- Sales decline in Q2 2020 by €5.8 million or 8.8% year-on-year to €59.7 million in line with expectations

- Cost control dampens impact on earnings: EBITDA pre exceptionals moderately down by €1.5 million to €3.9 million

- Outlook confirmed: Solid order backlog and increasing demand expected to yield a noticeable recovery - sales in the second half of 2020 should not come in below €135 million after €125 million in the first six months of the year

Waldenburg, 6 August 2020 - R. STAHL, leading supplier of products and systems for explosion protection, today publishes final figures for Q2 2020.
As already reported, sales fell by €5.8 million or 8.8% to €59.7 million (Q2 2019: €65.5 million). Early measures taken to control costs, particularly personnel costs, dampened the resulting earnings decline: At €3.9 million, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) pre exceptionals were moderately down by €1.5 million year-on-year (Q2 2019: €5.4 million). As already in the previous quarter, exceptionals declined considerably year-on-year, totaling €-0.3 million (Q2 2019: €-1.2 million). Earnings per share fell to €-0.31 compared to prior year's second quarter (Q2 2019: €-0.12).
In the first half of 2020, sales dropped by €8.2 million or 6.2% year-on-year to €124.8 million (6M 2019: €133.0 million) and EBITDA pre exceptionals by €4.5 million to €8.6 million (6M 2019: €13.1 million). With increasing maturity of the 2018 initiated efficiency measures, exceptionals declined further as expected, reaching €-0.4 million (6M 2019: €-2.6 million). Earnings per share fell to €-0.41 (6M 2019: €-0.10).

"The world economy has seen an unprecedented drop in the first half of 2020. This particularly affected the oil, gas and chemicals sectors - which are of highest importance when it comes to explosion protection. We assume that we have seen this year's trough in our business in the second quarter and expect a stabilization in the second half with sales significantly above the level of the first six months", said Jürgen Linhard, member of the Executive Board of R. STAHL.

From a regional perspective, the Americas and Asia/Pacific, which have high exposures to the oil and gas sector that was particularly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, saw double-digit percentage declines especially in the day-to-day business. Though R. STAHL was able to keep its operations largely running through early preventive measures aimed at protecting employee health and maintaining ability to supply, delays in transport and receipt of goods at some customers led to postponed sales. As a result, finished and unfinished products increased by €5.0 million compared to last year's end.
The total operating performance decreased by 8.1% to €61.7 million in Q2 2020 (Q2 2019: €67.2 million). The material costs also declined in line with sales by 8.7% to €20.9 million (Q2 2019: €22.9 million). Even so, the cost-of-materials ratio improved slightly year-on-year to 33.8% of the total operating performance (Q2 2019: 34.1% of the total operating performance).
In the quarter under review, the personnel costs fell considerably by 6.3% to €29.3 million (Q2 2019: €31.3 million). This was particularly due to adjusted bonus provisions, the reduction of claims for special tariff payments (T-ZUG) at German sites and, to a lesser extent, a lower volume of severance pay recognized as exceptionals.

The balance of other operating income and expenses improved in Q2 2020 to €-8.0 million (Q2 2019: €-8.8 million). This also reflected the reduction in legal and consulting costs booked as exceptionals.

Depreciation and amortization of intangible assets and property, plant and equipment in the quarter under review stood at €4.2 million (Q2 2019: €3.3 million). Overall, the EBIT registered a decline by €1.5 million to €-0.6 million (Q2 2019: €0.9 million).

The financial result improved by €0.3 million to €-0.5 million in Q2 2020 (Q2 2019: €-0.8 million). The higher income from the ZAVOD Goreltex investment made a particular contribution to this. In addition, reduced interest expenses arising from the building lease at the Waldenburg site and for pension provisions helped to reduce the costs.

Earnings before income taxes fell by €1.2 million in the second quarter of 2020 to €-1.1 million (Q2 2019: €0.1 million). Income taxes were incurred at the same level as in the previous year at €-0.9 million (Q2 2019: €-0.9 million).

Compared to the end of last year, net debt (excluding pension provisions and excluding lease liabilities) increased to €10.3 million, mainly due to the increase in inventories (31 December 2019: €4.2 million).

With €79.7 million, the order backlog at the end of the reporting period remained at the prior quarter's high level (31 March, 2020: €79.9 million).

Based on the currently foreseeable development of the most significant key markets for R. STAHL, the Executive Board specifies the outlook for 2020. We continue to stick to our assumption that sales should not drop more than 5% year-on-year. The previous sales corridor from €260 million to €275 million is narrowed to a range from €260 million to €265 million. EBITDA pre exceptionals is expected to come in in the low double-digit million Euro range, unchanged to the previous outlook. This assessment reflects the solid order backlog as at the end of the reporting period as well as the expectation that material amounts of the currently increased inventory of finished products will be sold during the current year.

 

Key Figures R. STAHL Group for Q2 2020 pursuant to IFRS

¹⁾ Africa and Europe excl. Germany

²⁾ Exceptionals: restructuring charges, non-scheduled depreciation and amortization, charges for design and implementation of IT-projects, M&A costs as well as profit and loss from the disposal of non-current assets no longer required for business operations

³⁾ excl. pension provision and excluding lease liabilities

⁴⁾ excl. apprentices

Percentages and figures in this report may include rounding differences. The signs used to indicate rates of change are based on economic aspects: improvements are indicated by a "+" sign, deteriorations by a "-" sign. Rates of change >+100% are shown as >+100%, rates of change <-100% as "n/a" (not applicable).

Investors' and analysts' conference call of R. STAHL AG for Q2 2020

The Executive Board of R. STAHL AG, represented by Jürgen Linhard, will explain the results of Q2 2020 in a conference call today at 10:00 CET and will be available for questions afterwards. The conference call will be held in English language.

Please dial the following number to join the call and provide the PIN as well as your full name and company when prompted:

DE: +4969201744220
UK: +442030092470
US: +18774230830

PIN: 64564697#

Along with the conference call, we will provide an online presentation via the internet. Please log on as a participant on the following website (no password required):

Website: https://webcasts.eqs.com/rstahl20200806/no-audio

A replay of the audio webcast will be available shortly after the conference call has ended on the company's website under the following link:

https://r-stahl.com/en/global/corporate/investor-relations/ir-news-and-publications/events-and-presentations/
 

 

Financial calendar 2020

12 November Interim Report Q3 2020

 

About R. STAHL - www.r-stahl.com
R. STAHL is the world's leading supplier of electrical and electronic products and systems for explosion protection. These products and systems prevent explosions in hazardous areas and contribute to the safety of people, machines and the environment. The portfolio ranges from products used in switching/distributing, installing, operating/monitoring, lighting and signalling/alarming up to automation. Typical customers are the oil & gas industry, the chemical and pharmaceutical industry and the food industry. In 2019, global sales amounting to about €275 million were generated by 1,669 employees. The shares of R. STAHL AG are traded on the Regulated Market/Prime Standard of Deutsche Boerse (ISIN DE000A1PHBB5).

Forward-looking statements
This release contains forward-looking statements based on assumptions and estimates of R. STAHL's management. Although we assume that the expectations of these forward-looking statements are realistic, we cannot guarantee that these expectations will prove to be correct. The assumptions may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such discrepancies include: changes in the macroeconomic and business environment, exchange rate and interest rate fluctuations, the roll-out of competing products, a lack of acceptance of new products or services, and changes in business strategy. R. STAHL does not plan to update these forward-looking statements nor does it accept any obligation to do so

The contents of this press release are intended to address all genders. For the sake of readability and without any intent to discriminate, only the male form is used.

Contact:
R. STAHL AG
Dr. Thomas Kornek
Senior Vice President Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
Am Bahnhof 30
74638 Waldenburg (Württ.)
Germany

Tel. +49 7942 943-1395
investornews@r-stahl.com