• 17% increase in EBITDA to € 57.5 million from continuing operations
• 11% increase in revenues to €612 million from continuing operations
• Equity ratio improvement to 31%
• Refinancing of senior debt facilities to end of 2016
• Divestment of loss-making French Passenger Car business
   
• Operational issues in the Components division
• Significant increase in polymer prices during the first half

 

Promens hf, owned principally by Horn Invest and the Iceland Enterprise Investment Fund, has released its financial statements for 2011. During the last twelve months, Promens has developed very positively with operating earnings from continuing activities of € 36 million (before exceptional costs) representing a 5.9% return on sales of € 612 million, which approached the results generated by the Group before the financial crisis of 2009. In addition, the Group’s balance sheet was significantly strengthened through total equity injections of € 38 million, from both of its principal stakeholders, and the refinancing of its senior debt facilities for a combined € 171 million with its long-standing banking partners, DNB and Nordea, in addition to a € 6 million refinancing with Landsbanki in Iceland.

All three divisions of Packaging, Components and Roto, improved their earnings compared to 2010. The dominant Packaging division continued its robust performance in the last five years by generating an improved return of 7.5% on € 406 million sales with all three sub-segments of Chemicals, Personal & Healthcare and Food &Beverage contributing proportionately. Although the Components division, which had been impacted significantly by the crisis in 2009 due to its dependency on the cyclical Truck segment, partially recovered by generating 3% on € 107 million, it was impacted by operational issues in its largest plant caused by resurgent volumes being handled by an organisation that had been significantly restructured in 2009. Although such issues were gradually resolved as the year progressed, the earnings from the division did not reflect the significant volume growth. The Roto division, which had also been impacted significantly by the crisis performed well by returning 5% earnings on sales of € 98 million with a particularly strong performance from the two Icelandic Material Handling plants in Dalvik and Hafnarfjordur. The performance of all three divisions should be considered against a backdrop of a double digit year-on-year average increase in raw material prices.

In April 2012, Promens divested, to the American Industrial Acquisition Company, its French Passenger cars business with combined revenues of € 36 million and operating losses of € 3.7 million in 2011. The 2010 and 2011 Group’s balance sheet and results have been restated to reflect the discontinued nature of this business on a consistent basis which includes the impairment losses arising from the sale. As a result, the Promens’ overall net result for 2011 is a loss due to the combined impairment charge and loss arising from the discontinued French Passenger Car business.

“We are very pleased to have achieved so many milestones in 2011 and early 2012, after the difficulties we have faced in the last few years caused largely by the global financial crisis. With our stable financial base, it is with confidence that we can now focus on improving and growing our core businesses and build on the improved financial performance of 2011. Given the uncertainty in the economic outlook in the Eurozone and rising polymer prices in the first quarter, we are cautiously optimistic for the year 2012" says Jakob Sigurdsson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Promens.

Key figures

 

€ million (continuing activities)	2011	2010
Sales	611.8	550.7
EBITDA pre-exceptional items	59.8	49.6
EBITDA margin % *	9.8	9.0
EBITDA	57.5	49.2
EBIT pre-exceptional items	36.2	25.3
EBIT margin % *	5.9	4.6
EBIT	33.8	24.9
Net profit	10.2	3.8
Equity ratio	31%	25%
Net interest-bearing debt	155	200

 

* before exceptional costs