ALNO Group continues its positive corporate development into the third quarter

Pfullendorf, 27 October 2015 – The positive corporate development at ALNO is continuing again this year. For the third time in succession, the Group is reporting growth in both sales and profit/loss. On the basis of the preliminary figures, ALNO Konzern achieved sales of 392.9 million euros between January and September 2015*. That is 14.0 million euros or 3.7 per cent more than in the comparable period of the previous year (378.9 million euros). EBITDA – corrected to take account of special effects – improved by 20.2 million euros or 90 per cent from -22.4 million euros to -2.2 million euros. Including special effects, the EBITDA in the first nine months of this year amounts to 22.5 million euros. This includes effects from the deconsolidation of Impuls Küchen GmbH as at 30 June 2015, amounting to about 25 million euros. In the comparable period of the previous year, the EBITDA amounted to 29.9 million euros including about 52 million euros of special effects from the takeover of AFP.

In the third quarter of 2015 alone, the ALNO Group improved its sales by 7.7 million euros or 6.9 per cent to 119.9 million euros (previous year: 112.2 million euros). EBITDA – without special effects – climbed by 8.0 million euros or 96 per cent to -0.3 million euros (previous year: -8.3 million euros). ALNO had already reported increases in the sales and profit/loss (adjusted for special effects) as early as the first and second quarters this year.

 

“We are achieving our targets”


“The latest figures clearly show that our internationalisation strategy and the internal strategic realignment are correct and are bearing fruit. For instance, we have been able to strengthen our strategic focus even more by purchasing Impuls Küchen GmbH at the end of June and with our newly founded joint venture in Russia. Our targets – lower sales in the highly competitive domestic market and greater growth abroad – are also being confirmed by the commitment of our new Chinese anchor shareholder, Nature. We are particularly proud of the performance of our operating business, which has now been continuously recording a sustainably positive trend for nine months. That ought to show even our harshest critics that we are actually able to achieve our targets,” declared Max Müller, CEO of ALNO AG.

 

Result of the ALNO Group without AFP Küchen


The ALNO Group is continuing to follow an excellent path without AFP: in the third quarter of this year alone, the company recorded an increase in sales of 5.3 million euros or 6.7 per cent to 84.9 million euros compared to the third quarter of 2014 (79.6 million euros). The operating result (EBITDA) improved – without special effects – by 2.6 million euros or 46 per cent from -5.7 million euros to -3.1 million euros.

In the first nine months of 2015, the sales of the ALNO Group without AFP amounted to 293.2 million euros and so was almost 16 million euros or 5.7 per cent greater than in the comparable period of the previous year (277.3 million euros). The EBITDA – without special effects – stood at -3.6 million euros, which was an improvement of 13.1 million euros or 78.5 per cent compared to the previous year.

 

Profit/loss at AFP Küchen


The efficiency programs launched at the end of 2012 are continuing to bring positive effects at AFP Küchen AG. For instance, in the first nine months of this year, AFP improved its EBITDA by 6.7 million euros or 117 per cent to 1.0 million euros (previous year: -5.7 million euros).

The company could not quite maintain its sales, which stood at 100.5 million euros as at 30 September and so was 1.2 million euros or 1.2 per cent lower than in the comparable period of the previous year (101.7 million euros). One reason was that the project business did not perform as strongly.

 

Job cuts move closer


In the course of the realignment of the Group that was started in 2014, the Group is currently negotiating with the works councils at the various locations about specific job cuts in the administrative areas and executive roles in Germany. On this subject, the Group agreed a framework for a reconciliation of interests in advance with the Group works council. Some jobs had also already been cut abroad in the first half of the year. In 2016, both of these measures will lead to a sustained increase in the operating result amounting to about 7 million euros in the EBITDA.

 

Expansion in Scandinavia


ALNO is consistently driving its international growth strategy forwards. Through its international shareholding ALNO International GmbH, the Group has owned 61 per cent of the Swedish company Küchen Nordic AB since 1 October this year. ALNO CEO Max Müller: 'This acquisition is of particular strategic importance to ALNO. It provides us with a way into the attractive Scandinavian market, and is very much in keeping with our strategy for internationalisation.”

Küchen Nordic AB currently operates its business via three internal kitchen studios and three other studios run by external dealers in Scandinavia and is also already serving ALNO as a sales channel for dealers in the regions around Stockholm and Östersund. In future, Küchen Nordic AB will act under the leadership of ALNO International GmbH to promote the opening of further internal kitchen studios and the expansion of the project business in important Scandinavian conurbations. This makes ALNO one of the few German kitchen manufacturers with both a presence in these markets and its own kitchen studios.

 

Outlook


“We are extremely satisfied with the performance of the company overall. That is why we assume that we will also be able to improve the sales and operating result significantly in the fourth quarter of this year. After all, we can see clear, positive effects from the improvement in efficiency in all the divisions in terms of the current financial year. In addition, we are gaining huge benefits from the consistent avoidance of low-margin sales, the considerable improvements in the customer structure and the product mix and also from cost reductions in all areas. And our foreign companies will also play a major part in this once again,” explained Max Müller.

*To improve comparability this year, the previous-year figures from June onwards were disclosed pro forma without Impuls.

 

About ALNO AG:


ALNO AG is one of Germany’s leading kitchen manufacturers, with a staff of around 2,100 employees. From its six international production sites, the corporation provides a full range of kitchens to both the German and international markets. In addition to the core ALNO brand, the ALNO Group also owns the brands Wellmann, Pino as well as Piatti and Forster Schweizer Stahlküchen or ALNOINOX. The ALNO Group operates in more than 64 countries worldwide with over 6,000 sales partners. In financial year 2014, the company recorded sales revenue of 546 million euros. Around 52 per cent of this revenue was generated abroad.

 

Contact:


Jürgen Schulze-Ferebee
Head of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations
ALNO AG
Heiligenbergerstrasse 47
88630 Pfullendorf, Germany
Tel.: +49 / 75 52 / 21 – 33 16
Fax: +49 / 75 52 / 21 – 77 3316
Email: presse@alno.de
www.alno.de

 

Legal note:


This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are based on current assumptions and prognoses made by the corporate management of ALNO AG or its affiliated companies. Various known and unknown risks and uncertainties as well as other factors may lead to significant deviations in the actual results, financial position, development or performance of ALNO AG and its affiliated companies from the opinions and estimates provided here. Neither ALNO AG nor its affiliated companies are under any obligation to update such forward-looking statements or to revise them in light of future events or developments.

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