Announcement no. 7/2017 – Full-year Financial Results 2016/17

(1 October 2016 – 30 September 2017)           

 

New long-term guidance and strategic update

·       Coloplast presents a new long-term guidance for the LEAD20 strategy period. This new guidance is driven by changed market dynamics which create opportunities to accelerate growth. Furthermore, Coloplast intends to pursue inorganic growth opportunities to further strengthen our service offering to the consumer. Organic revenue growth guidance is maintained at 7-9% p.a. where the ambition is to reach the upper end of the interval. Consequently, the EBIT margin guidance is changed from a 50-100 basis point improvement p.a., to a guidance of delivering an EBIT margin of more than 30% at constant currencies.

Highlights

·       Q4 organic growth was 8%, and reported revenue increased by 6% to DKK 3,980m in Q4. Full-year organic growth was 7%, and full-year reported revenue increased by 6% to DKK 15,528m. Full-year organic growth rates by business area were as follows: Ostomy Care 7%, Continence Care 7%, Urology Care 10% and Wound & Skin Care 4%.

·       EBIT before special items was DKK 5,024m, up by 9% at constant exchange rates (before the one-off adjustment related to Veterans Affairs) and by 4% in DKK. The EBIT margin at constant exchange rates and before the DKK 90m one-off adjustment related to Veterans Affairs was 33%.

·       The full-year net profit before special items was up by 2% to DKK 3,797m, and diluted earnings per share before special items were also up by 2% to DKK 17.87.

·       The full-year free cash flow amounted to DKK 1,632m, DKK 793m lower than last year. Adjusted for payments made in connection with lawsuits alleging injury resulting from the use of transvaginal surgical mesh products and the acquisition of Comfort Medical, the underlying free cash flow was in line with last year’s cash flow.

·       ROIC after tax before special items was 47% against 49% last year.

·       A new operational plan ’Global Operations Plan IV’ is being launched as part of Coloplast’s LEAD20 strategy. The plan is expected to lift the EBIT margin by 150bp and to take full effect from the start of the 2020/21 financial year.

·       The Board of Directors recommends that the shareholders attending the general meeting to be held on 7 December 2017 approve a year-end dividend of DKK 10.5 per share. This brings the dividend paid for the year to DKK 15.0 per share, as compared with DKK 13.5 per share last year.

Financial guidance for 2017/18

·       We expect organic revenue growth of ~7% at constant exchange rates and of 5-6% in DKK primarily due to the development in USD relative to DKK. The guidance includes a potential negative effect of DKK 100m due to the patent expiry of SpeediCath® standard catheters. The guidance also includes the effects of a comprehensive healthcare reform in Greece of DKK 100m, which is expected to impact all business areas, resulting in a price pressure of more than 1% in the year.

·       We expect an EBIT margin of 31-32% at constant exchange rates and at ~31% in DKK. The EBIT margin guidance includes the impact of the above factors as well as investments in commercial activities of up to 2% of revenue.

·       Capital expenditure is expected to be about DKK 700m and the effective tax rate is expected to be about 23%.