Industrial services provider Bilfinger continued to grow in the financial year 2018. Relevant key figures improved across all business segments, meeting the forecasts and in some instances even outperforming them. The Strategy 2020 stabilisation phase has been completed, the set milestones have been reached: Orders received, revenue and earnings developed positively, while the Group’s liquidity and return on capital employed were at levels above those of the previous year. CEO Tom Blades: “We delivered on our 2020 strategy and on our commitments to both internal and external stakeholders. I am particularly pleased with the successful conclusion of the DPA and our Monitor’s Certification that Bilfinger is on an irreversible course towards compliance self-sufficiency. I think we can confidently say that 2018 was a year of achievement for
Bilfinger.”
The business environment continued to be robust in the six focus industries, particularly in Chemicals & Petrochem, Oil & Gas and Pharma & Biopharma. Demand for engineering and maintenance services continued to build on top of growing mechanical construction opportunities in the United States.
Strengthening the sense of purpose
Bilfinger continues to fine tune and adopt its 2–4–6 Strategy to better serve customers and drive margin development. Its engineering resources delivering both project management consulting and maintenance engineering have now been fully integrated into the regions to enhance Bilfingers end-to-end EMC capabilities. Consequently, the divisions are renamed E&M effective January 1, 2019. The technology companies delivering Energy & Emissions, Biopharma and Automation products remain grouped together and serve Bilfinger customers globally from their European manufacturing base. Together they form the Technologies division also effective January 1, 2019.
Business development in 2018
Orders received in financial year 2018 increased by 10 % to 4,459 million euros while organic growth was 12 %. At year-end, order backlog amounted to 2,818 million euros and was thus 11 % above the figure for the prior year. Revenue increased by 3 % to 4,153 million euros, organically it
increased by 6 %. EBITA adjusted of 65 million euro was well above the prior-year figure – that was burdened by risk provisions for legacy projects in the USA. In relation to revenue, the EBITA adjusted margin was 1.6 %. Net profit was -24 million euros. Adjusted net profit from continuing operations increased to 36 million euros and was thus positive for the first time since 2014.
Outlook 2019
In connection with the described adjustment to its organisational structure, Bilfinger is also adjusting its reporting segments as of the beginning of 2019. The forecasts and statements related to the expected development of the Group are made within the scope of these reporting structures.
Based on the current order backlog for financial year 2019, Bilfinger anticipates organic revenue growth in the mid-single digit percentage range. For EBITA adjusted, the Group expects a significant increase to more than 100 million euros.
