OREANDA-NEWS. Business at the BAUER Group started off well in the first quarter. The international construction and machinery manufacturing concern saw improved sales and EBIT and an increase in order backlog, thereby confirming its forecast.

Total Group revenues came in at EUR 383.2 million, 6.3 % down on the previous year (EUR 409.1 million). EBIT rose from EUR 1.2 million to EUR 4.8 million. Earnings after tax were in line with expectations at EUR -9.6 million (previous year: EUR -8.6 million). Order backlog passed the billion mark, having increased significantly by 18.0 % from EUR 848.2 million to EUR 1,001.0 million.


Business segments

With its three segments – Construction, Equipment and Resources – and its broadly diversified business model, the Group operates through more than 110 subsidiaries in some 70 countries around the world.

In the Construction segment, some larger projects were delayed in the start-up phase, resulting in total Group revenues falling by 17.4 % to EUR 159.9 million. EBIT decreased by EUR 3.8 million to EUR 1.0 million. The company expects that it will be able to make good this deficit over the course of the year through the progress of major projects. Order backlog developed very positively in the previous quarters, rising by 13.9 % to EUR 584.7 million.

In the Equipment segment, total Group revenues fell by 5.1 % to EUR 165.0 million, contrasted by an increase in sales revenues of 7.3 % to EUR 107.8 million. At the start of the year, a number of large and special machines were delivered, leading to a rise in EBIT: It totaled EUR 5.9 million compared to EUR -0.9 million in the previous year. Order backlog dropped from EUR 161.6 million to EUR 129.2 million, which was primarily due to the spin-off of the deep drilling business. It has now been integrated in the joint venture with Schlumberger. The many innovations showcased by the company at Bauma, the world's biggest trade fair for construction machinery, in Munich in April drew a lot of interest.

The Resources segment started the business year off with significantly better total Group revenues: Driven by larger projects in the environmental business, they increased by 31.9 % to EUR 71.5 million. EBIT came to EUR -1.6 million (previous year: EUR -2.9 million). Totaling EUR 287.1 million, the segment's order backlog increased by 65.7 %.


Outlook

The company confirms its full-year forecast from April 2016, predicting total Group revenues of around EUR 1.65 billion, earnings after tax of around EUR 20 to 25 million, and EBIT of around EUR 75 million. "We are seeing an overall positive trend in our business operations," states Prof. Thomas Bauer, Chairman of the Management Board of BAUER Aktiengesellschaft, "We should be able to sustainably improve our results again soon."