Hermle: Strong business in the first five months of 2018
Incoming orders, turnover and results increase
Forecast of increased turnover and results for overall year remains un-changed
Annual General Meeting approves one-off distribution increase
Gosheim, 4 July 2018 – In the first five months of 2018, Maschinenfabrik Berthold Hermle AG registered continued high demand. As the Executive Board of the Swabian machine tool manufacturer reported at today's Annual General Meeting, the incoming orders across the Group until the end of May increased by 28.7% to €216.2 million compared with the corresponding previous-year pe-riod (previous year €168.0 million). Hermle attributes the significant increase partly to the unusually buoyant economic climate, but also to its having extended the product portfolio: Currently the new Type C 650 machining centres as well as automation and digitalization components are selling especially well. New domestic orders rose by 49.6% to €98.9 million (previous year €66.1 million), and orders from overseas grew by 15.1% to €117.3 million (previous year €101.9 million). The order backlog as of 31 May 2018 increased to €168.0 million compared to €106.1 million on the same date in 2017, and €125.0 million at the end of 2017. In view of the fact that the company's capacities are already at full stretch, some of the orders will only translate into turnover during 2019.
The Hermle Group's turnover rose by roughly 11.2% to €173.1 million during the first five months of 2018 (previous year €155.7 million). Of this, the domestic volume of €64.3 million (previous year €72.1 million) represents a drop of 10.8%, while orders from overseas grew by 30.1% to €108.8 million (previous year €83.6 million). The shift from domestic to foreign sales resulted from opposing accounting flows that will normalize in the course of the year, as indicated by the incoming order list. The EBIT improved, but not quite in the same proportion as the turnover: The growth slowed somewhat on account of the weak dollar and certain raw material price increases that slightly exceeded expectations.
Hermle does not expect the extremely good development to increase indefinitely, but rather a slow-down in sector business activities in view of many risks and uncertainties. For the whole year 2018 the forecast for Group turnover and EBIT remains unchanged in the mid to upper single-figure range. The growth in the EBIT may be expected to lag behind the increase in turnover figures because of an unexpectedly high wage increase, noticeably higher prices on the purchasing markets and, at least in the first half of the year, the continued weakness of the dollar.
Distribution of €15.05 per preference share
Today, the Annual General Meeting approved the recommendation of the Executive and Supervisory Boards to raise the dividend for the 2017 business year on a one-off basis (due to the low-interest situation and changed political framework conditions) – to €15.05 per preference share (previous year €12.85) and €15.00 per ordinary share (previous year €12.80). The distribution consists of a stable base dividend of €0.80 per ordinary share and €0.85 per preference share, an unchanged bonus of €12.00 as well as a one-off special bonus of €2.20 per share.
Maschinenfabrik Berthold Hermle AG is one of the world's leading manufactur-ers of milling machines and machining centres. In 2017, the company generat-ed a Group-wide turnover of €402.0 million and an EBIT of €99.0 million. Owing to their high quality and precision, Hermle machine tools are used in high-tech sectors such as toolmaking and mould construction, medical technology, the optical industry, energy technology, the aircraft, automotive and motor sport industries including their subcontractors. Hermle shares are traded on the regu-lated Stuttgart and Frankfurt stock markets.
Press contact: Redaktionsbüro tik GmbH, Gabriele Rechinger,
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Image material: Maschinenfabrik Berthold Hermle AG, Udo Hipp,
T 07426 95 6238, E-Mail: udo.hipp@hermle.de
