euro adhoc: BWT Aktiengesellschaft
quarterly or semiannual financial statement
/ BWT reports strong second quarter expecting a cool-down in the second half-year
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6-month report
08.08.2008
Revenues +10.1% to EUR 116.7 million EBIT +8.2% to EUR 12.7 million Net result +12.2% to EUR 9.5 million Net income seen at EUR 24 million for full year
"Thanks to our strategic growth initiatives in water technology in Europe, we generated a double digit increase of revenues also in the second quarter and a significantly higher EBIT drawing a clear line to the negative economic foundations. For the second half-year, despite a relatively robust market, we expect a cool-down with an annual net result of then EUR 24 million," says Andreas Weissenbacher, CEO of the BWT Group, about the second quarter 2008 and the full year outlook.
In the first half of 2008, the BWT Group boosted its consolidated revenues by 10.5% from EUR 195.2 million to EUR 215.7 million. All business segments contributed to this growth in revenue. The sound trend of the first quarter (11%) was confirmed in the Q2 with a rise of 10.1%.
The higher material prices, an unfavorable product mix and start-up costs incurred in launching the Point-of-Use programs had a dampening impact on the BWT Group´s earnings position in H1, resulting in only a lower-than-average increase in EBIT of 0.7% to EUR 20.9 million (previous year: EUR 20.2 million). Last year´s earnings also included extraordinary income of EUR 0.8 million, which was due to the successful recovery of a receivable that had been written down. In the second quarter of 2008, EBIT reached EUR 12.7 million, representing an increase of 8.2%.
Net profit was 2.5% above the previous year´s figure of EUR14.8 million at EUR15.2 million. Earnings per share were EUR0.85 in the first half-year against EUR0.84 in the comparable period of the previous year.
The BWT Group´s net worth and financial position remained robust. The cash flow from operating activities was just maintained positively in the first half-year at EUR 0.2 million. A cash outflow of EUR 3.5 million was posted in this regard in the previous year. Overall, the BWT Group has significantly extended its investments in tangible and intangible assets. In the first half-year of 2008, these amounted to EUR 9.6 million, 81% more than in the comparable period of the previous year during which EUR 5.3 million was spent.
The number of employees within the BWT Group was 2,389 as of June 30, 2008 and was therefore 1.5% above the level at the end of the previous year (2,354) and 5.9% higher than was the case one year ago (2,255).
Outlook
The extension of the Point-of-Use product program, the optimization of the existing product portfolio in the BWT core business of Point-of-Entry, BWT´s positioning as `BWT - The Water Company´ and the permanent monitoring and reduction of the working capital are the most important objectives of the BWT Management.
Due to the expected, continued generally difficult economic conditions and the consistent implementation of strategic growth initiatives of BWT, the Management Board expects consolidated net earnings of EUR 24 million for 2008.
The complete first half-year report 2008 is available on www.bwt-group.com.
end of announcement euro adhoc
Further inquiry note:
BWT Aktiengesellschaft
Ralf Burchert, CEFA
ralf.burchert@bwt-group.com
Tel.: +43 (0)6232/5011-1113
Branche: Water Supply
ISIN: AT0000737705
WKN: 884042
Index: ATX Prime
Börsen: Wiener Börse AG / official market