Q1 2019 turnover

May 2019 News

First quarter turnover was €134.4 million, up by 25.7% compared to the same period 2018 and in line with the Group’s expectations. Growth was constant from the second quarter with the ramping up of new contracts in the Automotive Division and the extension of an historical contract, combined with the coming on stream of a major contract in the Telecommunications Division. At the same time, ACTIA Group continued with its capital expenditure programme and pursuit of the drivers intended to improve its operating profit, while securing its longer term development prospects by winning new tenders.

IFRS, in €m	2019*	2018	Var.
Q1	134.4	106.9	+25.7%
o/w Automotive	114.6	99.1	+15.6%
o/w Telecommunications	19.8	7.7	+156.2%
Total	134.4	106.9	+25.7%

* Unaudited data.

First quarter sales for the foreign subsidiaries reached €70.9 million, up by 21.8%. Turnover at the French companies was €63.5 million, an improvement of 30.4%: it includes the new telecommunications export contract, with deliveries beginning at end 2018. International customers represented 76.8% of quarterly turnover, supported by growth in the business in Egypt, the United States and Belgium.

The Automotive Division generated 85.3% of the Group’s quarterly sales and enjoyed growth of 15.6% over the period. OEM, 66.5% of automotive turnover and up by 19.9%, was supported by an increase in sales from an historical contract and progress with new contracts, particularly in the areas of heavy vehicles, buses and coaches and specialist vehicles. Aftermarket, 8.8% of automotive turnover and up by 1.4%, was stable pending the deployment of the new generation of telematic boxes for fleet management.

During the course of this first quarter, ACTIA also secured confirmation of a positive prospects for growth beyond 2020, with a number of commercial successes with bus and coach manufacturers in Brazil and Egypt and for heavy vehicles in North America. This progress on the American continent comes on the heels of ACTIA Group opening its new production facility in Detroit at end 2018.

The Telecommunications Division represented 14 .7% of the Group’s quarterly sales at €19.8 million. It registered growth of 156.2%, in line with the acceleration produced at year end by the beginning of a major Satcom contract in Egypt. At the same time, business in the areas of Rail and Energy continued to progress, while IRT fell slightly due to the end of the deployment of 4G.

2019 OUTLOOK

ACTIA’s business is benefiting from both the accelerated growth provided by a number of sources in high added-value fields, as well as from the continuation of a number of major automotive contracts with relatively low margins. This phase of development is also gradually benefiting from the growing profitability generated by new contracts. Major levels of capital expenditure are ongoing in terms of infrastructure, new product development and digitisation.

For 2019, ACTIA is expecting further growth in its sales that could considerably exceed €500 million, a level that nevertheless remains conditional on the sales of the Group’s end customers. This growth should be accompanied by higher EBITDA, driven by internal measures, the effects of which will nonetheless be mitigated by the extension of the automotive contract until 2021 and the finalisation of the real estate investments in 2019.

GENERAL MEETING AND PROPOSED DIVIDEND

The Combined General Meeting will be held on 28 May 2019 at 5 pm on the Company’s premises. The documentation for this General Meeting was published at end April and is available on www.actia.com (menu “Investors” / “General Meetings”).

On this occasion, following the meetings of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board held on 25 March 2019, the shareholders will be asked to approve a gross dividend of €0.10 per ACTIA Group share for the 2018 financial year.

In addition, following the Supervisory Board meeting held to approve the annual financial statements prior to submitting them to the General Meeting of 28 May 2019, a waiver was requested on 25 March 2019. The financial institutions concerned had been kept fully informed of this on a regular basis. Therefore, 5 of the 6 financial partners in question have already responded favourably to date, which represents €21.2 million of the reclassified debt. It should be noted that some partners have made their agreement conditional upon acceptance by all stakeholders. The waiver request is still being examined by the final financial partner.

The 2018 Registration Document, published on 25 April 2019, is available on www.actia.com (menu “Investors” / “Registration Document”).

IMPORTANT DATES :

Next’Up (ESG / midcap forum): Tuesday 21 May 2019 (Paris)
General Meeting: Tuesday 28 May 2019 at 5 pm (at the Company’s head office: 5, Rue Jorge Semprun BP 74215 - Toulouse 31432 cedex 4)
Q2 2019 turnover: Wednesday 31 July 2019 (before stock exchange trading hours)
2019 half-yearly results: Tuesday 17 September 2019 (before stock exchange trading hours)
SFAF Briefing: Wednesday 18 September 2019 (11:30 am)

CONTACTS :