EANS-News: BAUER Aktiengesellschaft BAUER AG with first half-year growth in
total Group revenues and a more cautious outlook
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Corporate news transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer/originator is solely
responsible for the content of this announcement.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Company Information/quarterly report/6-month report
Subtitle: Total Group revenues up 7.9 percent to EUR 639.9 million
Orders in hand up 2.5 percent to EUR 671.1 million
EBIT: EUR 28.3 million (previous year: EUR 27.2 million)
After-tax profit: EUR 5.6 million (previous year: EUR 6.1 million)
Forecast adjusted to more muted market expectations
Schrobenhausen (euro adhoc) - BAUER Aktiengesellschaft achieved growth in total
Group revenues and in earnings in the first half of the current financial year.
Total Group revenues were up 7.9 percent against the previous year comparative
period to EUR 639.9 million. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT)
increased by 3.9 percent to EUR 28.3 million. After-tax profit of EUR 5.6
million was just short of the previous year's level of EUR 6.1 million. The
main reasons for this were the ongoing political unrest in Middle Eastern
countries as well as delays beyond the company's control to construction
projects in other countries. These trends have led the international
construction and machinery manufacturing concern to adjust its market
expectations for the second half of the year slightly.
The Group's Construction segment has been particularly affected by the unrest
and the project delays. Its total Group revenues of EUR 262.2 million were 10.4
percent down against the previous year's comparative figure of EUR 292.8
million. Segment EBIT fell from EUR 9.6 million to EUR 3.0 million. Orders in
hand at the end of June remained at a high level, totalling EUR 350.7 million
(previous year: EUR 383.1 million). The segment's major projects include the
remediation of the dam on Lake Okeechobee in Florida in the USA, excavation
pits for an underground railway system in Panama and for the London Underground
in England, as well as specialist foundation engineering works for large-scale
infrastructure projects in Hong Kong and Malaysia.
The Equipment segment increased its total Group revenues by 28.1 percent to EUR
322.7 million (previous year: EUR 252.0 million). Segment EBIT rose by EUR 6.9
million to EUR 23.2 million. Orders in hand were down slightly against the
previous year comparative, decreasing by 4.3 percent to EUR 140.1 million. This
was largely linked to the delivery of the first of the new range of deep
drilling rigs during the reporting period. The Group is seeing growing demand
for machinery in the Far East especially, and as a result the plants in China
are working to high capacity. All in all, demand and unit sales have been
somewhat more sluggish than expected. The resultant rise in inventories will be
reduced again through the second half of the year.
The performance of the Group's Resources segment, which focuses on future-
oriented products and services in the fields of water, energy, mineral
resources and environmental technology, was thoroughly positive. Its total
Group revenues rose by 23.6 percent to EUR 95.5 million (previous year: EUR
77.3 million). Segment EBIT was EUR 1.2 million up on the previous year
comparative, at EUR 2.8 million. Orders in hand were also up substantially,
totalling EUR 180.3 million against the previous year comparative figure of EUR
125.3 million. Capacities are being utilized to healthy levels as a result.
During the reporting period Bauer acquired a major new contract in Oman ? a
follow-up order to extend the reed-bed treatment plant it recently built to
purify contaminated water from the oil industry.
Outlook
Orders received across the Group were down slightly, decreasing by 5.8 percent
to EUR 696.1 million (previous year: EUR 738.8 million). Orders in hand
increased by 2.5 percent on the previous year comparative period to EUR 671.1
million, bringing them back up well above the levels seen during the recent
financial and economic crisis. Slight declines in the Equipment and
Construction segments were balanced out by strong growth in the Resources
segment.
"Our forecast at the start of the year was somewhat conservative, and had
allowed for a degree of turbulence in view of the troubled political and
economic times," comments Professor Thomas Bauer, Chairman of the Management
Board of BAUER AG. "The reserve we built in has in fact been substantially used
up by the many external disturbing factors encountered, so that we have not
been able fully to meet our forecast targets." The Group now expects total
Group revenues of EUR 1.35 to 1.4 billion in full-year 2011, with after-tax
profit between EUR 40 and 45 million. The previous forecast had been for total
Group revenues of EUR 1.4 billion and after-tax profit of above EUR 45 million.
"Thanks to the global span of the BAUER Group, problems in one market or
another, whilst of course being unwelcome, can be relatively well absorbed and
their impact cushioned. Our strategy is to utilize the opportunities and the
stabilizing effect arising from our presence in some 70 countries around the
world," Professor Bauer continues. "Our greatest opportunities for growth over
the coming years will be in the Resources segment."
Our full Interim Report, including a detailed analysis of the individual
segments and markets, can be found on our website at http://www.bauer.de.
About Bauer
Bauer is a provider of services, machinery and ancillary products in the earth-
working and groundwater fields. The Group markets its products and services all
over the world. Its global spread allows it to remain largely unaffected by
fluctuating business cycles.
The operations of the Group are divided into three segments: Construction,
Equipment and Resources. The Construction segment carries out specialist
foundation engineering work all over the world, developing foundation and
excavation projects as well as providing related construction services. In its
Equipment segment, in which it is the world market leader, Bauer offers an
extensive range of machinery, equipment and tools for specialist foundation
engineering and related fields of activity. The Resources segment encompasses
the Group's operations in the exploitation of raw materials, in environmental
technology, in geothermal drilling operations and also in equipment for wells
(including pumps and drills, screens and casings).
Bauer profits greatly from the collaboration between its three separate
segments, enabling the Group to position itself as an innovative, highly
specialized provider of complete solutions and services for demanding projects
on the specialist foundation engineering and related markets.
Founded in 1790, Bauer today generates around three quarters of its total
revenues outside of Germany. Employing some 9,100 people, the Group's total
revenues in 2010 were EUR 1.30 billion (previous year: EUR 1.28 billion). BAUER
Aktiengesellschaft has been listed on the official market of the Frankfurt
Stock Exchange since July 4, 2006 (Prime Standard, ISIN DE0005168108).
GROUP KEY FIGURES - 1st half 2011 (IFRS)
| | HY 2010 | HY 2011 |Change |
| |in EUR million |in EUR million | |
|Total Group revenues |592.9 |639.9 |7.9 % |
|of which | | | |
|- Germany |145.0 |168.0 |15.9 % |
|- International |447.9 |471.9 |5.4 % |
|of which | | | |
|- Construction |292.8 |262.2 |-10.4 % |
|- Equipment |252.0 |322.7 |28.1 % |
|- Resources |77.3 |95.5 |23.6 % |
|- Other/Consolidation |-29.2 |-40.5 |n/a |
|Consolidated revenues * |574.7 |626.1 |8.9 % |
|Sales revenues |529.1 |550.1 |4.0 % |
|Orders received |738.8 |696.1 |-5.8 % |
|Orders in hand |654.8 |671.1 |2.5 % |
|EBITDA |63.9 |68.3 |6.9 % |
|EBITDA margin (as % of sales |12.1 % |12.4 % |n/a |
|revenues) | | | |
|EBIT |27.2 |28.3 |3.9 % |
|EBIT margin (as % of sales |5.1 % |5.1 % |n/a |
|revenues) | | | |
|Net profit or loss |6.1 |5.6 |-8.1 % |
|Shareholders´ equity |420.6 |425.2 |1.1 % |
|Equity ratio in % |30.5 % |29.4 % |n/a |
|Earnings per share in EUR |0.20 |0.26 |30.0 % |
|Employees (on average over the |8,892 |9,656 |8.6 % |
|year) | | | |
At variance with the consolidated revenues presented in the Group income
statement, the total Group revenues presented here include portions of revenues
from associated companies as well as revenues of non-consolidated subsidiaries
and joint ventures.
* Previous year figure adjusted
Further inquiry note:
Bettina Erhart / Christopher Wolf
Investor Relations
Telefon: +49(0)8252 97 1918
E-Mail: investor.relations@bauer.de
end of announcement euro adhoc
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
company: BAUER Aktiengesellschaft
BAUER-Straße 1
D-86529 Schrobenhausen
phone: +49 (0)8252-97-1918
FAX: +49 (0)8252-97-2900
mail: investor.relations@bauer.de
WWW: http://www.bauer.de
sector: Construction & Property
ISIN: DE0005168108
indexes: SDAX, CDAX, Classic All Share, Prime All Share
stockmarkets: regulated dealing/prime standard: Frankfurt, free trade: Berlin,
Hamburg, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, München
language: English