2018: SOLID ORDER GROWTH IN ALL BUSINESS AREAS AND CLEAR IMPROVEMENT IN PROFITABILITY
This release is a summary of Konecranes Plc’s Financial Statement Release 2018. The complete report is attached to this release in pdf format and is also available on Konecranes’ website at www.konecranes.com.
Konecranes applied the full retrospective approach in IFRS 15 transition, and the numbers for the periods in 2017 have been restated. Please refer to note 4 for more details on the implementation of IFRS 15 and other significant accounting policies.
Figures in brackets, unless otherwise stated, refer to the same period a year earlier.
FOURTH QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS
- Order intake EUR 929.8 million (732.6), +26.9 percent (+27.3 percent on a comparable currency basis), with solid growth in all Business Areas.
- Service order intake EUR 249.3 million (236.8), +5.3 percent (+4.7 percent on a comparable currency basis)
- Sales EUR 910.8 million (909.9), +0.1 percent (+0.5 percent on a comparable currency basis), driven by Business Area Service.
- Adjusted EBITA margin 9.4 percent (8.8) and adjusted EBITA EUR 85.6 million (79.9), reflecting synergy cost-saving measures and improved sales mix
- Operating profit EUR 51.9 million (55.4), 5.7 percent of sales (6.1)
- Earnings per share (diluted) EUR 0.50 (0.26)
FULL-YEAR 2018 HIGHLIGHTS
- Order intake EUR 3,090.3 million (3,007.4), +2.8 percent (+5.2 percent on a comparable currency basis)
- Service order intake 986.5 million (966.3), +2.1 percent (+5.3 percent on a comparable currency basis)
- Order book EUR 1,715.4 million (1,535.8) at the end of December, +11.7 percent (+11.8 percent on a comparable currency basis)
- Sales EUR 3,156.1 million (3,137.2), +0.6 percent (+3.0 percent on a comparable currency basis)
- Adjusted EBITA margin 8.1 percent (6.9) and adjusted EBITA EUR 257.1 million (216.6)
- Operating profit EUR 166.2 million (318.7), 5.3 percent of sales (10.2)
- Earnings per share (diluted) EUR 1.29 (2.89)
- Free cash flow EUR 73.1 million (224.4)
- Net debt EUR 545.3 million (525.3) and gearing 42.5 percent (41.1)
- The Board of Directors proposes a dividend of EUR 1.20 (1.20) per share for 2018
DEMAND OUTLOOK
The demand environment within the industrial customer segments in EMEA and the Americas is stable and continues at a good level. Also, in APAC the demand environment remains stable. Global container throughput is on a healthy level, although the growth has decelerated. Nevertheless, the prospects for orders related to container handling remain stable.
FINANCIAL GUIDANCE
Konecranes expects sales in full year 2019 to increase 5-7 percent year on year. Konecranes expects the adjusted EBITA margin to improve in full year 2019 compared to full year 2018.
KEY FIGURES
| |
Fourth quarter |
January-December |
| |
10-12/2018 |
10-12/2017 |
Change % |
1-12/2018 |
1-12/2017 |
Change % |
| Orders received MEUR |
929.8 |
732.6 |
26.9 |
3,093.3
|
3,007.4 |
2.8 |
| Order book at end of period, MEUR |
|
|
|
1,715.4 |
1,535.8 |
11.7 |
| Sales total, MEUR |
910,8 |
909.9 |
0.1 |
3,156.1 |
3,137.2 |
0.6 |
| Adjusted EBITDA, MEUR 1 |
101.9 |
97.2 |
4.8 |
325.7 |
289.2 |
12.6 |
| Adjusted EBITDA, % 1 |
11.2% |
10.7% |
|
10.3% |
9.2% |
|
| Adjusted EBITA, MEUR 2 |
85.6 |
79.9 |
7.0 |
257.1 |
216.6 |
18.7 |
| Adjusted EBITA, % 2 |
9.4% |
8.8% |
|
8.1% |
6.9% |
|
| Adjusted operating profit, MEUR 1 |
76.2 |
70.7 |
7.8 |
219.6 |
178.0 |
23.3 |
| Adjusted operating margin, % 1 |
8.4% |
7.8% |
|
7.0% |
5.7% |
|
| Operating profit, MEUR |
51.9 |
55.4 |
-6.3 |
166.2 |
318.7 |
-47.9 |
| Operating margin, % |
5.7% |
6.1% |
|
5.3% |
10.2% |
|
| Profit before taxes, MEUR |
51.9 |
44.7 |
16.2 |
138.7 |
276.0 |
-49.7 |
| Net profit for the period, MEUR |
35.8 |
21.7 |
64.7 |
98.3 |
225.4 |
-56.4 |
| Earnings per share, basic, EUR |
0.50 |
0.26 |
89.9 |
1.29 |
2.89 |
-55.3 |
| Earnings per share, diluted, EUR |
0.50 |
0.26 |
89.9 |
1.29 |
2.89 |
-55.3 |
| Interest-bearing net debt, Equity, % |
|
|
|
42.5% |
41.1% |
|
| Net Debt / Adjusted EBITDA, R12M 1 |
|
|
|
1.7 |
1.8 |
|
| Return on capital employed, % |
|
|
|
7.9 |
23.7 |
|
| Adjusted return on capital employed, % 3 |
|
|
|
12.5 |
15.4 |
|
| Free cash flow, MEUR |
76.4 |
58.0 |
|
73.1 |
224.4 |
|
| Average number of personnel during the period |
|
|
|
16,247 |
15,519 |
4.7 |
1 Excluding adjustments, see also note 11 in the summary financial statements
2 Excluding adjustments and purchase price allocation amortization, see also note 11 in the summary financial statement
3 ROCE excluding adjustments, see also note 11 in the summary financial statements
President and CEO Panu Routila:
We continued to make steady progress towards our targets in 2018, which is reflected in our Group adjusted EBITA margin that improved to 9.4 percent for the fourth quarter. In full year 2018, the adjusted EBITA margin increased by 1.2pps to 8.1 percent.
We ended the year on a high note with approximately 27 percent year-on-year order growth in Q4. In full year 2018, order intake grew 5.2 percent with comparable currencies. The fourth quarter order intake was boosted by two large orders: the order for 54 Automated Rail Mounted Gantry cranes to Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi, which we announced in October, and an order for a single large process crane, which benefitted our order intake in Business Area Industrial Equipment.
Business Area Service also continued its solid performance. In Q4, order intake in Service increased by 5.3 percent and the agreement base value by 5.4 percent year-over-year. Our strategic goal of growing the service business has progressed according to our plans. The opportunity is significant and our learnings from 2018 reaffirm that we are on the right path. In the full year, we expect the growth to accelerate a notch in 2019 compared to 2018, while noting that it will still take several years for us to tap the full potential of this opportunity.
The integration of MHPS progressed well in 2018 and we see our integration plans bear fruit, the cumulative run rate cost synergies reaching EUR 113 million at year-end 2018. We achieved several important integration milestones during the year. First, we ramped down three further factories, the total number of discontinued manufacturing sites being now 11. Second, we now have more Industrial Equipment products with unified technology, which has enabled us to reduce the number of product platforms from 30 to 20. Third, we completed the implementation of shared sales management processes and the CRM system, to name a few examples.
Cumulatively EUR 79 million of the total EUR 140 million synergy savings target was already visible in our P&L in 2018, and we expect the figure to reach EUR 125 million in 2019. We now expect the related restructuring costs to total EUR 140 million, which is slightly more than our earlier estimate of EUR 130 million. Simultaneously, we have lowered our estimate for integration related CAPEX from EUR 60 million to EUR 30 million. Both changes relate to our decision to ramp down our port crane factory in Xiamen, China, which came with the MHPS acquisition.
Despite macroeconomic concerns shadowing the global economy, our own demand environment still looks healthy and stable. Business Area Port Solutions has started 2019 strongly by receiving an order for a complete automated container handling system for the greenfield Hadarom container terminal in Israel. Not only is the order the fourth largest ever received by Konecranes, the project is a major step in the execution of Port Solutions’ strategy. The order combines our own Terminal Operating System and our own Equipment Control System, our own automation technology, as well as our container handling equipment, allowing us to deliver a complete line of automated container cranes and software intelligence. The order will be booked in Q1 2019.
While the momentum in Port Solutions right now is good, decision making within certain customer sectors is slowing down. This is the case especially in the UK, where economic activity among our customers stagnated during 2018, amid Brexit uncertainty.
We are the only foreign vendor in our industry with local manufacturing in the UK. While our local presence can potentially be a relative benefit to us in the case of hard Brexit, we are confident that the scaling-down of our UK operations in 2018, as a part of our integration activities, was rightly timed. Any Brexit outcome that would negatively impact the UK economy is likely to have a negative impact also on Konecranes. However, we expect the impact on Konecranes as a whole to be limited, regardless of the Brexit outcome.
Outside the UK, the demand environment is still at a good level in many parts of Europe and North America. We expect faster sales growth and an improvement in the adjusted EBITA margin in 2019 compared to 2018, as stated in our financial guidance for the year. We continue to believe in our ability to achieve the post-integration targets announced in 2017: on average 5 percent CAGR for 2018-2020, as well as 11 percent adjusted EBITA margin for full year 2020.
The Board is proposing the dividend for 2018 to remain unchanged from the previous year at EUR 1.20 per share.
Analyst and press briefing
An analyst and press conference will be held at the restaurant Savoy’s Salikabinetti (address: Eteläesplanadi 14) on February 7, 2019 at 11.00 a.m. Finnish time. The Financial Statement release will be presented by the Konecranes’ President and CEO Panu Routila and CFO Teo Ottola.
A live webcast of the conference will begin at 11.00 a.m. at www.konecranes.com. Please see the press release dated January 24, 2019 for the conference call details.
KONECRANES PLC
Eero Tuulos President, Investor Relations
FURTHER INFORMATION
Mr. Panu Routila, President and CEO, tel. +358 20 427 2000
Mr. Teo Ottola, Chief Financial Officer, tel. +358 20 427 2040
Mr. Eero Tuulos, Vice President, Investor Relations, tel. +358 20 427 2050
Konecranes is a world-leading group of Lifting Businesses™, serving a broad range of customers, including manufacturing and process industries, shipyards, ports and terminals. Konecranes provides productivity enhancing lifting solutions as well as services for lifting equipment of all makes. In 2018, Group sales totaled EUR 3,156 million. The Group has 16,100 employees at 600 locations in 50 countries. Konecranes shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki (symbol: KCR).
DISTRIBUTION
Nasdaq Helsinki
Major media
www.konecranes.com
