DGAP-News: Celesio AG / Key word(s): Final Results
Celesio AG: Celesio exceeds earnings target and successfully continues
strategic realignment
26.03.2013 / 07:00
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Celesio exceeds earnings target and successfully continues strategic
realignment
- adjusted EBITDA up 4.5 per cent to 579.6 million euro
- adjusted EBIT up 3.5 per cent to 444.8 million euro
- Operational Excellence Programme boosts earnings
- dividend proposal of 30 cent per share (20% up year-on-year)
- earnings forecast: adjusted EBITDA of 580-610 million euro, adjusted EBIT
of 445-475 million euro
Stuttgart, 26 March 2013. Celesio exceeded its own objective of stabilising
profit in the 2012 fiscal year. Adjusted operating profit (EBITDA)
increased to 579.6 million euro and thus went up 4.5% compared to the
prior-year value of 554.9 million euro. Unadjusted EBITDA climbed by 9.5%
to 542.5 million euro. 'The successful stabilisation is driven by the
consistent implementation of our strategic realignment,' Celesio CEO Markus
Pinger emphasised. 'We have clearly improved our competitive position and,
at the same time, set the course for profitable growth.'
At the end of 2011, Celesio announced the five pillars of its strategic
realignment: focus on the core business, establishment of a European
pharmacy network, regional expansion, sale of the Manufacturer Solutions
division as well as the Operational Excellence Programme to enhance the
Group's competitive position. Pinger: 'With regard to the implementation we
are well on track. We were able to realise the comprehensive measures of
the Operational Excellence Programme last fiscal year, which leveraged an
earnings potential of 40 million euro. This mainly contributed to profit
growth. Moreover, we managed to sell the Manufacturer Solutions division,
the DocMorris mail-order pharmacy and other smaller activities sooner than
expected. We have also taken another step to further our regional expansion
by taking over 100% of the Brazilian pharmaceutical wholesaler Panpharma.
Finally we developed a new pharmacy concept under the Lloyds brand and
already started trial operations with four first pilot pharmacies. So far
the results are very positive and highly promising. We will therefore
accelerate our piloting efforts. We have thus successfully concluded the
first implementation phase of our new strategy focussing on stabilisation
and already initiated the second phase targeted at realigning our core
business.'
2012 Fiscal year: Revenue and Earnings Development
The persistently adverse situation with regard to European national budgets
as well as subsequent austerity measures in the health care sectors have
burdened Celesio's business in 2012. In addition, a number of important
blockbuster medications have come off patent. This led to more intense
competition with low-cost generics, cutting down prices of pharmaceutical
products on the market, affecting mainly the wholesale activities but also
the pharmacy business.
Despite these difficult underlying conditions and declining markets, group
revenue improved slightly. At 22,270.8 million euro, revenue exceeded the
prior-year 2011 by 0.5%. The increase was supported by the first time
full-year consolidation of Brazilian specialty pharmaceuticals provider
Oncoprod, foreign exchange gains as well as an improvement of wholesale
margins in Germany coming through from the German Pharmaceutical Market
Restructuring Act (AMNOG).
Unadjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation
increased in 2012 by 9.5% year-on-year to 542.5 million euro. EBITDA
adjusted for one-off effects climbed 4.5% to 579.6 million euro, compared
to 554.9 million euro in the 2011 fiscal year. Celesio therefore managed
during the reporting period to not only stabilise but even to increase
group profit. Burdens from austerity measures in the public health sectors
were offset by a higher gross margin and a consistent cost-cutting policy.
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) showed a clear increase of 20.2%
to 370.1 million euro. EBIT adjusted for one-off effects was up 3.5% to
444.8 million euro, compared to 429.8 million euro in the previous year.
Income from continuing operations of the Celesio Group amounted to 109.6
million euro. This corresponds to a 43.0% increase compared to the 2011
fiscal year (76.7 million euro). Income from continuing operations adjusted
for one-off effects came out to 214.2 million euro, exceeding the
prior-year level by 6.8%. Income/loss from discontinued operations amounted
to -258.6 million euro, compared to -70.9 million euro in the previous
year. The reduction results in particular from adjustments to the carrying
amounts for the divestments of the DocMorris mail-order pharmacy as well as
Pharmexx and Movianto. At the time of purchase, Celesio had paid prices for
these companies that were largely based on strategic expectations. However,
these have not materialised. For this reason, and also owing to the
companies' business performance, the original purchase prices could no
longer be achieved.
The consolidated annual result from continuing and discontinued operations
thus amounted to -149.0 million euro, compared to 5.8 million euro in the
previous year.
Revenue in the Patient and Consumer Solutions division was up 5.1% in the
2012 fiscal year and amounted to 3,462.7 million euro, largely driven by a
strong performance in Sweden and Norway. The division's adjusted earnings
before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by
31.7% year-on-year to 278.5 million euro. Unadjusted EBITDA increased by
57.9% to 275.1 million euro, supported by a substantial improvement of the
gross margin as well as the Operational Excellence Programme. The adjusted
EBITDA margin improved by 1.6 percentage points to 8.0 per cent.
Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to 215.0
million euro. This equals an increase compared to the previous year of
38.8%. Unadjusted EBIT increased by 93.2 per cent to 208.1 million euro.
Revenue in the Pharmacy Solutions division amounted to 18,808.1 million
euro in the past fiscal year. Although patents of some blockbuster products
expired and the market development in France was generally weak, revenue
came out only slightly below the prior-year level with a reduction of 0.3%.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation
(EBITDA) fell 11.6% year-on-year to 380.0 million euro. Unadjusted EBITDA
was 351.0 million euro. This corresponds to a 16% decrease compared to the
2011 fiscal year. This was the expected result of a weak development in the
French wholesale business.
Following the complete takeover of Panpharma, Celesio initiated, as
planned, an action programme to optimise structures and processes. Related
expenditures have weighed on earnings. Some lower order volumes of a major
customer also had a negative effect.
The lower EBITDA is also reflected in the development of the EBITDA margin
adjusted for one-off effects, which fell from 2.3% in the previous year to
2.0% in fiscal 2012.
Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of the division dropped
by 13.7% to 320.1 million euro in the 2012 fiscal year. Unadjusted EBIT
went down by 15.6% to 261.5 million euro.
Dividend Proposal for 2012
Thanks to the measures implemented in 2012 group performance is positive
once again. This success is supposed to be shared with Celesio's
shareholders. For this purpose, the board of management and the supervisory
board will suggest a dividend of 0.30 euro per share for the 2012 fiscal
year at the general meeting. This would boost the distribution per share by
20% compared to the previous year. Celesio thus continues its dividend
policy of paying out 30 per cent of net profit adjusted for non-cash items.
In the coming years, Celesio will review a successive increase in the
dividend ratio.
Road Map 2013/2014: Realignment and Growth
The strategic road map for 2013 is themed »realignment«. It mainly centres
on piloting the new pharmacy concept, which is to be launched across Europe
under the Lloyds brand name. At the same time, the wholesale business is to
be realigned based on innovative logistics concepts and their pilot
implementation in 2013. The market roll-out is already planned for 2014.
Pinger: '2013 is a year characterised by piloting our innovations and
bringing them to market maturity. Our strategy is tailored to an
integrated, end customer oriented business model. The starting point is our
new Lloyds pharmacy concept and the interweaving of our activities to
create a pan-European pharmacy network into which we will integrate our new
wholesale and logistics concepts. This enables us to cover the entire value
chain from pharmaceuticals producer to end consumer. Thus we will offer our
customers better solutions and, at the same time, benefit from considerable
synergy effects. This leads us to sustainable profitable growth.'
Earnings Outlook
Building on the successful stabilisation of earnings as the core of our
actions in the 2012 fiscal year, 2013 will be the year of realignment for
Celesio. The Group will thus take a significant step towards profitable
growth from 2014. The board of management anticipates adjusted EBIT between
445 million euro and 475 million euro in the 2013 fiscal year as well as a
corresponding adjusted EBITDA between 580 million euro and 610 million
euro.
Key figures of the Celesio Group
2011 2012
Continuing
operations
Revenue M EUR 22,152.9 22,270.8
EBITDA M EUR 495.4 542.5
adjusted 1) 2) M EUR 554.9 579.6
EBIT M EUR 308.0 370.1
adjusted 1) 2) 3) M EUR 429.8 444.8
Net profit/loss M EUR 76.7 109.6
adjusted 1) 2) 3) 4) M EUR 200.6 214.2
Retail pharmacies 5) 2,280 2,177
Wholesale
branches 5) 141 136
Discontinued
operations
Net profit/loss M EUR -70.9 -258.6
Continued and
discontinued
operations
Employees 5)
46,977 38,940
Net profit/loss M EUR 5.8 -149.0
Change
on a
euro basis
%
Revenue M EUR 0.5
EBITDA M EUR 9.5
adjusted 1) 2) M EUR 4.5
EBIT M EUR 20.2
adjusted 1) 2) 3) M EUR 3.5
Net profit/loss M EUR 43.0
adjusted 1) 2) 3) 4) M EUR 6.8
Discontinued
operations
Net profit/loss M EUR >100
Continued and
discontinued
operations
Net profit/loss M EUR ---
1) Adjusted for non-recurring expenses and income from the Operational
Excellence Program (including tax effect).
2) Adjusted for special effects from evaluations pursuant to IFRS 5 as well
as deconsolidation effects (including tax effect).
3) Adjusted for impairment losses recognised on non-current assets
(including tax effect).
4) Adjusted for special effects in the financial result (including tax
effect).
5) Figures on closing date.
Press contact
Dr Jens Schreiber, Celesio AG, +49 (0)711.5001-380
media@celesio.com
Rainer Berghausen, Celesio AG, +49 (0)711.5001-549
media@celesio.com
About Celesio Group
As a leading international trading company and provider of logistics and
services in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector, Celesio takes a
proactive and preventive approach to ensuring that patients receive the
products and support that they require for optimum care. We operate in 16
countries around the world and have about 39,000 employees. Every day, we
serve over 2 million customers - at 2,200 pharmacies of our own and 4,500
participants in our brand partnership schemes. With 136 wholesale branches,
we supply approximately 65,000 pharmacies and hospitals every day with up
to 130,000 pharmaceutical products. Our services benefit a patient pool of
about 15 million per day.
End of Corporate News
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Language: English
Company: Celesio AG
Neckartalstr. 155
70376 Stuttgart
Germany
Phone: +49 (0)711 5001-735
Fax: +49 (0)711 5001-740
E-mail: investor@celesio.com
Internet: www.celesio.com
ISIN: DE000CLS1001
WKN: CLS100
Indices: MDAX
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt (Prime
Standard), München, Stuttgart; Freiverkehr in Hamburg,
Hannover; Terminbörse EUREX
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205127 26.03.2013
DGAP-News: Celesio AG: Celesio exceeds earnings target and successfully continues strategic realignment
| Source: EQS Group AG