Exel Industries

Q2 2019-2020 sales Mixed impact of the health crisis depending on activity - Seite 2

- by converting the amounts for the current quarter at the average quarterly exchange rates of the previous year;
- by excluding Intec sales, a company acquired in February 2020.

Q2 2019-2020 sales (January to March 2020) totaled €194.9 million, down 10.1% on Q2 2018-2019.
This decrease is predominantly attributable to the Agricultural Spraying and Garden Watering and Spraying activities, which were impacted by the Covid-19 crisis just as their season got underway.

·Agricultural Spraying
After a stable first quarter compared with last year, the decrease of 17.1% in the second quarter is due to the shutdown and/or slowdown of production and deliveries at the start of the lockdown.

·Sugar Beet Harvesting
The second quarter saw marginal growth, driven by sales of Terra Variant (agricultural carrier vehicles) and spare parts. This enabled the Sugar Beet Harvesting business to stabilize its sales over the first half of the year, which has remained low due to its seasonality. 

·Garden Watering and Spraying
The abrupt closure of our main clients' sales outlets has had a major impact on the garden watering and spraying business at the start of the season. A decrease of 30% was recorded during the month of March, which represented 13% of annual sales in 2018-2019.

·Industrial Spraying
The consolidation of Intec enabled this business to achieve minor growth during the quarter. At constant scope, it fell by 7.8% due to the sharp decline in the automotive sector in Europe and North America.  On the other hand, there has been a slight upturn in the market in Asia.

The group has not wanted to apply the emergency measures of delaying the payment of social charges and taxes as proposed by the French government.

·Outlook and Strategy

 Yves Belegaud, Chief Executive Officer of the EXEL Industries Group, said:

"Our agricultural activities are at peak production at this time of year with full order books. The agricultural sprayer factories generally have a busy schedule until the end of June. The same applies to the production of sugar beet harvesters. Our short-term activity is therefore secure. But the drastic fall in commercial activity over the past month has meant we need to think creatively if we are to boost order numbers. The agricultural commodities market is currently coping well with the crisis, with the exception of sugar which has seen its global price collapse once again.