PRESS RELEASE
2016 FIRST-QUARTER FINANCIAL INFORMATION
" Organic sales down by 1.5%.1
" Ongoing robust growth in the first quarter for automotive harnesses and
LAN cables & systems, offsetting the continued deterioration in the oil and mining sectors.
" Sales for the submarine high-voltage business down 14% as expected, due to the effect of project timings.
" Start of a recovery in sales of medium- and low-voltage distribution cables to European energy operators.
" Satisfactory progress for all of the Group's strategic initiatives.
Paris, May 3, 2016 Today, Nexans announced that its sales for the first quarter of
2016 amounted to 1,433 million euros (versus 1,601 million euros for first-quarter 2015). At constant metal prices2 the sales figure came to
1,104 million euros, representing an organic decrease of 1.5% year on year but
2.4% organic growth compared with the fourth quarter of 2015.
The year-on-year organic growth figure which is in line with the Group's expectations
is mainly due to the anticipated effect of project timings in the submarine high-voltage business. Invoiced sales for this business were 14% lower than in the first quarter of
2015 but up 13% on the fourth quarter of 2015.
The general trends seen in late 2015 continued into the first three months of 2016, with ongoing mixed pictures across the various businesses:
" In high added-value businesses (automotive harnesses, LAN cables and systems), sales remained strong despite an unfavorable basis of comparison which resulted in weaker year-on-year organic growth rates than in 2015. For the submarine high-voltage business, the first quarter of 2016 was a pivotal moment between the end of existing contracts and the start-up of new contracts won in 2015.
" For businesses that were already in a negative growth phase in 2015 sales were once again very low, with Australia and the oil & gas sectors experiencing further reductions in business volumes. In Brazil, however, despite the country's persistent economic difficulties, the Group felt the positive impacts of new financed overhead power line contracts, which drove sharp sales growth of 32%
compared with first-quarter 2015 and 13% versus fourth-quarter 2015.
1
The first-quarter 2015 sales figure used for like-for-like comparisons corresponds to sales at constant non-ferrous metal prices adjusted for the effects of exchange rates and changes in the scope of consolidation. The currency effect on sales at constant non-ferrous metal prices for the first quarter of 2016 amounted to a negative 40 million euros and changes in the scope of consolidation had a negative 10 million euro impact.
2
To neutralize the effect of fluctuations in non-ferrous metal prices and therefore measure the underlying sales trend, Nexans also calculates its sales using a constant price for copper and aluminum.
Nexans 2016 First-Quarter Financial Information - Page 1/6
" The Group's other cable businesses continued to gradually recover in Europe
