Hermle achieves a slight increase in turnover to €402 million in 2017
Operating result (EBIT) remain almost unchanged at around €99 million according to preliminary figures
Dividend expected to rise by €2.20 to €15.05 per preference share
Significant increase in incoming orders to approx. €433 million
Hermle-Leibinger Systemtechnik GmbH acquired in its entirety
Gosheim, 21 March 2018 – In 2017, the Maschinenfabrik Berthold Hermle AG was able to increase its Group turnover slightly to around €402 million (previous year: €394.0 million) according to preliminary figures. The Swabian machine tool manufacturer's growth was achieved mainly with its domestic business, while the foreign turnover remained largely stable. From the operative point of view, the results kept pace with the increased turnover. However, preliminary costs in 2017 for two future projects reduced the total. In addition, high one-off previous-year income contributions from foreign orders were appropriated and not accounted for during the reporting period. Nevertheless, according to the annual financial statement that has yet to be audited, the operating result of around €99 million for the Group as a whole only fell a little short of the comparable figure for 2016 (previous year: €99.8 million).
On this basis and in view of the low-interest situation as well as changed political framework conditions, the Executive Board recommends the Supervisory Board to propose an unchanged base dividend payment of €0.80 per ordinary share and €0.85 per preference share as well as an unchanged bonus of €12.00 per share plus a one-off supplementary bonus of €2.20 per share on the occasion of the shareholders' meeting on 4 July 2018. This would mean an increase in the disbursement for a preference share to €15.05 (previous year: €12.85).
Following a cautious start to the year, the demand for Hermle machining centres and automation solutions developed very dynamically in 2017, resulting in high utilization rates for the company's facilities. Digitalization components that allow for Industry 4.0 manufacturing using Hermle machines as well as services around the area of generative manufacturing were also very popular. Dur-ing the reporting period, the value of the incoming orders increased significantly across the Group to around €433 million (pre-vious year: €364.5 million). More new orders came both from do-mestic customers as well as foreign customers. At the end of the year, the Hermle Group's order volume increased by about one third to around €125 million (previous year: €93.8 million).
The high level of capacity utilization and the implementation of the two future-oriented projects according to plan – extension of a pro-duction area at company headquarters without interrupting production and establishing a new location in neighbouring Rottweil – made considerable demands on the employees. In recognition of the good performance, the Hermle AG employees are to receive a performance bonus of €4500 per person following disbursement of the dividends. Throughout the Group, Hermle had 1086 em-ployees (previous year 1018) at 31 December 2017.
In view of the increasing demand for automation solutions, the Maschinenfabrik Berthold Hermle AG acquired the remaining 51% of the shares in the Hermle-Leibinger Systemtechnik (HLS) GmbH, Gosheim, from the previous shareholders with retrospective effect from 1 January 2018. This means that from 2018 HLS, in which Hermle previously had a 49% share, will be fully incorporated into the Group's consolidation program. However, this will not significantly affect the development of its turnover and operative results. HLS is a specialist for individual automation solutions based on Hermle machines and components. At the end of the previous business year it had 85 employees. The complete takeover means that Hermle can now operate more flexibly in this area, and the company will be extending the range of configurable automation solutions. Customers will not be affected by these developments.
Hermle will publish comprehensive figures for the 2017 financial year as well as a forecast for 2018 at the end of April 2018.
Press contact: Redaktionsbüro tik GmbH, Gabriele Rechinger,
T 0911 95 97 870, E-Mail: info@tik-online.de
Image material: Maschinenfabrik Berthold Hermle AG, Udo Hipp,
T 07426 95 6238, E-Mail: udo.hipp@hermle.de
