Recticel N.V./S.A. Business Report FY ended Dec. 2014

Financial Overview

(in million EUR)
FY ended Dec. 31, 2014 FY ended Dec. 31, 2013 Rate of change (%) Factors
Overall
Sales 983.4 976.8 0.7 -
EBITDA 36.8 13.6 170.6 -
Automotive
Sales 264.0 258.4 2.2 1)
EBITDA 12.5 10.4 20.2 -


Factors
1) Automotive
-For the full year 2014, combined sales increased by 2.2% to EUR 264.0 million. Since October 2013, the automotive markets have improved, confirmed by new car registrations in the EU-28.

Sales structure of Automotive division

(%)
Interiors 41.2
Seating 54.8
Exteriors 4.0


-Sales in Interiors decreased by 2.0% to EUR 108.5 million. This drop was expected as some programs (e.g. Mercedes C Class) were phasing out In contrast, the volumes in China grew significantly compared to 2013, due to the start-up of the Beijing plant (Daimler) and higher volumes in the Shenyang plant (BMW).

-Sales in Seating (Proseat, the 51/49 joint venture between the Company and Woodbridge), more than compensated for the lower sales volumes in Interiors, increased by 5.5% to EUR 144.3 million.

-Full year 2014 sales in 'Exteriors' increased by 2.8% to EUR 11.2 million.

Flexible Foams - Inspection EC

-The Company announced that it reached a settlement of EUR 27 million with the European Commission in the context of the investigation in the Flexible Foams markets for alleged cartel activities.

Contracts

-Major contracts won in 2014

OEM Model Components Technology Parts manufacturing plant Contract period Estimated cumulative life time sales
Scania A new truck Instrument panel trim parts "Colo-Sense" Czech Republic Multi-year Approximately EUR 7 million
Renault New Scenic Door panel skin "Colo-Sense" Czech Republic - -
Volkswagen Passat/Magotan (China) Instrument panel trim parts "Colo-Sense" Changchun, China Multi-year Approximately EUR 75 million
Peugeot 3008/5005 Interior trim parts "Colo-Sense" Czech Republic Multi-year Approximately EUR 51 million
BMW X3 Interior trim parts "Colo-Sense" China, U.S. Multi-year Approximately EUR 84 million
Volkswagen Tiguan Instrument panel parts "Colo-Sense" Czech Republic Multi-year Approximately EUR 20 million


-Major interior contracts

OEM Model Start of production
(New programs)
Estimated end of production
BMW 1 Series 2018
BMW 1 Series Coupe/Cabriolet 2020
BMW 3 Series 2019
BMW 5 Series (New Europe) March 2017 2024
BMW 5 Series (New China) May 2017 2024
BMW 6 Series 2017
Freightliner Freightliner (truck) 2017
Daimler Mercedes-Benz C-Class 2015
Daimler Mercedes-Benz E-Class 2016
Daimler Mercedes-Benz E-Class (New Europe) November 2015 2022
Daimler Mercedes-Benz E-Class (New China) June 2016 2023
Daimler Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe/Cabriolet 2017
Daimler Mercedes-Benz R-Class 2017
Daimler Mercedes-Benz Viano/Vito 2014
Opel Zafira 2015
Peugeot 508 2017
Porsche Macan November 2013 2020
Scania Cuite 2017
Skoda Superb October 2014 2015
Volkswagen Golf Plus (New) October 2014 2021
Volkswagen Passat 2014
Volkswagen Passat (New) May 2014 2021
Volvo S60/V60 2020
Volvo S80/V70 2016
Volvo XC60 2021
Volvo 3 models -
China Youngman Automobile Youngman 2016

* As of December, 2013.

New Plant


-A new EPP (Expanded Poly Propylene) production facility has been decided and set up by the Company, co-located in the Schwarzheide site (Germany) of our supplier BASF, in order to provide light weight solutions to its automotive seating clients. Production has started in February 2015.


-After the opening of a first site in Taloja, Navi (Mumbai) in November 2011, the Company expands its presence in India with the inauguration of a second Flexible Foams converting plant in Neelamangala, at 30 kilometers from Bangalore (India). With this new 3,500-square-meter site, the Company wants to further increase its position in one of the fastest growing economies. Both Indian converting plants are focusing on the transformation of reticulated foam blocks for air filters, which are used as highend air filter foams in the rapidly growing regional motorcycle and automotive sector.


-A new Automotive Interior facility is planned to be started up in the second quarter of 2015 in Changchun, China, to supply VW and Volvo.

Plant Restructuring

-The Company closed its Flexible Foam facility in Wijchen, the Netherlands.
-Recticel Automobilsysteme GmbH, a fully owned subsidiary of the Company, announced its intention to close down the remainder of its production operations in Rheinbreitbach (Germany). The Automotive Interiors division had not been nominated for the production of interior components for the new Mercedes C-class, hence the need for the initial restructuring.
-Proseat announced the closure of its Rüsselsheim operations (Germany), to take place by June 2015.

R&D Expenditure

(in million EUR)
FY ended Dec. 31, 2014 FY ended Dec. 31, 2013
Overall 13.1 13.0
% of Sales 1.3 1.3

R&D Structure

-The Company has an International Development Center (IDC) in Wetteren, Belgium.

Product Development

Interior skin
-The Colo-Sense Lite, a high performance skin marketed as from 2013, enables a weight reduction of 25% with the same quality of soft and pleasant feeling as its predecessor. The new product appears to be a success on the market resulting in more than EUR 500 million new contracts. This innovation got a nomination for the Essenscia innovation award (the Belgian Federation for Chemistry & Life Sciences Industries).

Capital Expenditure

(in million EUR)
FY ended Dec. 31, 2014 FY ended Dec. 31, 2013
Overall 26,1 23.4
Automotive 13.0 9.3

Data

Number of employees by Geographic area

  Dec. 31, 2014 Dec. 31, 2013 Dec. 31, 2012
Western-Europe 4,775 5,188 5,291
Eastern-Europe 2,237 2,051 2,010
Rest of the World 567 519 542
Total 7,578 7,758 7,842

Sales by Division

(in million EUR)
  FY ended Dec. 31, 2014 FY ended Dec. 31, 2013
Flexible Foams 593.0 583.4
Bedding 281.6 283.0
Insulation 227.0 220.0
Automotive 264.0 258.4
Eliminations (85.6) (86.2)
Sub-total 1,280.1 1,258.6
Contribution JV proportionally consolidated in segment reporting (296.7) (281.8)
Total 983.4 976.8

 

Sales by Geographic Area

(in million EUR)
  FY ended Dec. 31, 2014 FY ended Dec. 31, 2013
Belgium 125.8 126.1
France 130.1 126.8
Germany 187.3 195.4
Other EU countries 408.6 392.1
Europe Union Total 851.8 840.4
Others 131.6 136.3
Grand Total 983.4 976.8

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