Press Release
The Board of Directors approves
the Financial Statements at December 31, 2007
CEMBRE (a STAR listed company):
a proposed dividend of €0.26 per share
- The increase in the proposed dividend to €0.26 is due to the growth in consolidated net profit that reached €11.9 million, up 27.5% on the previous year
- Consolidated sales reached €93.4 million, up 11.4% on the previous year
- Adopted organization, management and control model introduced by d.lgs. 231/2001
Consolidated figures (€ ‘000) |
2007 | marg.% | 2006 | marg.% | ch.% |
Consolidated Sales |
93.417 | 100 | 83.870 | 100 | 11.4 |
Consolidated Gross
operating
profit |
21.710 | 23.2 | 19.131 | 22.8 | 13.5 |
Consolidated Operating
profit |
18.420 | 19.7 | 15.941 | 19.0 | 15.6 |
Consolidated Pre-tax profit |
18.118 | 19.4 | 15.861 | 18.9 | 14.2 |
Consolidated Net profit |
11.896 | 12.7 | 9.327 | 11.1 | 27.5 |
Consolidated Net financial position |
(1.720) | 1.071 |
Brescia, March 25, 2008 - The Board of Directors of Cembre Spa – a STAR segment listed company and one of the largest European producers of electrical connectors and tools for their installation – approved, at today’s meeting chaired by its Managing Director Giovanni Rosani, the Statutory Accounts of Cembre SpA and the Consolidated Financial Statements at December 31, 2007.
The Board of Directors also resolved to propose to the Ordinary Shareholders’ Meeting, called on April 29, 2008, the distribution of a €0.26 dividend for each of the shares in circulation. The exdividend date is May 19, 2008, while dividends will be paid out from May 22 against the presentation of coupon no.11. The proposed dividend represents an 18.2% increase over the previous year in which it amounted to €0.22 per share.
In 2007, consolidated revenues grew to €93.4 million, up 11.4% from €83.9 million in 2006. In 2007, consolidated domestic sales amounted to €39.3 million, up 5.9% on the previous year, while exports increased by 15.7% to €54.1 million. In 2007, a total of 42% of sales were represented by Italy (44.2% in 2006), 46.4% by the rest of Europe (45.7% in 2006) and 11.6% by the rest of the world (10.1% in 2006).
Consolidated gross operating profit (Ebitda) for 2007 amounted to €21.7 million, corresponding to a 23.2% margin on sales, up 13.5% on €19.1 million reported in 2006 (22.8% of sales). The increase in the price of copper had a negative impact on profit margins, causing an increase in the cost of goods sold. The average number of employees of the Group grew from 489 in 2006, to 525 in 2007. Normative changes regarding employee termination indemnities generated a nonrecurrent gain commented below.
Consolidated operating profit (Ebit) for 2007 amounted to €18.4 million, representing a 19.7% margin on sales, up 15.6% on €15.9 million in 2006 representing a 19% margin on sales.
Consolidated profit before taxes for 2007 amounted to €18.1 million, representing a 19.4% margin on sales, up 14.2% on €15.9 million in 2006, when it represented an 18.9% margin on sales, despite the negative effect of the interest expense on short-term loans extended to the parent company and the unfavorable foreign-exchange performance. Consolidated net profit for the year amounted to €11.9 million, representing a 12.7% margin on sales, grew by 27.5% on 2006, when it amounted to €9.3 million and represented an 11.1% margin on sales. Consolidated net profit was affected by the reduction in the current tax expense of the parent company and the restatement of deferred tax assets and liabilities as a result of the reduction of tax rates introduced by the 2008 Budget Law, resulting at the consolidated level in the recording of a €0.3 million reduction in tax liabilities.
The net financial position declined from €1.1 million at December 31, 2006 to an indebtedness of €1.7 million at the end of December 2007. The balance was affected by €6.9 million of capital expenditure for the period, the payment at the end of May 2007 of €3.7 million in dividends for the 2006 financial year, the increase in net current assets due primarily to the growth of inventories from €26 million to €31.7 million and the purchase of a new building by the German subsidiary amounting to €2.6 million.
“Positive results achieved in 2007 allow us to propose an 18% increase in the dividend to €0.26 per share. We are also satisfied with the trend in sales for the first months of 2008 that recorded in the first two months of the year an increase of about 16% on the same period in the previous year” observed Cembre’s Managing Director, Giovanni Rosani.
Consolidated results for 2007 were affected to a relevant degree by a non recurrent operation generated by new norms regulating employee termination indemnities that came into effect January 1, 2007. The restatement using different actuarial assumptions of termination indemnities accrued at December 31, 2006 resulted in a reduction of about €1 million in the value of the same. As required under paragraph 111 of IAS 19, such reduction was recorded in full in the income statement in 2007, together with the related deferred taxes amounting to €0.3 million. Figures for 2007 and the related changes on the same period in the previous year, net of the effect of the mentioned event, are shown in the table below.
| (€ ‘000) | 2007 Restated |
% of sales Restated |
2006 | % sales | Change% |
Sales |
93.417 | 100 | 83.870 | 100 | 11.4 |
Gross
operating
profit |
20.684 | 22.1 | 19.131 | 22.8 | 8.1 |
Operating
profit |
17.394 | 18.6 | 15.941 | 19.0 | 9.1 |
Pre-tax profit |
17.092 | 18.3 | 15.861 | 18.9 | 7.8 |
Net profit |
11.209 | 12.0 | 9.327 | 11.1 | 20.2 |
Parent company Cembre S.p.A. closed the 2007 financial year reporting sales of €73.6 million, up 12.5% on 2006.
Operating profit grew by 14.5% to €13.7 million, up from €11.9 million in 2006. Net of the nonrecurrent gain resulting from the restatement of employee termination indemnities commented above, operating profit would have amounted to €12.6 million, up 5.9% on the previous year.
Net profit of the parent company amounted to €9 million, up 34.8% on €6.7 million in 2006. Without considering the effect of the restatement of employee termination indemnities, net profit would have amounted to €8.3 million, up 24.5% on 2006. In 2007 the parent company received €0.46 million in dividends from UK subsidiary Cembre Ltd. In 2006, no dividend was paid out by subsidiaries.
The Board of Directors’ resolved also the adoption of an organizational, management and control model as provided in Legislative Decree. 231/2001 and has appointed the Supervisory Body, having autonomous spending powers.
The manager responsible for preparing the Company’s financial reports, Claudio Bornati, declares, pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article 154 bis of the Consolidated Law on Finance, that the accounting information contained in this press release corresponds to the document results, books and accounting records.
Attachments to the Financial Statements at December 31, 2007:
- Consolidated Balance Sheet
- Consolidated Income Statement
- Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows
- Balance Sheet of parent company Cembre SpA
- Income Statement of parent company Cembre SpA
- Statement of Cash Flows of parent company Cembre SpA
At the date of the present press release the auditing of the above attached financial statements has not yet been completed.
In the present press release use is made of certain alternative performance indicators that are not envisaged in IFRS-EU accounting principles, and whose significance and content are illustrated below, in line with the CESR/05-178b recommendation published on November 3, 2005:
Gross operating profit (EBITDA): defined as the difference between sales revenues and costs for materials, of services received, and the net balance of operating income and charges. It represents the profit before depreciation, amortization and write-downs, cash flow from financial activities and taxes.
Operating profit (EBIT): defined as the difference between Gross operating profit and the value of depreciation, amortization and write-downs. It represents the profit achieved before financial activities and taxes.
Net financial position: represents the algebraic sum of cash and cash equivalents, financial receivables and current and non-current financial debt.
Cembre designs, manufactures and distributes electrical connectors and cable accessories. It enjoys a leadership position in Italy and significant market shares in the rest of Europe. It is also the world's largest producer of connector installation tools (mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic) and tools for cable shearing. The products it has developed for connection to the rail and for other railway applications are used by major companies in the sector round the world.
Cembre owes its success to an insistence on innovative, high-quality products, a broad and thorough collection, and an extensive distribution network both in Italy and abroad. Established in Brescia in 1969, the Cembre Group is now a full-fledged international force. Along with the parent company in Brescia it has seven subsidiaries: five trading companies (in Germany, France, Spain, the United States and Norway) and two manufacturing and trading subsidiaries (Cembre Ltd. in Birmingham, U.K. and General Marking S.r.l. in Bergamo), for a total workforce of 525 as of December 2007. Since 1992 its products have been certified by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance for the design and production of accessories for cables, electrical connectors and tools for their installation.
Cembre has been listed on the Italian Stock Exchange since December 15, 1997, and on the STAR section since September 24, 2001.
Contact:
Ferruccio Peroni (Peroni e Vitale comunicazione) f.peroni@peronievitale.it
For further information please contact Mr. Claudio Bornati
Cembre S.p.A. - Tel. +390303692269
