S&T AG: Strong Q1 2018: doubling of net income

Freitag 04. Mai 2018

Austria

Revenues up 11% to EUR 203.6 million (PY: EUR 182.8 million)
EBITDA increases 40% to EUR 17.1 million (PY: EUR 12.2 million)
Earnings per share rise significantly - on a y-on-y basis from 5 cents to 12 cents

Linz, May 4, 2018. S&T AG (www.snt.at) turned in a strong first quarter in 2018: a substantial rise in revenues was outpaced by that of profits, as compared to the figures for the first quarter of 2017. Revenues were up some 11% to EUR 203.6 million (PY: EUR 182.8 million). Gross profits climbed from EUR 71.8 million to EUR 74.1 million. EBITDA outperformed that, rising some 40% to EUR 17.1 million (PY: EUR 12.2 million). One driver of this jump: the measures initiated at the beginning of 2017 to cut the costs experienced by Kontron. Net income for the first quarter of 2018 rose by nearly 100% to EUR 7.5 million (PY: EUR 3.8 million). Also performing gratifyingly well were earnings per share. EPS climbed from the previous year‘s 5 cents to 12 cents, notwithstanding the increase in the number of the company's shares caused by the conducted capital increases (on both cash and contribution-in-kind bases) since summer 2017.

All three of the S&T Group‘s business segments developed positively in the first quarter of 2018. Main driver of profitability remains the “IoT Solutions” segment, whose EBITDA of EUR 9.2 million was double that of the first quarter of 2017. This segment already supplies 54% of the S&T Group's EBITDA. The Group's focusing upon the IoT and Industry 4.0 sector continues to positively impact upon the company's business. S&T group's order backlog rose as of March 31, 2018 to EUR 501 million (as of December 31, 2017: EUR 474 million), with the project pipeline coming to some EUR 1.3 billion (as of December 31, 2017: EUR 1.1 billion).

As had been the case in the previous years, the company's assets and liquidity manifested seasonal effects. As of March 31, 2018, the company had cash and cash equivalents amounting to EUR 172.9 million (December 31, 2017: EUR 216.9 million). The decline in the balance sheet total caused the equity ratio to rise to 44.7% (December 31, 2017: 41.2%).

“2017 was an extremely successful year for S&T and we are now setting forth this track record of success,” states Hannes Niederhauser, S&T AG's CEO. “The strong rise in earnings is largely attributable to our “IoT Solutions” segment - and to the innovations that we have created in the field of Industry 4.0. We will proceed with the making of investments in this market, which is just taking off. We have worked really hard to become leaders in various fields of this key technological sector, from whose strong growth we intend to fully profit. This, in turn, will boost our revenues in 2018 to a forecast of around EUR 1 billion. Our objective for EBITBA in 2018 is at least EUR 80 million. Our goal for 2023 is EUR 2 billion in revenues.”