CORRECTION: Interim report for January-September 2

Sweden, Lund, 2017-10-24 08:36 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CORRECTION: The heading of the Swedish interim report should be "Delårsrapport januari-september 2017"

Stable sales with higher profitability

July – September 2017

· Net sales amounted to SEK 465.3m (473.2), a decrease of 1.7 percent.

· Operating profit (EBIT) was SEK 21.5m (13.9), corresponding to an operating margin of 4.6 percent (2.9). EBIT includes SEK 1.3m (4.3) of restructuring expenses.

· Order intake increased by 0.6 percent to SEK 561.4m (557.9).

· The order book amounted to SEK 374.7m (353.9) at the end of the period.

· Profit after tax for the period was SEK 15.7m (12.6).

· Earnings per share amounted to SEK 0.66 (0.54).

· Free cash flow before acquisitions amounted to SEK 6.4m (18.7).

January – September 201

· Net sales amounted to SEK 1,363.6m (1,359.7), an increase of 0.3 percent. 

· EBIT was SEK 57.9m (27.4), corresponding to an operating margin of 4.2 percent (2.0). EBIT includes SEK 3.5m (9.2) of restructuring expenses.

· Profit after tax for the period was SEK 44.0m (19.6).

· Earnings per share amounted to SEK 1.88 (0.84).

· Free cash flow before acquisitions amounted to SEK 31.5m (-37.4). 

Outlook

Unchanged outlook: Our expectation for 2017 is that both sales and EBIT will increase compared to 2016.

CEO's comment

Doro’s sales were stable in the quarter, despite sales in the US falling, and an import embargo in Algeria that had a negative impact on the EMEA region. Simultaneously we increased our earnings. Net sales in the third quarter were down by 1.7 percent to SEK 465.3m (473.2), while growth excluding the US and Canada increased by 1.2 percent. Order intake was up 0.6 percent to SEK 561.4m (557.9), and the order book expanded by 5.9 percent. Our earnings improvement continued in the third quarter. Despite gross margin contracting to 37.5 percent (39.3), our operating margin increased to 4.6 percent (2.9). After three consecutive quarters of earnings improvement, we can conclude that actions to increase the operating efficiency are paying off.

Doro Care increased sales by 30 percent in like-for-like terms, supported by progress in Germany, and a higher level for our subscription-based operation in the Nordics, where the subscriber base was larger than in the corresponding period of last year.

Sales in the US/Canada region were down year-on-year also in the third quarter. However, the downturn was lower than in the second quarter of this year. The increase in mobile phone sales throughout 2016 by Doro’s operator customers in the region was due to a shift in technology from 2G to 3G throughout 2016. We think the sales downturn has levelled out. We are planning for the next technology generation on the North American market, with the ambition of launching a 4G phone in the second half of 2018.

Our impression is that the general mobile phone market was weak in the third quarter, but that Doro thanks to its orientation towards the senior segment successfully defended or increased market shares in its regions. The UK was our best-performing region in the quarter, achieving a sales growth of 20 percent.

As part of our overall process of streamlining our operations, we focused on a number of actions in the aftermarket and supply chain in the period. With our strong earnings performance this year to date, we can see we are heading in the right direction, and I’m looking forward to our ongoing work on continuous improvement.

We launched several new products in the quarter, mostly at the IFA trade show in Berlin - all received positive initial reactions. The launch of our new smartphone, the Doro 8040, attracted heavy media attention, and sales have started on most of our markets.

We’re currently formulating our strategy for developing Doro over the coming years, and will present this at a capital markets day in November in Stockholm.

Results for January-September support an unchanged outlook for 2017: our expectation for 2017 is that both sales and EBIT will increase compared to 2016.

Robert Puskaric, President & CEO

For further information, please contact:

Robert Puskaric, President and CEO, +46 (0)46 280 50 05 Carl-Johan Zetterberg Boudrie, CFO, +46 (0)46 280 50 47

Doros report to be presented via audiocast

Analysts, investors and media are welcome to attend a presentation of the Q3 report via https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/4jf2xtx6 or by telephone at 9:00 CET on October 24, 2017. Doro’s President and CEO Robert Puskaric and CFO Carl-Johan Zetterberg Boudrie will hold the presentation and answer questions. Before the start of the presentation, the presentation material will be available at:   http://corporate.doro.com/blog/hp-doro-webcast .

Call-in numbers Sweden:                              + 46 (0) 8 505 564 74 France:                                + 33 (0) 170 750 725 UK:                                       + 44 (0) 203 364 5374 US:                                       + 1 855 7532 230

About Doro

Doro develops telecom products and services for Seniors to lead full and rich lives: to do things they want to do more easily as well as the things they thought they might never do. The global market leader in senior mobile phone, Doro offers easy-to-use mobile phones and smart phones, mobile applications, fixed line telephony with loud and clear sound. Within Doro Group, Doro Care offers social care and telecare solutions for elder and disabled persons for independent and safe living in their own homes. Doro AB is a Swedish public company and its shares are quoted on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm exchange, Nordic List, Small Companies. Net sales of SEK 1 959 million (EUR 205 million) was reported for 2016.   www.doro.com