Corporate | 22 August 2014 06:52


technotrans AG: technotrans gains ground with increased revenue and profit from non-print activities


technotrans AG / Key word(s): Interim Report

22.08.2014 / 06:52

First-half revenue up 3.5 percent to EUR 54.3 million / EBIT improves by 31.4 percent to EUR 3.0 million / expectations for 2014 once again confirmed

Sassenberg, August 22, 2014

The business performance of the technotrans Group in the first half of the 2014 financial year was positive and in line with the targets for the full year. Overall, revenue rose by 3.5 percent to EUR 54.3 million, up from EUR 52.5 million in the prior-year period. Revenue growth was driven exclusively by technotrans business outside the printing industry, which brought in 35 percent of revenue in Q2. Revenue for the second quarter of 2014 amounted to EUR 27.2 million, matching the first-quarter figure and representing a rise of 3.9 percent on the prior-year quarter (EUR 26.2 million). Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) improved by 31.4 percent in the first half of 2014 to EUR 3.0 million (previous year: EUR 2.3 million). The EBIT margin is 5.5 percent (previous year: 4.3 percent). Compared with the same period of the previous year (EUR 1.2 million) EBIT for Q2 rose by 32.9 percent to EUR 1.6 million. The net income for the first six months was EUR 1.9 million (previous year: EUR 1.4 million), equivalent to earnings per share of EUR 0.28 (previous year: EUR 0.22).

“The overall and industry-specific environment provided a mixed picture in the second quarter of 2014. While business in the mechanical and plant engineering sector generally continued to make positive progress, the printing industry again saw the volume of business fall in the second quarter. The main reason for this development was that Asian customers held back with their purchases,” explained Henry Brickenkamp, Spokesman of the Board of technotrans AG. “Amid this challenging environment, the development of technotrans was in line with our expectations. Thanks to our activities outside the printing industry, we thus succeeded in defying its negative trend for the third time in succession.”

The companies of the technotrans Group had an average of 770 (previous year: 772) employees in the first half of 2014.

The Segments
The Technology segment generates just under two-thirds of consolidated revenue. Of the total revenue of EUR 54.3 million, this segment brought in EUR 35.2 million in the first half of 2014 (previous year: EUR 33.4 million). The increase of around EUR 1.8 million or 5.3 percent compared with the prior-year period is exclusively attributable to the successful expansion of business in the non-print area. Here, the segment profited both from accelerating business in the laser industry and from a growing revenue share for the self-developed technologies for temperature control, filtration, cooling lubricant preparation and spray lubrication. In the offset and flexographic printing area, increased market shares and launches of new production models served to stabilise the revenue performance. Second-quarter revenue for the segment reached EUR 17.5 million, compared with EUR 16.5 million in the previous year (+6.0 percent). Against a backdrop of a further general downturn in business for the printing industry, this provides further evidence that our activities in the new markets have created welcome growth.

Earnings for the Technology segment at June 30, 2014 improved from EUR -0.9 million in the previous year to EUR -0.2 million. As expected, the rate of return for the segment thus developed positively compared with 2013. The result for the segment yielded a still slightly negative rate of return of -0.6 percent for the second quarter and of -0.7 for the first half of 2014 overall.

The Services segment achieved slightly higher second-quarter revenue of EUR 9.7 million (previous year: EUR 9.7 million) than in the first quarter of the current financial year (EUR 9.4 million). Revenue overall for the first half of 2014 remained on a par with the same period of the previous year, at EUR 19.1 million.

The financial performance in the Services segment remained stable in the period under review and the healthy level of recent quarters was maintained. Following on from EUR 1.5 million in the first quarter, revenue was increased slightly to EUR 1.7 million in the second quarter. At the end of the first half of 2014, the result for the segment of EUR 3.2 million is almost unchanged compared with the prior-year level, and the rate of return for the segment is thus 16.8 percent (previous year: 16.6 percent).

Financial Position
technotrans is again able to present a strong balance sheet at June 30, 2014:
equity rose 1.4 percent to EUR 44.4 million in the period under review, taking the equity ratio at June 30, 2014 to 58.7 percent. net liquidity for the group remained positive at EUR 0.8 million.

Based on net income of EUR 1.9 million (previous year: EUR 1.4 million) for the six-month period, the operating cash flow in 2014 showed a significant improvement on the first half of 2013. At EUR 4.4 million, cash flow was EUR 3.4 million higher than one year earlier (EUR 1.0 million). Despite a substantial increase in inventories and trade receivables, the effect from the change in working capital remained only marginally negative. Payments for interest and taxes in the period under review were slightly higher, so net cash from operating activities totalled EUR 3.1 million (previous year: EUR 0.1 million). The cash outflow from investing activities showed a year-on-year fall as expected, amounting to EUR -1.9 million (previous year: EUR -5.1 million, as a result of the acquisition of KLH) and is made up of maintenance investments (EUR -1.0 million) along with the final conditional purchase price component for the acquisition of Termotek AG (EUR -0.9 million). The free cash flow at the end of the first half of 2014 was consequently again in positive territory at EUR 1.2 million.
The cash flow from financing activities of EUR -2.0 million (previous year: +2.7 million) comprises the scheduled repayment and the raising of short-term bank loans as well as the dividend distribution to technotrans shareholders.

Outlook
Economic development remains in line with the original expectations for the current financial year and therefore for the business of the entire technotrans Group. technotrans has good prospects of making the current financial year a success under its own momentum. “By systematically continuing to pursue our growth strategy, we will achieve a further slight increase in revenue assuming business goes according to plan in 2014. As before, our plans envisage revenue for the technotrans Group of EUR 110 million (plus/minus 5 percent). For the coming quarters, too, we anticipate that revenue from outside the printing industry will enable us to more than make up for the fall in volume of print business,” declared Henry Brickenkamp.

The anticipated revenue growth and ongoing optimisation processes should help to produce a further improvement in the financial performance in the 2014 financial year, resulting in an EBIT margin of between 4 and 6 percent. “We continue to view this target as realistic,” added Henry Brickenkamp. The revenue volume and the timescale for launches of new customer projects will substantially influence the earnings situation. Over the coming quarters we are also expecting energy storage technology and scanner technology to make additional contributions to revenue. “All things considered, we remain on track and are generally confident about the remainder of the current financial year,” added the CEO.



Note: Statements made in this report relating to future developments are based on our careful assessment of future events. The actual performance of the company may differ substantially from that planned, as it depends on a large number of market-related and economic factors, some of which are beyond the company’s control.

Download: The full Interim Report 1-6/2014 can be downloaded from the Internet at www.technotrans .de , under Investor Relations – Reports.

Dates: The Quarterly Report 1-9/2014 is scheduled for publication on November 7, 2014.

Securities : technotrans AG – ISIN DE000A0XYGA7 – WKN A0XYGA

Contact : technotrans AG
Henry Brickenkamp / Dirk Engel
Coordination: Katharina Arens
Tel. +49 (0)2583 301-1890
e-mail: katharina.arens @technotrans .de

technotrans Group
Key data acc. to IFRS

comparison
2014-2013 		01/01-30/06/14 01/01-30/06/13 FY 2013 FY 2012
Earnings
Revenue EUR ‘000 3.5% 54,286 52,450 105,207 90,662
Technology EUR ‘000 5.3% 35,176 33,398 65,988 53,733
Services EUR ‘000 0.3% 19,110 19,052 39,219 36,929
Gross profit EUR ‘000 13.6% 18,106 15,934 33,124 31,652
EBITDA 1 EUR ‘000 11.5% 4,397 3,943 7,815 8,319
Earnings before interest
and tax (EBIT) 		EUR ‘000 31.4% 2,968 2,258 4,626 5,357
Net income for the period 2 EUR ‘000 30.5% 1,844 1,413 3,016 3,094
as % of revenue % 3.4 2.7 2.9 3.4
Earnings per share (basic, IFRS) EUR 27.3% 0.28 0.22 0.47 0.48
Balance sheet
Issued capital EUR ‘000 0.0% 6,908 6,908 6,908 6,908
Equity EUR ‘000 4.0% 44,360 42,671 43,743 40,865
Equity ratio % 58.7 55.8 59.9 63.2
Return on equity % 4.3 3.3 7.1 7.9
Total equity and liabilities EUR ‘000 -1.3% 75,550 76,521 73,019 64,705
Net debt 3 EUR ‘000 -755 64 -887 -8,462
Working capital 4 EUR ‘000 0.1% 27,717 27,706 28,254 27,087
ROCE 5 % 5.0 4.0 8.4 10.1
Employees
Average employees over the period -0.3% 770 772 763 646
Personnel expenses EUR ‘000 4.3% 19,304 18,513 37,022 32,651
as % of revenue % 35.6 35.3 35.2 36.0
Revenue per employee EUR ‘000 3.8% 70.5 67.9 138 140
Cash flow
Cash flow 6 EUR ‘000 3,126 89 2,693 10,979
Free cash flow 7 EUR ‘000 1,183 -5,021 -3,433 13,172
Shares
Number of shares outstanding at end of period 0.4% 6,493,426 6,466,510 6,493,474 6,455,404
Share price (max) EUR -12.1% 9.10 10.35 10.35 7.20
Share price (min) EUR 8.1% 7.46 6.90 6.90 4.10

1 EBITDA = EBIT + depreciation, amortisation and impairment
of tangible and intangible assets
2 Net profit for the period = profit attributable to technotrans AG shareholders.
3 Net debt = borrowings + non-current provisions – cash and cash equivalents
4 Working capital = current assets – current liabilities
5 ROCE = EBIT / capital employed
6 Cash flow = net cash from operating activities acc. to cash flow statement
7 Free cash flow = net cash from operating activities
+ net cash used for investments acc. to cash flow statement




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Language: English
Company: technotrans AG
Robert-Linnemann-Str. 17
48336 Sassenberg
Germany
Phone: +49 (0)2583 – 301 – 1000
Fax: +49 (0)2583 – 301 – 1030
E-mail: info@technotrans.de
Internet: http://www.technotrans.de
ISIN: DE000A0XYGA7
WKN: A0XYGA
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München, Stuttgart
End of News DGAP News-Service
283437  22.08.2014