EQS-Adhoc: Progress-Werk Oberkirch AG:   PWO exceeds revenue and earnings forecast for 2022 fiscal year

Oberkirch, February 23, 2023 – The PWO Group is currently preparing its annual financial statements for the 2022 fiscal year. In addition to a good business development in December 2022, the current status also indicates that non-recurring effects among others from reversals of impairment losses on non-current assets will have a positive impact on earnings.

Based on the provisional and unaudited figures, we expect the PWO Group’s revenue to exceed the forecast of around EUR 500 million and total around EUR 530 million. EBIT before foreign exchange effects is also expected to be above the forecast range of EUR 23 million to EUR 26 million and between EUR 27 million and EUR 28 million.

Capital expenditure will be at around EUR 20 million, slightly below the budgeted volume of around EUR 22 million. Nonetheless, we anticipate negative free cash flow (forecast: at least break-even) due to a high level of capital employed in current assets. The equity ratio is likely to be above the expected level of around 36 percent, while the net leverage ratio should be less than 2.5 years as planned.

We are pleased that several new orders were unexpectedly awarded in the reporting year still and the lifetime volume of new business (series and tool orders) was therefore around EUR 890 million, significantly exceeding the forecast of approximately EUR 800 million. This includes around EUR 50 million of new business from new sales markets.

The continuous development of new application fields for our products within and outside of the mobility industry is developing successfully and additionally strengthens the PWO Group. Our already completely combustion-independent product portfolio for the mobility industry is being joined by additional sustainable application fields that actively contribute to the reduced use of fossil fuels.

In 2023, we expect revenue to rise to around EUR 550 million. EBIT before currency effects is expected to be in a range of EUR 20 million to EUR 23 million, as increased procurement prices – particularly for energy – will have an impact over a 12-month period for the first time. In addition, staff costs will increase significantly, partly due to negative effects from the new collective bargaining agreement concluded in the German metal and electrical industry, and the non-recurring effects in 2022 from reversals of impairment losses will no longer apply in 2023. Capital expenditure is budgeted at around EUR 40 million.

This outlook is based on the assumptions that there will be no major disruptions in the supply chains in 2023, for example due to pandemic-related restrictions or economic sanctions, that energy will be available in sufficient quantities and that there will be no significant deviations from the anticipated price developments.

We also plan to push ahead with the expansion of our international portfolio of sites, efficiently execute the current ramp-ups and ramp-downs of major series productions with our global teams and continue to grow profitably. In 2023, we want to continue shaping the transformation process in the mobility industry together with our customers with our combustion-independent product portfolio and again consistently exploit market opportunities, also outside the mobility industry.

The publication of the preliminary figures for fiscal 2022 is scheduled for calendar week 10/2023. The outlook for the 2023 financial year will be further specified as soon as this will be possible.

EBIT before currency effects, free cash flow, the net leverage ratio, and new business are not key figures in accordance with IFRS. Information on how these figures are derived can be found on pages 36, 41, 40, and 34 of the 2021 annual report, which is available on PWO’s website at https://www.pwo-group.com/en/investors-press/news-publications/reports/.

Progress-Werk Oberkirch AG

The Executive Board

End of ad hoc disclosure
 

1567015  23-Feb-2023 CET/CEST