Business figures January to September 2012
- 34% increase in sales revenues over the previous year
- Further improvement in EBIT margin to 6.8%
- Return to normal for incoming orders as expected
- Strong China business in Q3
As expected, incoming orders were down a slight 5.4% on the high level of the first nine months of 2011. The first nine months of 2011 were characterized by extraordinarily sharp growth in new orders (+88%) resulting from the effects of unleashed pent-up demand in the aftermath of the 2008/2009 economic crisis. New painting technology business held steady at the previous year’s level, while balancing technology orders even increased. Modernization projects in robot technology returned to normal. In industrial cleaning technology a smaller number of large projects were accepted in the interests of improved margin quality.
The third quarter of 2012 was characterized by brisk Chinese business following on from the first half of the year in which a greater volume of orders from Europe and America had been received. Sales revenues climbed by 13% to € 594 million in the third quarter, with the EBIT margin coming to 7.8%. At € 550 million, incoming orders were in line with the budget.
At the end of the first nine months, earnings after tax came to € 71.3 million (9M 2011: € 34.6 million). Selling and general administrative expenses rose by 19% and thus a good deal more slowly than sales revenues. Dürr raised research and development expense by 25% to maintain its high pace of innovation. Capital expenditure rose by 34%, with one key aspect entailing capacity extensions in China, Brazil and Mexico as well as at the headquarters in Bietigheim-Bissingen. Net financial expense widened by € 8.1 million to € 23.2 million due to financing costs in connection with the Bietigheim facility, which was acquired at the end of 2011, as well as non-cash exceptional expenses totaling € 5.3 million attributable to adjustments to the syndicated loan contract among other things.
Equity climbed by 13% over the end of 2011 to € 411 million. The equity ratio widened from 21.9% to 23.5%. At € 46.3 million, operating cash flow turned into positive territory in the third quarter; in the first nine months operating cash flow amounted to € -18.4 million. Net financial status improved to € -25.8 million as of September 30, 2012, compared with € -48.3 million as of the middle of the year. The return on capital employed (ROCE) climbed to 32.1%. “The high ROCE underscores the appeal of our business model,” says CFO Ralph Heuwing.
Since the beginning of the year, Dürr has enlarged its workforce by 688 to 7,511 employees (+10%). 201 new jobs were created in Germany.
Outlook
Dürr expects order intake in the fourth quarter of 2012 to at least remain on a par with the third quarter. Accordingly, full-year incoming orders should reach the target of € 2.5 billion. The goal of € 2.3 billion for sales revenues should be easily achieved, too, from today´s perspective. The full-year EBIT margin is set to come in at the upper edge of the target range of 6.5 to 7%.
