The publicly listed Semperit AG Holding, an internationally-oriented group that develops, produces, and sells highly specialised rubber products for the medical and industrial sectors in in more than 100 countries, displayed positive revenue and earnings development for the first quarter of 2016. This comes in spite of the ongoing difficult market environment. Revenue rose slightly by 0.9% to EUR 219.5 million (after EUR 217.5 million in Q1 2015) despite negative price effects for raw material. Semperit improved the group’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) by 22.3% to EUR 26.7 million (after EUR 21.8 million). EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) increased by 22.2% to EUR 18.6 million (after EUR 15.2 million). The EBITDA margin and the EBIT margin rose to 12.2% (after 10.0%) and 8.5% (after 7.0%) respectively.
This growth in earnings can be attributed to both the Industrial and the Medical Sector. The Industrial Sector achieved further growth in sales and profitability despite the weak economy. The continuation of the structural and process optimisation in the Medical Sector had a positive impact on results.
“In the first quarter of 2016 we showed a positive performance contrary to the weak market. This was due to a continuing improvement of our global presence as well as the capacity expansion in all segments. Even our additional capacities are well utilised thanks to our focused sales strategy, which had a positive effect on our profitability,” CEO Thomas Fahnemannsummarised.
Semperit boasted a sound capital basis as reflected by its equity ratio of 39.4% at the reporting date of March 31, 2016 (December 31, 2015: 38.7%). Cash and cash equivalents amounted to EUR 121.3 million on 31 March 2016 compared to EUR 126.4 million at the end of 2015. “With our good equity ratio and our attractive cash flow, our future growth activities are financially well secured,” states Semperit CFO Johannes Schmidt-Schultes.
Industrial Sector: Significant increase in revenue and earnings
The Industrial Sector (Semperflex, Sempertrans and Semperform segments) showed a very satisfying development contrary to the market trend.
The Semperflex segment generated continuing high profitability thanks to excellent production and sales performances in a declining market. In the Sempertrans segment, the global sales initiative led to significant increases in revenue and earnings in a generally stagnating market. In a difficult market environment, the Semperform segment profited from the successful integration of the German profile manufacturer Leeser as well as the increase in market share in the handrail business.
Revenue of the Industrial Sector rose 6.0% to EUR 133.6 million in the first quarter of 2016. EBITDA climbed 13.7% to EUR 25.1 million.
Medical Sector: Improved profitability
In the Medical Sector (Sempermed segment), process optimisations and efficiency enhancements started in 2015 led to a significant improvement of profitability. This was offset by negative price effects due to lower raw material prices as well as partly negative impacts due to the aggravated cooperation with the joint venture partner in Thailand.
Revenue of the Medical Sector decreased by 6.0% to EUR 85.9 million in the first quarter of 2016 due to heavy price pressure and the focus on high-margin customer relationships. EBITDA improved significantly by 27.1% to EUR 6.1 million.
In summary, the Semperit Group generated earnings after tax amounting to EUR 10.1 million (after EUR 12.6 million) in the first quarter of 2016. This decline compared with the same period of the previous year was primarily due to negative foreign currency effects as well as higher interest expenses.
Outlook 2016
In 2016, Semperit expects no significant changes of the market conditions compared to 2015. The generally low demand in the Industrial Sector in 2015 is expected to continue in 2016 due to the economic situation. In particular in Eastern Europe and Russia, no economic recovery is to be expected. Neither does the industrial capital investment cycle show any signs of an upturn, especially in China. However, demand in the economically insensitive Medical Sector is expected to develop steadily with a market growth of 5% to 6%.
Nevertheless, Semperit looks at the year 2016 with a certain amount of confidence and expects a largely stable development in 2016 compared to 2015. In the first months of 2016 Semperit has seen a continuing good order situation due to intensive marketing and sales activities in the Industrial Sector. The Medical Sector will profit from the step-by-step commissioning of new production capacities in Kamunting, Malaysia, in 2016 and beyond.
The Semperit Group will continue its growth strategy consistently in 2016. The focus will be on the entering into new markets in the Industrial Sector and the expansion and optimisation of existing production capacities. In the Medical Sector the focus will be set on the expansion of the glove production in Malaysia in addition to further production optimisations, efficiency enhancements and marketing activities. Altogether, capital investments (CAPEX) of approximately EUR 70 million are planned for 2016.