Metso's Financial Statements Review for 2014

Metso Corporation's stock exchange release on February 5, 2015 at 12:00 noon local time


We will arrange an audiocast today at 15:00 EET (8:00 EST, 13:00 GMT, 14:00 CET). The audiocast is viewable at www.metso.com/IRwebcasts:
http://www.metso.com/IRwebcasts. A simultaneous conference call is arranged which allows participants to ask questions. Details of the event can be found at the end of this release.

This is a summary of Metso's 2014 Financial Statements Review. Complete report is attached to this release as a pdf-file and is also available at www.metso.com/investors.

Figures in brackets refer to the comparison period, i.e. the same period last year and all figures relate to Metso's continuing operations.

Fourth quarter 2014 in brief

  • Flow Control and Services orders increased, mining equipment market remained challenging
  • Orders received totaled EUR 801 million (EUR 885 million)
  • Net sales: EUR 1,018 million (EUR 1,018 million)
  • EBITA before non-recurring items: EUR 138 million or 13.5 percent of net sales (EUR 147 million, 14.4%).
  • Non-recurring items totaled EUR -32 million (EUR -33 million)

Full year 2014 in brief

  • Metso launched its new strategy targeting growth and higher profitability
  • Good demand continued in Flow Control, whereas the demand for mining equipment remained weak
  • Metso achieved good results overall, thanks to cost control and strong product and services businesses
  • Orders received: EUR 3,409 million (EUR 3,709 million)
  • Net sales: EUR 3,658 million (EUR 3,858 million)
  • EBITA before non-recurring items: EUR 460 million or 12.6 percent of net sales (EUR 496 million, 12.8%), non-recurring items totaled EUR -90 million (EUR -54 million)
  • The Board will propose a dividend of EUR 1.05 per share, i.e. 84% of earnings per share, which is higher payout compared to our dividend policy of 50 percent of annual earnings per share. In addition, the Board proposes that it would be authorized to decide on the payment of an extra dividend of up to EUR 0.40. The authorization could be used if the sale of Metso's Process Automation Systems (PAS) business is completed

Financial guidance for 2015, excluding Process Automation Systems business
We estimate our net sales in 2015 to be between EUR 3,000 million and 3,300 million and EBITA margin before non-recurring items to be around 13 percent.

Our guidance for 2015 is based on the current market activity in our customer industries, our current backlog for 2015, and the current exchange rates. In addition, the divestment of our Process Automation Systems business is expected to be completed on April 1, 2015.

President and CEO Matti Kähkönen:
"Last year was very unique for Metso as it marked the beginning of a new era for us. After completing the demerger we launched a number of new initiatives that are designed to transform Metso into a more integrated, flexible, and more profitable company. These initiatives have already started yielding results, which were visible in our performance during 2014. Overall, we can be satisfied with our achievements in 2014, especially given the volatility in some of our customer industries. We managed to maintain our healthy profitability despite lower net sales, and our services business showed both growth, especially when using constant currencies, and better profitability. Looking into 2015, we will continue to implement our strategic actions in terms of growth and internal efficiencies and I am positive that we will take important steps forward to become an even better company than before."

Key figures

EUR million Q4/
2014
Q4/
2013
Change % 2014 2013 Change %
Orders received 801 885 -9 3,409 3,709 -8
Orders received by the services business 481 457 5 2,052 2,038 1
  % of orders received 60 52   60 55  
Order backlog at the end of the year       1,575 1,927 -18
Net sales 1,018 1,018 0 3,658 3,858 -5
Net sales of the services business 572 509 12 2,007 1,976 2
  % of net sales 56 50   55 51  
Earnings before interests, taxes and amortization (EBITA) and non-recurring items 138 147 -6 460 496 -7
  % of net sales 13.5 14.4   12.6 12.8  
Operating profit* 101 108 -7 351 423 -17
  % of net sales 9.9 10.6   9.6 11.0  
Earnings per share, EUR 0.36 0.35 3 1.25 1.59 -21
Free cash flow 63 65 -3 204 251 -19
Return on capital employed (ROCE) before taxes, %       16.4 18.6  
Equity-to-asset ratio at the end of the year, %       40.5 36.9  
Net gearing at the end of the year, %       45.6 41.6  

*The full-year 2014 operating profit was negatively impacted by EUR 90 million of non-recurring items (EUR 54 million) and fourth quarter 2014 by EUR 32 million (EUR 33 million). Non-recurring items are detailed in the tables section.

Short-term outlook

Market development
We expect demand for mining equipment and projects to remain weak and demand for aggregates equipment to remain satisfactory. The demand for our mining and aggregates services is expected to remain good, thanks to high utilization rates. Demand for our products and services in the oil & gas industry is expected to remain good, but will face some uncertainty due to the volatile oil price.

Metso is a leading process performance provider, with customers in the mining, oil and gas, and aggregates industries. Metso's cutting-edge services and solutions improve availability and reliability in minerals processing and flow control, providing sustainable process and profit improvements. Metso is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki, Finland. In 2014, Metso's net sales totaled EUR 3.7 billion. Metso employs approximately 16,000 industry experts in 50 countries. Expect results.
www.metso.com:
http://www.metso.com/, www.twitter.com/metsogroup:
http://www.twitter.com/metsogroup

For further information, please contact:
Matti Kähkönen, President and CEO, Metso Corporation, tel. +358 20 484 3001

Harri Nikunen, CFO, Metso Corporation, tel. +358 20 484 3010

Juha Rouhiainen, VP, Investor Relations, Metso Corporation, tel. +358 20 484 3253  

Metso will arrange an audiocast today at 15:00 EEST (8:00 EDT, 13:00 BST, 14:00 CEST). The audiocast is viewable at www.metso.com/IRwebcasts:
http://www.metso.com/IRwebcasts. A simultaneous conference call is arranged which allows participants to ask questions.

Recording of the event is available at same location www.metso.com/IRwebcasts:
http://www.metso.com/IRwebcasts after the event has finished and a transcript will be available on www.metso.com/investors:
http://www.metso.com/investors.  

Conference call details

Conference call participants are requested to dial in five minutes before the scheduled time on:
United States: +1 855 269 2605
other countries: +44 20 3194 0550

Metso will not arrange a separate event at its headquarters for investors and analysts.

Metso Corporation

Harri Nikunen

CFO

Juha Rouhiainen

VP, Investor Relations

Distribution:

NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd

Media:

www.metso.com


Metso 2014 Financial Statements Review:
http://hugin.info/3017/R/1892102/670142.pdf



This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Metso Corporation via Globenewswire

HUG#1892102