Piaggio Group: first quarter 2011

Apr 29 2011 16:52
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Net sales € 351.7 million (€ 340.6 mln in Q1 2010)

149,000 shipments (143,700 in Q1 2010)

EBITDA € 33.7 million (€ 31.8 mln in Q1 2010)
with EBITDA margin rising to 9.6% (9.3% in Q1 2010)


EBIT € 12.2 million (€ 11.3 mln in Q1 2010)

Profit before tax € 5.6 million (€ 5.4 mln in Q1 2010)

Net profit € 3 million € 2.9 mln in Q1 2010)


Net debt € 406.4 million (-16.2 million on Q1 2010)


29 April 2011 – At a meeting today in Mantua chaired by Roberto Colaninno, the Board of Directors of Piaggio & C. S.p.A. examined and approved the quarterly report at 31 March 2011.

In the first quarter of 2011 the Piaggio Group posted improved results compared with the first three months of 2010 – for all the main indicators – despite the weakness of European two-wheeler demand, which generated a 6.6% decline in the scooter segment and a 2.3% decline in the motorcycle segment in the first quarter of 2011 compared with the first quarter of 2010. The Group’s performance stemmed from its solid position in the EMEA area, where it maintained its market shares in the main scooter and motorbike segments, but above all from the globalisation strategy for investments, production and sales the Group has been pursuing with determination, in both the two-wheeler and the commercial vehicles businesses.

In the first three months of 2011 the Piaggio Group shipped a total of 149,00 vehicles worldwide, for volume growth of 3.7% (143,700 vehicles in the first quarter of 2010).

Group consolidated net sales in the first quarter of 2011 amounted to 351.7 million euro, up by 3.3% from 340.6 million euro in the first quarter of 2010.

In the two-wheeler sector, where it shipped 83,700 vehicles, the Group reported a downturn of 4.5% on the first three months of 2010, reflecting the fall in sales in Europe, offset to a large extent by higher sales in South East Asia. In commercial vehicles, with worldwide shipments of 65,300 vehicles, the Piaggio Group recorded an improvement of 16.3% on the year-earlier period, assisted in particular by the continuing expansion of the Indian market.

The first-quarter industrial gross margin was 102.6 million euro, stable with respect to the year-earlier figure (102.5 million euro).

Consolidated EBITDA improved in the first quarter of 2011 to 33.7 million euro, an increase of 6.0% from 31.8 million euro in the first quarter of 2010. The EBITDA margin also strengthened, from 9.3% in the first three months of 2010 to 9.6% in the first quarter of 2011.

First-quarter EBIT was 12.2 million euro, up by 7.3% on 11.3 million euro in the year-earlier period.

In the first quarter of 2011 the Piaggio Group reported profit before tax of 5.6 million euro, compared with 5.4 million euro in the first quarter of 2010.

The 2011 first quarter closed with a net profit of 3 million euro, compared with 2.9 million euro in the year-earlier period.

Net debt at 31 March 2011 stood at 406.4 million euro, compared with 349.9 million euro at 31 December 2010. The increase was due to the seasonal nature of the two-wheeler business, which absorbs significant cash in the first half of the year and generates cash in the second half. On a like-for-like basis, compared with the first quarter of 2010, net debt at 31 March 2011 was down 16.2 million euro from 422.6 million euro at 31 March 2010.

Shareholders' equity at 31 March 2011 totalled 439.4 million euro, against 442.9 million euro al 31 December 2010.


Outlook

During 2011 the Piaggio Group will continue to pursue its strategy to expand its industrial and commercial presence on the main Asian markets, strengthening its leadership on the Indian three- and four-wheel light commercial vehicle market and boosting market share in scooters in Vietnam.
The Piaggio Group will begin a decisive new phase of growth in Asia, which will bring an important expansion in its industrial and sales operations throughout the region, targeting revenues of approximately 1 billion euro on the Asian markets within four years.
At central level, Piaggio Group R&D will focus on the renewal of the product range – scooters, motorcycles and commercial vehicles – with special attention to development of fuel-efficient engines with low/zero environmental impact.


Share buyback program

At the meeting, in connection with the authorisation for the purchase and disposal of own shares given by the Piaggio shareholders' meeting of 13 April 2011, the Board of Directors approved a share buyback program under the “market practices” allowed by Consob pursuant to art. 180, par 1, head c), of the consolidated finance act with resolution no. 16839 of 19 March 2009, and EC Regulation no. 2273/2003 of 22 December 2003.
Specifically, the purpose of the buyback program is to build a “securities store” to be used to execute future possible investments involving own-share exchanges, swaps, contributions, sales or other operations on shares, including pledges for financing operations arranged by the company, and to service future stock option plans.
Share buybacks under the program will be compliant with the procedures and limits laid down in the shareholder resolution mentioned above, specifically:

• the buyback may be for up to a maximum of 15,000,000 Piaggio no par value ordinary shares, and, therefore, within the legal limits (20% of the share capital pursuant to art. 2357, par 3, Italian Civil Code) including own shares held as of today by the company (4,882,711 ordinary shares, representing 1.31% of the share capital);
• the own-share buyback shall be within the limits of the distributable earnings and available reserves reflected in the most recent approved financial statements (including interim financial statements) at the time of the transaction;
• own-share buybacks shall be conducted in compliance with the operating conditions established by Consob pursuant to art. 180, par 1, head c), of the consolidated finance act with resolution no. 16839 of 19 March 2009 and by EC Regulation no. 2273/2003 of 22 December 2003 where applicable, and specifically with a consideration that shall not exceed the higher of the price of the most recent independent transaction and the price of the highest current offer in the trading locations where the purchase takes place, without prejudice to the condition that the per-share consideration shall not be more than 20% below and 10% above the arithmetic average of the official Piaggio share price in the ten trading days before each purchase transaction;
• the buybacks shall be executed in compliance with art. 144-bis, par 1, head b) of Consob Regulation 11971/1999 (and subsequent amendments) and with any applicable provisions, so as to ensure equality of treatment of the shareholders as laid down in art. 132 of the consolidated finance act, and therefore on regulated markets, in accordance with the operating procures established in the market organisation and management regulations, which do not allow purchase offers to be directly matched with predetermined sale offers;
• the buyback program may be executed, in one or more transactions, no later than 13 October 2012.

The manager in charge of preparing the company accounts and documents, Alessandra Simonotto, certifies, pursuant to paragraph 2, art. 154 bis of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 (Consolidated Law on Financial Intermediation), that the accounting disclosures in this statement correspond to the accounting documents, ledgers and entries.

 

 

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