EQS-News: R. STAHL with significant increase in sales in the first half of 2024 – profitability strengthened in the second quarter

R. STAHL with significant increase in sales in the first half of 2024 – profitability strengthened in the second quarter

• Sales up 12.4% to € 174.0 million between January and June.
  At € 180.8 million, order intake did not quite reach the very high level of the previous year (€ 186.0 million).
• R. STAHL’s profitability improved significantly in the second quarter. EBITDA pre exceptionals increases by € 2.2 million to € 10.9 million between April and June (previous year: € 8.7 million). In the first half of the year, this figure increased from € 19.0 million to € 19.3 million.
• For 2024, R. STAHL continues to expect sales to increase to between
  € 335 million and € 350 million and EBITDA pre exceptionals of between
  € 35 million and € 45 million.

Waldenburg, 8 August 2024 - R. STAHL closed out the first half of 2024 very successfully overall. Demand for the company’s products and services remained high in nearly all regions and industries once again in the second quarter of 2024.

Order intake of € 180.8 million nearly reaches the extremely high level of the previous year (€ 186.0 million) – Order backlog increases to € 121.0 million since the beginning of the year

The high level of willingness to invest on the part of customers since the beginning of the year led to a good order intake from January to June 2024. At € 180.8 million, the figure was only slightly below the previous year’s very high level of € 186.0 million. Order volume in the Central region (Africa, Europe excluding Germany) increased in the first half of the year compared to the previous year (+2.7%), while order intake from the other regions declined slightly. Positive momentum was generated primarily by the chemical and petrochemical customer industries as well as the nuclear sector. As a result of the overall buoyant demand in the first six months of 2024, order backlog increased to € 121.0 million as of 30 June (31 December 2023: € 115.1 million).

Sales improved 12.4% to € 174.0 million – strong growth in international regions

The moderate restraint in R. STAHL's sales markets at the beginning of the year subsided over the course of the first half of the year and led to higher utilization of production capacities. Overall, the company increased sales from January to June 2024 by 12.4% year-on-year, from € 154.7 million to € 174.0 million. As expected, sales in the second quarter of € 89.3 million developed better than in the first quarter (€ 84.7 million). The main contributors to R. STAHL’s positive sales development were the Central region (Africa, Europe excluding Germany) with an increase of 18.3%, the Americas with an increase of 36.1% and Asia/Pacific with an increase of 7.1%. In Germany, however, sales declined slightly (-2.6%).

Profitability significantly strengthened in the second quarter – EBITDA pre exceptionals up only slightly in the first half of the year due to high one-time items

R. STAHL significantly improved its profitability, measured by the EBITDA margin pre exceptionals, in the second quarter compared to the first quarter of 2024. At 12.2%, the EBITDA margin pre exceptionals was significantly higher than in the first quarter (9.9%). EBITDA pre exceptionals rose by € 2.2 million to € 10.9 million between April and June (previous year: € 8.7 million).

In the first half of 2024, R. STAHL’s EBITDA pre exceptionals climbed only slightly year-on-year to € 19.3 million (previous year: € 19.0 million). This was mainly due to one-time items in the first quarter resulting from the implementation of the EXcelerate strategy program combined with higher personnel costs. The EBITDA margin pre exceptionals thus fell from 12.3% in the previous year to 11.1%.

Net profit rose by 2.5% to € 5.8 million in the first half of the year (previous year: € 5.7 million). This corresponds to earnings per share of € 0.90 (previous year: € 0.89).

The increased business volume meant that the company increased its working capital by € 15.3 million between January and June (H1 2023: € 15.8 million). This was mainly due to the substantial increase in inventories and higher trade receivables. This had a negative impact on R. STAHL’s free cash flow, which at € -7.0 million was € 1.4 million lower than in the previous year (previous year: € -5.6 million). The company improved its equity ratio to 27.0% as of 30 June 2024 (31 December 2023: 25.0%).

Executive Board confirms forecasts for full-year 2024

For 2024, the company expects further growth in the relevant key markets based on the overall economic and industry-specific forecasts.

The high order backlog as well as strong demand first half of 2024 mean that R. STAHL can look ahead to full-year 2024 with optimism. For the current financial year, the Executive Board continues to forecast growth in Group sales to between € 335 million and € 350 million (2023: € 330.6 million).

Profitability in the current financial year should stabilize at around the very good level of the previous year. A high level of investment for additional growth, increasing price sensitivity on the part of customers as well as rising personnel costs are likely to have a temporary negative impact on earnings development. The company expects EBITDA pre exceptionals to be between € 35 million and € 45 million in 2024 (2023: € 38.6 million). In terms of free cash flow, R. STAHL expects a medium single-digit positive million euro amount in 2024 (2023: € 0.3 million).

“R. STAHL closed out the first half of 2024 very successfully. Demand from our customers has picked up and the strategic measures we have introduced are taking effect. With that in mind, we are confident that we will achieve our targets for 2024”, says Dr. Mathias Hallmann, CEO of R. STAHL.

Key figures of R. STAHL Group for Q2 and H1 2024 pursuant to IFRS

¹⁾ Africa and Europe without Germany
²⁾ Exceptionals: restructuring charges, unscheduled depreciation and amortization, charges for designing and implementing IT projects, M&A costs, gains and losses from deconsolidation transactions as well as profit and loss from the disposal of assets no longer required for business operations
³⁾  Payments for investments in intangible assets and property, plant & equipment
⁴⁾ excl. pension provisions and without lease liabilities
⁵⁾ excl. apprentices

Percentages and figures in may include rounding differences. The signs used to indicate rates of changes are based on mathematical aspects: Increases are marked with a “+”, decreases with a “-“.  Rates of changes > +100% are shown as >+100%, rates of change <-100% as “n/a” (not applicable)

Note
The interim report H1 2024 is available for download under the following link: https://r-stahl.com/en/global/corporate/investor-relations/ir-news-and-publications/financial-reports

Financial calendar 2024
6 November   Quarterly Statement Q3 2024

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Investors‘ and analysts‘ conference call of R. STAHL for Q2/2024

Chief Executive Officer of R. STAHL AG, Dr. Mathias Hallmann, will explain the results of Q2 and H1 2024, will present an outlook for the current year

today, August 8, 2024 at 10:00 CET

Afterwards he will be available for questions. The conference call will be held in English language.

To participate (acoustically) in the conference call, please use the link below. After registration, that you may do at any time, you will receive dedicated dial-in details to easily and quickly access the call at the specified time:
https://services.choruscall.it/DiamondPassRegistration/register?confirmationNumber=2592825&linkSecurityString=5bf1bb777

 Along with the conference call, we will provide a presentation (visually only) through an online webinar. Please log on as a participant on the following website (no password required); this link is provided to you again with the dial-in details for the conference call:
https://www.webcast-eqs.com/rstahl-h1-2024/no-audio
 

A replay of the audio webcast will be available shortly after the conference call has ended on the company’s website in the section corporate > investor relations > IR news and publications (https://r-stahl.com/en/global/corporate/investor-relations/ir-news-and-publications/events-and-presentations)

We look forward to talking to you.

About R. STAHL – www.r-stahl.com
R. STAHL is the world's leading supplier of electrical and electronic products and systems for explosion protection. These products and systems prevent explosions in hazardous areas and contribute to the safety of people, machines and the environment. The portfolio covers the portfolio segments Electrical, Automation as well as Lighting and is completed by the cross-divisional function Customer Solutions. Typical customers are the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, the oil & gas industry - including LNG applications - as well as the food and beverage industry. Most of the R. STAHL products are also approved for use with hydrogen. In 2023, global sales amounting to around € 331 million were generated by 1,721 employees. The shares of R. STAHL AG are traded on the Regulated Market/Prime Standard of Deutsche Boerse (ISIN DE000A1PHBB5).

Forward-looking statements
This release contains forward-looking statements based on assumptions and estimates of R. STAHL’s management. Although we assume that the expectations of these forward-looking statements are realistic, we cannot guarantee that these expectations will prove to be correct. The assumptions may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such discrepancies include: changes in the macroeconomic and business environment, exchange rate and interest rate fluctuations, the roll-out of competing products, a lack of acceptance of new products or services, and changes in business strategy. R. STAHL does not plan to update these forward-looking statements nor does it accept any obligation to do so.