(Alliance News) - Carel Industries Spa reported Wednesday that it ended 2023 with revenues up 19 percent year-on-year, to EUR650.2 million from EUR544.9 million.

Net of the scope change related to the consolidation of acquisitions of EUR58.7 million and the negative foreign exchange effect of EUR7.9 million, the increase in revenues would have been 10 percent.

The region of greatest importance to the group, EMEA, from which 69% of revenues are derived, closed 2023 with an increase at constant exchange rates of 18%: this performance benefits both from a significant contribution from the acquisitions made in the last two years and from some positive trends in HVAC already recorded during that period, such as that in data center cooling.

APAC, which accounts for about 14 percent of the group's revenues, reported growth at constant exchange rates of 22 percent over what was recorded in 2022. Revenues from North America, which accounted for about 15% of the total, grew by 41% at constant exchange rates and benefited from excellent performance in the HVAC sector, in particular, in applications related to data center cooling and other innovative industrial applications, together with the contribution of the newly acquired company SENVA, which is active in the sensor sector.

Consolidated EBITDA as of December 31, 2023 was EUR137.2 million, up 23 percent from EUR111.7 million recorded in 2022. Excluding nonrecurring costs arising mainly from the M&A activity carried out during the period, adjusted Ebitad was EUR139.9 million.

Net income, on the other hand, is EUR70.9 million, up 14 percent from EUR62.1 million a year earlier.

Carel's board proposed the distribution of a dividend of EUR0.19 per share, up from EUR0.18 paid last year.

The Consolidated Net Financial Position was a negative EUR35.6 million, including the accounting effect related to the application of IFRS16 amounting to EUR33.4 million, down sharply from the figure recorded as of December 31, 2022 and amounting to EUR95.8 million. In fact, the robust cash generation easily covered investments of about EIR27.4 million, the payment of operating dividends of EUR21.2 million, and the increase in net working capital of about EUR16.7 million.

"The first months of 2024 basically confirmed the dynamics of the latter part of 2023. Taking this similarity into account, the group expects to close the first quarter of 2024 with an amount of total revenues not far from what was recorded in the last quarter of 2023," the company said.

"As for the continuation of the year, expectations are for gradual growth in performance related to a number of phenomena, including the recovery of the investment cycle in the refrigeration sector - the first slight signs of which are already present -, the disposal of accumulated inventories in the heat pump supply chain, and the improvement of the European macroeconomic scenario."

Carel Industries' stock is up 0.5 percent at EUR21.60 per share.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

Comments and questions to redazione@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2024 Alliance News IS Italian Service Ltd. All rights reserved.