2013-02-28 07:06:27 -

Continued momentum in strategy execution

  * In December 2012, Tessenderlo Group completed the sale of its pharmaceutical
    ingredients activities Farchemia and Calaire Chimie, and in January 2013,
    the sale of its continental European profiles activities was completed
  * On February 27 2013, the group announced an intention to divest its
    Compounds activities to Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
  * In addition to the above, during 2012 the group announced several other
    strategic initiatives to optimize its portfolio of activities and accelerate
    growth of its core activities

2012 operating performance validates strategic choices

  * 4Q12 revenue of 503.9 million EUR in 4Q12 was 5.4% above   the same period
    last year; while FY12 revenue grew 3.1% to 2.1 billion EUR
  * REBITDA increased by 10.3% to 24.7 million EUR in 4Q12, and decreased by
    13.6% to 161.1 million EUR for FY12
  * The segments Tessenderlo Kerley and Gelatin & Akiolis, which represent 77%
    of group REBITDA, combined grew both revenue and REBITDA in the fourth
    quarter and FY 2012
  * Recurrent profit/loss was -1.3 million EUR for 4Q12 and 29.5 million EUR for
    the full year 2012
  * A loss of 148.2 million EUR was recorded in 4Q12, due to a non-recurring
    charge of 154.6 million EUR.  A summary of this charge, which mainly
    comprises environmental provisions to be spent over 40 years and non-cash
    losses on disposal groups classified as held for sale, can be found on the
    following page.  For the full year 2012, the group had a loss of 197.5
    million EUR.

Balance sheet fully in line with expectations

  * Net financial debt came in at 314.0 million EUR, resulting in leverage of
    1.9x and gearing of 45.3%
  * Notional net debt was 393.9 million EUR; on this basis, leverage was 2.4x
    and gearing 50.9%
  * All covenants remain fully respected
  * The Board of Directors will propose the dividend to be maintained at 1.00
    euro net per share, and the group will continue to offer the choice of
    dividend payment in cash and/or shares

Outlook

Tessenderlo Group expects 2013 to be another year of substantial progress in the
company's journey to become a global specialty group.

Concretely, this means that we will focus on further strategy execution, being a
combination of divesting non-core activities and investing in growth activities.


It is expected that these further divestments will globally have a positive
impact on the group's results.

Secondly, the group anticipates that the market conditions where it is present
will be broadly unchanged compared to those experienced in 2012:

  * Food and agriculture markets are expected to be strong in the US, and
    fertilizer volumes should be solid in 2013 albeit with a cautious start
  * The group's traditional markets for Inorganics are likely to continue to be
    difficult
  * The requirements to collect and re-purpose bio-residuals show favorable
    trends in the medium to long term
  * However, lower availability of bio-residual volumes in the French market has
    led to increased competition for collection services, putting pressure on
    volumes and margins
  * The gelatin market is expected to continue to be solid in 2013
  * Construction markets in Europe will remain difficult

Given all of these factors, the group is implementing restructuring programs in
several countries to align its cost structure and support profitability.

While it is too early to estimate the impact of these market conditions for the
whole year, the group believes that its recurrent operating profitability in the
first quarter of 2013 will be below the same period one year ago, and is
unlikely to be materially higher for the full year 2013 compared to 2012. No
substantial non-recurring charges related to either environmental provisions or
divestments are expected in the coming years.

 Media Relations       Investor Relations

 Kathleen IWENS        Philip LUDWIG

 +32 (0) 478 664 555   +32 2 639 16 58




Hier kan je het volledige bericht in het Nederlands lezen: 
 hugin.info/133974/R/1681863/549964.pdf

Pour lire le communiqué de presse complet en Français, cliquez ici: 
 hugin.info/133974/R/1681863/549965.pdf

To read the full press release in English, click here: 
 hugin.info/133974/R/1681863/549963.pdf



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Source: Tessenderlo Group via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1681863]