DGAP-News: technotrans AG: technotrans gains ground with

DGAP-News: technotrans AG / Key word(s): Interim Report technotrans AG: technotrans gains ground with increased revenue and profit from non-print activities 22.08.2014 / 06:52 --------------------------------------------------------------------- First-half revenue up 3.5 percent to EUR 54.3 million / EBIT improves by 31.4 percent to EUR 3.0 million / expectations for 2014 once again confirmed Sassenberg, August 22, 2014 The business performance of the technotrans Group in the first half of the 2014 financial year was positive and in line with the targets for the full year. Overall, revenue rose by 3.5 percent to EUR 54.3 million, up from EUR 52.5 million in the prior-year period. Revenue growth was driven exclusively by technotrans business outside the printing industry, which brought in 35 percent of revenue in Q2. Revenue for the second quarter of 2014 amounted to EUR 27.2 million, matching the first-quarter figure and representing a rise of 3.9 percent on the prior-year quarter (EUR 26.2 million). Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) improved by 31.4 percent in the first half of 2014 to EUR 3.0 million (previous year: EUR 2.3 million). The EBIT margin is 5.5 percent (previous year: 4.3 percent). Compared with the same period of the previous year (EUR 1.2 million) EBIT for Q2 rose by 32.9 percent to EUR 1.6 million. The net income for the first six months was EUR 1.9 million (previous year: EUR 1.4 million), equivalent to earnings per share of EUR 0.28 (previous year: EUR 0.22). "The overall and industry-specific environment provided a mixed picture in the second quarter of 2014. While business in the mechanical and plant engineering sector generally continued to make positive progress, the printing industry again saw the volume of business fall in the second quarter. The main reason for this development was that Asian customers held back with their purchases," explained Henry Brickenkamp, Spokesman of the Board of technotrans AG. "Amid this challenging environment, the development of technotrans was in line with our expectations. Thanks to our activities outside the printing industry, we thus succeeded in defying its negative trend for the third time in succession." The companies of the technotrans Group had an average of 770 (previous year: 772) employees in the first half of 2014. The Segments The Technology segment generates just under two-thirds of consolidated revenue. Of the total revenue of EUR 54.3 million, this segment brought in EUR 35.2 million in the first half of 2014 (previous year: EUR 33.4 million). The increase of around EUR 1.8 million or 5.3 percent compared with the prior-year period is exclusively attributable to the successful expansion of business in the non-print area. Here, the segment profited both from accelerating business in the laser industry and from a growing revenue share for the self-developed technologies for temperature control, filtration, cooling lubricant preparation and spray lubrication. In the offset and flexographic printing area, increased market shares and launches of new production models served to stabilise the revenue performance. Second-quarter revenue for the segment reached EUR 17.5 million, compared with EUR 16.5 million in the previous year (+6.0 percent). Against a backdrop of a further general downturn in business for the printing industry, this provides further evidence that our activities in the new markets have created welcome growth. Earnings for the Technology segment at June 30, 2014 improved from EUR -0.9 million in the previous year to EUR -0.2 million. As expected, the rate of return for the segment thus developed positively compared with 2013. The result for the segment yielded a still slightly negative rate of return of -0.6 percent for the second quarter and of -0.7 for the first half of 2014 overall. The Services segment achieved slightly higher second-quarter revenue of EUR 9.7 million (previous year: EUR 9.7 million) than in the first quarter of the current financial year (EUR 9.4 million). Revenue overall for the first half of 2014 remained on a par with the same period of the previous year, at EUR 19.1 million. The financial performance in the Services segment remained stable in the period under review and the healthy level of recent quarters was maintained. Following on from EUR 1.5 million in the first quarter, revenue was increased slightly to EUR 1.7 million in the second quarter. At the end of the first half of 2014, the result for the segment of EUR 3.2 million is almost unchanged compared with the prior-year level, and the rate of return for the segment is thus 16.8 percent (previous year: 16.6 percent). Financial Position technotrans is again able to present a strong balance sheet at June 30, 2014: equity rose 1.4 percent to EUR 44.4 million in the period under review, taking the equity ratio at June 30, 2014 to 58.7 percent. net liquidity for the group remained positive at EUR 0.8 million. Based on net income of EUR 1.9 million (previous year: EUR 1.4 million) for the six-month period, the operating cash flow in 2014 showed a significant improvement on the first half of 2013. At EUR 4.4 million, cash flow was EUR 3.4 million higher than one year earlier (EUR 1.0 million). Despite a substantial increase in inventories and trade receivables, the effect from the change in working capital remained only marginally negative. Payments for interest and taxes in the period under review were slightly higher, so net cash from operating activities totalled EUR 3.1 million (previous year: EUR 0.1 million). The cash outflow from investing activities showed a year-on-year fall as expected, amounting to EUR -1.9 million (previous year: EUR -5.1 million, as a result of the acquisition of KLH) and is made up of maintenance investments (EUR -1.0 million) along with the final conditional purchase price component for the acquisition of Termotek AG (EUR -0.9 million). The free cash flow at the end of the first half of 2014 was consequently again in positive territory at EUR 1.2 million. The cash flow from financing activities of EUR -2.0 million (previous year: +2.7 million) comprises the scheduled repayment and the raising of short-term bank loans as well as the dividend distribution to technotrans shareholders. Outlook Economic development remains in line with the original expectations for the current financial year and therefore for the business of the entire technotrans Group. technotrans has good prospects of making the current financial year a success under its own momentum. "By systematically continuing to pursue our growth strategy, we will achieve a further slight increase in revenue assuming business goes according to plan in 2014. As before, our plans envisage revenue for the technotrans Group of EUR 110 million (plus/minus 5 percent). For the coming quarters, too, we anticipate that revenue from outside the printing industry will enable us to more than make up for the fall in volume of print business," declared Henry Brickenkamp. The anticipated revenue growth and ongoing optimisation processes should help to produce a further improvement in the financial performance in the 2014 financial year, resulting in an EBIT margin of between 4 and 6 percent. "We continue to view this target as realistic," added Henry Brickenkamp. The revenue volume and the timescale for launches of new customer projects will substantially influence the earnings situation. Over the coming quarters we are also expecting energy storage technology and scanner technology to make additional contributions to revenue. "All things considered, we remain on track and are generally confident about the remainder of the current financial year," added the CEO. Note: Statements made in this report relating to future developments are based on our careful assessment of future events. The actual performance of the company may differ substantially from that planned, as it depends on a large number of market-related and economic factors, some of which are beyond the company's control. Download: The full Interim Report 1-6/2014 can be downloaded from the Internet at www.technotrans.de, under Investor Relations - Reports. Dates: The Quarterly Report 1-9/2014 is scheduled for publication on November 7, 2014. Securities: technotrans AG - ISIN DE000A0XYGA7 - WKN A0XYGA Contact: technotrans AG Henry Brickenkamp / Dirk Engel Coordination: Katharina Arens Tel. +49 (0)2583 301-1890 e-mail: katharina.arens@technotrans.de technotrans Group Key data acc. to IFRS <pre> comp- 01/01- 01/01- FY FY arison 30/06/14 30/06/13 2013 2012 2014- 2013 Earnings EUR 105,2 Revenue '000 3.5% 54,286 52,450 07 90,662 EUR Technology '000 5.3% 35,176 33,398 65,988 53,733 EUR Services '000 0.3% 19,110 19,052 39,219 36,929 EUR Gross profit '000 13.6% 18,106 15,934 33,124 31,652 EUR EBITDA 1 '000 11.5% 4,397 3,943 7,815 8,319 Earnings before interest EUR and tax (EBIT) '000 31.4% 2,968 2,258 4,626 5,357 EUR Net income for the period 2 '000 30.5% 1,844 1,413 3,016 3,094 as % of revenue % 3.4 2.7 2.9 3.4 Earnings per share (basic, IFRS) EUR 27.3% 0.28 0.22 0.47 0.48 Balance sheet EUR Issued capital '000 0.0% 6,908 6,908 6,908 6,908 EUR Equity '000 4.0% 44,360 42,671 43,743 40,865 Equity ratio % 58.7 55.8 59.9 63.2 Return on equity % 4.3 3.3 7.1 7.9 EUR Total equity and liabilities '000 -1.3% 75,550 76,521 73,019 64,705 EUR Net debt 3 '000 -755 64 -887 -8,462 EUR Working capital 4 '000 0.1% 27,717 27,706 28,254 27,087 ROCE 5 % 5.0 4.0 8.4 10.1 Employees Average employees over the period -0.3% 770 772 763 646 EUR Personnel expenses '000 4.3% 19,304 18,513 37,022 32,651 as % of revenue % 35.6 35.3 35.2 36.0 EUR Revenue per employee '000 3.8% 70.5 67.9 138 140 Cash flow EUR Cash flow 6 '000 3,126 89 2,693 10,979 EUR Free cash flow 7 '000 1,183 -5,021 -3,433 13,172 Shares Number of shares outstanding 6,493 6,455 at end of period 0.4% 6,493,426 6,466,510 ,474 ,404 Share price (max) EUR -12.1% 9.10 10.35 10.35 7.20 Share price (min) EUR 8.1% 7.46 6.90 6.90 4.10 </pre> 1 EBITDA = EBIT + depreciation, amortisation and impairment of tangible and intangible assets 2 Net profit for the period = profit attributable to technotrans AG shareholders. 3 Net debt = borrowings + non-current provisions - cash and cash equivalents 4 Working capital = current assets - current liabilities 5 ROCE = EBIT / capital employed 6 Cash flow = net cash from operating activities acc. to cash flow statement 7 Free cash flow = net cash from operating activities + net cash used for investments acc. to cash flow statement --------------------------------------------------------------------- 22.08.2014 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP 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: technotrans AG Robert-Linnemann-Str. 17 48336 Sassenberg Germany Phone: +49 (0)2583 - 301 - 1000 Fax: +49 (0)2583 - 301 - 1030 E-mail: info@technotrans.de Internet: http://www.technotrans.de ISIN: DE000A0XYGA7 WKN: A0XYGA Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News-Service --------------------------------------------------------------------- 283437 22.08.2014