Corporate | 26 April 2017 06:59

Klöckner & Co SE announces best quarterly results for six years

DGAP-News: Klöckner & Co SE / Key word(s): Quarter Results

26.04.2017 / 06:59
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Operating income (EBITDA), at 77 Mio. EUR, slightly above guidance range of EUR65 million to EUR75 million

– Sales via digital channels increased from 12% in the fourth quarter of 2016 to 14% in the first quarter of 2017

– Very robust earnings trend sustained with EBITDA guidance of EUR60 million to EUR70 million for second quarter

Duisburg, April 26, 2017 – Klöckner & Co reports substantial, mainly price-driven sales growth of 15.6% to EUR1.6 billion in the first quarter of 2017. As a result of the improved price environment and additionally boosted by the effects of restructuring and optimization measures, operating income (EBITDA) more than quadrupled, from EUR16 million in the prior-year period to EUR77 million in the first quarter of 2017. At EUR36 million, net income was well back into positive figures (Q1 2016: net loss of EUR14 million). Earnings per share improved accordingly from a negative EUR0.14 to a positive EUR0.36.

Whereas earnings in the first quarter were also aided by rising prices, Klöckner & Co expects that price levels will remain stable in the current quarter. Overall, operating income (EBITDA) of EUR60 million to EUR70 million and once again positive net income are forecast for the second quarter of 2017. Notably due to the significantly better first quarter, a slight uptick in demand and this year’s impacts of the One Europe program, a noticable increase in EBITDA and net income is anticipated for the year as a whole.

Gisbert Rühl, CEO of Klöckner & Co SE: “The strong improvement in earnings performance shows that we have taken the right steps. As a result, we are also fully on course to meet our targets for the year as a whole.”

Klöckner & Co additionally made further progress in the digital transformation of the business. The percentage of sales generated via digital channels thus further increased in the initial quarter of 2017 to 14%, compared with 12% in the fourth quarter of 2016.

In April, through its venture capital subsidiary kloeckner.v, Klöckner & Co acquired a minority share in technology startup BigRep, thus entering the growth market of additive manufacturing. BigRep is developer and producer of the world’s biggest commercially available 3D printer. It also provides consulting on additive manufacturing system solutions. As well as taking a financial stake in BigRep, Klöckner & Co plans to deploy industrial-scale 3D printers across its location network in Europe and the USA. The investment in BigRep is consistent with both components of the Klöckner strategy – digitalization and higher value-added products and services. The outlook for this market segment is also fundamentally highly promising, with annual growth of some 20% expected through to 2020.

Klöckner & Co has also made good progress in implementing its major investment of EUR35 million to further raise the proportion of sales generated with higher value-added products and services: At the Company’s service center in Bönen, North Rhine-Westphalia, a slitting line for processing aluminum flat products for the automotive and manufacturing industries will go into operation in the second quarter. Construction of an additional cut-to-length line has already begun. The aluminum service center is set to reach its full capacity totaling 80,000 tons of aluminum per year in the course of 2018.

About Klöckner & Co:
Klöckner & Co is one of the largest producer-independent distributors of steel and metal products and one of the leading steel service center companies worldwide. Based on its distribution and service network of around 170 locations in 12 countries, the Group supplies more than 130,000 customers. In addition to companies in the construction industry as well as machinery and mechanical engineering, Klöckner & Co serves customers in the automotive and chemical industry, in shipbuilding and in fields of household appliances, consumer goods and energy. Currently Klöckner & Co has around 8,700 employees. The Group had sales of around EUR5.7 billion in fiscal 2016.

The shares of Klöckner & Co SE are admitted to trading on the regulated market segment (Regulierter Markt) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse) with further post-admission obligations (Prime Standard). Klöckner & Co shares are listed in the SDAX ^(R) -Index of Deutsche Börse.

ISIN: DE000KC01000; WKN: KC0100; Common Code: 025808576.

Contact person Klöckner & Co SE:

Press
Christian Pokropp – Press Spokesperson
Head of Corporate Communications
Phone: +49 203 3072050
Email: christian.pokropp@kloeckner.com

Investors
Christina Kolbeck
Head of Investor Relations & Sustainability
Phone: +49 203 3072122
Email: christina.kolbeck@kloeckner.com

26.04.2017 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.

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Language:	English
Company:	Klöckner & Co SE
	Am Silberpalais 1
	47057 Duisburg
	Germany
Phone:	+49 (0)203 / 307-0
Fax:	+49 (0)203 / 307-5000
E-mail:	info@kloeckner.com
Internet:	www.kloeckner.com
ISIN:	DE000KC01000
WKN:	KC0100
Indices:	SDAX
Listed:	Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange

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