The Board of Pirelli & C. S.p.A. approves results to 30 September 2019

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The economic, asset and financial data to 30 September 2019 were formulated applying the new IFRS 16 – Leases accounting principle, which establishes a new way of accounting for leasing contracts, with significant impact particularly on the representation of the Group net financial position and EBITDA. It should be noted that the comparative 2018 figures have not been restated.

Results to 30 September 2019

• Revenues: +2.8% to 4,036.4 million euro, +6.7% in the third quarter

• High Value Revenues: +7.5% to 2,719.9 million euro thanks to strengthening in all regions. As a percentage of sales, rises to 67.4% from 64.5% on 30 September 2018

• High Value Volumes: +6.0% with sustained growth in the third quarter (+10.2%) both in the Original Equipment and Replacement channels

• Volumes of Car ‘New Premium’ (≥18 inches) increased 7.8% (market +5.7%). In the third quarter, volumes increased 12.7% (market +7.7%), with +12.1% growth in the Replacement channel (market +11%) and +13.6% in Original Equipment (market +3.1%)

• Price/mix: +5.4% because of the growing weight of High Value and the improvement of product and channel mix. In the third quarter price/mix at +3.5% due to the major weight of Original Equipment, lesser reduction of Standard and growing price pressure on Standard products and High Value ones of lower technological content

• Adjusted Ebit: 685.0 million euro (700.1 million euro on 30 September 2018), with an Adjusted Ebit margin of 17.0% (17.8% on 30 September 2018) due also to higher costs linked to the unabsorbed fixed costs in Standard capacity stemming from lower production to reduce inventory

• Net income from continuing operations: +2.0% to 385.7 million euro (378.1 million euro on 30 September 2018)

• Net cash flow before dividends and extraordinary operations/participations improved by 349.6 million euro (to -611.5 million euro from -961.1 million euro on 30 September 2018). In the third quarter of 2019, net cash flow was positive 11.6 million euro, a marked improvement compared with third quarter 2018 (-131.4 million euro) thanks to the management of working capital

Net Financial Position excluding the IFRS 16 impact was -4,002.3 million euro (-4,480.2 million euro including the 477.9 million euro IFRS 16 impact) compared with -3,180.1 million euro on 31 December 2018 because of the usual seasonality of working capital and the payment of 177 million euro in dividends

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Outlook

• 2019 revenues expected at at least 5.3 billion euro, an increase of around 2.5% (previous indication between +1.5% and +2.5%)

• High Value as percentage of revenues confirmed at about 67% compared with 64% in 2018

• Price/mix expected at around +4.5% (previous indication between +4.5% and +5.0%) due to continuing price competition also in third quarter in Standard and High Value products of lower technological content, as well as the different product mix (decline more contained in Standard) and channel mix (greater weight of Original Equipment) in second half

• Adjusted Ebit Margin 2019 forecast at between >17% and 17.5% (previous indication between 18% and 19%) also because of greater costs due to unabsorbed fixed costs in Standard capacity (linked to lower production to reduce inventory) and because of the deterioration of the inflationary context

• High Value as percentage of Adjusted Ebit before start-up costs confirmed at 85% compared with 83% in 2018

• 2019 investments confirmed at around 380 million euro

• 2019 net cash flow before dividends expected at between approximately  330 million euro and 350 million euro (previous indication 350 million euro - 380 million euro)

• Ratio of Net Financial Position to Adjusted EBITDA before start-up costs estimated at between approximately 2.42x and 2.36x at end 2019 (2.59x and 2.53x including IFRS16 impact), previous indication 2.33x-2.20x

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Guidelines of 2020-2022 Industrial Plan which will be presented in first quarter 2020

• Strategic focus on High Value confirmed, with significant strengthening of the competitiveness of the Business Model
• Among the plan’s goals are: greater cash generation and maintaining leadership in Sustainability
• Significant reinforcement of initiatives to reduce break-even point already from 2020 in a reference context which is more challenging compared with the forecasts of recent months
• For this reason, the presentation of the 2020-2022 Industrial Plan – originally scheduled for 11 December 2019 – will take place in the first quarter of 2020

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Published on: 29 Octomber 2019, 17:50 CET