S&T AG: further strong growth in sales and an even greater increase in profitability in Q1 2016

Mittwoch 04. Mai 2016

Austria

Sales grow by 4% to EUR 96.4 million (PY: EUR 92.8 million)
EBITDA increases by 8% to EUR 6.3 million (PY: EUR 5.8 million)
Consolidated income up to EUR 3.2 million (PY: EUR 2.7 million)

S&T AG (www.snt.at) was able to set forth in the first quarter of financial year 2016 the course of growth foreseen by its corporate plans. The sales for the first quarter increased by 4% to EUR 96.4 million (the first quarter of 2015: EUR 92.8 million). This caused EBITDA to rise 8%, going from EUR 5.8 million to EUR 6.3 million. This is attributable to the reduction of expenditures achieved in the smart energy segment. Consolidated income for the first quarter rose to EUR 3.2 million (PY: EUR 2.7 million). As had been the case in the first quarter of 2015, earnings per share came to 6 cents.

Slightly exceeding plans, the “Services” segments recorded sales amounting to EUR 70.0 million (PY: EUR 65.3 million) and an EBITDA of EUR 2.6 million (PY: EUR 2.4 million). The “Technologies” segments registered sales in the first quarter of 2016 that were at the previous year's level. Their profitability increased. The segments' revenues from sales came to EUR 26.3 million (PY: EUR 27.6 million), the EBITDA amounted to EUR 3.7 million (PY: EUR 3.5 million). The strong inflow of orders in the first quarter of 2016 is causing management to forecast strong growth for the company's technology sectors in 2016 as a whole.

The company's assets and liquidity situations remain very strong. At EUR 101.8 million as of 31.3.2016, the company's equity remained virtually unchanged from 31.12.2015 (EUR 102.2 million). This caused the equity ratio to rise from the end of 2015's 32.0% to 36.0% as of 31.03.2016. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to EUR 39.5 million (31.12.2015: EUR 60.3 million). The financial liabilities were reduced to EUR 48.9 million (31.12.2015: EUR 51.0 million). As had been expected, seasonal effects caused the operative cash flow to weaken to EUR -8.8 million. This was still much better than the previous year's figure of EUR -17.0 million.

The company's sustained profitability and strong liquidity have caused S&T's Executive and Supervisory Board to resolve to propose to the company's shareholders, to be convened in June for its annual general meeting of shareholders, an increasing of the company's dividend to 8 cents. In terms of income taxes, this distribution constitutes a capital repayment that meets the stipulations of § 4 Paragraph 12 of Austria's Income Tax Act.

At EUR 188.5 million, the orders backlog remained at a high level (31.12.2015: EUR 170.0 million, after subtracting EUR 11 million for the projects being carried out outside the EU by NES USA, which was deconsolidated). The company's project pipeline attained EUR 864.5 million (up from EUR 701.5 million as of the beginning of 2016). This development has caused management to forecast a strong second quarter for the company, which is expected to realize sales substantially exceeding the EUR 100 million mark.

The management expects financial year 2016 to bring a setting forth of the course of expansion. Management has confirmed its previous forecast: that the Group will achieve sales of more than EUR 500 million in 2016. Profits are set to rise even more strongly. The technology segments serve the security and smart energy markets. The strong demand for services ensuring the security of the operations performed via the Internet of Things (IoT) should cause these segments to register growth of more than 20% annually in 2016 and in the years following that. The Group has a large order backlog. Many of these orders are in the high-margin, high-tech area. The Group also has a record volume of orders in its pipeline. These factors substantiate these objectives for growth!