GEA : releases preliminary figures 2017 and an initial indication for the 2018 fiscal year

Regarding order intake a good fourth quarter allowed GEA to compensate for a weak third quarter when looking at the year as a whole. The company presumably reaches approximately EUR 1,300 million (previous year EUR 1,223 million) in the fourth quarter, being most likely a new all-time-high in a single quarter. The trends observed in the individual customer industries during the first three quarters persisted, with food, dairy farming and chemical performing extremely well, while results in the dairy processing and beverage sectors were disappointing. Moreover, fourth-quarter revenue will also presumably be at a solid level of around EUR 1,310 million (previous year EUR 1,293 million) despite substantial currency effects.

'Based on our current assessment we are able to close the 2017 fiscal year with encouraging fourth-quarter order intake levels despite the sustained weakness of the dairy processing customer industry. By contrast, the other customer industries experienced a roughly 5 percent organic growth for the full year. The euro's strength turned out to be a major impediment, in particular in the second half of the year. Nonetheless, we were able to accomplish moderate revenue growth in line with our forecast, although this growth is at the lower end of our expectations. Our operating EBITDA margin for the fourth quarter is also expected to be above the level of the previous year,' said Jürg Oleas, CEO of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft.