According to the data released by Sabaf, in the first quarter of 2016 the revenues of the Sabaf Group amounted to 30.9 million euro, down 17.7% from 37.5 million in the same period of the previous year, which had been a particularly good quarter. “In a context in which the Sabaf Group is maintaining its market share unchanged – said the company – the negative figure is to be attributed to the difficult economic situation of some important markets in which the Group operates, such as Egypt, Brazil and Turkey. The only area that has confirmed a very positive trend in sales is the North American market. The decline in business volumes negatively affected profitability, which also maintained a good level: EBITDA for the period was 5.6 million euro, equal to 18.1% of sales, down 27.5% compared to 7.7 million euro (20.5% of sales) for the first quarter 2015. EBIT was 2.5 million euro, equivalent to 8% of sales, and down by 48% from 4.7 million in the same quarter in 2015 (12.6% of sales)”. Besides, net profit for the period was 1.6 million euro, down by 50% from 3.1 million in the first quarter 2015.
As regards to the investments for the quarter, they totalled 4.2 million euro, mainly allocated to the expansion of the plants in Turkey and Brazil (2.7 million in the first quarter 2015, and 12.1 million for the full year 2015). At the end of March, net financial debt was 24.8 million euro, versus 25.9 million at the end of December 2015.
The company has also told about the current situation and has presented the outlook for the next future. “Also in April, sales have maintained a downward trend, while in May there is a decent recovery of business – said Sabaf -. In the second half of 2016, the Group expects an increase in sales due to the increase in supplies to some major customers and a possible recovery in some markets. However, based on the poor performance of the first part of the year, the Group expects a modest decline in sales and profitability for the full year 2016”.
