the same period last year (an increase by 23.5% or by 11.2% when excluding the foreign exchange effect), and includes a further inventory write-off of -0.6 million EUR. This write-off is a consequence of changed accounting estimates concerning inventory obsolescence (total YTD amount: -12.7 million EUR).

¹ The enclosed information constitutes regulated information as defined in the Royal Decree of 14 November 2007 regarding the duties of issuers of financial instruments which have been admitted for trading on a regulated market.

² IFRIC 21 Levies is applied as from January 1, 2015. 3Q14 figures are as reported, adjusted to reflect the effects of the retrospective application of IFRIC 21 Levies.

The improved performance in 3Q15 is mainly driven by the segment Industrial solutions, while the rebitda of Agro and Bio-valorization slightly improved in 3Q15 compared to 3Q14.

Net financial debt

At the end of September 2015, group net financial debt amounted to 90.6 million EUR, resulting in a leverage of 0.6x. No cash amounts were received under non-recourse factoring agreements. Notional net debt as per year-end 2014 amounted to 155.3 million EUR. The decrease of debt in the first nine months of 2015 can be explained by the improved operational results.

Capital expenditure amounted to 14.9 million EUR in 3Q15 (17.9 million EUR in 3Q14). In addition maintenance projects are ongoing in many production sites for which an additional amount of 3.9 million EUR was expensed in 3Q15.

Outlook

The 3Q15 results were stronger than anticipated. Assuming that current market circumstances continue to prevail, Tessenderlo Group anticipates that the growth of the 2015 REBITDA, compared to the 2014 REBITDA, will be in a range between 20% and 25%.

However the group wants to emphasize that it currently operates in volatile economical and financial circumstances.

Financial calendar

Full Year Results 2015 March 9, 2016

Tessenderlo Group is a worldwide specialty company, focused on food, agriculture, water management and on valorizing bio-residuals. The group employs about 4,800 people and is a leader in most of its markets, with a consolidated revenue of 1.4 billion EUR in 2014. Tessenderlo Chemie NV is listed on Euronext Brussels and is part of Next 150 and BEL Mid indices. Financial News wires: Bloomberg: TESB BB – Reuters: TesBt.BR – Datastream: B:Tes

Investor Relations Kurt Dejonckheere +32 2 639 18 41 kurt.dejonckheere@tessenderlo.com

This press release is available in Dutch and English on the corporate website www.tessenderlo.com - under 'News & Media'