DGAP-News: UNIWHEELS AG: Strong volume and earnings growth,

DGAP-News: UNIWHEELS AG / Key word(s): Half Year Results UNIWHEELS AG: Strong volume and earnings growth, new plant started - UNIWHEELS AG presents H1 financial results 10.08.2016 / 07:30 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Strong volume and earnings growth, new plant started- UNIWHEELS AG presents H1 financial results - Strong volume growth of 10% to 4.3 million wheels sold - Revenue growth +2,8% to EUR 109.1 million - EBITDA growth by 30% to EUR 36,2 million, - Net profit grows by 50% - Influences by both aluminium prices and capitalized deffered taxes - New plant in Stalowa Wola started - additional capacity of 500 thousand wheels available in 2016, full capacity by early 2017, now. - Outlook for 2016 - EBITDA guidance raised to a grow of 13%-18%, wheels sales growth of 8%-12% and revenues growth of 4%-6% yoy Bad Dürkheim, 10th August, 2016: Germany-based alloy wheels manufacturer UNIWHEELS AG, listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, presented its financial results for the first half of 2016. In the first half of 2016 UNIWHEELS Group sold 4.3 million wheels in both segments: Automotive and Accessory (in total an increase of 9.9% yoy). "Demand development from car producers remains healthy and is still growing. In H1 we gained additional market shares with European premium producers and also increased volume with growing newer customers Suzuki and Hyundai. Also value-added sales increased by bigger diameters and more complex wheels" - says Dr. Thomas Buchholz, UNIWHEELS AG CEO "Performance increases in the existing plant system as well as first production from the new plant in Stalowa Wola allowed for strong volume growth in H1 2016 of almost 10% to 4.3 millon wheels". - says Dr. Wolfgang Hiller, UNIWHEELS COO, appointed to the Management Board in April 2016. Dr. Hiller is responsible for Operations and Accessory division. "Accessory business was also a strong contributor in H1 with above average growth of high-value brands like ATS and RIAL, but on the other hand price reductions in early 2016 have a visible effect on revenues in this division" - adds Dr. Wolfgang Hiller. In the first half of 2016, UNIWHEELS generated EUR 233 million in revenues, an increase of 2.8%, mainly influenced by wheels sales increase, better product mix and quarterly price adjustments, based on lower prices of aluminum compared to previous year. EBITDA increased to EUR 36.2 million (+30.2% yoy) and the EBITDA margin improved significantly yoy by 3.4 pp to 16.2%. One of the key reasons behind this is aluminum price impact in the first half of the year - in total material costs dropped by 11% in 1H 2016. In this period EBIT increased by 38.5% yoy to EUR 25.3 million (and EBIT margin improved by 3.3p.p to 12.7%). Net profit improved significantly to EUR 29.1 million (+50.8% yoy). "Q2 2016 was characterized by ramp-up cost for our new plant in Stalowa Wola. But operational costs grew moderately - thanks to very strong aluminium impact in this quarter, reflecting lower market prices. Consequently material costs in the whole half year period dropped by 11%, which allowed for EBITDA to grow to EUR 36.2 million, an increase of 30%, comparing to H12015" - says Dr. Karsten Obenaus, UNWHEELS AG CFO. "Net profit level was positively affected by income from capitalized deferred taxes in Q2, which amounted in total to EUR 4.5 million, both from German (Loss carried forward) and Polish operations (tax holidays, resulting from start of operations is special economic zone)" - he explains. After just under one year's construction, the new UNIWHEELS plant in Stalowa Wola started to produce first wheels in June 2016 - ahead of schedule. UNIWHEELS expects that the new plant output will reach approx. 500,000 of wheels in 2016. The second phase which allows to reach full capacity of 2 million wheels annually is advanced by one year - to early 2017. Now that the new plant has gone into operation, UNIWHEELS deepens analysis and evaluation of potential locations for the construction of fifth plant to produce up to another 2 million wheels annually: Outlook for 2016/2017 "2016 should be influenced by ongoing strong demand from European car manufacturers. After the commencement of production in the new plant in June, we target to increase wheels sales by 8-12% yoy. Also we expect the Group's revenues to grow between 4% and 6%, due to lower than expected aluminum prices in 1H" - says Dr. Karsten Obenaus. "Stringent cost management in order to compensate ramp up costs for new plant in Stalowa Wola are expected to show effects. Due to good opex development in 1H, we raised our EBITDA guidance to a growth of 13% - 18% yoy in 2016" - adds Dr. Obenaus. "For the following years, we expect that the automotive sector in Europe will remain healthy. Additional 2 mln wheels from new plant in Stalowa Wola should bring significant economies of scale, with projection of no ramp up costs from 2017. As a result we expect substantial earnings increases in the following years - assuming a constant aluminium price situation - with revenues of at least EUR 520 million and an EBITDA margin of approx. 16%" - summarizes Dr. Thomas Buchholz. Key financial figures of UNIWHEELS Group for 1H 2016: <pre> (in EUR mln unless 1H 2016 1H 2015 +/- otherwise stated) Revenue 223.0 217.0 +2.8% Sales volume (thousand 4,269 3,884 +9,9% units) EBITDA 36.2 27.8 +30.2% EBITDA margin (% of 16.2% 12.8% +3.4PP revenue) EBIT 28.4 20.5 +38.5% EBIT margin (% of 12.7% 9.4% +3.3PP revenue) Net profit 29.1 19.3 +50.8% Capital expenditures and 52.6 13.1 x4 investments Personnel (headcount) 2,794 2,499 +11.8% </pre> Financial highlights 1H2016: - Revenues increased by 2,8%, driven by: - wheels sales increase of 10% - product mix with higher value added (more complex surfaces, and bigger sizes) - quarterly price adjustments based on lower prices for aluminum - Material costs significantly dropped by 11% reflecting LME and Premium - Personnel costs reflects recruitment for new plant in (ramp-up costs) +7.4% - Other operating expenses stable - EBITDA increased by 30.2% yoy to EUR 36.2 mln - EBIT increased by 38.5% to EUR 28.4 mln - EBITDA and EBIT margins significantly improved (to 16.2% and 12.7% respectively) - Lower interest and hedge valuation effects - Net profit +50% yoy (including EUR 4.5 mln income from capitalized deferred taxes) About UNIWHEELS: The UNIWHEELS Group is one of the leading manufacturers of aluminum wheels for cars in Europe and is one of the few technology leaders worldwide in the aluminum wheel industry. UNIWHEELS is the third largest European supplier of OEM wheels for the automotive industry as well as the market-leading manufacturer of alloy wheels for the accessories market (AM) in Europe. Well-known Group brands include ATS, RIAL, ALUTEC and ANZIO. The Group currently has four production plants, three of which are in Poland (Stalowa Wola) and one in Germany (Werdohl). UNIWHEELS sees itself as one of the leading partners of the automotive industry for the optimum reduction of CO2 emissions by reducing the weight of alloy wheels. As well as weight-optimized construction methods, the following procedures are primarily used: Flow Forming, Lightforming, undercutting and forging. Since 2015, UNIWHEELS AG is publicly listed on Main Market of Warsaw Stock Exchange. The UNIWHEELS stock is floated under security identification number A13STW, ISIN DE000A13STW4 and ticker symbol UNW. For more information please contact: Oliver Madsen Head of Investor Relations Email: o.madsen@de.uniwheels.com UNIWHEELS AG Gustav-Kirchhoff-Str. 10 67098 Bad Dürkheim Germany --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.08.2016 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. Archive at www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: UNIWHEELS AG Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 10 67098 Bad Dürkheim Germany Phone: +49 (0)6322 9899 - 6400 Fax: +49 (0)6322 9899 - 6401 Internet: www.uniwheels.com ISIN: DE000A13STW4 WKN: A13STW Listed: Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin; Open Market in Frankfurt End of News DGAP News Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 490919 10.08.2016