Von Roll with decline in sales and spe­cial effects in the first half-year

Brei­ten­bach, August 20, 2020 — The ongo­ing Covid-19-cri­sis and the spe­cial effects from the two dis­con­ti­nued sites in France (Delle) had a nega­tive impact on our results, par­ti­cu­larly in the second quar­ter of 2020, lea­ding to an ope­ra­ting income (EBIT) for the Von Roll Group of CHF ‑10.9 mil­lion. Before spe­cial effects from the dis­con­ti­nua­tion of the above-men­tio­ned plants, a slightly posi­tive ope­ra­ting result of CHF 0.5 mil­lion was achie­ved in the first half of the year.

After an initi­ally solid per­for­mance in the first quar­ter, the mas­sive restric­tions impo­sed on glo­bal eco­no­mic acti­vi­ties in con­nec­tion with Covid-19 led to major chal­len­ges for all mar­ket par­ti­ci­pants. Alt­hough Von Roll was able to almost com­ple­tely main­tain its abi­lity to deli­ver, demand decre­a­sed and resul­ted in net sales of CHF 119.5 mil­lion (1H 2019: CHF 154.8 million).

Taking into account the chan­ges in the con­so­li­da­ted com­pa­nies and exchange rate effects, the decline in sales amounts to around 12.3 % com­pa­red to the pre­vious year. Thanks to all the struc­tu­ral adjus­t­ments made in recent years and care­ful cost manage­ment, a posi­tive ope­ra­ting income (EBIT) of CHF 0.5 mil­lion before deco­n­so­li­da­tion of the two plants in France was still achie­ved des­pite the cur­rent corona crisis.

The spe­cial effects, cau­sed by the sepa­ra­tion from the two French sites in Delle, resul­ted in a nega­tive ope­ra­ting income (EBIT) of CHF ‑10.9 mil­lion (1H 2019: CHF 2.5 mil­lion). Group ear­nings after taxes (EAT) fell by the same pro­por­tion to CHF ‑15.0 mil­lion (1H 2019: CHF ‑0.6 million).

Cash flow from ope­ra­ting acti­vi­ties amoun­ted to CHF 1.6 mil­lion (1H 2019: CHF ‑1.2 mil­lion). The equity ratio was 74.3%.

Based on its solid liqui­dity and high equity ratio, Von Roll is in a posi­tion to con­ti­nue to com­pete in an uncer­tain and vola­tile mar­ket envi­ron­ment in the com­ing months.

About Von Roll Hol­ding AG: As a Swiss indus­trial com­pany, Von Roll Hol­ding AG focu­ses on pro­ducts and sys­tems for power genera­tion, trans­mis­sion, sto­rage and dis­tri­bu­tion. Von Roll is a glo­bal mar­ket lea­der for electri­cal insu­la­tion pro­ducts, sys­tems and ser­vices and has a world­wide pre­sence in 12 pro­duc­tion sites with around 1,100 employees. The com­pany sup­plies cus­to­mers in over 80 countries.

Con­tact

Clau­dia Güntert
Head of Cor­po­rate Communications
& Inves­tor Relations
T +41 61 785 52 36
F +41 61 785 58 92
E press@vonroll.com

This press release is based on infor­ma­tion cur­r­ently avail­able. Unfo­re­see­able risks and influ­en­ces may lead to dis­crepan­cies with the state­ments made here. For more infor­ma­tion on the com­pany and its busi­ness per­for­mance, please refer to the Annual and Semi-Annual Report of Von Roll Hol­ding AG which is avail­able in digi­tal form at https://www.vonroll.com/en/.