Interim report January—March 2017: Continued positive trend and strong order intake in the first quarter.

• Order intake increased by 20% to 318 MSEK (265.0).
• Net sales increased by 3% to 290.2 MSEK (280.5).
• EBIT was 2.5 MSEK (-55.5). Profit/loss 2016 was burdened by non-recurring costs of 50 MSEK.
• Profit/loss after tax was -3.8 MSEK (-41.9).
• Earnings per share was -0.22 SEK (-2.19).
• The Board of Directors is proposing to the AGM that the parent company change its name to Beijer Electronics Group AB (publ).
• New segment reporting for Beijer Electronics, Westermo and Korenix business units.

COMMENTS FROM PRESIDENT AND CEO PER SAMUELSSON

“The positive trend for Beijer Electronics Group continued in the first quarter of 2017. Business improved gradually during the quarter, which meant that the outcome for the period as a whole was according to plan.

We're following the established plan in order to achieve our targets of annual growth of 7% and EBIT of 10% in the second half of 2018. The strong order intake was particularly pleasing. Given some minor positive and negative divergences, sales and profit essentially shadowed internal expectations. Sales increased slightly, and underlying EBIT improved compared to the corresponding quarter last year.

As profit remains low, certain reported items have a significant impact. Exchange rate effects from the stronger US and Taiwanese dollar had a negative profit impact of 3 MSEK. Lagging price increases are expected to partially offset the currency effects later in the year. Planned and increased product development costs also had a 3 MSEK profit impact. Non-recurring costs in Taiwan burdened profit by 1.5 MSEK. In a longer term perspective, these items are less significant. At the same time, the trend suggests that we’re heading in the right direction.

The Westermo business unit returned convincing results in the quarter, including strong order intake, positive growth, clearly increased profit and improved profitability. Westermo continued to launch new products in its train segment, which also expands the market for other applications such as trams. The investment in the new assembly plant at Stora Sundby was completed in the quarter, which improves efficiency, quality, delivery reliability and capacity.

The Beijer Electronics business unit continued to progress as expected. Order intake increased, sales remained largely unchanged and underlying profit improved compared to 2016. The new X2 series operator panel was successfully launched on the market and returned strong sales growth. The launch of the X2 series will be completed with the introduction of X2 Extreme in 2017. We’ve intensified product development in accordance with the new vision focused on Smart Automation. A number of new software products and services will be launched over the coming twelve months. We will also ramp up our marketing and sales resources.

The Korenix business unit experienced both positive and negative developments in the quarter. The period came off to a weak start, while the conclusion to the quarter was stronger. Increased order intake in the quarter was particularly positive. Sales were in line with plan, while profit was slightly lower than expected for reasons including negative exchange rate effects and non-recurring costs. On the negative side, Korenix discovered that some local key members of staff were acting disloyally towards the company. The individuals have now been dismissed and some are subject to legal proceedings. Profit was affected by non-recurring costs of 1.5 MSEK in the quarter. Our judgment is that Korenix’s operations will not be affected by these events looking ahead. The positive trend from the close of the first quarter is expected to continue, including some major project deals in China and Taiwan in the second quarter.

Against the background of operational progress in the first quarter, our previous assessment of the outlook for the full year 2017 stands. The Group is expected to return increased sales and improved underlying EBIT compared to 2016 .”

INVITATION TO CONFERENCE CALL

Today, a conference call will be held for press and analysts, where President and CEO Per Samuelsson and CFO Joakim Laurén present the company and comment on the report.

Time:  Thursday April 27, at 2.00 p.m. CET

To participate in the conference please dial:

From Sweden: +46856642509
From UK: +442030089804

To access the presentation please use this link: http://www.anywhereconference.com?UserAudioMode=DATA&Name=&Conference=131686581&PIN=72620686

The report and the presentation will be available at Beijer Electronics’ website www.beijerelectronics.com/ir. A recording of the conference call will also be available here after the event.

Welcome!

For more information please contact:

President and CEO, Per Samuelsson, tel 46 (0)40 35 86 10, mobile 46 (0)708 58 54 40
CFO Joakim Laurén, tel 46 (0)40 35 84 96, mobile 46 (0)703 35 84 96.

This information is such that Beijer Electronics AB (publ) is required to disclose in accordance with EU's Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). The information was submitted for publication at 13.00 CET, April 27, 2017. 
   

Beijer Electronics Group is a fast growing technology company with extensive experience of industrial automation and data communication. The company develops and markets competitive products and solutions that focus on the user. Since its start-up in 1981, Beijer Electronics has evolved into a multinational group with sales over 1.1 billion SEK 2016. The company is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Nordic Stockholm Small Cap list under the ticker BELE. www.beijerelectronics.com

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