Nuplex announce upgrade to earnings guidance

Nuplex Industries today announced an upgrade to its earnings guidance for the 2015 Financial Year due to the ongoing strong performance in Europe, steady growth in Asia and North America, and the continued improvement in Australia & New Zealand.

Operating EBITDA1 is now expected to be between $130 million and $134 million. This guidance range includes the 5 month contribution from Nuplex Specialties and Masterbatch, the two ANZ focused businesses which were divested on 28 November 2015. Nuplex had previously expected EBITDA to be within the range of $115 to $125 million.

The 2015 Financial Year statutory results will report the performance of Nuplex’s continuing operations - the global resins business. Nuplex expects statutory EBITDA from continuing operations for the 12 month period ending 30 June 2015 to be between $124 and $128 million. Previously statutory EBITDA was expected to be between $109 and $119 million.

Nuplex’s CEO Mr Severin said, ‘Earnings for the 2015 Financial Year are expected to be higher than expected due to the realisation of benefits from internal initiatives and supportive market conditions.

‘Nuplex’s EBITDA to sales margin is ahead of management’s forecast as a result of the benefits flowing from the global procurement program, lower raw material costs and group-wide lower operating costs.

‘It is also due to the turnaround in profitability in the ANZ business where the EBITDA to sales margin has continued to improve following the restructure undertaken over the past few years.

‘During the second half of the 2015 Financial Year, market conditions in Europe have been better than expected as a result of activity in the Automotive OEM and manufacturing sectors. Asia and North America have seen steady growth as expected. In ANZ, as anticipated, market demand has been relatively flat’ said Mr Severin.

For the 12 months ended 30 June 2015, in local currency terms and in comparison to the prior financial year, Nuplex is expecting EBITDA from continuing operations in each of its four regions to grow;

- EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa): between 18 and 23% due to higher EBITDA to sales margins and mid-single digit volume growth resulting from strong demand from the manufacturing sectors and new product and sales initiatives.

- Asia: between 15 and 20% due to higher EBITDA to sales margins and mid-single digit volume growth.

- Americas: between 5 to 10% due to higher EBITDA to sales margins and low-single digit volume growth.

- ANZ: between 43 and 48% due to higher EBITDA to sales margins as a result of the restructure. Volumes are expected to be flat year on year.

Nuplex will release its results for the 2015 Financial Year on Friday 14 August 2015.