- Revenue growth of 5.7% to EUR 62.5 million
- Stable earnings and positive cash flow development
- Successful implementation start of the “Back to Double Digit” optimisation programme
- Outlook dampened by economic downturn in individual target sectors
Gelsenkirchen, 8 November 2019 – The Masterflex Group continued its growth course in the first nine months of 2019, increasing revenue by 5.7% from EUR 59.1 million to EUR 62.5 million. Masterflex is thus at the upper end of its full-year forecast, which projects growth of between 3% and 6%. At the same time, some target sectors, such as automotive and mechanical engineering, showed clear signs of a downturn, which prevented even stronger growth and will at the same time have a dampening effect on the further development in the fourth quarter and probably also at the start of the new year. So far, these effects have been offset by the very good development in medical technology in particular.
At EUR 5.3 million, operating EBIT was almost on a par with the previous year‘s figure of EUR 5.2 million. Accordingly, the operating EBIT margin was 8.4% after 8.8% in the previous year. The overall solid earnings performance was also reflected in the 8.1% increase in EBITDA from EUR 7.7 million to EUR 8.3 million. At EUR 3.1 million, consolidated net income for the first nine months was exactly at the same level as in the same period of the previous year. Cash flow developed very positively in the reporting period. Accordingly, cash flow from operating activities rose by EUR 1.7 million or 72.1% from EUR 2.4 million to EUR 4.1 million.
An isolated analysis of the third quarter shows a revenue growth of 5.8%, which was thus slightly above the dynamic of the first six months. The development of earnings in the third quarter and the entire nine-month period was largely analogous. Accordingly, EBIT of EUR 1.6 million and earnings after taxes of EUR 1.0 million in the third quarter were both on a par with the same period of the previous year.
The Masterflex Group has made a successful start to implementation with the “Back to Double Digit” (B2DD) optimisation programme announced in September 2019, which aims at gradually bringing the operating EBIT margin back into double figures by 2021 on a sustained basis. First measures and successes have already been implemented or achieved in improving personnel productivity, although the effects will only become apparent in the coming quarters. Further cost effects were also realised with the disposal of the heating hose business and the concentration on the supply of individual components, which will have an effect from the first quarter of 2020. Depending on the degree of economic slowdown in individual target sectors, it may become necessary to implement additional measures within the B2DD programme, especially in 2020, which were not planned in the scope to date. In the first nine months of the year, the B2DD programme has hardly generated any one-off costs. The total amount of these one-off charges is estimated at a maximum of EUR 1.0 million, distributed between 2019 and 2020.
Dr. Andreas Bastin, CEO of Masterflex Group: “The Group has done well so far this year, has continued to grow and has achieved the targets. At the same time, the challenges continue to increase. With our B2DD optimisation programme measures – which are already having first positive effects – we happen to be entering a phase in which the climate in key customer industries is deteriorating significantly. Accordingly, our measures and market effects can overlap or reinforce each other. If the economic and industry-specific outlook remains the same, we will take additional measures to avoid jeopardizing our return targets until 2021.”
The detailed quarterly statement 3/2019 can be found on the Internet at www.masterflexgroup.com/en/investor-relations/financial-reports/2019.html.