Continued solid growth with satisfactory earnings in line with expectations

Nilfisk Annual Report 2017

Nilfisk, a leading provider of professional cleaning products and services, is announcing its results for the full year 2017.

Highlights for 2017

In 2017 Nilfisk realized total revenue of 1,082 mEUR, representing solid organic growth of 3.7% for the total business and 5.4% for the professional business excluding the Specialty segments. Growth was driven by a strong performance in EMEA (5.9%) and Americas (5.7%)
Measured on operating performance, the full-year EBITDA margin before special items was a satisfactory 11.4%. A significant share price increase in December negatively impacted the cost of a phantom share program. Including the impact from this program, the EBITDA margin before special items was 11.1%
EBIT before special items measured on operating performance was 7.8%, up 0.5 percentage point from 2016. Including the impact from the phantom share program, the EBIT margin before special items was 7.5%
Return on Capital Employed improved by 1.4 percentage points to 16.0%
The gross margin increased from 41.9% in 2016 to 42.2% in 2017 driven mainly by an increase in the gross margin of the professional business in EMEA, Americas and APAC
The cost saving program progressed as planned and levers of 21 mEUR in accumulated benefits for 2016 and 2017 have now been executed. Nilfisk remains on track to reap the full cost saving potential of 35 mEUR
Nilfisk will in 2018 keep simplifying and growing the business, while investing in transformational activities that will enable Nilfisk to lead the future of cleaning

Outlook 2018

Organic growth is expected in the range of 3.0%-4.0%
EBITDA margin before special items is expected in the range of 11.5%-12.0%

CEO comment

Commenting on the results, Hans Henrik Lund, CEO of Nilfisk, says:

“With strong growth in our two largest areas, EMEA and Americas, 2017 has been a good year for Nilfisk. We delivered a solid growth of 3.7%, and we realized an EBITDA margin before special items of 11.4% measured on our operating performance, which is a satisfactory result. In addition, our Return on Capital Employed improved significantly by 1.4 percentage points to 16.0%. During the year we have also shown important progress on our ambition to build the future of cleaning with the shipment of the first units of our autonomous cleaning solution, the Nilfisk Liberty A50, and with the announcement of two new strategic partnerships in the field of robotics.”