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H&R AG expects significant earnings growth in 2015

DGAP-News: H&R AG / Key word(s): Final Results/Miscellaneous
H&R AG expects significant earnings growth in 2015

17.03.2015 / 07:31

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PRESS RELEASE


Business Results in 2014

H&R AG expects significant earnings growth in 2015

- At EUR 1,058.6 million, sales revenues were considerably lower than the
previous year due to lower raw material costs

- EBITDA of EUR 31.5 million is still within most recently forecast
earnings range

- Strategic focus on expanding international activities in Asia and
increasing the yield from raw-material inputs

- Outlook for 2015: sales revenues at previous year's level; EBITDA of
EUR 45 to EUR 65 million

Salzbergen, 17 March 2015. Today, along with its annual report, H&R
Aktiengesellschaft (ISIN DE0007757007) published the audited results for
financial year 2014, thereby confirming the preliminary figures published
on 13 February 2015.

In financial year 2014, the company sold approximately 697,000 tons of
high-quality main products such as paraffins, white oils and plasticizers.
That is around 5% less than in the prior-year period. The Salzbergen site's
changeover to contract production, which for the first time impacted
production output for the entire year in financial year 2014, resulted in
significant economies of scale; the modified approach to managing
production at the Hamburg site also generated significant economies of
scale. In the latter case, it also caused the percentage of higher margin
main products yielded by the production process to increase.

Consolidated sales revenues totaled EUR 1,058.6 million in the year under
review. This represented a decline of around 13% compared to the previous
year (2013: EUR 1,214.4 million). A main reason for the decline was the
lower price of crude oil, which is strongly correlated with H&R AG's sales
revenues. Sales revenues decreased in line with the price and volume
effects.

Effective 30 September 2014, the company took over the majority of the
Hansen & Rosenthal Group's business activities in China. This step
strengthens H&R AG's core business division, Chemical-Pharmaceutical Raw
Materials, while expanding the higher-margin specialty-product business,
which is growing internationally. Thanks to existing synergies, the company
has been able to quickly integrate the operating units assumed, which have
already made significant contributions to earnings. The takeover affected