Aspo - ESL operating profit disappoints
Back in December, Aspo restated its 2018 EBIT guidance. The company announced that the figure will land at the lower end of the initial range. ESL and Telko both topped our Q4 revenue estimates, while ESL’s operating profit failed to match our expectations (even after we adjusted our estimate following the December profit warning).
- Group headline figures: Q4 net sales amounted to EUR 156.6m vs our EUR 154.0m estimate. Q4 EBIT stood at EUR 2.6m vs our EUR 3.9m expectation.
- ESL Shipping: Q4 sales recorded at EUR 46.4m vs our EUR 42.2m estimate. Q4 EBIT came in at EUR 4.2m vs our EUR 5.3m estimate.
- Telko: Q4 revenue amounted to EUR 69.5m vs our EUR 68.8m estimate. EBIT stood at EUR 3.4m, exactly as we expected.
- Leipurin: Q4 sales totaled EUR 31.6m vs our EUR 33.0m estimate. EBIT was EUR 0.8m vs our EUR 1.1m estimate.
- Kauko: sales were EUR 9.1m vs our EUR 10.1m estimate. EBIT (including the impairment loss) was EUR -4.4m vs our EUR -4.8m expectation.
- Guidance: Aspo guides 2019 EBIT at EUR 28-33m. This compares to the EUR 25.4m 2018 figure adjusted for the EUR 4.8m impairment loss on Kauko’s goodwill. ESL Shipping aims at net sales of more than EUR 200m and an EBIT margin of 12-15% by 2020.
- The BoD proposes 2018 dividend per share at EUR 0.44, to be paid in two installments.