ETTEPLAN 2016: Strong finish for a year of growth

ETTEPLAN OYJ FINANCIAL STATEMENT RELEASE FEBRUARY 9, 2017, AT 2:00 PM

ETTEPLAN 2016: Strong finish for a year of growth

Review period October-December 2016

• The Group’s revenue increased by 31.6 per cent and was EUR 53.1 million (10-12/2015: EUR 40.4 million). At comparable exchange rates revenue increased by 33.0 per cent.
• EBIT from business operations* improved and amounted to EUR 4.6 million (EUR 2.9 million), or 8.6 per cent (7.1 per cent) of revenue. EBIT from business operations included exceptional items with a combined negative effect of EUR 0.2 million (EUR 0.4 million).
• Operating profit (EBIT) was EUR 4.0 million (EUR 2.6 million), or 7.6 per cent (6.4 per cent) of revenue.
• The profit for the review period was EUR 2.9 million (EUR 1.8 million).
• Operating cash flow improved and was EUR 9.8 million (EUR 7.8) million.
• Earnings per share, adjusted for the share issue, were EUR 0.12 (EUR 0.08**).
• The number of personnel increased and the Group had 2,545 employees at the end of the review period (2,074).
• Etteplan updated its financial and strategic targets in December.

Review period January-December 2016

• The Group’s revenue increased by 30.3 per cent and was EUR 183.9 million (2015: EUR 141.1 million). At comparable exchange rates revenue increased by 30.8 per cent.
• EBIT from business operations* improved and amounted to EUR 12.1 million (EUR 9.5 million), or 6.6 per cent (6.8 per cent) of revenue. EBIT from business operations included exceptional items with a combined negative effect of EUR 1.7 million (EUR 1.0 million).
• Operating profit (EBIT) was EUR 10.1 million (EUR 8.6 million), or 5.5 per cent (6.1 per cent) of revenue.
• The profit for the review period was EUR 7.6 million (EUR 6.2 million).
• Operating cash flow declined and was EUR 5.7 million (EUR 9.9) million.
• Earnings per share, adjusted for the share issue, were EUR 0.33 (EUR 0.28**).
• Etteplan acquired Espotel and Soikea Solutions in April 2016 and expanded its business operations in Embedded Systems and into the Internet of Things (IoT). Etteplan carried out a rights offering in the second quarter to finance the acquisitions.
• The Board of Directors proposes dividend of EUR 0.16 (0.15) per share.

*EBIT from business operations reflects the Company’s operational performance: it does not include acquisition-related items such as amortization on PPA allocations and earn out revaluations.
**The comparison period’s earnings per share have been issue adjusted. The rights issue factor was 1.050.

Market outlook 2017

The most important factor in the development of Etteplan's business is the global development of the machinery and metal industry. There are signs of recovery in our business environment, but the general uncertainty continues to slow down the start of new investments. Political changes in various countries and upcoming elections can also quickly change the direction of the economy. The development of the Central European markets is expected to remain unchanged. The favorable development of the Swedish market is expected to continue. In the Finnish market, the market situation is expected to remain weaker than in the rest of Europe. In Asia, the growth of the service market is expected to continue.

Financial guidance 2017

We expect the revenue and operating profit for the full year 2017 to grow clearly compared to 2016.

 President and CEO Juha Näkki:

 “2016 was a successful year of growth for Etteplan. Our revenue grew by more than 30 per cent to reach a new record. In the second quarter, we made acquisitions to significantly strengthen our service offering in Embedded Systems and IoT. This allows us to respond to our customers’ growing demand in the various areas of digitalization. Our operating profit also improved significantly, and our EBIT from business operations approached our target level of 10 per cent in the final quarter. The other quarters of the year were burdened by non-recurring costs related primarily to acquisitions.

The demand situation varied during the year by market area and customer, as uncertainty characterized the markets. Our service solutions and particularly our outsourcing solutions were nevertheless successful as customers sought cost savings and efficiency in their business operations. Demand showed signs of recovery in the final quarter despite continued market uncertainty. In Finland, demand was at a weaker level than in the rest of Europe throughout the year. In China, the opening up of the engineering service market accelerated towards the end of the year and, in the final quarter, we increased the number of hours we sold in the Chinese market by 38 per cent.

The development of the Engineering Services service area was stable despite the very low level of new plant investments, especially in Finland. The growth of the service area was influenced by the establishment of Embedded Systems and IoT as our third service area in the second quarter, and part of the Engineering Services business moved to be reported as part of the new service area.    

The Technical Documentation business saw excellent development towards the end of the year. Growth was strong throughout the year, but profitability was below our targets early in the year. We implemented profitability improvement measures during the year and, in the final quarter, we achieved an excellent result again.

The Embedded Systems and IoT service area, which has been reported since the second quarter of the year, achieved excellent development throughout the year. The integration of the acquired businesses into Etteplan progressed well and we achieved a strong result. Our customers’ investments in digitalization are growing continuously. Combining Etteplan’s strong customer industry expertise and product knowledge with digitalization expertise gives us a competitive advantage in the market and creates good future growth opportunities for us.

I am satisfied with our development in 2016 and I want to thank our personnel for their good work during the year. The implementation of our strategy progressed well in all areas and, in addition to achieving strong growth, we were able to improve our profitability towards the end of the year. Etteplan enters 2017 as a stronger company than before and we will continue our determined efforts to achieve the updated strategic and financial targets.”

Disclosure procedure

Etteplan follows the disclosure procedure enabled by Disclosure obligation of the issuer (7/2013) published by the Finnish Financial Supervision Authority. This stock exchange release is a summary of Etteplan's January-December 2016 financial statement release. The complete financial statement release is attached to this stock exchange release in pdf format and is also available on Etteplan's website at www.etteplan.com. Investors are advised to review the complete financial statement release with tables.

Conference call and live webcast today, February 11, 2016

Etteplan's President and CEO Juha Näkki will present Company's results for 2016 in a conference call and a live webcast for analysts and investors, held in English language, on February 9, 2017 starting at 3.30 p.m. Finnish time (EET).

To participate in the conference call please dial 5-10 minutes prior to the start of the conference to +358 (0)9 7479 0360 and tell operator the event password: 843234. Questions can be asked in English after President and CEO’s presentation only through conference call connection.

Juha Näkki’s presentation can be followed as a live webcast on http://platform.goodmood.fi/goodmood/etteplan/live. The webcast starts at 3.30 p.m. Finnish time (EET). A recording of the webcast will be later available at www.etteplan.com/Investors.

Vantaa, February 9, 2017

Etteplan Oyj

Board of Directors

Additional information:
Juha Näkki, President and CEO, tel. +358 400 606 372

The information presented herein has not been audited.

Releases and other corporate information are available on Etteplan's Web site at www.etteplan.com.

DISTRIBUTION:
Nasdaq Helsinki
Major media
www.etteplan.com

Etteplan’s services cover engineering, technical documentation, embedded systems and IoT solutions. Our customers are the world’s leading companies in the manufacturing industry. Our services are geared to improve the competitiveness of our customers’ products and engineering processes throughout the product life cycle. The results of Etteplan’s innovative engineering can be seen in numerous industrial solutions and everyday products.

In 2016, Etteplan had turnover of EUR 183,9 million. The company has over 2,500 professionals in Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and China. Etteplan's shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd.