First quarter
- Net sales for the first quarter reached SEK 320 m (279), corresponding to an increase of 15 %
- Operating result reached SEK 63 m (57), equal to a 20 % (21) operating margin
- Order intake was SEK 350 m (299)
Last twelve months
- Net sales for the last twelve months amounted to SEK 1 225 m (1 030), corresponding to a 19 % increase. The revaluation of the Swedish krona had a positive impact of SEK 10 m
- Operating profit was SEK 218 m (186), equal to a 18 % (18) operating margin
- Order intake reached SEK 1 255 m (1 065)
- Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 174 m (203)
- Profit after taxes totaled SEK 140 m (128) and the earnings per share was SEK 2.99 (2.75)
Comment from the CEO
The year had a positive start with strong growth and profitability, which during the first quarter resulted in a new record turnover and an operating margin in line with our target of 20%.
The strong growth in Asia continues and a new Singapore office was established at the beginning of the quarter to further strengthen our position in Southeast Asia. Also in Europe, we see stable growth and continued strong demand. The somewhat uncertain market situation in North America continues in the beginning of the year with no growth in local currency, although some improvement was seen in the latter part of the quarter.
We see a slightly improved gross margin, which consists mainly of a favorable product mix and certain economies of scale during the quarter.
Over the last 12 months, the number of employees has increased by approximately 50 people to strengthen key functions. We see that this investment has yielded positive results as expected and we achieve, despite increased costs, SEK 63 m in operating profit for the quarter, corresponding to 20 % operating margin.
As previously announced, we have started an expansion of the Halmstad production facility to meet future expected volume increases. This work goes according to plan. We still see long delivery times on several electronic components and to counteract future delivery impact, we continue to increase our component inventories. Recently, delivery times have continued to increase, and this situation is expected to continue a bit into 2019. The primary impact for us is that we need to keep a larger component stock than usual, to continue maintaining good delivery times towards our customers. Despite somewhat higher working capital in the quarter, we see that our financial situation is still strong with a low net debt of about 1.26 times EBITDA on a yearly basis.
We continue to work on our organic growth, which was 14 % in local currencies compared with the first quarter of 2017. In parallel, we are working long-term to find new interesting acquisitions to complement our business.
We stick to our ambitious growth targets for coming years – A long-term annual growth of 20 % per annum and an operating margin of more than 20 %. Our focus is to drive continued growth in all our business areas.
We continue to focus on our long-term growth goals based on a balanced view of our costs. In the long run, we estimate that the market for industrial data communications will constitute an interesting growth area and we continue to focus on our motto “HMS Connecting Devices”.
Halmstad April 24, 2018
Staffan Dahlström
Chief Executive Officer
Further information can be obtained from:
CEO Staffan Dahlström, telephone +46 (0) 709-17 29 01 or
CFO Joakim Nideborn, telephone +46 (0) 707-72 29 83
This information is such that HMS Networks AB (publ) is required to disclose in accordance with the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act and/or the Swedish Securities Market Act. The information was submitted for publication at 08.00 CET on April 24, 2018.
HMS Networks AB (publ) is the leading independent supplier of products for industrial communication and remote management. Reported sales reached SEK 1,183 m in 2017 with more than 94 per cent outside Sweden. Development and manufacturing take place at the headquarter in Halmstad and in Ravensburg, Nivelles and Igualada. Local sales and support are handled by branch offices in Japan, China, Germany, USA, Italy, France, Belgium, Singapore, Spain, India, UK, Finland and Denmark. HMS employs more than 500 people and develops and manufactures solutions for connecting automation devices and systems to industrial networks under the Anybus®, IXXAT® and Intesis® brand and products for remote solutions and control under the eWON® brand. HMS is listed on the NASDAQ OMX in Stockholm, category Mid Cap, Information Technology.
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