Utrecht, 27 February 2020
highlights
o revenue +3% to EUR 2,841 million (organic +1.1%)
o operating profit (EBITA) EUR 362.6 million with an EBITA-margin of 12.8%
o net profit before amortisation EUR 267.4 million; per share EUR 2.42 (-3%)
o free cash flow EUR 312.1 million; ROCE 15.1% (before IFRS 16)
o increased investments in organic growth and innovation initiatives
o portfolio optimisation: acquired PPC and Applied, annual revenue USD 62 million; divested STAG and HFI, annual revenue EUR 30 million
o updated strategy ‘focused acceleration’, presented December 2019
CEO statement
“WE DELIVERED A SOLID AND RESILIENT PERFORMANCE.
In the course of the year we faced more difficult market circumstances in the automotive and several industrial niche end markets, due to market uncertainty, postponement of orders and inventory reduction. This was compensated with growth and innovation initiatives in the end markets eco-friendly buildings, sustainable transportation and semicon efficiency, resulting in overall organic revenue growth. Our EBITA performance was impacted by the revenue mix. Besides this, 2019 included less incidental benefits compared to 2018.
Overall, our performance was solid and resilient, due to our sustainable business model, focused business teams, many organic revenue growth, innovation initiatives and cost reductions. We continued our focus on the operational excellence projects. There is still a lot to gain the coming years.
To facilitate the many good business plans, we increased our investments and further optimised our portfolio. Our updated strategy ‘focused acceleration’ 2018-2022 was presented during our Capital Markets Day (CMD) in December.”
dividend
We propose a cash dividend of EUR 0.80 per share (2018: EUR 0.75) to the General Meeting, an increase of 7%.
outlook
We will accelerate our actions as presented during our CMD. We remain confident in realising our organic growth and innovation plans and operational excellence projects, achieving our strategic objectives.
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