Lindab: Interim Report January - June 2000
Investments
For the period January - June investments, excluding company acquisitions, amounted to 143 (117); of which machinery and equipment represented 75 (78) and property 68 (39). The individual major investments comprise acquired production premises in Switzerland and the construction and extension of production and warehousing facilities in Sweden, Denmark and Croatia. Company acquisitions during the first half of the year resulted in investments in machinery and equipment for 35 (36) and in property for 42 (0). The acquisitions during the period increased goodwill by 105 (16). Investments in fixed assets, excluding company acquisitions, represented 55 (47) in Sweden and 88 (70) abroad.
Company acquisitions
Scandab AB was acquired during the period. The company, which operates within the environmental sector, develops, markets, stocks and distributes products and systems for industry. The acquisition strengthens Lindab's Ventilation business area, as coordination benefits exist within the Transfer product area. In a rolling 12-month period Scandab is estimated to turn over 65
On 8 May Lindab AB made an offer for Folkebolagen AB, a company listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. In total the offer was worth 148. The acquisition of Folkebolagen will strengthen Lindab's Profile business area, primarily within the Swedish market. On 30 June shareholders representing 99.5 percent of the capital and 99.7 percent of the voting rights had accepted the offer. It is expected that Folkebolagen will increase Lindab's profit and profit per share; however these profit effects will only be marginal during the current year. The company has been consolidated as from 1 June and is presently estimated to turn over 500 on an annual basis.
Personnel
At the end of the first half of the year the number of employees was 3 401, compared with the 3 004 at the turn of the year. During this period the number of employees in Sweden increased by 291 to 1 292. The companies acquired are responsible for 257 of these. Abroad the number of employees increased by
106 to 2 109.
Parent company
The sales revenue of the parent company consists exclusively
of invoicing Group companies. During the first half of the year the sales of the company amounted to 27 (25). The profit after financial items was -2 (3) of which SPP funds was 4 (0). Investments in fixed assets represented 16 (2). At the end of the period the parent company's liquid funds amounted to 28 (37).
Share data
In accordance with the decision of the shareholders attending the Annual General Meeting Lindab began to repurchase its own shares. By the end of the half year Lindab had repurchased 220,800 shares, which represented 0.9 percent of the total number of shares. The mandate stipulated by the Annual General Meeting amounts to a total of 960 000 shares, representing 4 percent of the total number of shares. Repurchase took place at an average price of SEK 95, which represents about 21. At the end of the period the number of shares outstanding amounted to 23 779 200.
The profit per share has been calculated as a weighted average of the number of shares during the period January - June, which has been calculated as 23 963 175. The profit after full taxes amounted to SEK 3.00 for the first six months of the year, compared with the SEK 2.32 of the preceding year. During the second quarter senior officers were invited to subscribe to synthetic options in Lindab AB. The options have a life of three years and the subscription price is SEK 115. The total number of options subscribed to amounted to 34 500. The option programme has not affected the profit as per the end of the first half year of 2000. At the end of the period the listed price for Lindab shares on the Stockholm Stock Exchange was SEK 95.50. At the turn of the year the price was SEK 98.
Outlook for 2000
The powerful increases in sales are expected to continue and
sales are expected to reach about 4 300 (3 596)
During the first six months raw material prices have increased considerably and further increases have been advised for the third quarter. However, we believe that these increases will be the last during this business phase.
Provided that the increases in our net sales prices have the
desired effect the forecast made regarding a profit, excluding the SPP refund, exceeding that of the preceding year remains.
Grevie, 11 August 2000
LINDAB AB (publ)
Carl-Gustaf Sondén
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
Review report
We have reviewed this half-year report in accordance with the recommendations of the Swedish Institute of Authorised Public Accountants (FAR).
A review is extremely limited in relation to that which is included in an audit. In the course of our review we have not found anything to show that this half-year report does not fulfil the requirements of the Swedish Stock Exchange and Companies Acts.
Grevie, 11 August 2000
Yngve Lindells SET Revisionsbyrå AB
Revisionsbyrå AB
Anders Argelius Willard Möller
The full report including tables can be downloaded from the enclosed link.