GEA lifts order intake and profitability
- Organic order intake up 4.7% year-on-year in Q1 (reported: increase of 10.1%)
- Q1 organic revenue on a level with the previous year (reported: increase of 5.9%)
- Operating EBITDA margin improves by 80 basis points in Q1 to 9.8%
- EPS from continued operations rises almost 40% to EUR 0.23
- Business outlook for operating EBITDA 2015 lifted due to expected savings from “Fit for 2020” initiative
“We further improved our operating business and significantly increased profitability, despite the fact that significant management resources are currently tied up with the changes to our entire organizational structure, which will be implemented in the second quarter. This means that we are still on track at an operating level although the additional work and what remains a challenging macroeconomic environment,” said GEA CEO Jürg Oleas. “The fact that we once again significantly increased profitability shows that the targeted measures taken in the past few years are bearing fruit, and underlines GEA’s strong market position in its demanding markets.”
The group expects the ongoing “Fit for 2020” initiative – which will create a new, flatter organizational structure – to start delivering savings in fiscal year 2015. From 2017 onwards, the aim is to achieve annual cost savings of at least EUR 125 million.
Based on the savings expected in 2015 from the “Fit for 2020” initiative and otherwise unchanged assumptions, GEA has lifted its forecast for operating EBITDA in fiscal year 2015 to a range of EUR 590 million to EUR 640 million. In line with its current assessment, GEA expects that, assuming it meets the forecast for the operating business, the dividend for fiscal year 2015 will not be less than the EUR 0.70 per share resolved last year, independent of expenses from the “Fit for 2020” initiative.
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