DGAP-News: BAUER Aktiengesellschaft: BAUER AG records a positive third quarter in a difficult environment marked by the coronavirus crisis
DGAP-News: BAUER Aktiengesellschaft
/ Key word(s): 9 Month figures/Interim Report
BAUER Aktiengesellschaft: BAUER AG records a positive third quarter in a difficult environment marked by the coronavirus crisis
13.11.2020 / 07:00
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
- Total Group revenues decreased by 11.4% to EUR 1,098.2 million
- EBIT with EUR 21.6 million is significantly below the previous year's value of EUR 48.5 million
- The order backlog grew by 12.9% to EUR 1,199.7 million
- A new forecast was published on November 3
Schrobenhausen, Germany - The BAUER Group closed the first nine months of the year with a decrease of 11.4% in total Group revenues, from EUR 1,239.4 million to EUR 1,098.2 million. At EUR 21.6 million, EBIT was significantly below the previous year's value of EUR 48.5 million. The Group's earnings after taxes amounted to EUR -13.2 million (previous year: EUR - 0.4 million). At the end of June 2020, earnings after taxes were EUR -16.0 million.
The order backlog increased very significantly by 12.9% compared with the reference period in the previous year and also rose by 16.7% to EUR 1,199.7 million compared to the end of 2019. Very large order volumes were commissioned primarily in the Construction segment, including in Europe. Order intake decreased overall by 1.4%, from EUR 1,288.1 million to EUR 1,270.2 million.
The coronavirus pandemic continued to generate major challenges for the company, which predominantly affected the Construction and Equipment segments. The Resources segment has remained nearly unaffected and demonstrates a better development than the previous year in operational terms.
Business segments
With its three segments - Construction, Equipment and Resources - and its broadly diversified business model, the Group operates in more than 110 subsidiaries in some 70 countries around the world.
At EUR 484.3 million, total Group revenues in the Construction segment were on a par with the previous year's EUR 484.5 million. EBIT improved compared to the same period in the previous year, from EUR 0.6 million to EUR 5.8 million. In the previous year, the segment was significantly affected by a lack of orders and project postponements in the Far East which led to a considerable burden of fixed costs.
Order backlog in the Construction segment grew significantly by 33.2% from EUR 597.3 million in the previous year to EUR 795.8 million. This was primarily due to very large orders received in the first half of the year, above all in Europe. The order intake grew accordingly by 25.2% from EUR 534.6 million to EUR 669.0 million.
The Construction segment was significantly affected by the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic over the past several months due to the curfews and travel restrictions imposed in many countries. This complicated logistics and supply at construction sites in terms of equipment, materials and personnel, and in some cases, it was even impossible to work on the sites. In some countries, these restrictions are still in place. We are able to work well in countries which are currently important to us, such as Germany as well as the USA. The same is true for most of our large projects around the world.
At the end of the third quarter, the total Group revenues in the Equipment segment fell significantly by 18.4% compared to the previous year, from EUR 558.9 million to EUR 456.1 million; sales revenues dropped by 21.2%, from EUR 446.7 million to EUR 351.9 million. EBIT decreased considerably compared to the previous year, from EUR 51.5 million to EUR 13.7 million.
The Equipment segment is still the segment most significantly affected by the customers' reluctance to invest due to the prevailing uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Particularly in the second quarter, sales and incoming orders decreased significantly. The order situation did not experience a significant recovery in the third quarter. On the other hand, the order situation in China has been good again since April.
Over the course of the third quarter, all transactions were finalized to end the joint venture with Schlumberger to develop and build large-scale land-based deep drilling rigs for the oil and gas industry.
Order backlog decreased by 13.0%, from EUR 136.3 million in the previous year to EUR 118.6 million. The order intake fell accordingly by 14.5% from EUR 545.3 million to EUR 466.3 million.
At EUR 208.4 million, total Group revenues in the Resources segment were down by 11.5% after the third quarter, compared to the previous year's EUR 235.3 million. This was largely attributable to the area of mining. EBIT decreased slightly from EUR -2.3 million to EUR -2.8 million.
After the first nine months, the order backlog decreased by 13.2%, from EUR 328.7 million to EUR 285.3 million. The order intake fell by 25.1%, from EUR 247.5 million to EUR 185.4 million.
The sale of ESAU & HUEBER GmbH, which specialized in brewery and beverage technology, was finalized by the balance sheet date at the end of September. The negative effects on the earnings figures due to the sale amounted to approximately EUR -1.7 million.
While the segment only experienced minimal effects of the coronavirus pandemic in the first nine months, the impact has become apparent here as well since fewer projects are coming to market. The environmental business achieved good results overall, however, as did the business with well materials.
Outlook
The global coronavirus pandemic continues to impact the business of the BAUER Group and primarily affects the Construction and Equipment segments. The Group applied for short-time work for a number of its companies in Germany as of April 1, 2020.
On November 3, the Management Board of BAUER AG released a new forecast for the 2020 financial year in an ad-hoc announcement. Total Group revenues are anticipated to be approximately EUR 1.5 billion, and EBIT to remain at about the previous year's level. Earnings after taxes are anticipated to be negative, yet significantly better than in the previous year and better than EUR -20 million.
"We have introduced appropriate measures to get us through these difficult times. We have also made good progress with our restructuring measures. I am confident that it will be possible to effectively limit the negative effects of the crisis thanks to the tremendous dedication of all employees and consistent implementation of the measures we have adopted," explains the Chairman of the Management Board of BAUER AG, Michael Stomberg. "But we will still be feeling the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic next year, we are prepared for that. Nevertheless I am very confident, particularly due to our high order backlog in Construction for 2021.
You can read the full quarterly statement online at www.bauer.de.
About Bauer
The BAUER Group is a leading provider of services, equipment and products related to ground and groundwater. With over 110 subsidiaries, Bauer operates a worldwide network on all continents.
The operations of the Group are divided into three future-oriented segments with a high potential for synergy: Construction, Equipment and Resources. The Construction segment offers new and innovative specialist foundation engineering services alongside the established ones, and carries out foundation and excavation work, cut-off walls and ground improvements worldwide. Bauer is a world market leader in the Equipment segment and provides a full range of equipment for specialist foundation engineering as well as for the exploration, mining and extraction of natural resources. In the Resources segment, Bauer focuses on highly innovative products and services in the areas of water, environment and natural resources.
Bauer profits greatly from the collaboration between its three separate business divisions, enabling the Group to position itself as an innovative and highly specialized provider of products and services for demanding projects in specialist foundation engineering and related markets. Bauer therefore offers appropriate solutions for the world's major challenges, such as urbanization, growing infrastructure needs, the environment, and water, oil and gas.
The BAUER Group was founded in 1790 and is based in Schrobenhausen, Bavaria. In 2019, it employed some 12,000 people in around 70 countries and achieved total Group revenues of EUR 1.6 billion. BAUER Aktiengesellschaft is listed in the Prime Standard segment of the German stock market.
More information can be found at http://www.bauer.de.
GROUP KEY FIGURES January - September 2020 (IFRS)
2019 2020 Change in million EUR in million EUR Total Group revenues 1,239.4 1,098.2 -11.4% Of which - Construction* 515.0 484.3 -0.1% - Equipment 558.9 456.1 -18.4% - Resources* 204.9 208.4 -11.5% - Other/Consolidation -39.4 -50.6 n/a Sales revenues 1,107.7 990.8 -10.6% Order intake 1,288.1 1,270.2 -1.4% Order backlog 1,062.3 1,199.7 +12.9% EBITDA 121.0 98.4 -18.7% EBIT 48.5 21.6 -55.5% Earnings after taxes -0.4 -13.2 n/a Total assets 1,771.1 1,646.9 -7.0% Equity 415.0 352.4 -15.1% Employees (average number during the year) 11,570 11,459 -1.0%*Adjusted previous year figures; see 9M/Q3 2020 Quarterly Statement p. 3.
Contact:
Christopher Wolf
Investor Relations
BAUER Aktiengesellschaft
BAUER-Strasse 1
86529 Schrobenhausen, Germany
Phone: +49 8252 97-1797
Fax: +49 8252 97-2900
investor.relations@bauer.de
www.bauer.de
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