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Ansell Ltd. Februar 17, 2014

Ansell Limited Half Year Results 17 February 2014

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Sales of US$703.6, up 9%
  • New Product Sales up 20% on prior period
  • EBIT of US$82.7m, up 20%
  • Reported Earnings Per Share of US$49.6¢ up 14%, or US$50.2¢, up 15%, excluding dilution from December equity issue ahead of BSSI acquisition

 

CHAIRMAN’S COMMENT:

“Ansell continued to make sound progress in implementing its growth strategy in H1. The successful completion of the Midas and BarrierSafe acquisitions will strengthen our business on several fronts through the addition of new capabilities, technologies and market presence. It is also pleasing to see organic growth being reinvigorated as new products - based on our internal investments in developing new technologies, processes and innovation - gain traction in the marketplace.” said Mr Barnes.

 

GUIDANCE:

The Company expects EPS to develop as previously guided on 26 November 2013 with reported F’14 EPS expected to be in the range of US$1.10 to US$1.16, including the impact of the BSSI acquisition and a positive impact of Net Deferred Tax Asset/Non Operational Tax (DTAs/NOTIs) adjustments of US3¢ - US5¢

 

ANSELL LIMITED HALF YEAR 2014 RESULTS SUMMARY

Ansell Limited (ASX:ANN) today announced Profit Attributable to Shareholders in the first half of F’14 of US$65.6m, up15% on the F’13’s US$57.1m. Reported EPS rose 14% to US49.6¢. Excluding the additional shares issued in December in anticipation of the BSSI acquisition, EPS was US50.2¢ up 15% YOY. Based on Ansell’s strong Balance Sheet, free cash flow, and expected second half improvement, the Board declared an interim dividend of US17¢ a share unfranked and payable on 25 March, 2014. As announced with our 2013 Full Year Results, Ansell has changed its reporting currency to the US$ and will therefore be publishing its financial results in US$ only in this and future earnings releases.

 RESULTS SUMMARY  F'13 H1 US$M  F'14 H1 US$M  %
 Sales  648.1  703.6  9
 EBIT  68.8  82.7  20
 Profit Attributable (PA)  57.1  65.6  15
 Earnings Per Share (EPS)*  US43.7¢  US49.6¢  14
 Dividend#  A16.0¢  US17.0¢  

 

*22.1m shares were issued in December in anticipation of the BSSI acquisition that was completed 2 January 2014. #As previously announced on 17 October 2013, all future dividends will be US¢ a share.

 

BUSINESS REVIEW:

Ansell’s CEO Magnus Nicolin commented, “Our results in the first half of our F’14 fiscal year show clear evidence of improving growth rates as we execute our growth strategy and strategic vision for the Company. The acquisition of Midas Corporation earlier in the half and BarrierSafe Solutions International (BSSI) effective 2 January 2014 represent meaningful progress on all dimensions of Ansell’s acquisition strategy including realising value from increased scale, adding key growth technologies, and further building vertical and geographic positions.

Overall organic growth trend rates improved in the three business-to-business GBU’s, approaching 4% in the 2nd quarter, and 2.6% overall for the half year. A moderate improvement in economic conditions contributed to growth rates, although mostly offset by significant economic weakness in select markets such as Australia, Russia and Turkey.

New product development (NPD) efforts are a major contributor to growth, with sales of products less than three years old up 20% from the same period in F’13. However, these numbers are still below our targeted growth rate and further enhancements to the “go to market” element of innovation are now being implemented.

GPADE margins remained strong, benefiting from favorable raw material costs and the success of some newly launched products. These include the HyFlex® 11-840 glove, which utilises a patent pending nitrile coating formulation that is 20% more breathable and 4 times more abrasion resistant than anything else in the market. The GAMMEX® Non-Latex Accelerator-Free Sensitive surgical glove with SENSOPRENE® Formulation, is leading the non-latex conversion and has sold more than 1.2 million pairs and generated more than $1 million in revenue in Japan alone in its first six months and is growing substantially in all markets. The new oil impermeable ActivArmr® 97-210 glove is currently launching around the world and has already been adopted by some of the largest global oil field services and production companies worldwide.

The Sexual Wellness Business Unit had a challenging half, however SKYN® continued to grow in line with expectations and overall the business unit maintained its market position.

We are confident of a strong H2, including further strengthening of NPD momentum and the realisation of the initial benefits of the Midas and BSSI acquisitions,” concluded Magnus Nicolin.

 

MEDICAL GBU

26% of Revenue and 27% of Segment EBIT.

   US$M
   F'13 H1  F'14 H1
 Sales  165.3   178.4
 Segment EBIT  17.2   22.2
 Ebit/Sales  10.4%   12.4%

 

The Medical GBU achieved its strongest half in 6 years with 8% growth in surgical products and a turn around in the examination segment with 3% growth. In both cases success was achieved from the strength of Ansell’s innovative synthetic product lines winning conversions as the industry continues to move away from natural rubber latex products. The Healthcare Safety Solutions segment also achieved strong growth helped by the acquisition of Preferred Surgical Products (PSP), completed 1 January 2013 and continued expansion of Sandel. EBIT margins improved on better product mix and the benefit of lower raw material prices.

INDUSTRIAL GBU

42% of Revenue and 51% of Segment EBIT

   US$M
   F'13 H1  F'14 H1
 Sales  265.4  296.3
 Segment EBIT  38.1  42.1
 Ebit/Sales  14.4%  14.2%

The Industrial GBU showed encouraging evidence of improving organic growth rates as new product launches gained traction across multiple end markets. Moderate improvements in the economic environment benefited the North American and developed European businesses, however these were largely offset by a sharp slow down in activity in other markets including Australia, Russia and Turkey.

GPADE margins improved moderately on prior year although EBIT margins were slightly lower on the impact of one off costs detailed in the Finance section below.

 

SPECIALTY MARKETS GBU

17% of revenue and 7% of Segment EBIT

   US$M
   F'13 H1  F'14 H1
 Sales  102.6  120.9
 Segment EBIT  2.6  5.6
 Ebit/Sales  2.5%  4.6%

The Specialty Markets GBU achieved significant sales and EBIT growth on the consolidation of the Hercules acquisition, completed January 2013, growth in food and building momentum in new products in targeted verticals. This was partly offset by a further significant decline in the military glove business, with the military segment now representing less than 2% of SM sales.

EBIT Margins improved significantly as a result of the sales growth highlighted above, improving product mix and the benefit of lower raw material costs.

 

SEXUAL WELLNESS GBU

15% of Revenue and 15% of Segment EBIT

   US$M
   F'13 H1  F'14 H1
 Sales  114.8  108.0
 Segment EBIT  14.5  12.1
 Ebit/Sales  12.6%  11.2%

Sexual Wellness continued to record strong growth in the SKYN® product line and benefited from a broadening of the SKYN® family of products together with increased advertising and promotion (A&P) investment. The SKYN® growth was however largely offset by lower sales of other regional brands with the overall sales decline attributable to lower tender and private label sales, distributor destocking in Europe and FX.

EBIT Margins were lower as the business maintained its A&P investment on sales that were lower due to the factors noted above.

 

FINANCE:

Sales of $703.6m were up 9% on the prior period, with the acquisitions of Hercules, PSP and Midas contributing growth of 8%. Foreign currency movements were marginally negative to sales growth with organic growth excluding acquisitions and at constant currency being 2.6% combined for the B2B businesses of Medical, Industrial and Specialty Markets, and 1.3% after including Sexual Wellness.

EBIT of $82.7m benefited from the acquisitions noted above, organic growth in the B2B businesses and lower raw material costs. EBIT was negatively affected by a number of unusual items amounting to $6.4m in total including severance costs, gain on sale of properties, FX hedge losses and costs incurred relating to the Midas and BSSI acquisitions and the Household Gloves divestment. These higher costs were offset by the release of a provision recorded 12 months ago in anticipation of an additional “earn-out” payment relating to the Hercules acquisition which was not made, this contributed $8.4m to EBIT.

The effective tax rate for the half year was 11.4%, in comparison to 8.8% for the prior period. This included a favorable $3.5m in DTAs/NOTIs in comparison to a favorable $5.8m in DTAs/NOTIs recorded in the prior period.

Free cash flow was a solid US$46.2m, moderately below last year’s level on a slight increase in working capital in comparison to the decrease delivered in the prior period and unfavorable timing of tax payments in comparison to the prior period. The major cash usage in the half came from the cash cost of the Midas acquisition being $38.4m. The acquisition of BSSI did not complete until 2 January 2014, however financing to fund the acquisition, including issuing 22.1m shares, was put in place before the end of the half year. Cash at 31 December, 2013 was therefore US$905.7m, of which $615m was used for the BSSI acquisition.

 

DIVIDEND REINVESTMENT PLAN

As a way of providing shareholders with a cost effective and convenient mechanism to acquire shares in lieu of receiving a cash dividend, Ansell has decided to implement a dividend reinvestment plan with no initial discount to market. Participation closes on the record date of 4 March 2014 and pricing commences two days later and runs for 10 days.The company will retain the option to offset the dilutive effect of this program by repurchasing shares on the open market. The DRP will be available to shareholders from and including the F’14 Interim Dividend announced today. For the F’14 interim dividend, new shares will be issued to satisfy any DRP requirements.

 

DIVIDEND:

Ansell has announced an interim dividend of US17¢ (vs. F’13’s interim dividend of A16¢) per share unfranked, with a record date of 4 March 2014 and a payment date of 25 March 2014. For non-resident shareholders, the dividend will not attract withholding tax as it is sourced entirely from the Company’s Conduit Foreign Income Account.

F’14 Outlook:

The industrial outlook remains mixed worldwide. While North America is slowly improving, emerging markets have declined substantially and the currencies of most emerging markets have weakened putting further pressure on US$ based growth prospects.

Ansell is leveraging its acquisitions to good effect and is strengthening its market position in Industrial and Specialty Markets businesses globally, while building momentum in new product sales growth

The Medical business has delivered a very strong half and is expected to continue to perform well, although likely less spectacularly in H2, SW is expected to improve results and top-line growth in H2.

The acquisition of BSSI is expected to be EPS accretive in F’14 on a normalised basis and marginally dilutive to reported EPS in F’14 after including non-recurring costs (transaction costs and one-time integration expenses) as announced on 26 November 2013.

As a result, the Company expects EPS to develop as previously guided with reported F’14 EPS expected to be in the range of US$1.10 to US$1.16, including the impact of the BSSI acquisition and a positive impact of Net Deferred Tax Asset/Non Operational Tax (DTAs/NOTIs) adjustments of US3¢ - US5¢.

 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

INVESTORS & ANALYSTS

Australia

David Graham, I.R.

Tel: (613) 9270 7215 / (61)4011 40749

david.graham@ansell.com

 

US

Neil Salmon, CFO

Tel: (1732) 345 5359

neil.salmon@ansell.com

 

MEDIA

Australia

Helen McCombie, Citadel

Tel: (61) 0411 756 248

hmccombie@citadelpr.com.au

 

Peter Brookes, Citadel

Tel: (61) 0407 911 389

pbrookes@citadelpr.com.au

 

US

Frank Mantero, Communications

Tel: (1732) 345 2128

frank.mantero@ansell.com

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