Autins Group Regulatory News (AUTG)

13 June 2017

Autins Group plc

("Autins" or the "Group")

Interim Results

Autins Group plc (AIM: AUTG), a leading designer, manufacturer and supplier of acoustic and thermal insulation solutions for the automotive sector, is pleased to announce its Interim Results for the six months ended 31 March 2017.

Financial Highlights

· Revenue increased by 14.7% to £12.25m (H1 2016: £10.68m)

· Gross profit ahead by 46.5% at £4.20m (H1 2016: £2.87m) - gross margins up to 34.3% (H1 2016: 26.9%)

· Adjusted EBITDA1 £0.54m (H1 20162: £0.64m)

· Adjusted Profit Before Tax1 £0.35m (H1 20162: £0.29m)

· Reported Loss After Tax £(0.16m) (H1 2016 profit: £0.15m)

· Loss per Share (0.72p) (H1 2016 earnings: 1.14p)

· Net cash £0.44m (H1 2016: Net Debt £7.3m)

· Interim dividend 0.4p

1: Adjusted EBITDA and PBT excludes exceptional costs of £0.23m of Solar Nonwoven start-up costs, £0.12m amortisation of intangible costs, £0.14m related to the former Chief Executive and £0.09m of IPO and refinancing costs

2: Adjusted EBITDA and PBT excludes £0.12m amortisation of intangible costs

Operational Highlights

· Neptune product has been awarded its first set of orders across 5 OEMs, 8 vehicles and 67 parts

· Good progress for our German business has included winning a multi platform component for a major European Automotive Group

· Product deliveries have commenced from our Swedish business for a recent key vehicle launch in Europe

· Continuing investment for growth at Solar Nonwovens, within the Group team and in the Technical Centre

· Non-automotive sales continued to show steady double digit growth year-on-year

Michael Jennings, Chief Executive, said: "I am pleased that the Group's interim results demonstrate the essence of our growth strategy by delivering solid top line growth while continuing to improve gross margins. Our investment programme remains on track and will ensure we are positioned to fulfil our growth plans ahead."

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About Autins

Autins specialises in the design, manufacture and supply of acoustic and thermal insulation solutions primarily in the automotive sector but with an increasing focus on other sectors, including, flooring, building and wider industrial applications.

The Group is one of the leading suppliers of noise and heat management products in the automotive market, producing and supplying over two million parts per month to customers including some of the world's leading vehicle manufacturers.

Operational and Financial Review

Revenue

Revenue progressed with growth of 14.7% to £12.25m (H1 2016: £10.68m). Component manufacturing sales were £11.45m (H1 2016: £10.49m) with £0.40m and £0.07m arising from new external customers acquired with Scandins and DBX respectively.

As indicated in the 2016 Annual Report and Accounts, sales of tooling, which arise as a function of new programme sales increased significantly to £0.75m (H1 2016: £0.19m)

Gross margin

The Group's component gross margin increased to 34.4% (2016: 28.2%) with the group continuing to see benefits from investment in value-added processes introduced in H1 2016 as well as improved returns from flooring and the benefit of in-house manufacture of light foam with the acquisition of Scandins.

EBITDA and operating (loss)/profit

The reported operating loss of £(0.28)m (H1 2016: Profit £0.35m) and EBITDA of £0.09m (H1 2016: £0.65m) are after charging exceptional costs of £0.57m (H1 2016: £0.12m) as detailed below.

The acquisition of Scandins and DBX AB in April 2016 has added £0.58m of recurring cost to the total Group administrative expense in the period.

Exceptional items

An additional £0.03m of exceptional legal and professional costs related to the Group's IPO were incurred in the period.

The Company acquired 100 per cent of the issued share capital of Acoustic Insulations Limited on 29 April 2014 as part of an overall refinancing package to fund strategic investments and additional working capital to support the growth of the Group. This acquisition recognised £1.90m of intangible assets which creates an annual amortisation charge of £0.24m.

Other exceptional operating costs

The Group incurred exceptional costs in the period of £0.14m (2016: Nil) as a result of the resignation of the former Chief Executive Office, Jim Griffin on 1 February 2017.

Legal and professional costs of £0.06m (2016: Nil) in relation to the change of bank finance providers have been charged in the period.

The Group's Solar Nonwovens facility has, whilst working towards full operational status, incurred non-recurring start-up costs of £0.23m (Full year 2016: £0.09m)

Joint venture

The Group's share of joint venture activities relates solely to the profitable growth in Indica Automotive. The prior period includes pre-acquisition losses at Scandins prior to its acquisition on 20 April 2016.

Indica Automotive's turnover has increased 50% year on year to £1.27m (H1 2016: £0.85m) with a profit after tax of £0.22m (H1 2016: £0.19m). Relocating to a larger site and investing in additional management has positioned the joint venture for further growth and diversification away from the Group which remains the current largest customer.

Net finance expense 

Net finance expense for the period of £0.05m (H1 2016: £0.26m) is primarily the interest element of hire purchase agreements (£0.02m) and asset backed loans (£0.02m) but also includes £0.01m of interest on loan notes that were repaid in November 2016. No new term finance has been utilised in the period.

Taxation 

Tax provisioning on the loss in the period has been calculated at a blended rate taking account of the relative UK, German and Swedish headline rates and the effect of additional reliefs and non taxable items. We would expect the effective rate for full year profits to be lower than the headline rates due to enhanced R&D claims for the current and previous year and the utilisation of brought forward losses within the Group.

The Group continues to have taxable losses available within its overseas subsidiaries which will offset trading profits in higher corporation tax territories of Sweden and Germany in the short term. The Group continues to have an £0.18m (Full year 2016: £0.18m) unrecognised tax asset in respect of losses in the German subsidiary.

Dividends 

The Board is proposing an interim dividend of 0.4p per share for the current year. The dividend will be paid on 4 August 2017 to shareholders on the register on 14 July 2017.

Net cash/(debt) and financing

The Group ended the period with net cash (being the net of cash and cash equivalents and the Group's loans and borrowings) of £0.4m (H1 2016: Net debt £7.3m) and cash and cash equivalents of £1.9m (H1 2016: £0.4m). During the period net cash has reduced as a result of funding working capital requirements arising from growth, further capital investment in the Group's technical and operational facilities as well as a third stage payment to the Neptune equipment supplier.

The new HSBC facilities arranged in November 2016 are currently unutilized but provide up to £6m of invoice discount and £4.5m of asset finance availability for the Group's ongoing investment in growth.

Loan notes from the acquisition of Acoustic Insulations Limited in 2014 were settled in the period for £1.1m of cash.

Capital expenditure

The Group spent £0.5m (H1 2016: £1.8m) in the period with investments in equipment to support its testing facility at MIRA and further investment in the Neptune facility being the key elements.

A third stage payment of $1.1m was made in relation to the Neptune production line at the Group's new Tamworth facility.

Operations

Our Neptune product continues to gain approval with major OEMs. This has been illustrated most clearly with first orders being awarded across 5 OEMs, 8 vehicles and 67 parts. These, along with other new product wins have been delivered in both the UK and our operations in Sweden and Germany. In addition, both European operations have seen continued steady double-digit growth in our non-automotive flooring business. The Group continues to invest for growth and this is most prominently seen in our continued progress in establishing both the Solar Nonwovens site in Tamworth and the Group's Technical Centre at MIRA. In both cases, we continue to establish core capabilities across the teams in terms of production processes and R&D test facilities respectively. Operationally, continued investment is planned in plant for core component manufacture to balance capacity requirements across press, drape moulding and water jet manufacturing processes. These capital expenditures will be made during the second half of the year.

Outlook

As expected our results will be significantly weighted to the second half. This is in line with our expectations to deliver solid top line growth for the full year in conjunction with improving gross margins. Beyond this and for the balance of the current year we remain focused on our wider growth plans and, in particular, our efforts to continue gaining traction with Neptune across the automotive market in Europe.

Interim consolidated income statement

Interim consolidated statement of comprehensive income

Interim consolidated statement of financial position

Interim consolidated statement of changes in equity

Interim consolidated statement of cash flows

Notes to the interim consolidated financial information

1. Accounting policies

Description of business

Autins Group is a public limited company domiciled in the United Kingdom and listed on the Alternative Investment market of the London Stock Exchange ('AIM'). The principal activity of the Group is the supply of Noise Vibration and Harshness ('NVH') insulating materials primarily to the automotive industry. The address of the registered office is Central Point One, Central Park Drive, Rugby, Warwickshire, CV23 0WE.

Basis of preparation

This unaudited consolidated interim financial information has been prepared in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the European Union. The principal accounting policies used in preparing the interim results are those the Group expects to apply in its financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2017 and are unchanged from those disclosed in the Annual Report for the year ended 30 September 2016.

The financial information does not contain all of the information that is required to be disclosed in a full set of IFRS financial statements. The financial information for the six months ended 31 March 2017 and 31 March 2016 is unreviewed and unaudited and does not constitute the Company's statutory financial statements for those periods.

The comparative financial information for the full year ended 30 September 2016 has, however, been derived from the audited statutory financial statements for that period. A copy of those statutory financial statements has been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The auditor's report on those accounts was unqualified, did not include references to any matters to which the auditor drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying its report and did not contain a statement under section 498(2)-(3) of the Companies Act 2006.

The financial information in the Interim Report is presented in Sterling the Group's presentational currency. 

Basis of consolidation

The consolidated financial statements present the results of the Company and its subsidiaries ("the Group") as if they formed a single entity. Intercompany transactions and balances between group companies are therefore eliminated in full.

Subsidiaries are all entities over which the Group has control. The Group controls an entity when it is exposed to, or has rights to, variable returns from its involvement with the entity and has the ability to affect those returns through its power over the entity. Subsidiaries are fully consolidated from the date on which control is transferred to the Group and cease to be consolidated from the date on which control is transferred out of the Group.

The consolidated financial statements incorporate the results of business combinations using the acquisition method. In the statement of financial position, the acquiree's identifiable assets, liabilities and contingent liabilities are initially recognised at their fair values at the acquisition date.

Operating segments

Operating segments are reported in a manner consistent with the internal reporting provided to the chief operating decision-maker. The chief operating decision maker has been identified as the management C team including the Chief Executive, Chief Financial Officer and Chairman.

The Board considers that the Group's activity constitutes one operating and one separable reporting segment as defined under IFRS 8. Management consider the reportable segment to be Automotive NVH. Revenue and profit before tax primarily arises from the principal activity based in the UK. All material assets are primarily based in the UK. Management reviews the performance of the Group by reference to total results against budget.

The total profit measure is operating (loss)/profit as disclosed on the face of the consolidated statement of comprehensive income. No differences exist between the basis of preparation of the performance measures used by management and the figures in the Group financial information.

2 Revenue and segmental information

Segmental information

The Group currently has one main reportable segment in each year/period, namely Automotive NVH which involves provision of insulation materials to reduce noise, vibration and harshness to automotive manufacturing. Turnover and Operating Profit are disclosed for other segments in aggregate as they individually do not have a significant impact on the Group result.

Measurement of operating segment profit or loss, assets and liabilities

The accounting policies of the operating segments are the same as those applied for the Group in the 2016 annual report and accounts.

The Group evaluates performance on the basis of operating profit/ (loss).

Reporting of external revenue by location of customers is as follows:

3 Earnings per share

Loss/earnings per share is calculated based on the share capital of Autins Group plc and the earnings of the Group for all periods. There are options in place over 305,944 shares that are anti-dilutive at 31 March 2017 although they may dilute future earnings per share.

4 Exceptional items

An additional £25k of exceptional legal and professional costs related to the Group's IPO were incurred in the period.

The Company acquired 100 per cent of the issued share capital of Acoustic Insulations Limited on

29 April 2014 as part of an overall refinancing package to fund strategic investments and additional

working capital to support the growth of the Group. This acquisition recognised £1,909k of intangible assets which creates an annual amortisation charge of £237k.

Other exceptional operating costs

The Group incurred exceptional costs in the period of £136k (2016: £Nil) as a result of the resignation of the former Chief Executive Office, Jim Griffin on 1 February 2017.

Legal and professional costs of £61k in relation to the change of bank finance providers have been charged in the period.

The Group's Solar Nonwovens facility has, whilst working towards full operational status, incurred non-recurring start-up costs of £234k (Full year 2016: £94k)

5 Fair value adjustment to goodwill arising on the acquisition of Scandins AB

In preparing the interim statements, the Group has, in accordance with IFRS 3 Business Combinations revisited the attributable assets and liabilities acquired on 19 April 2016. A fair value adjustment in relation to the value of inventory acquired and accruals held for legal and professional costs has resulted in an increase in goodwill arising on consolidation of £41k in the period.

6 Taxation

Taxation on the profit/(loss) before taxation and share of results of joint ventures has been provided at a rate of 20% for the six month ended 31 March 2017 which is the estimated rate of tax for the period (six months ended 31 March 2016: 20%; year ended 30 September 2016; 20%)

7 Dividend

On 7 March 2017 the Company announced a second interim dividend of 0.4 pence per share payable on 4 April 2017 to those Ordinary Shareholders on the register of members at close of business on 17 March 2017.

The Board has declared an interim dividend at 0.4 pence per share payable on 4 August 2017 to Ordinary Shareholders on the register of members at close of business on 14 July 2017. In accordance with IAS10 "Events after the Balance Sheet Date", this dividend has not been reflected in the interim accounts.