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TOUAX : Revenues from activities 2018
PRESS RELEASE Paris, 22 February 2019 - 5.45 pm
During 2018 revenue from activities increased quarter-on-quarter (average quarterly growth rate: +3.5%) to reach €154.5 million and €158.4 million at constant scope and exchange rates compared with €169.7 million in 2017, a decrease of 6.6%.
Annual leasing revenues totalled €134.5 million (€138 million at constant scope and exchange rates), compared to €146.1 million in 2017. The Freight Railcar business recorded an increase in leasing revenues, with higher utilisation rates. Leasing revenues are down slightly for the River Barges division. The Containers activity recorded a decline due to currency effects and a reduction of the fleet following the disposals realised during 2017, which were not offset by the gradual recovery of investments in 2018 initiated after asset refinancing in June. The utilisation rate remains high.
Equipment sales amounted to €18.7 million (€19.2 million at constant exchange rates and scopes) compared with €20.9 million in 2017. The Containers division recorded a 14% rise in sales, having developed new container trading operations.
Syndication fees and capital gains not linked to recurring activities increased to €1.3 million of which €1 million is linked to syndication commissions, particularly the syndication of railcar portfolios to third parties of which Touax retains management.
(**) Sales to end users of equipment belonging to the group are reported for the full price of the disposals on the Sales of Equipment line. The margin or capital gain realised is obtained by deducting the purchase cost from the sales.
Sales to end users of equipment belonging to third-party investors and managed by the Group are reported for their margin (sales commission) on the Sales of equipment line
(***) The capital gains shown on this line are capital gains not related to recurring equipment disposal activities.
: The Freight Railcars business is the group's leading activity in terms of capital employed. At the end of December 2018, revenue from the Freight Railcar division totalled €56.3 million, stable compared with 2017. Over the year, leasing revenues increased by 4.9% to €53.4 million thanks to the improved utilisation rate (+3 points over the year, totalling an average of 84.9% over 2018 and reaching 86.9% in December 2018). Against the backdrop of a growing market, the Group has initiated leasing rate increases.
: Revenues for the River Barges division totalled €14.5 million, stable compared with 2017. Disposal operations worth €2 million offset the decrease in leasing revenues over the period due to a lack of dynamism of the South American market.
: The Containers activity consists mainly of assets managed on behalf of third parties. Revenue from operations in the Containers division totalled €76.4 million (€79.7 million at constant scope and exchange rate effects) compared to €87.6 million in 2017.
Leasing revenues totalled €68 million in 2018 compared with €80.4 million in 2017 in a dynamic market with an average utilisation rate over the period reaching 98.7%. The decreasing leasing revenues follows effects of a change in scope, with 25% being explained by dollar exchange rate changes and the remainder by the smaller size of the fleet. Equipment sales amounted to €8.1 million, up 14% compared to 2017, with the division developing new container trading operations.
The miscellaneous line includes various re-invoicing and retained modular buildings sales activities in Africa, whose decrease in revenues results from a business in Algeria, in the process of being exited.
The increase in revenues throughout the year marks the positive trend in the business. A trend that is expected to continue in 2019.
In fact, the demand for rail freight transport continues to grow in Europe, thus pushing demand for freight railcar leasing, especially in the intermodal transport segment for which Touax is the second largest player in Europe and demand for containers remains high with global GDP growth expected to reach 3.5%.
The Group is therefore confident in its objective of returning to profitability in its transport activities as this is already visible in the improvement of leasing revenues since the beginning of the year.
Your contacts:
Fabrice and Raphaël WALEWSKI Ghislaine Gasparetto
Managing Directors
touax@touax.com ggasparetto@actifin.fr
www.touax.com Tel: +33 1 56 88 11 11
Tel: +33 1 46 96 18 00
2321 Rosecrans Avenue. Suite 2200
90245 El Segundo Stati Uniti