VolkerWessels reports EBITDA of € 148 million, interim dividend of € 0.28 per share
Amersfoort, 12 November 2019 – Koninklijke VolkerWessels N.V. reports an increased EBITDA of € 148 million, an order book of € 9.0 billion and expects EBITDA for 2019 to increase between 4% and 7%. Most segments perform in line with expectation, except Infrastructure and North America.
- EBITDA 9M 2019 increased to € 148 million from € 130 million (9M 2018)
- Underlying EBITDA (excluding OpenIJ provision) decreased to € 157 million from € 167 million
- Net result attributable to shareholders € 65 million (+6.6%), net result per share € 0.81 (9M 2018: € 0.76)
- Order book remains high at € 9,043 million (+1.9%)
- Revenue increased to € 4,760 million (+14.3%)
- Interim dividend of € 0.28 per share
- Outlook 2019: EBITDA expected to increase between 4% and 7%
- OpenIJ 76% completed; managerial target for the final project result is estimated between - € 110 million and - € 77.5 million versus the current loss provision of € 115 million
The above numbers exclude the impact of IFRS 16
Jan de Ruiter, Chairman of the Management Board
“EBITDA (including OpenIJ) for the first nine months came in at € 148 million, which is € 18 million higher than 9M 2018. We saw EBITDA growth in most of our businesses, including Infrastructure as a result of a much lower addition to the OpenIJ loss provision. Only our North American business came in lower than last year due to continued weather-related inefficiencies in our operating businesses.
Our order book at the end of September was € 9,043 million, an increase of € 167 million as compared to the end of 9M 2018. The increase relates to the order books of Construction & Real Estate Development (C&RED), United Kingdom and North America. Production volumes in Infrastructure and Germany outpaced new order intake in those segments. The decrease in the E&T segment is due to the volumes delivered on long-term framework contracts.
The completion of project OpenIJ at the end of the third quarter is approximately 76%. During the third quarter we increased the loss provision for OpenIJ by € 1 million, bringing the total for 2019 to € 8.5 million (and for the project to € 115 million, VolkerWessels’ share).The managerial target for the final project result is estimated between - € 110 million and - € 77.5 million.
Excluding the impact of IFRS 16 on the lease liabilities included in the debt position, the net cash position increased by € 275 million to € 76 million. This is a reflection of our ongoing profitability, a strong focus on traditional working capital and the successful reduction in strategic working capital. Including the IFRS 16 impact on the 30 September 2019 balance sheet, the net debt position is € 165 million at the end of September, an improvement of € 34 million as compared to the end of September 2018.
The issues surrounding Nitrogen, PFAS and PFOS have not been resolved as yet. It is clear that after the summer the call for action has become very loud and the Dutch government has promised an interim solution to be announced before the 1st of December 2019. The impact on our company very much depends on the outcome of these discussions but – if unresolved - will have the biggest impact on our Infra business in the Netherlands. The impact of Brexit remains unpredictable and weighs on the economic development of the UK while in Germany the bill by the state government of Berlin on freezing rent passed in October 2019 and will be effective as from January 2020.
We will pay an interim dividend of € 0.28 per share. The payment date of the dividend is November 27, 2019.
For 2019, we expect all our segments to contribute to our EBITDA, and we expect full year EBITDA to increase between 4% and 7% (incl. the OpenIJ provision).”