Biesse raises the revenue forecast for 2014

Biesse expects to archive 2014 with 9-10% revenue growth, better than the expectations set by the industrial plan, with indebtedness at just under 30 million euros.

General Manager Stefano Porcellini explained as much to Reuters, highlighting the positive trend for all regions, the only exception being South America. "We will close 2014 with 9-10% revenue growth and we already have a portfolio that will continue to unload into the first two trimesters of 2015", Porcellini explained, adding that orders mainly come from Europe, the USA and Asia-Pacific. "So the general outlook is positive", he added.

The industrial plan, updated in March, forecast a 6% increase in revenues for 2014. As a result of the improved revenue, EBITDA and EBIT will also be better than expected. "The margin unleashed by the increased revenue more than covers the inflation in structural costs", Porcellini explained, underscoring the fact that EBITDA and EBIT should be up "by at least an extra two or three million" compared to forecasts. The industrial plan forecasts EBITDA and EBIT at 9% and 5.1% of revenue respectively. Initial revenue estimates were 401 million. With the increased revenue, the two figures will therefore be greater than the original estimates of 36 million EBITDA and 20 million EBIT.

Indebtedness should also turn out better than was forecast. "The net financial situation shouldn't exceed 30 million at the end of the year", the general manager explained, highlighting the fact that the increase compared to 2013 is also connected to having completed the acquisition of Viet, the acquisition of the minorities in the Chinese holding and the distribution of the dividend. While on the topic, Porcellini underscored the fact that, given company growth, coupon payments will be distributed next year as well. Debt "will increase slightly for the year, but less than planned, because we're bringing in a little more than was forecast for the three-year plan", the manager explained. Discussing the expansion of external lines, Porcellini explained that investments in Brazil had been considered but were frozen for the moment and that the company remains interested in expanding its portfolio with complementary products. "We're waiting for an opportunity, we don't have active negotiations in hand at the moment".

Nearly all the geographic areas where the company is active in had positive financial statements in 2014, with a few exceptions. In Russia, where the group makes roughly 5% of its revenue, the weakness of the rubble was more of a factor than sanctions or geopolitical tensions. Nonetheless, at the end of August incoming orders were basically unvaried compared to the previous year. The company is growing in Turkey, an area that had caused some concern at the end of 2013. About 5% of company revenue is produced there as well. "There are no signs of weakness except for South America", Porcellini explained. "Italy isn't doing superbly, it's the other nation facing some difficulty, but things shouldn't get any worse, it's pretty stable at the moment". The manager pointed out several times that, as of September, the company has halted the use of social buffers for its employees, from solidarity contracts to the temporary redundancy fund. "The plants are working at full capacity", he explained.

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Source: Reuters / Article by Elisa Anzolin