EANS-Adhoc: GESCO expects sales to rise and earnings to be at a high level after record year 2011/2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ad-hoc disclosure pursuant to section 15 of the WpHG transmitted by euro adhoc with the aim of a Europe-wide distribution. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28.06.2012 Wuppertal, 28 June 2012 - SDAX-listed GESCO AG, a holding company for a group of industrial SMEs, is reporting on the record year 2011/2012 (1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012) at today's accounts press conference and is also forecasting high-level sales and earnings for the new financial year 2012/2013. In financial year 2011/2012, the GESCO Group was able to translate the favourable economic environment into strong growth. Incoming orders rose by 16.4 % to EUR 439.0 million (previous year: EUR 377.2 million). Group sales increased by 23.9 % to EUR 415.4 million (EUR 335.2 million). Earnings figures benefited from improved capacity utilisation and order quality, which tends to be generally better in times of growth. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 34.5 % to EUR 51.3 million (EUR 38.2 million), a higher rate than sales increased. At 45.7 %, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) climbed even higher than EBITDA, reaching EUR 39.3 million (EUR 27.0 million). Group net income after minority interest grew by 48.4 % to EUR 22.6 million (EUR 15.3 million). This figure includes non-recurring income of around EUR 0.7 million from concluded legal disputes. In view of the steep rise in earnings, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board will propose a dividend of EUR 2.90 per share at the Annual General Meeting on 30 August 2012. The dividend would therefore be 45.0 % up on the previous year's distribution of EUR 2.00 per share. The company expects slight sales growth to approximately EUR 430 million and Group net income after minority interest of around EUR 20.5 million in the new financial year 2012/2013 (1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013). This corresponds to earnings per share of EUR 6.17. In the first quarter of the new financial year 2012/2013, which includes the subsidiaries' operating business from January to March 2012, incoming orders amounted to EUR 116.3 million, slightly up on the very high figure of EUR 115.9 million in the previous year's quarter. Sales increased by 7.1 % to EUR 106.8 million (EUR 99.7 million). Order backlog at the end of the first operating quarter, including Werkzeugbau-Laichingen Group acquired in December 2011, was at a record-breaking EUR 192 million. The company will present the accounts for financial year 2011/2012 and the outlook for financial year 2012/2013 in the accounts press conference / analysts' conference on 28 June 2012 at 11.00 hrs. The comprehensive press release, the annual report and a video commentary on the accounts will be available at www.gesco.de from 28 June 2012, 8.00 hrs. A webcast of the accounts press conference / analysts' conference (in German) will be accessible from 11.00 hrs on via www.gesco.de and will be available for twelve months Further inquiry note: Oliver Vollbrecht Leiter Investor Relations T.: +49(0)202 24820 18 info@gesco.de end of announcement euro adhoc -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- issuer: GESCO AG Johannisberg 7 D-42103 Wuppertal phone: +49(0)202 24820 0 FAX: +49(0)202 24820 49 mail: info@gesco.de WWW: http://www.gesco.de sector: Economy, Business & Finance ISIN: DE000A1K0201 indexes: SDAX, Classic All Share, Prime All Share stockmarkets: free trade: Berlin, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, regulated dealing/prime standard: Frankfurt language: English
Original-Content von: GESCO AG, übermittelt durch news aktuell