technotrans maintains growth trajectory in first quarter

Operating profit up 63.5 percent / Growth away from printing industry continues / Forecast for the current financial year confir

technotrans AG is able to report a very successful start to the 2015 financial year: the company increased its operating profit (EBIT) for the first quarter of 2015 by 63.5 percent compared with the prior-year period, to EUR 2.3 million. Revenue reached EUR 30.6 million, representing growth of 12.9 percent. The growth segments outside the printing industry were the main contributors to this positive business performance. In light of these results, the Board of Management has confirmed its full-year forecast.  

“Our group of companies has made a very successful start to the new financial year of 2015,” commented Henry Brickenkamp, Chief Executive Officer of technotrans AG. The substantial growth in the operating result pushed the EBIT margin up to 7.5 percent (previous year: 5.2 percent). The consolidated result after tax grew by 72.9 percent to EUR 1.5 million. This represents a rate of return of 4.8 percent (previous year: 3.3 percent).

Total revenue reached EUR 30.6 million, up 12.9 percent on the figure for the prior-year period. The performance of the very strong closing quarter of 2014 (EUR 30.2 million) was also bettered. Revenue streams from outside the printing industry were the biggest contributors to this development: in that area the group companies between them achieved organic revenue growth of around 30 percent. “This development again underlines just how successful the group’s strategic direction is proving to be,” stressed Brickenkamp.

technotrans now earns 35 percent of its revenue away from the printing industry, with the activities in mechanical and plant engineering, battery cooling as well as medical and scanner technology especially successful in the period under review. Along with Asia and Europe, the American economic region provided growth impetus. “We have also acquired more new customers, over and above increasing the volume of business with established customers,” added Brickenkamp. Business with customers from the printing industry, too, made positive progress, while not quite being on a par with the outstanding development in Q4 2014.

Turnaround in Technology segment
In the Technology segment, revenue was up 17.0 percent on the prior-year period at € 20.7 million. This development is mainly attributable to the successful expansion of business in the non-print area. Here, the segment profited both from strong business in the laser industry and from a growing revenue share for the self-developed technologies for temperature control, filtration, cooling lubricant preparation and spray lubrication. Revenue streams from the printing industry were moreover up on the first quarter of 2014, the result of both successfully expanding the market shares in offset printing and of growing demand in the area of digital and flexographic printing. The segment achieved earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of EUR 0.6 million, in a turnaround from a slight loss of EUR 0.1 million in the prior-year period.

The Services segment achieved revenue growth of 5.2 percent to EUR 9.9 million in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the same period of the previous year (€ 9.4 million). This rise stems substantially from the billing of a number of installation projects in the print business area and from successfully expanded service activities in the new market segments. The operating profit climbed by 9.5 percent to EUR 1.7 million.  

Against the backdrop of a positive business performance, net liquidity for the group in the first three months improved from EUR 4.8 million in the final quarter of 2014 to EUR 7.9 million. The cash flow (net cash from operating activities) came to EUR 3.4 million in the period under review and was therefore 12.5 percent above the level of the prior-year quarter. Equity grew by 4.2 percent in Q1 to EUR 49.5 million, producing an equity ratio of 62.2 percent.

Forecast confirmed
“We are very satisfied with the first quarter’s progress, which all things considered surpassed our expectations,” explained Brickenkamp. As matters stand the Board of Management expects full-year revenue to achieve the forecast level of EUR 116 to 120 million. Based on the improvement in operating profit over the past few quarters, the target EBIT margin should be between 6.8 and 7.3 percent, equivalent to EBIT of EUR 7.8 to 8.8 million. 

The full 3-Month Report 2015 is available to download from Investor Relations/Financial Reports section of the company website.