Paris, 21 April 2016 - Saft, a leader in the design and manufacture of advanced batteries for industry, announces its revenue for the first quarter of 2016 ended 31 March.

Key highlights

· Q1 revenue of €172.5 million, down 4.4% at constant exchange rates compared with Q1 2015.

· Slowdown in group sales due to the significant decrease in investment in the oil and gas sector, impacting the Industrial Stationary division.

· Solid organic growth in the three other divisions, i.e. Civil Electronics, Space & Defence, Transport, Telecom & Grid (TTG).

· Continued implementation of the Power 2020 transformation plan.

Ghislain Lescuyer, Chairman of the Management Board, said:

'Group sales in the first quarter stood at €172.5 million, down by 4.4% at constant exchange rates compared to last year. This expected slowdown results from decreased investment and spending by our clients in the oil and gas sector, amplified by an unfavourable comparable basis. The other divisions showed solid growth in revenue compared to the first quarter of 2015, driven mainly by our activity in civil electronics, military aviation and telecoms.

The implementation of the strategic plan launched last autumn is on track, including the inauguration of our new factory in Zhuhai, China, which will allow us to double our production capacity in the near future. This new factory will be able to meet the strong demand in the Asian market for our products and solutions, particularly in civil electronics.

The increased visibility of our backlog in oil and gas activities allows us to anticipate a substantial improvement in sales in our Industrial Stationary division in the second quarter, and thus in the overall sales of the group.'

To read the entire press release, please download the PDF file.

Saft Groupe SA issued this content on 21 April 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 21 April 2016 15:57:19 UTC

Original Document: http://www.saftbatteries.com/press/press-releases/sales-growth-first-quarter-three-four-divisions-group-sales-impacted-slowdown