Bekaert announces CEO appointment and FY 2020 results

 

The Board of Directors appoints Oswald Schmid as CEO of Bekaert

The Board of Directors of Bekaert has appointed Oswald Schmid as Chief Executive Officer. Oswald Schmid has been leading the Bekaert Group Executive as interim CEO since 13 May 2020, when he was appointed member of the Board of Directors.

Jürgen Tinggren, Chairman of the Board of Directors, comments: “On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am proud to announce the appointment of Oswald Schmid as the CEO of Bekaert. The Board is convinced that Oswald is the right person at the helm of Bekaert. His leadership capabilities have been critically important in guiding the company toward a higher level performance, despite the unprecendented challenges faced throughout the health crisis. We are raising our ambitions for the near future and consider continuity in successful leadership at the CEO level an important enabler to reach those ambitions.”

The appointment of Oswald Schmid as CEO of Bekaert takes immediate effect.

Bekaert delivers solid profit growth and strengthens the balance sheet
uEBIT of € 272 million or 7.2% margin on sales – uROCE up +28% to 12.2% – net debt/uEBITDA of 1.26

Bekaert has successfully implemented the first steps of its transformation toward higher performance and delivered on all priorities set forth to restore a healthy balance sheet and improve the margin performance. Strong on execution, the Company has effectively captured the opportunities resulting from a fast and significant rebound in various markets in the second half of 2020 while efficiently countering the significant impact of Covid-19 through mitigating measures and structural performance improvements.

Financial highlights FY2020

• Consolidated sales of € 3.8 billion (-10%) and combined sales of € 4.4 billion (-7%)
• Underlying EBIT of € 272 million, up +13% from last year, resulting in a margin of 7.2% (versus 5.6%)
• EBIT of € 257 million, up +65% from last year and resulting in a margin of 6.8% (versus 3.6%)
• Underlying EBITDA of € 479 million (+2%), delivering a solid double-digit margin on sales (12.7%)
• Underlying ROCE of 12.2%, significantly up from 9.5% in 2019
• EPS of € 2.38 per share (versus € 0.73 last year)
• Working capital reduction of -23%, resulting in a working capital on sales ratio of 14% at year-end and 16% average during the year
• Solid Operating Free Cash Flow of € 449 million, up +8% versus last year
• Net debt of € 604 million, down from € 977 million at the close of 2019, resulting in net debt on underlying EBITDA of 1.26, significantly down from 2.09 last year

Focus and effectiveness of our actions in 2020