GESCO expects sales to rise and earnings 
to be at a high level after record year 2011/2012

28.06.2012

- Record-breaking 2011/2012
- New financial year is expected to bring the third-highest earnings in the history of the company
- Record order backlog by end of first quarter

 

Wuppertal, 28 June 2012 – SDAX-listed GESCO AG, a holding company for a group of industrial SMEs, is reporting on the record year 2011/2012 (1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012) at today’s accounts press conference and is also forecasting high-level sales and earnings for the new financial year 2012/2013.

In financial year 2011/2012, the GESCO Group was able to translate the favourable economic environment into strong growth. Incoming orders rose by 16.4 % to € 439.0 million (previous year: € 377.2 million). Group sales increased by 23.9 % to € 415.4 million (€ 335.2 million). Earnings figures benefited from improved capacity utilisation and order quality, which tends to be generally better in times of growth. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 34.5 % to € 51.3 million (€ 38.2 million), a higher rate than sales increased. At 45.7 %, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) climbed even higher than EBITDA, reaching € 39.3 million (€ 27.0 million). Group net income after minority interest grew by 48.4 % to € 22.6 million (€ 15.3 million). This figure includes non-recurring income of around € 0.7 million from concluded legal disputes.

The Group employed 1,899 people, 7.0 % more than on the previous year’s reporting date (1,775).

In view of the steep rise in earnings, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board will propose a dividend of € 2.90 per share at the Annual General Meeting on 30 August 2012. The dividend would therefore be 45.0 % up on the previous year’s distribution of € 2.00 per share.

The company expects slight sales growth to approximately € 430 million and Group net income after minority interest of around € 20.5 million in the new financial year 2012/2013 (1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013), corresponding to earnings per share of € 6.17.

In the first quarter of the new financial year 2012/2013, which includes the subsidiaries’ operating business from January to March 2012, incoming orders amounted to € 116.3 million, slightly up on the very high figure of € 115.9 million in the previous year’s quarter. Sales increased by 7.1 % to € 106.8 million (€ 99.7 million). Order backlog at the end of the first operating quarter, including Werkzeugbau-Laichingen Group acquired in December 2011, was at a record-breaking € 192 million.

GESCO Executive Board member Dr. Hans-Gert Mayrose on the outlook: “Records were broken in almost all figures in the past financial year. We expect rising sales in the new financial year and slightly lower, but still very high, earnings – potentially the third-highest gains ever achieved in the history of the company. Even though we anticipate the margins in individual areas to normalise on account of the subdued economic outlook, business remains at a very high level overall. The newly acquired companies are having a direct positive impact on sales, but because of the effects of first time consolidation typically only contribute their earnings share after two years. We therefore only feel the benefits of our acquisition activities after a certain amount of time.”

The complete Annual Report 2011/2012

The video commentary of Dr. Hans-Gert Mayrose, member of the Executive Board, on financial year 2011/2012 and outlook can be viewed here