(Alliance News) - Iveco Group NV reported Wednesday that it closed the first half of the year with a net profit of EUR160 million compared with EUR21 million in the same period last year.

Pre-tax profit rose to EUR245 million from EUR72 million while operating profit increased to EUR245 million from EUR134 million.

Revenues grew to EUR7.58 billion from EUR6.42 billion a year earlier, with cost of sales rising to EUR6.30 billion from EUR5.55 billion and selling, general and administrative expenses up to EUR483 million from EUR443 million.

In the second quarter alone, revenues rose to EUR4.18 billion from EUR3.37 billion in the same period a year earlier, Ebit rose to EUR294 million from EUR93 million, pretax profit rose to EUR211 million from EUR65 million, and net income flew to EUR150 million from EUR36 million.

Basic earnings per share rose to EUR0.58 in the six-month period from EUR0.05 and to EUR0.56 in the quarter from EUR0.11. Diluted earnings per share increased to EUR0.57 in the half year from EUR0.05 and to EUR0.55 from EUR0.11.

Net cash from Industrial Activities is EUR1.17 billion and compares to EUR1.73 billion as of December 31, 2022. Free cash flow from Industrial Activities is EUR131 million positive, an improvement of EUR242 million compared to the second quarter of 2022, mainly due to higher sales, better prices, and lower level of semi-finished products, due to higher component availability in the latter part of June, partially offset by the acquisition of full ownership of the former Nikola Iveco Europe JV.

Available liquidity for the entire group is EUR3.76 billion as of June 30, 2023, down EUR216 million from March 31, 2023, and includes EUR2.01 billion in available credit lines.

Based on the current industry outlook, solid pricing, order backlog, and in the absence of any signs of unusual levels of order cancellations, Iveco Group has raised its preliminary full-year financial outlook, expecting consolidated adjusted Ebit to rise to between EUR750 million and EUR800 million from the previous financial outlook of EUR600-640 million, and net revenues from Industrial Activities to rise to between 5% and 8% from the previous financial outlook of a 3% to 5% increase from 2022.

Adjusted Ebit of Industrial Activities is expected to rise between EUR650 million and EUR700 million from previous outlook estimates of EUR510-550 million.

Industrial Activities' selling, general and administrative expenses are confirmed at about 6 percent of net revenues while Industrial Activities' net cash is expected at about EUR2.0 billion, including share buybacks and previously reported extraordinary transactions. Previously, the company expected Industrial Activities liquidity of EUR2.0 billion, excluding share buybacks but including extraordinary transactions already disclosed. Industrial Activities investments are confirmed to grow by about 15 percent over 2022.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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