“After a long winter, we had been hoping for a change in activity level in Q2. Our Global Sales business is growing well, but is unable to compensate for a very weak European market. We now expect that the difficult and unpredictable market conditions in Europe will continue for the rest of 2013. Therefore, we will continue to focus on tight cost and balance sheet control,” says CEO Kent Arentoft.
• Turnover for the first six months totals DKK 1,135 million against DKK 1,286 million for the same period last year. For Q2, turnover totalled DKK 649 million, which was 2% lower than last year.
• For the first six months of the year, Global Sales posted a turnover which is 16% higher than last year. By contrast, the European business saw a fall in turnover of 23% as a consequence of a generally lower level of activity combined with a long winter in Europe.
• In the first half year, the Group’s gross margin fell by 1.8% points as a consequence of the significant imbalance between supply and demand combined with the fact that the global back-to-back business in Global Sales, where the gross margin is lower, accounts for a larger proportion of the turnover.
• The lower turnover as well as the lower gross margin has impacted on the results for the period. EBIT was minus DKK 11 million against last year’s DKK 10 million. In Q2, EBIT was DKK 4 million against DKK 7 million last year.
• DLH has maintained its net interest-bearing debt at a low level in that the debt at the end of the first half year totals DKK 347 million against DKK 526 million at the same time last year. DLH continues its efforts to reduce its net interest-bearing debt mainly through the reduction of working capital.
• On 15 July 2013, the Group announced a forecast for a turnover of around DKK 2.2 billion and EBIT of around minus DKK 30 to 40 million.
DLH maintains the announced expectations.
For further information about this announcement, please contact President & CEO Kent Arentoft on tel: + 45 4350 0101.
