27 February 2007
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Revenue in Q4-06 was EUR 407.8 million (including a negative currency effect of EUR 20.2 million); at constant rates 4.2% below last year. Full year revenue was EUR 1,590.3 million (including a negative currency effect of EUR 16.0 million); at constant rates 5.0% below last year.
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EBITAE and EBIT in Q4-06 were resp. EUR 20.2 and EUR 12.3 million. Full year EBIT was EUR 42.2 million; 70% above last year.
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Cash generated from operations in Q4-06 amounted to EUR 17 million, including a further reduction of primary working capital by EUR 10 million.
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Proceeds of divestment of Private Label activities will be used for selective investments and a share buy back program of EUR 50 million.
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Recently awarded new business for TOL NA in excess of USD 100 million on annual base.
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Refinancing of the EUR 250 million credit facility effective as from February 9, 2007.
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Mr. Ad Veenhof and Mr. Richard Lane to be (re)nominated as member of the Executive Board at the upcoming Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.
CEO statement
Ad Veenhof, Wessanen CEO, said: “The profit margin of all four business units improved compared to Q4-05 because of a better portfolio mix and good cost control. Top line development was somewhat lower than expectation for Branded Europe and Distribution North America.
Branded Europe continued the growth of Q3-06, but the end of December softened. To the contrary, January 2007 showed a clear growth trend.
Branded North America did quite well, despite a negative effect of terminated sole agent business. The latter effect will be more than compensated by growth of own brands from Q2-07 onwards.
With the pipeline of new products and additional listings we expect 2007 will show enough growth in Branded Europe and North America to reach the target growth level end 2007 (running rate) of 5-7%.
Distribution Europe did quite well and will continue the positive trend in 2007. Distribution North America could not yet improve the turnover trend of the previous quarters, however gross margins and cost control were strong. With the new distribution contracts, new vendors and some consolidation initiatives, we expect TOL NA to start growing from Q2-07 onwards.
All in all, 2006 has been more a transition year in which we accelerated innovations in both our branded portfolio and distribution services, kept healthy gross margins and good cost control, strengthened internal processes, published our first sustainability report, converted certificates to ordinary shares and divested our private label business. This year, 2007, is crucial to show that we continue or embark on a growth trend of our top-line to achieve the target level end 2007 (running rate) of 5-7% for all four business areas. There is growing evidence that we will succeed.
To balance properly our strong balance sheet, the proceeds of the private label divestment and potential future acquisitions, we have decided to implement a share buy back program of EUR 50 million and to keep the dividend at EUR 0.65”.