BWT in the First Half-year: Revenues and EBITDA +15%
In the first half-year, consolidated revenues of BWT increased by 15.2% year-on-year, from € 200.0 million to € 230.4 million. Revenues in the Point-of-Entry business increased by 12.9% in the first six months.
Point-of-Use products recorded growth of almost 43% in the same period. This development was driven by all of the product lines (“BWT-water & more” coffee machine filters, “Perfect Water” table water filters and water dispensers).
„Our growth speed witnessed in the beginning of 2010 has eased to 10% in the second quarter. The Pharma and the Point-of-Use businesses are our key growth drivers thanks to unique innovations like Magnesium2++ for a new taste experience for drinking water and hot drinks“, says Andreas Weissenbacher, CEO of the BWT Group about the first half-year 2010.
Investments in fixed assets for the PoU business over recent years and the new Pharma activities led to higher depreciation and amortization expense, meaning that cumulative EBIT only rose by 4.2% to € 19.2 million in the first half of the year. The prior-year financial result included non-recurring income from the sale of a 12% interest in a waterworks in the Maldives in the amount of € 4.5 million, which was only partially offset in the first half of the current financial year.
Consolidated earnings after minority interests amounted to €14.5 million in the year to date compared with € 16.8 million in the previous year ( 13.5%). This means that, despite the higher level of depreciation and amortization, the Group successfully made up for around half of the non-recurring income from the sale of a minority interest in the previous year. Earnings per share amounted to € 0.84 as of June 30.
The number of people employed by the BWT Group increased from 2,345 in the previous year to 2,630 at the reporting date. This development is due to the Pharma companies consolidated since last October and the Zeta Group, which was fully consolidated in December 2009. Moreover, production capacities for Point-of-Use business in Austria were expanded.
Outlook
Andreas Weissenbacher: “BWT’s target for the current financial year is to compensate for the positive non-recurring effect from the sale of an investment in the previous year through operating earnings growth, thereby ensuring that consolidated earnings remain at the prior-year level on the whole. The figures for the first half of the year show that this target is challenging but achievable. The BWT Group will continue to work systematically on the implementation of its brand strategy with a view to bringing the BWT brand ´from the cellar to the table´ through the expansion of its point-of-use activities.”
Source: BWT Wassertechnik GmbH
