Vossloh announces significant increase in dividend
Group to report highest ever earnings / EBIT expected to gain steadily up to 2005Fiscal 2002, closing on December 31, 2002, has been a very rewarding year for the Vossloh Group, one in which sales are expected to add up to around €725 million and EBIT to almost €77 million (up from €60 million). Group earnings will total some €50.4 million (up from €17.2 million in 2001). This is the best ever performance in Vossloh's 130-year track record and includes around €28 million from a number of one-off transactions.
At a press conference in Frankfurt/Main, Vossloh AG's CEO, Burkhard Schuchmann, mentioned the prospects of a dividend increase by a good double-digit percentage. For fiscal 2001, the dividend had amounted to €0.75 per share of stock. "The raise is meant to show that the earnings generated in 2002 have firmly been budgeted to climb over the years ahead," emphasized Schuchmann. For the period now ending, the expected Group earnings of €50.4 million are equivalent to an EpS of €3.71, or triple the figure for 2001 (€1.20) for eligible stock.
Schuchmann pointed out that 2002 had been a period prioritizing the realignment of Vossloh into a transport technology group. The related refocus had entailed the disposal of the Lighting division. Combined with the subsequent acquisition of the French Cogifer Group, this had been a major landmark on the path to the "new Vossloh," he said. "On the one hand, we and Cogifer have reciprocally built ourselves bridgeheads into markets in which we and our new subsidiary had been poorly represented in the past, and on the other, Cogifer's track construction business has significantly expanded our product range." In a related move, Vossloh had disposed of its indirectly held approximately 45-percent stake in the Austrian rail switch manufacturer VAE.
The takeover of the Kiepe Group, he continued, permitted the Group to gain a commanding position in other highly tempting transport technology niche markets and, with the purchase of Skamo, the leader in the Polish market for rail fasteners, the Group was able to secure for itself the most promising market for this type of product in the eastern part of Central Europe.
"Building on our decades of experience, we have evolved into a specialist in rail business, closely familiar with transport sector trends and having a number of crossovers into other transport systems. On this basis we have realigned our activities speedily and successfully, positioning transport at the core of all our operations," is how Schuchmann summed up the present situation.
Despite the lingering recession and the dramatically deteriorating economic environment, the CEO was confident on account of the global upswing in rail business, irrespective of the economy. For 2003, Vossloh expects sales to advance by over 20 percent to a good €870 million, with EBIT gaining in line to almost €95 million. This latter figure will still include nonrecurring divestment gains of a good €13 million. And notwithstanding the heavier tax burden, Group earnings are still expected to grow by 3 percent to almost €52 million. "As from 2004, our earnings will then be exclusively derived from operating business yet nonetheless, we reckon on a further rise by 1.5 percent," stated Schuchmann. By 2005, numerous productivity enhancements, especially at the newly acquired companies and in locomotive manufacture, are planned to catapult earnings by a good 10 percent, with EpS well in excess of €4.
The CEO emphasized that Vossloh's growth story would have its sequels. "Our plans are to steadily achieve an EBIT margin of up to and above 10 percent. ROCE, this year estimated at 12.4 percent, will in 2003 climb above the highly ambitious benchmark of 15 percent, and thereafter even higher. And throughout these periods, we are targeting a return on equity above 25 percent," announced Schuchmann.
Frankfurt/Main / Werdohl, December 10, 2002
More information from:
Werner Andree, Vossloh AG, phone (+49-2392) 52407