EANS-Adhoc: BWT Aktiengesellschaft BWT grows sales by 5% in the first three
quarters
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ad-hoc disclosure transmitted by euro adhoc with the aim of a Europe-wide
distribution. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this
announcement.
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quarterly report
11.11.2011
"We grew sales by 7% organically and in Point of Use by 22% until the end of the
third quarter and are also keeping our balance sheet healthy - despite big
investment and rocky economic conditions. The first rank with the Upper Austrian
Innovation Award for BWT for the superior Magnesium Mg2+ technology and the
table water advertisement campaign in Germany and Austria were the highlights of
the third quarter" says Andreas Weissenbacher, CEO of BWT - Best Water
Technology Group, about the results until the end of September 2011.
As at the end of September, the BWT Group´s consolidated revenues showed an
increase of 4.8% from EUR345.2 million to EUR361.8 million. Growth on a
like-for-like basis came to 7.2%. The BWT Group achieved revenues of EUR26.3
million from Point of Use products during the first nine months of the year,
representing a year-on-year increase of 22.4%. Growth in the third quarter was
23.7%. The comprehensive advertising measures aimed at establishing the BWT
brand as the leading international "water brand" were chiefly responsible for
the reduction of EBIT by EUR3.0 million to EUR4.3 during the third quarter.
Earnings before tax were EUR19.8 million (previous year: EUR26.1 million) for
the first three quarters. Due on the one hand to improved earnings in countries
with higher tax rates and on the other hand to tax expenses from prior periods,
the Group´s tax rate rose to 31.5% from 23.3% for the same period of the
previous year. The Group´s consolidated net earnings after minority interests
amounted to EUR13.5 million for the first nine months of the year (2010: EUR20.0
million) and EUR2.6 million in the third quarter (2010: EUR5.4 million).
Earnings per share were EUR0.79 as at 30 September, against EUR1.16 in 2010.
Investments in fixed assets increased significantly against 2010. Up to the end
of September, EUR16.2 million had been invested in 2011 so far compared with
EUR10.2 million during the same period of the previous year. The majority of
these investments went into expanding production, logistics and research
capacities at the Mondsee site. Despite high levels of strategic capital
investment, the net debt of the BWT Group fell from EUR25.1 million at the end
of September 2010 to EUR22.9 million at the end of September 2011. As a
consequence, gearing (net debt to equity) fell from 15.3% in 2010 to 14.1% in
2011. The BWT Group´s equity ratio has also improved as at 30 September,
amounting to 48.1% of total assets against 47.6% for the same period of the
previous year.
Outlook
Andreas Weissenbacher says, "The revolutionary Magnesium Mg2+ table water filter
technology and several other product innovations now give us the historic
opportunity to launch the brand BWT as the consumer water technology brand. We
follow along this path with persistence aiming to generate considerable growth
in sales and earnings in all business segments." As planned, the additional
marketing expenditure aimed at establishing the "BWT" brand and expanding the
Point of Use business, above all in the table water filter product segment, is
resulting in the medium term in a decline in earnings, which has been
exacerbated by the difficult market environment in France, Italy and Spain and
the pressure on margins in Eastern Europe in 2011. The BWT Group is still
expecting to achieve consolidated revenues of EUR470 million in 2011. From the
current perspective, it looks unlikely that the group earnings target of EUR1
per share will be met, the fourth quarter, as was also the case last year, makes
only a minor contribution to earnings.
The third quarter financial report as at September 30th, 2011, is available on
our homepage www.bwt-group.com in section Investor Relations.
Further inquiry note:
BWT Aktiengesellschaft
Mag. Ralf Burchert
ralf.burchert@bwt-group.com
Tel.: 06232/5011-1113
end of announcement euro adhoc
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issuer: BWT Aktiengesellschaft
Walter-Simmer-Str. 4
A-5310 Mondsee
phone: 06232/5011-0
FAX: 06232/4058
mail: office@bwt.at
WWW: www.bwt-group.com
sector: Water Supply
ISIN: AT0000737705
indexes: ATX Prime
stockmarkets: official market: Wien
language: English