Swiss sanitation specialist Geberit has had a disappointing first semester of 2017, in which its profit dropped about 20 %. Turnover also slumped, but only slightly.
Disappointing results
The Swiss toilet and sanitary devices manufacturer saw its turnover drop by 0.7 % to 1.47 billion Swiss francs (1.35 billion euro), but it would have had a 2.8 % autonomous turnover growth were it not for the exchange rates. Europe is still Geberit’s prime market, with a 2.2 % autonomous turnover growth (excluding exchange rate fluctuations). The Iberian Peninsula (+ 13.1 %), Central and Eastern Europe (+ 6.9 %) and Italy (+ 6.4 %) were the best regions, closely followed by the Benelux (+ 4.9 %) and France (+ 2.2 %). The United Kingdom (- 3.4 %) and Germany (- 0.9 %) struggled.
Profit slumped to 258 million francs (235 million euro), a 18 % blow compared to last year’s first six months. The board pointed to one-time costs (a 44 million francs cost to shut down two ceramics factories in France) to explain the huge profit drop. Excluding that one-time cost, the profit drop would only have been 4 % and the board feels it has published “solid results”. Nevertheless, Geberit failed to live up to the analysts’ expectations: a 275 million franc profit.
