Strong Q1 performance positions Bekaert well to confront the crisis
Safe working conditions – customer centricity – strong cash liquidity
Highlights
- Comprehensive measures to safeguard employees, with a limited number of Covid-19 infections
- Sales down -11% due to government-mandated lockdowns and global tire & automotive demand decline
- Effective cost reduction measures in place
- Liquidity more than € 190 million up on year-end 2019 to over € 750 million cash on hand
- Debt leverage stable from year-end 2019 at 2.1x underlying EBITDA
- Gross dividend proposal of € 0.35 with payment postponed to 20 November 2020
Outlook
We project Q2 sales to markedly decline in different sectors that are relevant to us. While the magnitude of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global economy has become visible, its duration remains highly uncertain. We therefore have no visibility on a full-year impact in our markets and on our business.
Bekaert continues to apply strict control on costs, working capital and capital expenditure.
The actions implemented in 2019 and in the first quarter of 2020 have made us stronger and more resilient to cope with severe challenges. We are convinced that our strong liquidity position, combined with other measures we have implemented and continue to implement, puts us in the right position to weather the crisis.
Webcast: Bekaert will present the first quarter update to the investment community at 02:00 p.m. CET. This conference can be accessed live upon registration via the Bekaert website (bekaert.com/en/investors) in listen-only mode.
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