EANS-News: Kapsch TrafficCom makes significant project progress in the first
quarter
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Financial Figures/Balance Sheet
Vienna (euro adhoc) - -Expansion phase 1 of the major project in Belarus
concluded
-Increased revenue thanks to project progress and operation of the toll system
in Poland
-EBIT returns to positive territory despite strains
-Fiscal year 2013/14 marked by implementation projects and project decisions
2013/14Q1:1 April-30 June 2013 2013/14Q1 +/-% 2012/13Q1
Revenues (in million EUR) 121.4 +14% 106.4
EBIT (in million EUR) 3.7 - -5.2
Profit for the period (in million EUR) -1.0 +77% -4.3
Earnings per share (in EUR) -0.23 +50% -0.45
19 August 2013 - Kapsch TrafficCom AG (ISIN AT000KAPSCH9), listed in the Prime
Market of the Vienna Stock Exchange, achieved significant progress on its
existing projects in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2013/14. Expansion
phase 1 of the nationwide electronic toll collection system in Belarus was
completed and went into operation after the balance sheet date. While the toll
system in Poland made a significant contribution to the revenue and earnings of
the Kapsch TrafficCom Group during the reporting period, the completed system in
the South African province of Gauteng still did not go into operation. The
revenue and earnings of the Kapsch TrafficCom Group improved significantly
compared to the same period of the previous year.
"The quarterly result is not exceptional, and it still leaves us far from our
target EBIT margin. It does, however, demonstrate the progress in our existing
installation and operation projects. It also shows that the media reports in
July regarding our project in South Africa were overblown," summarizes Georg
Kapsch, CEO of Kapsch TrafficCom AG.
The commissioning of the toll system in South Africa has been postponed several
times over a long period. Since the end of 2012, the conditions have been
established; as before, it remains only for the corresponding law to be signed
by the President of South Africa and for the starting date to be announced. The
installation of the system has been largely paid for, and the customer is
reimbursing the costs for maintaining the operational readiness. Due to the lack
of operation revenue as well as additional costs, however, this project is
currently a significant drain on the earnings of Kapsch TrafficCom.
In Belarus, Kapsch TrafficCom completed the first phase of the order for
installation and operation of the nationwide electronic toll collection system
in the quarter under report; the technical operation began on July 1st, followed
by commercial operation on August 1st. A fluid transition to expansion phase 2
occurred at the same time. Each individual phase of this major project is being
prefinanced by Kapsch TrafficCom, with full payment to be received within three
years of the start of operations.
Kapsch TrafficCom achieved yet another success in North America. After our
contract with the E-ZPass Group, which operates the world's largest
interoperable toll system in 14 US states, was extended in July 2011, the
company received in June 2013 a new five-year order from the Canadian toll
authority Cantoll to deliver the next generation of on-board units for the
Toronto metropolitan region. This should secure the high volume of on-board
units in North America for the coming years.
In Chile, Kapsch TrafficCom received an order for a traffic management system.
This shows - if only on a small scale - the increasing importance of intelligent
transportation systems (ITS), an area in which Kapsch TrafficCom has devoted
increased attention for some time.
Revenue and earnings
The revenue of the Kapsch TrafficCom Group reached EUR 121.4 million in the
first quarter, which is 14.1 % above the previous year's comparison value of EUR
106.4 million. The EBIT, which was negative in the first quarter of the previous
year at EUR -5.2 million was EUR 3.7 million in the reporting period. The
company therefore achieved a significant improvement in earnings over the
previous year - even despite the burden of the continued delay in commissioning
of the system in South Africa.
The segment RSP (Road Solution Projects) recorded revenues of EUR 36.5 million
after EUR 34.9 million in the same period of the previous fiscal year, an
increase of 4.7 %. The greatest contribution was supplied by the installation
project in Belarus, which is also reflected in the improved operating result.
Additional revenue contributions were made by the projects in Texas, USA, and
Sydney, Australia. The EBIT in the first quarter reached EUR -1.6 million after
EUR -7.2 million in the previous year, whereby the expenditures attributed to
this segment could not be entirely covered.
In the segment SEC (Services, System Extensions and Components Sales), revenues
increased by 19.3 % from EUR 67.7 million in the previous fiscal year to EUR
80.8 million in the first quarter of 2013/14. This increase was driven primarily
by the operation and further expansion of the Polish system. The number of
on-board units sold also increased in the quarter under report. On this basis,
the EBIT reached EUR 5.1 million after EUR 1.9 million in the previous year,
despite the drain on earnings due to the project in South Africa.
The profit before taxes and the profit for the period are still negative. This
results from the decline in the financial result to EUR -5.3 million due to
exchange rate fluctuations concerning the conversion of group-internal
receivables with a negative impact as at the key date.
Financial position and cash flows
The balance sheet of the Kapsch TrafficCom Group at the end of the first quarter
of 2013/14 reflected the progress and the prefinancing of the project in
Belarus: Both receivables and financial liabilities increased relative to the
balance sheet date of 31 March 2013, as did the net working capital. The free
cash flow is again negative at EUR -37.2 million, in contrast to the previous
quarters. With the conclusion of the first expansion phase, payment by the
customer has now begun.
Outlook
The next quarters will be characterized by the continuation of existing orders.
The next expansion phase in Belarus should go into operation toward the end of
the fiscal year in spring 2014. Then phase 3 begins, which entails a further
expansion of the system by 1,500 km. The implementation of the ongoing projects
in France, Australia and Texas should be largely completed by the end of the
fiscal year.
Kapsch TrafficCom looks forward with great interest to the coming developments
in South Africa as well as Slovenia, where the tender for a toll system was
recently canceled. Further invitations to tender are also expected. In parallel
to this, the company is also actively contacting possible interested parties for
toll systems, an approach that already proved successful in Belarus. The
management can report great interest in other countries as well. With its ITS
strategy and the new company structure, the Kapsch TrafficCom Group considers
itself well-positioned for all growth opportunities.
The report on the first quarter of fiscal year 2013/14 can be found under
http://www.kapsch.net//ktc/investor_relations/reports/download/Quarterly-reports/2013-14/KTC_IR_Report_FY14-Q1?lang=en-US.
Kapsch TrafficCom is a provider of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) in
the application fields of road user charging, urban access and parking, road
safety enforcement, commercial vehicle operations, electronic vehicle
registration, traffic management and V2X cooperative systems. Kapsch TrafficCom
covers with end-to-end solutions the entire value creation chain of its
customers as a one-stop shop, from components and subsystems to their
integration and operation. The solutions of Kapsch TrafficCom help to provide
funding for infrastructure projects, to increase traffic safety, to optimize
traffic flow, and to reduce environmental pollution from traffic. The core
business is to design, build and operate electronic toll collection systems for
multi-lane free-flow traffic. References in 43 countries on all continents make
Kapsch TrafficCom a recognized supplier of electronic toll collection worldwide.
As part of the Kapsch Group, a family-owned Austrian technology group founded in
1892, Kapsch TrafficCom, headquartered in Vienna, Austria, has subsidiaries and
representative offices in 33 countries, has been listed on the Vienna Stock
Exchange (KTCG) since 2007, and generated with more than 3,000 employees
revenues of EUR 488.9 million in fiscal year 2012/13. For additional
information: http://www.kapsch.net and http://www.kapschtraffic.com
Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kapschnet.
Further inquiry note:
Mag. Marcus Handl
Investor Relations Officer
Kapsch TrafficCom AG
Am Europlatz 2
1120 Vienna, Austria
Tel.: +43 50.811 1120
E-Mail: {ir.kapschtraffic@kapsch.net}
[HYPERLINK: mailto:ir.kapschtraffic@kapsch.net]
Press contact:
Mag. Katharina Riedl
Spokesperson
Kapsch AG
Am Europlatz 2
1120 Vienna, Austria
Tel.: +43 50.811 1705
E-Mail: {katharina.riedl@kapsch.net}
[HYPERLINK: mailto:katharina.riedl@kapsch.net]
end of announcement euro adhoc
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company: Kapsch TrafficCom AG
Am Europlatz 2
A-1121 Wien
phone: +43 1 50811 1122
FAX: +43 1 50811 99 1122
mail: ir.kapschtraffic@kapsch.net
WWW: www.kapschtraffic.com
sector: Technology
ISIN: AT000KAPSCH9
indexes: Prime Market
stockmarkets: official market: Wien
language: English