Ringmetall confirms annual guidance after good second quarter

- Group revenues increase by 1.1 percent to EUR 62.4 million
- EBITDA improved by 11.4 percent to EUR 6.4 million with an EBITDA margin of 10.1 percent
- Order situation noticeably improved since July, after a second quarter marked by the pandemic

Munich, 6 August 2020 - Ringmetall AG (ISIN: DE0006001902), a leading international specialist supplier in the packaging industry, has mastered the challenges of the COVID 19 pandemic very well in the second quarter. On the basis of preliminary figures on business development in the first half of 2020, the company continued to grow despite the tense economic environment and was able to increase its profitability significantly compared to the same period last year.

Accordingly, Group revenues increased by 1.1 percent to EUR 62.4 million (H1 2019: EUR 61.8 million). The revenue growth was mainly driven by acquisition effects of the subsidiary Tesseraux, which was consolidated for the first time as of 1 July 2019, and the business activities of Sorini Ring Manufacturing Inc., which were consolidated for the first time as of 31 December 2019. At the same time, however, declining steel prices and the purely organic business development had a slightly opposite effect. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew disproportionately by 11.4 percent to EUR 6.4 million (H1 2019: EUR 5.7 million). The EBITDA margin in relation to total output increased accordingly and, at 10.1 percent, was back in the double-digit range. On the earnings side, cost management, which was very closely aligned with day-to-day business, had a particularly significant impact. As a result of a significant reduction in the quota of temporary workers, personnel costs were reduced significantly in the course of the COVID 19 pandemic without having to make cuts in the core workforce. Similarly, short-time working had to be used only to a very limited extent and very selectively in certain regions.

"There is no question that the second quarter was not an easy time for us either and we had to work harder than usual for our success", explains Christoph Petri, Spokesperson of the Management Board of Ringmetall AG. "However, this crisis shows very clearly that our business development is now much less cyclical than in previous years and that we continue to have an extremely strong cash flow. While the demand for our products on the end customer side was negatively influenced by industries that are closely correlated with the automotive sector, for example, demand from end customers in the consumer goods industry and the pharmaceutical industry increased. Moreover, the increased importance of the food industry as a buyer of inliners has now had a significant levelling effect on fluctuations in demand from other industries."

A separate analysis of the effects of steel price development, inorganic and organic growth showed the following effects on segment sales in the first half of 2020:

Industrial Packaging
- Effect of steel price development on segment revenue: - 5.3 percent
- Effect of corporate acquisitions on segment revenue: + 12.0 percent
- Effect of organic business development on segment revenue: -4.1 percent

Industrial Handling
- Effect of organic business development on segment revenue: -12.3 percent

The key preliminary figures for business development in the first half of 2020 are as follows:

Taking the above-mentioned factors into account, segment sales in the Industrial Packaging segment increased by 2.6 percent to EUR 57.1 million (H1 2019: EUR 55.6 million). At EUR 7.2 million, segment EBITDA was up 13.0 percent year-on-year (H1 2019: EUR 6.4 million). In addition to the already mentioned consistent personnel cost management, the cost of materials ratio also improved as a result of reduced production reject, which had a positive effect on the division's earnings performance. The steadily increasing share of sales of the inliner product category, which now accounts for around 18 percent of segment sales, also meant that the order situation was noticeably less sensitive to economic trends. In addition, the first positive effects on earnings from the integration of the acquisitions made in 2019 into the Group, which went hand in hand with an optimization of corporate structures, were already evident.

In the Industrial Handling segment the negative effects of the COVID 19 pandemic were more noticeable in a reduced order situation. Consequently, sales with a major customer in the material handling equipment industry continued to fall short of expectations. On the cost side, however, this segment also succeeded in adjusting personnel costs in line with the order situation, thus containing the extent of the negative effects. The segment revenues declined by 12.3 percent to EUR 5.4 million (H1 2019: EUR 6.1 million) with segment EBITDA of EUR 0.2 million (H1 2019: EUR 0.8 million).

After the company had temporarily suspended all acquisition-related negotiations in the second quarter, the Management Board resumed talks in this matter within Europe at the beginning of the third quarter. The market environment is becoming increasingly attractive again for M&A activities, and the Management Board continues to assess the Company's own refinancing options as very good.

In view of the fact that business has continued to develop according to plan overall in the course of the year to date and that the order situation for the second half of the year is currently continuing to brighten, the Management Board has reaffirmed its forecast for the company's development in 2020 as a whole. Accordingly, Group revenues of EUR 125 to 135 million and EBITDA of EUR 11 to 13 million are still anticipated.

The Management Board will discuss further details of the preliminary half-year figures 2020 at a Zoom Video Conference for analysts, institutional investors and journalists today at 11:00 AM CET. Registration for this event will be made by e-mail via Ms. Anja Brabec (brabec@ringmetall.de). As planned, the company will publish the full interim report for the first half of 2020 on 17 September 2020. Further information on the Ringmetall Group and its affiliated subsidiaries can be found at www.ringmetall.de.

Contact:
Ingo Middelmenne
Investor Relations
Ringmetall AG
Phone: +49 (0 )89 45 220 98 12
Mobile: +49 (0 )174 90 911 90
Email: middelmenne@ringmetall.de

About the Ringmetall Group
Ringmetall is an internationally leading specialist supplier in the packaging industry. The Industrial Packaging division offers high-security closure systems and inliners for industrial drums for the chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and food processing industries. The Industrial Handling division develops application-optimized vehicle attachments for the handling and transport of packaging units. In addition to the corporate headquarters in Munich, Ringmetall is represented by worldwide production and sales branches in Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Turkey, the Netherlands as well as China and the USA. Worldwide, Ringmetall generates a turnover of more than 120 million euros per year.