CERGY, France, April 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
With a volume of almost one billion in total sales acquired in Germany and Northern Europe, SPIE took a major step forward in 2013. Notwithstanding a difficult economic context in France, the year was very satisfactory in terms of order intake, margins, and available cash flow.
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This has enabled SPIE to continue to stay ahead of its roadmap and thus contemplate an IPO.
FY 2013:
Production: €4.6 billion (+10.9%)
Adjusted operating profit (EBITA): €298 million (+13.8%)
External growth: €921 million in full-year production
Order intake at 12/31/2013: €4.8 billion (+13.4%)
Workforce: 37,000
Consolidated production increased by 10.9%[1] to €4.6 billion, reflecting the strength of external growth in North-western Europe. During the year, €921 million of full-year production was achieved, including €656 million in Germany and Central Europe turned in by Hochtief Service Solutions, now SPIE GmbH.
This transaction has made Germany the leading market for SPIE outside France, and allows the Group to offer its customers one of the most complete European networks in its industry.
Production (EURm) 2012 2013 increment%
France 2,500.4 2,446.6 -2.2
Germany and Central Europe 63.4 296.3 + 367.6
North-western Europe 892.0 1,054.8 + 18.2
Oil & Gas and Nuclear 658.7 764.8 + 16.1
TOTAL 4,114.5 4,562.6 + 10.9
In an uncertain context in 2013, France maintained its margins despite a slight drop in production. In North-western Europe, results in the United Kingdom continue to improve, while Belgium and the Netherlands achieved good performances, particularly in the industrial sector. Nuclear and oil & gas services continued to enjoy strong growth with promising prospects. The SPIE teams once again demonstrated their ability to preserve the Group's margins and to ensure solid generation of cash flow.
SPIE debt continued to be closely monitored in 2013. Net debt/EBITDA ratio fell to 3.9 by 2013 year-end, well below bank commitments.
EBITA increased by 13.8%[2] to €298 million. This represents the ninth consecutive year of improvement, a result that places SPIE at the top of its industry and reveals the quality of the Group's positioning in its four strategic market segments: Smart city, Industry services, Energies, and e-fficient buildings.
Smart city
Present in the strategic sector of sustainable transport in support of urban systems operators, the Group undertook commitments to the Lyon urban agglomeration (Grand Lyon) and participated in the European Opticities program, aimed at streamlining commuter travel operations. In Belgium, a three-year, 15-million euro contract was signed with the city of Liège in order to improve the fluidity of motorway traffic and the safety of users.
Several Public-Private Partnerships have also been signed with a view to long-term redevelopment of urban infrastructures, particularly public lighting, as well as municipal buildings. In Haute-Savoie, for example, the City of Annemasse received the Sustainable Development Marianne d'Or Award. SPIE also benefited from dynamic markets, including the medical services market, with for example the Children's Hospital in Cardiff and the Cancerology Institute in Angers, and the retail market, with a new BREEAM In-Use shopping mall. In communications, SPIE developed numerous projects in 4G deployment and fibre-optics (FTTH) and urban digital services. Always very active in communications networks and data centers, SPIE acquired the IS&P (infrastructure services & projects) business of the KPN Group in the Netherlands. Lastly, it continued to innovate in electrical mobility and alternative transport.
Industry services
Buoyed by the growing requirements for decreased energy consumption and process improvement, SPIE is working with its industrial customers all along the value chain. Major contracts were signed for implementation in France of an assembly line for the future A320 Neo and the construction of the new Airbus A350 facility, and for assuming the full responsibility for the setting of a new Audi plant in Germany, according to the BlueFM environment-protection process developed by SPIE GmbH. The Group has also been meeting specific sector needs, for example in fine chemistry for a cosmetics plant near Basel. More broadly, SPIE has strengthened its European industrial synergies. The Group now has the capacity to federate its resources on the European level, and to develop its tools and its purchasing strategy in sub-contracted services in order to work with its pan-European clients.
Energies
SPIE's nuclear activities benefited in France from a market that is clearly oriented thanks to the post-Fukushima changes and preparations for the Grand carénage (NPP overhaul) operation of EDF, scheduled for 2015. In the United Kingdom, the Group was qualified to provide certain air conditioning and electrical services for the two future EPR™ reactors at the Hinkley Point C site. The Group continued its rapid growth in the international oil and gas markets. Well established in West Africa, SPIE has benefitted from the redeployment of its activities in the Middle East and steady growth in the Asia-Pacific area. In the renewable energies and electricity distribution grids sectors, the Group's business benefitted from the proliferation of regional contracts and the significant rise in the number of structuring projects to increase production capacities.
e-fficient buildings
Being well-positioned in the promising sectors of energy-efficiency and information, communications, and automation systems for buildings, the Group has developed its global offering of Technical Facility Management services. In Brussels, Cofinimmo retained SPIE to provide complete maintenance and operation for the technical facilities of 13 office buildings for a period of five years.
Outlook for 2014
SPIE now has major advantages that will allow it to derive the greatest possible benefits from its European dimension, and it should soon be realizing approximately half of its production outside France. The Group has a solid foundation in its business model, which is based on recurrent revenues originating for the most part in the operating budgets of its customers, chiefly in Technical Facility Management and energy efficiency, and a tight management that enables it to continue steady growth in its strategic markets.
Now more than ever, SPIE will continue its commitment to providing innovative services oriented toward the Green economy and the contribution of smart systems to infrastructures and buildings.
"In 2013 the efforts of each and every one of our staff enabled us totake a major step forward in Europe and to advance towards our objective of an IPO. In this way we can reaffirm our ambition to make SPIE the independent leader in multi-technical services in Europe," said Gauthier Louette, Chairman and CEO of SPIE.
About SPIE
As independent European leader in the areas of energy and communication services, SPIE supports its private and public-sector customers to design, build, operate and maintain facilities that are more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly.
SPIE's 37,000 employees work from nearly 500 locations in 31 countries and in 2013 SPIE posted production of €4.6 billion over its four strategic segments "Energies", "e-fficient buildings", "Smart City" and "Industry Services" and generated adjusted operating profit (EBITA) of €298 million.
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1. Growth compared to published figures for 2012. Growth in relation to 2012 production, restated pursuant to Standard IFRS 5, comes to +11.1%.
2. Growth compared to 2012 EBITDA, restated pursuant to Standard IFRS 5 and IAS 19 amended, comes to +10.9%.
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