Accell Group’s Core Sales Climb 8.8 Percent In First Half

Accell Group N.V., the parent of Haibike, Koga, Batavus and Raleigh, reported sales in its core businesses in the first half were up 8.8 percent to €650.9 million. EBIT in its core businesses expanded 12.6 percent to €57.8 million.

Trade working capital as a percent of net turnover decreased by 200 basis points to 32.2 percent.

The non-core North American business decreased by 15.9 percent to €31.8 million (5 percent of group net turnover) with EBIT
coming in at negative €11.3 million compared to negative €8.5 million in H1 2018.

Total group net sales grew by 7.4 percent to €682.6 million and EBIT increased by 8.9 percent to €46.5 million. Net profit for the group was up 16.5 percent at €29.7 million.

Ton Anbeek, CEO Accell Group: “Our ‘Lead global. Win local’ strategy is paying off with all key performance indicators moving in the right direction reflecting sound growth, stable volumes, margin expansion, a higher EBIT and lower working capital as percent of net turnover for both our core business and the total group. Also cost as a percent of net turnover has stabilized.

“Driven by a better availability of our key products, we have seen double digit growth in most of our core regions. In the Netherlands we’ve reversed the downward turnover and volume trend with double digit growth and strong contributions from our Koga, Sparta and Batavus brands. In the DACH region growth was hampered due to delayed Haibike and Ghost innovative new model introductions. In all our other core European regions we saw strong double digit turnover growth in e-bikes. The performance in North America did not improve and in the course of this quarter we expect to complete the strategic review of this non-core business and announce our way forward.

“Our supply chain team is on track with creating efficiencies and delivering the targeted €12 million savings for 2019. The work on complexity reduction and the introduction of our frame platform strategy are also progressing according to plan. Finally, we have started the roll out of our new IT systems which will improve our operational performance and pave the way for our digital roadmap.”

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