FRANCOTYP-POSTALIA PROPOSES DIVIDEND PAYMENT

Presenting its 2013 annual report, Francotyp-Postalia Holding AG, a multi-channel provider for mail communication, confirmed the preliminary results announced at end-February 2014. In view of the company’s profitable growth in the past financial year, the Management Board and Supervisory Board will propose payment of a dividend of EUR 0.08 a share to the Annual Shareholder Meeting on 19 June 2014.

"Our dividend proposal is a beginning, in the knowledge that we will still have to invest heavily in 2014 to ensure successful further development. In future we want to let our shareholders participate regularly in the company's success," says FP CEO and CFO Hans Szymanski.

Increase in revenue and profit in 2013

In the past financial year Francotyp-Postalia raised total revenue 2.0% to EUR 168.9 million, compared with EUR 165.6 million in the previous year. The anticipated improvement in results came from increased revenue and efficiency gains from production commissioned in Wittenberge in 2012. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) rose 16.8% in 2013 to EUR 22.2 million, and EBIT grew 14.3% to EUR 10.4 million. All in all the company grew consolidated net income 22.5% to EUR 4.9 million, from EUR 4.0 million in 2012.

The increase in profitability was associated with a rise of EUR 11.2 million in operating cash flows to EUR 18.5 million. With cash outflows for investment almost unchanged at EUR 14.9 million, compared with EUR 14.3 million in the previous year, this led to an improvement in free cash flow to EUR 3.6 million, compared with EUR -7.0 million in the previous year.

FP plans to continue profitable growth

Key success factors in the past financial year were the growth in revenue in Mail Services and the Software business as well as strong demand for the PostBase franking system. The company is set to benefit further from its continued development into a full-service mail communication provider in 2014, and is planning to continue profitable growth. As announced at end-February, the company anticipates revenue of at least EUR 173 million, EBITDA of at least EUR 25 million and EBIT of at least EUR 12 million. In view of the higher investment in future growth, however, free cash flow is likely to show a one-time decrease to EUR -2 million.

FP CEO and CFO Szymanski, explains: "We are deliberately increasing investment in 2014. We will be investing particularly in the US as a major rental market, and take advantage of decertification to renew our installed base and to bind the customers. We will also continue to invest in the development of new franking machines and certification of other country variants of PostBase. At the same time we see increasing interest in our De-Mail solutions. In combination with the Mail Service and Outsourcing business this will lay the foundation for a successful future for Francotyp-Postalia in the years to come."