PARIS (Agefi-Dow Jones)–Elis announced on Wednesday that it is aiming for an adjusted gross operating surplus (EBITDA) margin of around 33% in 2022, while the industrial laundry group previously forecast 33.5%, a update related to the acceleration of inflation in the third quarter.
“Accelerating inflation in the third quarter is expected to increase the cost base by around an additional €35 million in 2022,” Elis said in a statement. “The new price adjustments negotiated since the summer should bring in around 25 million euros in additional revenue for the year,” added the group.
Elis has announced that it anticipates organic growth in its 2022 turnover of more than 20%, whereas the group previously targeted a growth range of between 18% and 20%. This adjustment is associated with the rebound in hotel activity, the group’s price adjustment and its “strengthened growth profile”.
The industrial laundry group specified that its other financial projections for 2022 (net current result per share, adjusted operating result, free cash flow, etc.) remained unchanged.
Elis also indicated that he aimed to “actively” continue his debt reduction “to achieve a debt leverage close to 2.0x in 2023 and less than 2.0x from 2024”. As of September 30, “the group’s debt leverage was 2.6x, compared to 3.1x as of September 30, 2021,” Elis said. “The deleveraging trajectory that we anticipate should quickly make Elis compatible with an ‘investment grade’ profile”, corresponding to the best-rated bond issuers.
The group made these projections while its turnover amounted to 1.03 billion euros in the third quarter, recording growth of 22.8%, including 17% organic.
Elis underlined that the last quarter had been marked by the “continued recovery of the hotel industry”, by a “very good” commercial dynamic in Industry and in Commerce & Services and “additional price adjustments in connection with the inflation”.
“The dynamic is still strongly driven by the changing needs in terms of hygiene, traceability and responsible products & services”, noted Elis, adding “that no slowdown in activity” was observed “in any country or any line of business”.
“The high energy price inflation recorded during the summer led Elis to negotiate additional price adjustments, the implementation of which is spread between October 2022 and January 2023,” the group said.
“In total, the price effect should be around 7% for the whole year, for an inflation of our cost base of around 11%”, announced Elis.
-Eric Chalmet, Agefi-Dow Jones; +33 (0)1 41 27 47 95; [email protected] ed: VAT
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October 26, 2022 12:32 ET (16:32 GMT)