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[Nov 2006]
Increased Refractories Business for RHI
The RHI Group (Vienna, Austria) reported revenue of €998.6 million in the first three quarters of 2006 (previous year, comparable to the new structure 2006: €893.9 million), an increase of 11.7%. In the third quarter revenue amounted to €331.8 million (previous year: €292.0 million) as a result of the good development of the refractories business world-wide and exceeded th e figure of the previous year by 13.6%.
Accumulated EBITDA in the RHI Group rose 20.7% to €130.5 million (previous year: €108.1 million); EBIT, at €97.5 million (previous year: €78.3 million), was up 24.5%. The EBIT margin in the group improved to 9.8% (previous year: 8.8%). Profit before income taxes from continuing operations (Refractories, other) increased by 32.4% to €79.3 million (previous year: €59.9 million), and profit after taxes rose 29.9% to €71.3 million. Profit from discontinued operations (Insulating), which was realised with the closing of the Heraklith transaction in June 2006, amounted to €60.8 million (previous year: €9.8 million). The RHI Group’s profit thus increased by 104.2 % to €132.1 million (previous year: €64.7 million) in the first three quarters of 2006.
In RHI’s consolidated balance sheet at 30 September 2006, equity, which is still negative, improved by €123.7 million compared to 31 December 2005 and now amounts to -€57.4 million. Taking into account the outstanding convertible bonds, equity is thus already positive again. In late 2001, this figure was approximately -€500 million after the write-down and deconsolidation of the US refractories companies. RHI’s financial liabilities were cut by more than half since 2001 from more than €1 billion to now stand at €487.0 million; including cash and cash equivalents, which increased significantly from €34.4 million to €57.5 million in the third quarter of 2006, this figure is only €429.5 million. This roughly corresponds to the 2.5-fold EBITDA of the focused RHI Group and illustrates RHI’s regained financial scope.
ENDS