HELSINKI, Finland, April 24, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- We will arrange a news conference on Metso's January-March 2014 Interim Review for the media, investors and analysts, in Helsinki today. The event takes place at Metso Group Head Office, Fabianinkatu 9 A, Helsinki, Finland. A News conference in English will be arranged at 15:00 EEST / Helsinki time (08:00 EDT / New York, 13:00 BST / London, 14:00 CEST / Paris). The news conference can also be followed through a live webcast at www.metso.com/irwebcasts and through a conference call. Questions are accepted via conference call. Details of the event can be found at the end of this release.
This is a summary of Metso's January-March 2014 Interim Review. Complete report is attached to this release as a pdf-file and is also available at www.metso.com/investors .
Figures in brackets refer to the comparison period, i.e. the same period last year and all figures relate to Metso's continuing operations, unless otherwise stated.
Highlights of the first quarter of 2014
- Oil and gas continued to be strong and construction is recovering
- Demand for our services businesses picked up sequentially and that for mining equipment and projects seems to be bottoming out
- The implementation of our profit improvement program is proceeding according to plans
- Orders received totaled: EUR 875 million (EUR 1,031 million), of which EUR 545 million (EUR 589 million) were services orders
- Net sales totaled: EUR 817 million (EUR 915 million), of which services accounted for EUR 438 million (EUR 466 million)
- EBITA before non-recurring expenses totaled: EUR 88 million or 10.7% of net sales (EUR 103 million, 11.2%). Non-recurring expenses totaled EUR 7 million (EUR 0 million).
Financial guidance for 2014
Our guidance for 2014 (published on February 6, 2014) remains unchanged. We estimate that our net sales in 2014 will be somewhat below 2013 and that our EBITA margin before non-recurring items for 2014 will be at around 12 percent of net sales.
The guidance is based on our current market outlook, order backlog for 2014 and cost efficiency actions, as well as foreign exchange rates remaining similar to those in March 2014.
President and CEO Matti Kähkönen:
"The first quarter was relatively stable in terms of market activity. We saw continuing good demand from the oil and gas industry, which contributed to a good level of order intake in our Automation segment. Demand for construction equipment and services recovered from the level current at the end of 2013. Although investments in mining equipment and projects continue to be low, demand seems to be bottoming out, which is a positive development.
In terms of profitability, the first quarter is usually the weakest quarter of the year for Metso. We can be satisfied that our services business gives us useful resilience here and that cost savings have continued to compensate for the decline in net sales."
Key figures
| EUR million | Q1/2014 | Q1/2013 | Change % | 2013 |
| Orders received | 875 | 1,031 | -15 | 3,709 |
| Orders received of services business | 545 | 589 | -7 | 2,038 |
| % of orders received | 62 | 57 | 55 | |
| Order backlog at the end of the period | 1,944 | 2,475 | -21 | 1,927 |
| Net sales | 817 | 915 | -11 | 3,858 |
| Net sales of services business | 438 | 466 | -6 | 1,976 |
| % of net sales | 54 | 51 | 51 | |
| Earnings before interests, tax and amortization (EBITA) and non-recurring items | 88 | 103 | -15 | 496 |
| % of net sales | 10.7 | 11.2 | 12.8 | |
| Operating profit | 76 | 98 | -22 | 423 |
| % of net sales | 9.3 | 10.7 | 11.0 | |
| Earnings per share, EUR | 0.28 | 0.38 | 1.59 | |
| Free cash flow | 48 | 47 | 251 | |
| Return on capital employed (ROCE) before taxes, annualized % | 14.3 | 17.0 | 18.6 | |
| Return on equity (ROE), %(annualized) | 14.9 | 18.2 | 19.0 | |
| Equity to asset ratio at the end of the period | 33.6 | 32.3 | 36.9 | |
| Net gearing at the end of the period, % | 42.8 | 32.7 | 41.6 |
For illustrative purposes, the balance sheet key figures for 2013 have been restated to represent continuing operations.
Short-term outlook
Market development
We expect demand for mining equipment and projects to remain weak but stay stable. Due to our large installed equipment base and our stronger services presence, we expect demand for our mining services to remain good.
Demand for construction equipment and related services is expected to be active and similar to that seen during the first quarter and remain satisfactory.
Demand for our process automation systems is expected to remain satisfactory, whereas demand for flow control products and related services is expected to remain good.
Metso is a leading process performance provider, with customers in the mining, construction, and oil & gas industries. Our focus is on the continuous development of intelligent solutions that improve sustainability and profitability. Metso's shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd. Metso employs around 16,000 professionals in 50 countries. Expect results.
www.metso.com , www.twitter.com/metsogroup
For further information, please contact:
Matti Kähkönen, President and CEO, Metso Corporation, tel. +358 20 484 3000
Harri Nikunen, CFO, Metso Corporation, tel. +358 20 484 3010
Juha Rouhiainen, VP, Investor Relations, Metso Corporation, tel. +358 20 484 3253
Metso Corporation
Harri Nikunen
CFO
Juha Rouhiainen
VP, Investor Relations
Invitation to news conference for investors, analysts and media
Metso will arrange a news conference for media, investors and analysts in Helsinki on Thursday, April 24, 2014 at:
08:00 EDT / New York
13:00 BST / London
14:00 CEST / Paris
15:00 EEST / Helsinki
The event will take place at Metso Group Head Office, Fabianinkatu 9 A, Helsinki, Finland.
This conference can also be followed through a live webcast at www.metso.com/IRwebcasts and a conference call from 3:00 p.m. local time onwards. Questions are accepted during the event via conference call.
Due to live webcast, we kindly ask those attending to be present 5 minutes prior to the start of the event.
Conference call details
Conference call participants are requested to dial in five minutes before the scheduled time at:
United States: +1 646 741 2120
other countries: +44 1452 541 003
access code: 934 9973
A replay of the call will be available for two weeks until May 8, 2014 on the following phone numbers:
United States: +1 866 247 4222
other countries: +44 1452 550 000
access code: 934 9973
Recording of the event is available at www.metso.com/IRwebcasts at the earliest after the event has finished and a transcript of the event will be available for downloading on Monday, April 28, 2014 the latest.
The presentation material will be available at www.metso.com/investors .
Distribution:
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd
Media
www.metso.com
Metso Interim Review Q1 2014 http://hugin.info/3017/R/1779559/608167.pdf
HUG#1779559
