Firstextile AG
Firstextile AG continues positive business development in Q3 2014
Firstextile AG / Key word(s): 9-month figures Firstextile AG continues positive business development in Q3 2014 – Quarterly record revenue at EUR 69.3 mn in Q3 2014; overall revenue in 9M 2014 with EUR 161.8 mn roughly 5% above previous year – Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) at EUR 31.1 mn in 9M 2014; EBIT margin at 19.2% – Management confirms guidance for the full year 2014 Frankfurt, 19 November 2014 – Today Firstextile AG (FT8) has published its financial figures for the first nine months and the third quarter of 2014. Thus the company saw continuing business growth in the third quarter2014 and achieved record revenue of EUR 69.3 million which was 46.2% above the previous year’s level. Herein it is worth highlighting that this success was made possible by the company’s excellent position in the uniform market and its flexible business model. Within the third quarter of 2014, Firstextile achieved revenue totalling EUR 69.3 million after EUR 47.4 million in the same period of 2013. Thereby Firstextile was able to even increase the speed of business development during the third quarter following the business recovery during the second quarter before. Overall in the first nine months of 2014, revenue rose by 5.2% to EUR 161.8 million (9M 2013: EUR 153.8 million). Measured in Renminbi, Firstextile’s revenue in the first nine months of 2014 even increased by 8.2% over the same period of the previous year and reflects its true operational strength. Considering total figures in the first three quarters of 2013, the increase is mainly attributable to revenue growth in the Uniforms segment during the reporting period. In addition also revenue in the Fabrics segment slightly increased in the third quarter. The company’s gross profit amounted to EUR 49.7 million compared to EUR 49.4 million in the previous year’s period, resulting in a gross profit margin of 30.7% (9M 2013: 32.1%). Firstextile’s earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) amounted to EUR 31.1 million (9M 2013: EUR 32.9 million) and corresponding to an EBIT margin of 19.2% (9M 2013: 21.4%). Net profit was at EUR 24.1 million in the first nine months of 2014 (9M 2013: EUR 26.1 million). Fred Yang, founder and CEO of Firstextile, comments the results: “In the third quarter 2014 we saw an outstanding performance in our Uniforms segment with slight growth in our Fabrics segment in addition. Thereby we successfully managed to use free production capacities from our Branded Products segment in these two segments. This proves the flexibility and stabile nature of our business model.” Richard Cao, CFO, adds: “We continued the positive business development during the third quarter 2014. Especially our efforts in our Uniform segment have been paying off. Enjoying the tailwind in our overall business performance and with our expansion project in time we are very optimistic for the company’s future.” Firstextile’s revenue in the Fabrics segment amounted to EUR 36.8 million in Q3 2014 slightly above the level in the same period in the previous year (Q3 2013: EUR 35.6 million). In the first nine months of 2014, the revenue amounted to EUR 98.7 million (9M 2013: EUR 102.1 million). Even though this development shows a slight decease yoy it was in line with management expectations due to the following two aspects: From the operational perspective, the business development was favourable with recovering average selling price (“ASP”) and volume sold during the second and third quarter of 2014. Given this development and adjusted by the negative exchange rate effect, revenue expressed in RMB in the Fabrics segment was nearly at the same level like in the previous year. Gross profit decreased by 7.8% to EUR 26.6 million in the first nine months of 2014 (9M 2013: EUR 28.8 million). This decrease was disproportionately above the segment revenue development. As a result, the segmental gross profit margin shrank to 26.9% in the first nine months of 2014 (9M 2013: 28.3%), which is still beyond Firstextile’s long-term expectations in this segment. After a weak first quarter of 2014 in the Uniforms segment, this segment showed a strong recovery in the second of 2014 with revenue increased 22.0% yoy and even a better performance in the third quarter of 2014 increased significantly to EUR 27.3 million (Q3 2013: EUR 2.3 million). This strong performance was due to some bulk orders of two major customers while the low revenue level of the previous year results from the negative timing effect of bulk orders. Since revenue in this segment generally depends on relatively fewer large orders, a fluctuation in segment revenue quarter-on-quarter is not exceptional. In the first nine months of 2014, Firstextile was able to significantly increase revenue in total up to EUR 47.7 million compared to EUR 31.3 million in the same period of the previous year. Corresponding to the positive revenue development in the second and third quarter of 2014, also gross profit rapidly increased to EUR 13.7 million in the first three quarters of 2014 (9M 2013: EUR 6.5 million). Overall the gross profit margin rose up to 28.8% compared to 20.9% in the same reporting period of the previous year. In the Branded Products segment, revenue decreased by 45.4% to EUR 5.2 million in the third quarter of 2014 compared to EUR 9.5 million in the same period of the previous year. This strong decrease is due to the unfavourable economic environment for the corporate gift business as an important part of this segment. Overall, in the first nine months of 2014, revenue in the Branded Products segment decreased by 24.6% to EUR 15.4 million (9M 2013: EUR 20.4 million). Free production capacities were switch to the other two segments and prove the flexibility of Firstextile’s business model. Gross profit decreased to EUR 9.4 million in the first nine months of 2014 (9M 2013: EUR 14.0 million). The gross profit margin however remained on a very high level of 61.1% even so it decreased compared to 68.7% in the first nine months of 2013. As of today, the complete 9M report 2014 can be downloaded from the company’s website at www.firstextile.de, within the “Investor Relations” area. Firstextile is one of the leading manufacturers of high-end yarn-dyed fabrics in the Chinese market. It also markets fabrics and shirts specifically designed for uniforms used by Chinese government institutions and enterprises, as well as its own branded men’s wear for the Chinese premium market segment. The company operates modern production facilities in Jiangyin near Shanghai, China, which is one of the main centres of the Chinese textile industry, and it focuses particularly on high product-quality. Net proceeds from the successful completion of the IPO in November 2012, will primarily be used to double annual production capacity from the current 36 million metres to 72 million metres by the end of 2014. 19.11.2014 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP – a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de |
Language: | English | |
Company: | Firstextile AG | |
Lyoner Str. 14 | ||
60528 Frankfurt am Main | ||
Germany | ||
Phone: | +49 (0) 69 6655 4416 | |
Fax: | +49 (0) 69 6655 4418 | |
E-mail: | ir@firstextile.de | |
Internet: | www.firstextile.de | |
ISIN: | DE000A1PG8V8 | |
WKN: | A1PG8V | |
Listed: | Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart | |
End of News | DGAP News-Service |
297958 19.11.2014 |