Auriga Industries A/S, Harboøre, Denmark, 2014-03-06 07:59 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
Company announcement no. 2/2014
March 6, 2014
HIGHLIGHTS IN 2013
Satisfactory progress in 2013
With a revenue of DKKm 6,598, the Auriga group achieved organic growth of 15% in 2013. The operating income was improved, and EBITDA was up 22% to DKKm 821, while EBIT rose 27% to DKKm 637. Improved working capital and a positive free cash flow have significantly reduced the net interest-bearing debt. Auriga expects a continued growth in 2014 with organic growth in revenue of 8-10% and an improvement of the EBITDA margin to above 13%.
- The market for crop protection products saw growth of 8-9%. For Auriga, the organic growth totaled 15%, while the reported revenue increased 5%. Revenue was negatively impacted by the developments in foreign exchange rates by 8%, while the divestment of Stähler Switzerland had a negative impact of 2%.
- The gross margin increased to 30.0%. The positive effect of a change in prices and the product portfolio was partly counterbalanced by the negative effect of the development in significant exchange rates and raw material prices.
- Earnings were improved with EBITDA up 22% to DKKm 821, while EBIT increased 27% to DKKm 637. The EBITDA margin improved 1.7 percentage points to 12.4%.
- Financing costs increased DKKm 3 to DKKm 218 due to increasing interest rates and negative currency effects.
- Net working capital was reduced DKKm 221 to DKKm 2,005 and the average working capital measured to revenue improved 3.6 percentage points to 38.3%.
- Cash flows from operating activities increased 12% to DKKm 574, while the free cash flow improved 9% to DKKm 338.
- Net interest-bearing debt, NIBD, was reduced DKKm 305 to DKKm 1,578 leading to a reduction of NIBD/EBITDA to 1.9 relative to 3.3 at the end of 2012.
- The return on invested capital, ROIC, increased 4.3 percentage points to 11.2% corresponding to 12.0% by normalized tax rate.
- At Auriga’s annual general meeting on April 2, 2014, the Board of Directors will propose not to pay dividend for 2013. The proposal is made to continue reducing the company’s financial gearing for the benefit of the long-term value creation and the company’s future development potential.
- In Q4, 16% organic growth was achieved with the reported revenue increasing 3% to DKKm 1,502. EBITDA improved 16% to DKKm 133.
OUTLOOK 2014
- The market for crop protection products is also expected to develop positively in 2014 as the considerable demand for foods continues to support high crop prices.
- The positive developments are expected to continue in 2014 which together with a further improvement of the product portfolio lead to expectations of an organic sales growth of 8-10% and a reported revenue growth of 3-5%.
- Moreover, an EBITDA margin of above 13% is expected as well as a positive free cash flow, despite an increasing level of investments in product development and production facilities.
- Given the above outlook for 2014, the long-term financial objective of an EBITDA in the level of 13-18% is maintained. In 2014, the return on invested capital, ROIC, is expected to improve relative to 2013.
CEO Jaime Gómez-Arnau comments on the development in 2013: I am very pleased that we were able to exceed guidance. We have improved our EBITDA earnings by 22% and net profits more than doubled. All regions saw strong underlying growth contributing to sales up 5% despite adverse currency effect. We expect continued growth in 2014 and further improvement of profitability.
EARNINGS PRESENTATION - AUDIOCAST AND CONFERENCE CALL CEO Jaime Gómez-Arnau and CFO René Schneider will present the financial highlights at a conference call today, March 6, 2014, at 10:00 am CET. The presentation including Q&A session and conference call will be conducted in English. The presentation will be transmitted as audiocast on the website, where the related presentation will be available approx. 30 minutes beforehand. An indexed version of the presentation will be available on www.auriga.dk (Danish website) and www.auriga-industries.com (English website) afterwards.
Participants in the conference call are kindly requested to call in a couple of minutes before presentation start on tel.:
- DK: +45 70 25 67 00
- International: +44 208 817 9311
Audience pass code: 72991265#
MORE INFORMATION CONCERNING THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Jaime Gómez-Arnau, CEO Tel. +34 649 404 137 Rene Schneider, CFO Tel. +45 40 80 99 50 Investor Relations Tel. +45 70 10 70 30 - investor@auriga.dk
