'I am pleased to see that all growth engines performed well, even in the face of challenging economic and geopolitical conditions as well as adverse currency effects. We considerably improved the profitability of the Digital Print activities and the HealthCare IT division. Sales for our ZIRFON membranes for green hydrogen production continued to grow strongly and this business also started to contribute to profitability. On the back of good operational performance, we have returned to a positive free cash flow in the third quarter,' said
Reporting post Offset Solutions
The recent sale of the Offset Solutions division (now rebranded to ECO3) influences the way the
Third quarter
Excluding currency effects, the
Driven by the HealthCare IT and Digital Print & Chemicals divisions, the Group's gross profit margin improved to 30.5%, in spite of adverse effects including cost inflation, adverse currency effects, manufacturing inefficiencies and the weakness in the industrial film markets.
Adjusted EBITDA improved strongly from
Restructuring and non-recurring items resulted in a charge of
The net finance costs amounted to
Income tax expenses increased to
Financial position and cash flow
Net financial debt (including IFRS 16) remained stable versus Q2 2023 at
Trade working capital (CONOPS excluded) evolved from 35% of turnover at the end of Q3 2022 to 31% in Q3 2023. In absolute numbers, trade working capital evolved from
In Q3 2023, the Group generated a free cash flow of
Outlook
2023 outlook per division
HealthCare IT: Order intake growth continues to be strong. As the portion of own IP in the sales mix is expected to grow, profitability is expected to continue to improve versus the third quarter. This will likely result in a strong end of the year. Impacted by adverse currency effects, full year EBITDA is expected to be slightly below that of last year.
Radiology Solutions: For medical film, exchange rate and margin pressure is expected to continue, resulting in a weak performance in the fourth quarter. The progress in Direct Radiography is expected to continue.
Digital Print & Chemicals: The division expects to continue to improve profitability, based on pricing, cost improvement actions and positive contributions from digital print and the ZIRFON membranes. The revenue generated by ZIRFON will continue to grow very strongly.
Management Certification of Financial Statements and Quarterly Report
This statement is made in order to comply with new European transparency regulation enforced by the Belgian Royal Decree of
'The Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of
Statement of risk
This statement is made in order to comply with new European transparency regulation enforced by the Belgian Royal Decree of
'As with any company,
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