Solid Q1 despite turbulence from the COVID-19 pandemic

First quarter report of 2020
for ROCKWOOL International A/S
Release no. 24 – 2020
to Nasdaq Copenhagen

13 May 2020

Solid Q1 despite turbulence from the COVID-19 pandemic
 
Highlights

• Sales in Q1 2020 reached EUR 649 million, a growth of 0.5 percent in local currencies excluding the acquisition of the Parafon business in Sweden. With a positive currency impact of 0.4 percentage points and acquisition impact of 0.4 percentage points, the sales growth in reported figures totalled 1.3 percent.
  
  
• EBIT in Q1 2020 increased 4.5 percent to EUR 80 million, with a 12.3 percent EBIT margin, up 0.3 percentage points from last year.
  
  
• Investments excluding acquisitions reached EUR 96 million, up EUR 18 million compared to last year, primarily due to ongoing expansions in Germany and the United States, and offset by a grant received in China. 
   
• Annualised return on invested capital reached 20.2 percent compared to 21.5 percent last year, a decrease due to an increased investment level.
   
• The COVID-19 pandemic did not materially impact Q1 2020 results, although sales were affected in Asia and started to decrease during the last weeks of March in southern Europe.
   
• Net sales in April declined around 20 percent with pandemic restrictions affecting building activities in many European markets. 
  
  

Outlook 2020 (suspended)

•  At this stage, we are not able to forecast the impact and duration of the crisis mid-term, and as previously disclosed have suspended our full year guidance until we have gained improved clarity on the pandemic’s development and its effect on the economy mid-term.

CEO comment
Commenting on the Group’s performance, CEO Jens Birgersson says:

“Despite turbulence from the COVID-19 pandemic whose impact we began to feel late in the quarter, we achieved solid Q1 results. Climate change isn’t going away, however. Energy renovation is a high-impact economic recovery measure that creates local jobs, a more resilient and healthy society while at the same time contributing to reaching long-term global climate ambitions.”

Further information:
Kim Junge Andersen, Chief Financial Officer
ROCKWOOL International A/S
+45 46 56 03 00

Conference call:
ROCKWOOL Group will host an earning call on 14 May 2020 at 11:00 AM CEST. To attend the conference call dial +45 35445577, +44 3333000804 or +1 6319131422. Passcode 89917515#. The conference call will be transmitted live on www.rockwoolgroup.com  

Attachment

• SE-2020-24_EN