PRESS RELEASE
Muehlhan AG publishes first quarter 2012 results
–
Total sales increase of just under 9%
–
Previous year's growth trend in the European operations continues in Q1 2012
–
Sales in Asia significantly higher than in prior-year period
Hamburg, 15 May 2012
– Muehlhan AG (Entry Standard; ISIN DE000A0KD0F7) ended the traditionally weak first quarter with sales revenues of EUR 43.2 million (Q1 2011: EUR 39.7 million), EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) of EUR -0.1 million (Q1 2011: EUR 0.2 million) and earnings attributable to equity investors of EUR -0.8 million (Q1 2011: EUR -0.2 million). Nevertheless, the Company exceeded its own projections for the beginning of the year.
An
analysis
of sales revenues
by geographic region
yields a mixed picture.
The
European
operations, which because of their concentration on maritime segments have been problematic for Muehlhan in recent years, posted an overall positive trend for 2011 which continued during the first quarter of 2012, with sales revenues rising to EUR 35.5 million, an 8% increase over the prior-year period (EUR 32.8 million). Earnings also increased, from EUR 1.8 million in Q1 2011 to EUR 2.1 million.
In
North America,
sales declined slightly, from EUR 3.9 million to EUR 3.6 million. Muehlhan's North American operations also reported a sizable EUR 1.1 million decrease in EBIT, from almost EUR 0.5 million in Q1 2011 to EUR -0.6 million in Q1 2012.
Since the weak prior-year quarter (Q1 2011: EUR 2.6 million), Muehlhan has managed to expand its business in the
Asian
region, generating EUR 4.1 million in sales, almost 60% higher than at the beginning of 2011. Still, earnings remained relatively weak. Although Muehlhan's results were better than the EUR -0.9 million posted the year before, it still reported a loss of EUR -0.3 million.
A breakdown of sales revenues by business sectors shows that the
Ship Newbuilding
activities generated EUR 6.9 million of sales in the first quarter of 2012 (previous year: EUR 12.9 million), thereby continuing the negative trend caused by the structural decline of the Newbuilding sector. At European shipyards, Muehlhan's sales dropped to around half the level posted in 2011, while we had no ship newbuilding orders in the USA. The only sites where Muehlhan reported improvements over the prior-year quarter were in Asia, and specifically in the Middle East.
This trend has not affected all the maritime activities equally, as demonstrated by the performance of the maintenance segment: the
Ship Repair
sector reported significant growth in Europe and Asia, including a doubling of business volume in some cases. Although business declined slightly in North America, total sales revenues increased from EUR 5.7 million to EUR 10.2 million.
During the first quarter of 2012, the
Energy
activities had total sales of EUR 10.7 million. In the prior-year period, the businesses now included in this division generated around EUR 8.3 million in sales. The offshore businesses, in particular, posted substantial increases. The Group also reported a slight increase in sales relating to petrochemical orders. Contracts with customers in the renewable energy business generated the same level of sales revenues as at the beginning of 2011. By contrast, start-up problems at the new wind-energy site in Canada had a negative impact on earnings.
In the
Industry
sector, which includes bridge-coating and passive fire-proofing orders, sales improved significantly from EUR 4.8 million in Q1 2011 to EUR 7.2 million for the period from January through the end of March 2012. Fortunately, this upward trend was visible in every part of the Industry business.
A significant portion of Muehlhan's sales revenues are generated by the
Other Services
field. In addition to steel construction work for maritime and industrial customers, this business sector also includes scaffolding and access technology services. It posted combined revenues of EUR 8.2 million – considerably higher than in the previous year (first quarter of 2011: EUR 7.7 million). In particular, there was a strong increase in steel construction services.
Contributions from the scaffolding segment, by contrast, remained flat. The importance of reliable, safe scaffolding services and access technologies to the Muehlhan Group will increase over time: with its majority equity stake in the company Maritime Scaffolding Ltd., Muehlhan will also expand its international expertise and expects to achieve synergies in the offshore market mainly by working with other subsidiaries.
Despite the fact that Muehlhan's overall sales trend was positive, this was not reflected in the bottom line.
Consequently, the Executive Board continues to stand by its projections, as published in the Annual Report, of total sales revenues of between EUR 165 million and 175 million and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of between EUR 3.0 and 5.0 million for 2012.
The Company's most important financial highlights are contained in the following table:
|
in kEUR
|
1st quarter of 2012
|
1st quarter of 2011
|
|
Sales
|
43,232
|
39,683
|
|
EBITDA
|
1,479
|
1,694
|
|
EBIT
|
-114
|
213
|
|
EBT
|
-700
|
-213
|
|
Earnings per share in EUR
|
-0.04
|
-0.01
|
|
Consolidated earnings after non-controlling interests
|
-836
|
-248
|
|
Cash flow
|
1,572
|
973
|
|
|
31 March 2012
|
31 December 2011
|
|
Fixed assets
|
44,710
|
44,908
|
|
Equity
|
56,314
|
57,062
|
|
Balance sheet total
|
109,704
|
112,243
|
|
Employees (average)
|
2,128
|
2,131
|
About Muehlhan:
Worldwide, the Muehlhan Group is a reliable partner in industrial services and high-quality surface protection.
As one of the few full-service providers, we offer our customers a broad range of services designed to meet the exacting quality standards expected in professional industrial services. Our customers benefit from our exceptional organizational skills, the technical expertise that differentiates us from our competitors and our more than 130 years of experience.
Our operations are divided into five business segments: Ship Newbuilding, Ship Repair, Energy, Industry and Other Services. With our workforce of more than 2,100 employees at around 40 locations worldwide, we generated sales revenues of EUR 172 million in 2011.
We intend to use this stable foundation to further expand our business in the coming years and to continue moving our company forward through proximity to our customers in the global market.
For more information, please visit
www.muehlhan.com
Press contact:
Ties Kaiser, Muehlhan AG; Tel: +49 40 75271 -156, e-mail:
kaiser@muehlhan.com