Page 30 - Glass Machinery Plants & Accessories no. 4/2018

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GERRESHEIMER

EARNINGS PER SHARE

RAISED IN FIRST QUARTER

DUE TO US TAX REFORM

Gerresheimer AG completed the first quarter of the
financial year 2018 (1 December 2017 to 28 February 2018)
as budgeted with revenues at constant exchange rates stable
relative to the prior year and adjusted EBITDA at constant
exchange rates below the prior-year figure. “The first quarter
went as expected. I would particularly like to emphasize
the rise in adjusted earnings per share, which is a one-time
effect in this quarter, notably due to the US tax reform. Our
shareholders will also benefit from this in the dividend next
year. And to further advance our regional expansion, we
have decided to take over in its entirety our Indian subsidiary
for pharmaceutical plastic packaging by acquiring the
remaining 25%,” said Rainer Beaujean, Management Board
Spokesperson and Chief Financial Officer. The Gerresheimer
Group increased revenues at constant exchange rates from
EUR 298.0 million in the prior-year quarter to EUR 299.2
million in the first quarter of 2018. On an organic basis –
meaning adjusted for exchange rate effects, acquisitions and
divestments – revenues consequently went up by 0.4% on
the prior-year quarter. Revenues from tooling were down in
the quarter as budgeted. There was good sales performance
in medical plastic systems. The inhaler project in North
America is performing especially well. It more than made up
for lower demand from other medical plastic systems with
a number of customers for whom Gerresheimer is the sole
supplier. Pharmaceutical plastic packaging revenues picked
up in Brazil and India significantly. Due among other factors
to the severe influenza season, there was also fairly strong
demand for plastic vials for prescription drugs in the US.
By contrast, revenues from primary packaging glass in North
America were once again down. The relatively pronounced
reticence on the part of a number of large pharma customers
there continues and the situation is improving only gradually.
However, good revenue performance with glass primary
packaging in all other regions was able to fully compensate
for this, notably as a result of good sales of cosmetic glass
in Europe and pharma glass in China. Due mainly to the
change in the USD exchange rate, reported revenues fell
in the same period from EUR 302.8 million to EUR 290.4
million. Adjusted EBITDA at constant exchange rates
decreased as expected from EUR 59.0 million in the prior-
year quarter to EUR 54.9 million in the first quarter of 2018.
The revenue performance in the engineering and tooling
business had a slight negative impact on adjusted EBITDA
here. Adjusted EBITDA was also adversely affected by higher
costs of plastic granulate, which Gerresheimer can only pass
on to customers with a time lag of several months. In the
sales of Primary Packaging Glass Division, lower revenues in <