Gurit experienced solid growth across all its business units, except for Tooling, which saw a softer second half year 2019. The Wind energy demand and the attractive material and service offering helped Composite Materials and Kitting to achieve strong results.

Composite Materials increased net sales by 12.8% (currency adjusted: 15.2%) year-on-year from CHF 221.3 million in 2018 to CHF 249.5 million in 2019. The sales growth has been driven by the vibrant Wind energy market, while sales in the Marine and Industrial business saw a slight decline.

Kitting reported net sales of CHF 190.7 million and is on a solid track versus the prior year of which Gurit consolidated only the last quarter. This contribution represents the majority of the acquisition effect for the Gurit net sales growth reported.

Tooling reported a very strong first half year and an expected weaker second half year. Net sales decreased by -10.5% (currency adjusted: -8.6%) to CHF 106.1 million in 2019 compared to net sales of CHF 118.5 million in 2018. The increase in demand from Asian customers secured in the second half of 2019 will enable strong first half year 2020 sales and a good capacity utilization.

Gurit’s Aerospace Business reported net sales of CHF 53.5 million, this represents an increase of 7.3% (currency adjusted: 9.6%). Both the European and the North American market demand contributed positively to the sales results.

The discontinued Composite Components Business reported net sales of CHF 18.1 million in 2019 compared to net sales of CHF 14.7 million in 2018. As communicated on February 11, 2020, Gurit has sold its automotive production site in Hungary.

Sales by geographic location showed the APAC region with 37.4% as the largest destination for goods delivered, as compared to 36.6% in the previous year. Deliveries to Europe accounted for 31.6% of total Group sales in 2019 (2018: 37.6%). Goods delivered to the Americas accounted for 22.8% of total Group sales (2018: 19.1%), while supply to the rest of the world amounted to 8.2% (2018: 6.7%).

Profitability

Gurit reached an Operating Profit of CHF 51.9 million with a margin of 9% of net sales which compared favorably to the 2018 margin of 6.7%. In the Continued Operations the operating profit reached CHF 61.5 million with an 11% margin to net sales, which is in line with the 11.0% margin achieved in the fiscal year 2018. The Profit for the year 2019 accounted to CHF 34.9 million and 6.1% of net sales. This equals to earnings per listed bearer share of CHF 76.06 in 2019 (2018: CHF 42.96). In the Continued operations the Profit for the year was CHF 44.6 million, compared to the prior year with CHF 36.9 million of net sales.

Cash Flow and Balance Sheet

Gurit generated a positive net cash flow from operating activities of CHF 65.9 million, which is markedly higher than in 2018 (CHF 19.4 million) due to higher Operating Profits and the timing of customer payments which were late in the previous year. Capital expenditures amounted to CHF 24.7 million in 2019 compared to CHF 15.3 million in the previous year. The increase is mainly due to the Capex needs of the acquired Gurit Kitting business, such as the new Kitting facility in Mexico, as well as the acquisition of core material production equipment for PET. Gurit undertakes a significant Capex program to increase its PET extrusion footprint.

Outlook 2020

Gurit expects a single-digit organic revenue growth to CHF 600 million in 2020. We further expect to achieve an operating profit in the range of 8.5–­11.0% for the fiscal year 2020. The net sales guidance does consider the divestment of the automotive business effective February 1, 2020. The operating profit guidance provided assumes a negative effect of the corona virus triggered business interruption in China in the month of February. If the business impact lasts longer, the effect on sales and operating profit margins would be more severe.

* The disclosure of business unit sales is newly presented showing total net sales of the business units and the total inter-business unit sales elimination in a separate line. Previously, the disclosed business unit sales only showed third party net sales of the respective business units. In addition, Composite Engineering sales – which were previously part of Business Unit Composite Components – are newly included in Business Unit Composite Materials. Prior-period figures have been restated accordingly.

Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on April 15, 2020

The Board of Directors will propose to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM), scheduled for April 15, 2020, to distribute a total of 11.7 million CHF to shareholders – this corresponds to 25.00 CHF per listed bearer share. The full invitation to the AGM including all motions proposed by the Board of Directors will be available for download from March 9, 2020 onwards at: http://www.gurit.com/Investors/AGM

Online publication of Annual Report 2019,
Media/Analyst conference and Webcast on February 27, 2019

The Gurit Annual Report 2019 is available online at www.gurit.com/investors/reports   

The Sustainability Report 2019 is available as part of the Annual Report or now separately at www.gurit.com/sustainability    

Management will discuss the results in further detail at a joint media and analyst conference at 09:00 a.m. CET. The conference will take place at the Zurich Marriott Hotel, Neumuehlequai 42, CH-8006 Zurich. As always, the presentations will be held in English and will also be accessible as webcast on the following URL where an archived version will later be available for download:

http://www.gurit.com/Investors/Webcasts