Increased sales illicit a similar response to 2009 full year financial reports
SOL Group has reported consolidated sales of € 125.5m. EBITDA increased 22.5% on the previous year’s quarter from € 25.6m to € 31.4m, meanwhile EBIT reached € 16.5m.
SOL Group, a listed company on the Italian Stock Exchange, acts as holding company to an international group of 47 companies involved in technical gases and home-care assistance.
The initial period of quarter one saw a moderate recovery in the industrial sectors using technical gases. Overall sales volume increased by 11.4% during Q1 of 2010 compared to the prior year. SOL attributed this increase to growth in foreign sales, in addition to a positive trend of less cyclical sectors such as food, environment and health.
Vice President of the SOL Group, Marco Annoni, echoed his full year 2009 statement saying, “We consider the results achieved in the first quarter of 2010 positive. The results confirm the solidness of SOL group in a difficult and uncertain economic contest.”
In a press statement, SOL reported an increased EBITA of 25% on sales on account of increased productive and distributive efficiency, following the establishment of new plants during 2009.
Regionally, sales increased 6.3% in Italy, and 16.3% abroad on the Q1 of the previous year. Meanwhile, the first quarter of 2010 saw investments total € 12.2m; down from € 17m during the previous year. Similarly net financial debt declined from € 138.9m to € 136.3m.
Looking ahead to the remainder of 2010, SOL Chairman, Aldo Fumagalli Romario, announced, “In the year 2010 our target is to achieve a growth of sales and profitability of the Group and to continue the investment program to sustain the development and to improve the efficiency”.
2009 full year review:
Consolidated sales equated to € 462.6m, an increase of 0.6% on the previous year. Meanwhile, EBITDA increased by 23.7% to € 109.7m and EBIT decreased by -3.2% to € 49.9m. This resulted in total net profit of € 25.1m.
In response, Annoni offered a similar statement to that above, advising “The results achieved in the year 2009 are very positive and confirm the solidness of SOL Group in a very difficult economic contest.”
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