James Hardie Announces Adjusted Net Operating Profit of US$98.6 million for Q2 Fiscal Year 2020 and US$188.8 million for the half year ended 30 September 2019

James Hardie today announced results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2020 and half year ended 30 September 2019:

• Group Adjusted net operating profit ("NOPAT") of US$98.6 million for the quarter and US$188.8 million for the half year, an increase of 22% and 17%, respectively, compared to the prior corresponding periods (“pcp”);
• Group Adjusted EBIT of US$134.2 million for the quarter and US$258.6 million for the half year, an increase of 26% and 21%, respectively, compared to pcp;
• Group net sales of US$660.1 million for the quarter and US$1,316.9 million for the half year, an increase of 2%, compared to pcp;
• North America Fiber Cement Segment volume increased 5% for the quarter and 4% for the half year, compared to pcp;
• North America Fiber Cement Segment EBIT margin of 27.1% for the quarter and 26.1% for the half year;
• Asia Pacific Fiber Cement Segment EBIT margin of 24.0% for the quarter and 23.5% for the half year; and
• Europe Building Products Segment Adjusted EBIT margin¹ of 9.9% for the quarter and 10.3% for the half year.

CEO Commentary
James Hardie CEO Dr Jack Truong said, “We are pleased with our second quarter performance, delivering Net Sales and EBIT growth in local currency in all three regions: North America, Asia Pacific and Europe. It reflects our team's continued good execution of our global strategic plan. Our Adjusted NOPAT increased 22% for the second quarter and we raised our full year guidance range to be between US$340 million and US$370 million."

He continued, "Our North America Fiber Cement segment delivered another quarter of very strong volume growth in a down market while generating a very strong quarterly EBIT margin of 27.1%. Our commercial transformation started to gain traction in the first half. Our exterior volume grew 6% and 5%, respectively, for the quarter and half year. We are pleased with the positive momentum in lean manufacturing execution across our North America plants which helped expand EBIT margin to 26.1%, above our target range, for the half year. It positions us well to significantly increase investment in: (i) demand creation, (ii) customer management capabilities and (iii) customer-driven innovation. As a result of the good momentum in our commercial and lean transformations, we are raising our fiscal year 2020 PDG target range to 4-6% and our fiscal year 2020 EBIT Margin range to 25-27%."