Consolidated revenues decline moderately to € 233.2 million in 2018; increase in various expense types and one-time effects have clearly adverse effect on consolidated earnings

According to preliminary figures, Westag & Getalit AG generated consolidated revenues of € 233.2 million in the fiscal year 2018 (previous year: € 234.4 million). While export revenues were up by 6.0% in comparison to 2017, total sales revenues were adversely affected by the slowdown in domestic business. This was due, among other things, to the necessary repair of the power plant and the resulting downtime.

Consolidated earnings before taxes totalled € 6.0 million (previous year: € 9.1 million). In 2018, the Group’s earnings were primarily affected by rising material and freight costs and personnel expenses. To offset these cost increases and to stabilise the profit contributions, the Group announced price increases for its own products in 2019 already at the end of the third quarter of 2018.

As reported in the course of the year, one-time effects additionally weighed on the result in the fiscal year 2018. The effects of the repair of the power plant completed in October 2018 and consulting expenses that became necessary in conjunction with the public takeover bid for the company’s shares totalled € 3.3 million. Compared to 2017, the result of the year 2018 benefited from the fact that the expenses incurred in the previous year to reorganise the product ranges did not recur in 2018. Consolidated net profit for the year moved in sync with earnings before taxes and reached € 4.5 million (previous year: € 6.5 million).

Westag & Getalit AG’s net profit for the year as defined by the German Commercial Code (HGB) amounted to € 1.9 million in 2018 (previous year: € 4.7 million). This result was subject to the same influencing factors as the Group’s consolidated net profit to IFRS. Besides this, the decline from the previous year’s result is primarily due to allocations to pension provisions that became necessary because of the change in the interest rate and the use of new mortality tables.

All above figures are provisional and are subject to the ongoing audit of the financial statements. The final figures as well as a profit appropriation proposal will be communicated following the adoption of the financial statements. Due to the decline in net profit to HGB and the reduced cash flow, the dividend for the year 2018 will be significantly lower than that for the previous year.

The above release and further information on Westag & Getalit are available on the Internet at www.westag-getalit.com.