ITALY – The Biesse Group, a world leader in wood processing technology, reported sales of 511.1 million euros in the first nine months of 2019 (9M-2019). A slight drop of 2.0 percent when compared with the 521.8 million euros in the same period of 2018.

In 9M-2019, the Group’s EBITDA reached EUR 56.0 million and fell 8.1 percent compared to 9M-2018 (EUR 60.9 million). In 9M-2019, the Biesse Group obtained a profit of EUR 14.8 million, -37.2 percent compared to EUR 23.5 million in the same period of 2018.

Pierre Giorgio Sallier de La Tour, Biesse Group CFO stated, “The 30 September results are confirming the difficulties of our reference markets as well as the coolness of the world demand for durable goods, as moreover already announced the June 21st. All the volatility and uncertainty causes are remaining -political and economic-, hindering any resumption prospect. Despite the recovery of the consolidated revenues we realized during these 9 months, it’s remaining clear the perception we’re still living a strong negative phase. In addition, the actual orders intake reiterates an evident slowdown (-16.5 percent vs September 2018), while the orders backlog -in absolute value- is more than 205 Euro million and it represents a production visibility for not more than 4 months. The recent events we attended or we internally organized, were concluded in a satisfactory way, both for the number of visitors and for the interest they demonstrated, although the feedback can’t be enough to overturn the actual feeling. From the balance sheet point of view the pressure on the operative working capital elements is not relevant; the net financial position forecasted for this year end, before the IFRS 16 impacts, is remaining positive”.

The breakdown of consolidated revenues from a geographical point of view shows a slight decrease (-1.8 percent) in sales in Western Europe (as a percentage of sales 45.5 percent), with the domestic component at 14.3 percent (down from the same period of the previous year when it was 17.4 percent, but constant compared to last June). In comparison with the same period of 2018 the increase in the contribution of the North American area is strong, with an incidence of 23 percent on consolidated revenues (+40.8 percent the growth rate) mainly due to big systems orders.

On the other hand, the Eastern Europe segment, representing 12.4 percent of consolidated revenues, as well as the Asian segment both fell (-19.7 percent Eastern Europe and -22.1 percent Asia). Even though Asia continues to have a 15.3 percent incidence on consolidated revenues.