VTG records positive result across all divisions and remains optimistic

VTG has made a very bright start to the 2018 financial year. At €255.1m, first-quarter Group revenue was 4.6% up on the same period a year ago. EBITDA jumped sharply by 16.1% to €88.9m. Group net profit too was substantially higher at €16.6m.

“We are very satisfied with our results for the first quarter of 2018. Once again, we were able to increase our revenue, EBITDA, Group net profit and earnings per share,” said Heiko Fischer, Chairman of the Executive Board of VTG AG. “This marks a continuation of the positive development we saw in the second half of 2017. In particular, we are benefiting from a persistently favourable economic climate, the associated high utilisation of our fleet capacity and comparatively low maintenance costs in our Railcar Division. The Logistics Divisions too are experiencing further positive development and increasing their earnings.”

The Rail Logistics Division recorded revenue of €78.9m in the first quarter of 2018, a figure slightly decreased from that of the same period a year ago (€79.2m). Lower transportation and leasing costs nevertheless enabled the division to improve its gross profit. Higher gross profit in turn drove EBITDA up by 31.4% to €2.1m. Accordingly, the EBITDA margin for Rail Logistics, which is based on gross profit, rose by 3.1 percentage points to 25.9% in the first quarter of 2018, compared to 22.8% in the first three months of 2017.

Healthy capacity utilisation in the chemical industry in Europe once again boosted the number of consignments transported by Tank Container Logistics. Unlike in 2017, though, transportation prices remained stable or even increased slightly, causing revenue to increase by 5.6% to €41.2m compared to the first quarter of 2017. Lower leasing and maintenance costs for tank containers played a part in pushing EBITDA up by 30.6% to €3.2m. The EBITDA margin (based on gross profit) thus improved by 10.1 percentage points to 39.4%.

In light of generally positive global economic conditions and forecast economic expectations, the Executive Board stands by its expectation of positive revenue and EBITDA development for the VTG Group in 2018.

Accordingly, Group revenue should be slightly higher than the prior year’s figure of EUR 1,014 million. EBITDA is projected to be in a corridor from €340m to €370m.

“On July 1, 2017, VTG announced its intention to acquire all shares in CIT Rail Holdings (Europe) SAS – and hence the Nacco Group – from the American CIT Group,” the company said in a statement. “At the end of March, the relevant antitrust authorities approved the transaction subject to certain conditions. Of the Nacco business it intends to buy, VTG is thus obliged to sell around 30 percent in advance to third parties. Only when this sale has been closed will VTG be authorised to take over the Nacco Group’s remaining 10,000 or so freight cars. At the present time, there is no way to reliably assess either the timing of this process or how it might affect earnings in the 2018 financial year. It follows that all statements on business expectations in this quarterly report exclude any effects from the planned takeover of the Nacco Group.”

For more information, visit: www.vtg.com

9th May 2018