Company Announcement no. 12 - 2018
Annual report for 2017/18
Highlights of the annual report of the Roblon Group for 2017/18
The Board of Directors and Executive Management today considered and approved the annual report of Roblon A/S for 2017/18.
It was a challenging year for Roblon, and our performance fell short of our expectations for the 2017/18 financial year. In September, and again in October, Management thus had to downgrade the full year profit guidance.
During the financial year, the Group saw a sharp increase in demand for Roblon’s products in the North American market. On the other hand, Roblon suffered significant postponements of expected order intake and revenue from 2017/18 to the subsequent financial year.
Selected financial highlights
The decline in the Group's profit for 2017/18 compared with last year was due to the postponement of expected revenue to subsequent financial years, major challenges in the supply of raw materials, recruitment and running-in of a large number of new production staff as well as delays in the setting up of new production lines in the US subsidiary. The performance was moreover impacted by a change in the product mix and increased production costs relating to the ramp-up of a new business for production and sales of composite components for wind turbine blades.
2021 Strategy
Since Roblon announced the Group’s five-year strategy for 2016-2021 in the autumn of 2016, the Company’s business portfolio has undergone major changes. Roblon’s core business is now focused on Industrial Fiber. Two business entities were divested in the first two years of the five-year strategy period, Roblon Lighting in April 2017 and the greater part of Roblon Engineering (rope-making equipment, twisters and winders) in February 2018. In the USA, the Group made acquisitions and established a Fibre Optic Cables (FOC) business in April 2017, made additional investments and concluded a project contract in the wind turbine industry (Composite) in April 2018.
As a consequence of the divestment of the greater part of Roblon Engineering and the Group's investment in rights and technologies for the production of composite components for wind turbine blades during 2018, Roblon's strategic focus has shifted and its financial targets have been revised for the last three years of the strategy period to the end of the 2020/21 financial year.
Roblon’s vision is to be the preferred supplier of high-performance fibre solutions and technologies for selected strategic customers.
The Group's strategy, which is unchanged, focuses on continually boosting sales efforts, strengthening product development and expanding the product offering in close collaboration with strategic customers. Through this strategy, Roblon aspires to a position as total supplier of strength element solutions to selected strategic customers in the fibre optic cable industry. Roblon also aims for a position as market-leading supplier of strength element solutions to the offshore oil and gas industry and other industries.
Within the strategy period, the Group’s aim remains to achieve the following financial ratios, assuming normal economic conditions:
The Group expects to achieve these financial growth targets through a combination of organic and acquisitive growth. Roblon has adequate financial resources to achieve this.
Outlook for 2018/19
The Group’s profit guidance for 2018/19:
For 2018/19, Roblon forecasts revenue growth in the range of 58%-71%, based on the following significant factors:
The Group’s 2018/19 guidance is based on a USD/DKK exchange rate of 625.
Frederikshavn, 20 December 2018
Roblon A/S
Jørgen Kjær Jacobsen Lars Østergaard
Chairman of the Board Managing Director and CEO
Enquiries regarding this announcement should be addressed to:
Managing Director and CEO Lars Østergaard, tel. +45 9620 3300
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