Revenue up again at VTG Aktiengesellschaft – Railcar utilization continues to break records

VTG Aktiengesellschaft (WKN: VTG999), one of the leading railcar leasing and rail logistics companies in Europe, continued the successful development witnessed in recent months in the third quarter of 2018. Group revenue for the first nine months of 2018 thus rose by 3.4 percent to EUR 775.7 million (9M 2017: EUR 750.2 million). Despite negative one-time effects, EBITDA improved by 2.0 percent, from EUR 250.7 million to EUR 255.8 million. The additional charges included high levels of expenditure for the acquisition of the Nacco Group, which was closed on October 4, 2018, as well as legal and consulting fees incurred in relation to the public takeover bid by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure. Adjusted for these one-time charges, EBITDA is up 4.5 percent to EUR 264.8 million (9M 2017: EUR 253.3 million). Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) are EUR 1.44, a 5.7 percent gain on the same period a year ago (EUR 1.36).

"The Group's revenue and EBITDA have maintained the positive development experienced in recent months. We are also pleased to see a further increase in utilization at Railcar, as well as strong results overall for this division," says Dr. Heiko Fischer, Chairman of the Executive Board of VTG AG. "Successful closure of the Nacco acquisition at the start of October 2018 also brings us to an important milestone for the Group, laying the foundation from which we can sustainably strengthen our market position as the largest private railcar leasing company in Europe."

Railcar: Revenue improved and higher utilization

Railcar continued the positive trend witnessed in the preceding quarters. Thanks to higher utilization and a larger fleet size, revenue in the first nine months of 2018 rose from EUR 386.0 million a year ago to EUR 413.5 million, an increase of 7.1 percent. Utilization in Europe, the company's core market, improved year on year in all railcar segments, especially in intermodal railcars. Demand was so strong that isolated delivery bottlenecks occurred in some railcar segments. However, the integration of the Nacco fleet and the addition of newly built railcars mean that these bottlenecks will be resolved in the fourth quarter. In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, VTG invested a total of EUR 211.9 million in its operating business (9M 2017: EUR 211.8 million), more than 95 percent of which was spent on the Railcar Division. At the end of the first nine months of 2018, utilization for the total fleet stood at 93.3 percent, 1.2 percentage points higher than the comparable figure in the previous year (92.1 percent) and 0.3 percentage points up on the previous quarter. Driven by the improved demand situation, EBITDA increased by 6.9 percent to EUR 268.7 million (9M 2017: EUR 251.4 million).

Revenue growth at Tank Container Logistics – EBITDA down in the logistics divisions

The Tank Container Logistics division saw its revenue increase by 6.7 percent to EUR 124.9 million in the first nine months of 2018 (9M 2017: EUR 117.0 million). Healthy capacity utilization levels in Europe's chemical industry in particular pushed up the volume of transports. At the same time, intercontinental traffic to and from Asia experienced pleasing development, while traffic in North America decreased. After nine months of the current fiscal year, EBITDA of EUR 5.1 million was 38.4 percent down on the previous year's figure of EUR 8.3 million. The decline was attributable primarily to shifts in overseas transportation flows, which drove up costs by leaving equipment underused, raising demurrage and adding to expenses for empty tank positioning. In addition, bottlenecks in road haulage and in the rail infrastructure in Europe also drove up demurrage and freight costs. To accommodate these extra costs, accruals for transportation costs for the first nine months of the current fiscal year were increased by EUR 3.4 million in the third quarter of 2018. In the period under review, this caused the EBITDA margin to decline by 7.7 percentage points to 29.3 percent (9M 2017: 37.0 percent).

With revenue down 4.0 percent to EUR 237.3 million, Rail Logistics experienced weaker development in the first nine months of 2018 than in the same period of the previous fiscal year (EUR 247.2 million). EBITDA, too, fell by 17.5 percent from EUR 5.1 million in the previous year to EUR 4.2 million. The EBITDA margin, which is based on gross profit, accordingly dipped by 3.6 percentage points to 19.2 percent (9M 2017: 22.8 percent). This development was essentially due to the loss of two large orders in the industrial goods segment, while delays in project logistics and the rail strike in France had a negative impact on revenue.

Nacco Group acquisition closed

After the balance sheet date, the acquisition of the Nacco Group was closed on October 4, 2018. This transaction takes VTG past an important milestone that will sustainably strengthen its railcar leasing activities and make it fit for the future. The acquisition further diversifies the VTG fleet, which has now grown by roughly 11,000 railcars to a total of more than 94,000 railcars worldwide. In 2019, VTG expects this takeover to contribute EUR 85 million to revenue and EUR 70 million to EBITDA (before integration and transaction costs).