DGAP-News: JOST Werke AG: JOST starts successfully into fiscal year 2022 and achieves record sales and record earnings in the first quarter of 2022

JOST starts successfully into fiscal year 2022 and achieves record sales and
record earnings in the first quarter of 2022

- Strong growth achieved: Sales up 21.2% to EUR 311.8 million (Q1 2021: EUR 257.3 million)

- Adjusted EBIT at record level: Adjusted EBIT grows by 15.5% to EUR 34.4 million (Q1 2021: EUR 29.8 million)

- Resilient profitability: Adjusted EBIT margin at 11.0% despite significant increase in raw material, energy, and logistics costs (Q1 2021: 11.6%)

- Significant increase in adjusted EPS: Adjusted EPS went up 14.3% to EUR 1.54 (Q1 2021: EUR 1.35)

- Positive outlook for 2022 confirmed: Sales and adjusted EBIT expected to increase by a mid single-digit percentage range compared to 2021 and adjusted EBIT margin to remain stable

Neu-Isenburg, May 12, 2022. JOST Werke AG (JOST), a leading global producer and supplier of safety-critical systems for the commercial vehicle industry, published today its interim report for the first quarter of 2022.

Joachim Dürr, CEO of JOST Werke AG, said: JOST has made a successful start to the year. Demand for our products has increased significantly in both transport and agriculture. We were able to further strengthen our market position in North America and continued to win over customers in Europe and Asia-Pacific-Africa with our excellent product and service quality. The good work of our organization worldwide and the high flexibility of our production allowed us to translate the record sales achieved during the quarter into record earnings. This promising start to the year shows that we are well on track to achieve our growth targets for 2022 despite an overall very tense geopolitical situation.

JOST increases sales in transport and agriculture
Consolidated group sales grew by 21.2% year-on-year to EUR 311.8 million in the first quarter 2022 (Q1 2021: EUR 257.3 million). In the transport sector, JOST global sales went up by 13.7% to EUR 225.5 million (Q1 2022: EUR 198.3 million). Sales of agricultural components rose even more strongly by 46.2% to EUR 86.2 million (Q1 2021: EUR 59.0 million). JOST was able to pass on a large portion of the increased raw material, energy, and logistics costs through price increases. As a result, JOST could limit the negative impact of cost hikes and increase adjusted EBIT by 15.5% year-on-year to EUR 34.4 million in the first quarter of 2022 the highest operating result within a quarter to date (Q1 2021: EUR 29.8 million). The adjusted EBIT margin amounted to 11.0% (Q1 2021: 11.6%).

JOST achieves sales and earnings growth in Europe despite market uncertainties
In the first three months of 2022, JOST grew sales in Europe by 15.9% to EUR 180.1 million (Q1 2021: EUR 155.5 million). Demand for JOST products for transport and agriculture remained at a very high level, although market uncertainties increased during the quarter due to the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the sharp rise in material and energy prices. JOST was able to partially compensate for the increased costs through price adjustments, a high degree of flexibility and lean administrative structures. As a result, adjusted EBIT in Europe increased by 5.8% to EUR 17.5 million in the first quarter of 2022 (Q1 2021: EUR 16.5 million) and the adjusted EBIT margin was 9.7% (Q1 2021: 10.6%).

JOST accelerates growth pace through further market share gains in North America
Supported by strong fundamentals in JOST relevant market segments, additional market share gains and price increases, JOST achieved the strongest regional growth in North America. The group significantly increased North American sales by 65.5% to EUR 91.5 million in the first quarter of 2022 (Q1 2021: EUR 55.3 million). Adjusted for currency translation effects, sales increased by 54.0% year-on-year. Supported by the strong sales growth and the resulting higher operating leverage from fixed cost degression, JOST nearly doubled adjusted EBIT in North America by 90.8% to EUR 7.9 million (Q1 2021: EUR 4.1 million). The adjusted EBIT margin improved to 8.6% during the first quarter (Q1 2021: 7.5%).

Profitability improved in Asia-Pacific-Africa
In Asia-Pacific-Africa (APA), the market development for JOST showed a mixed picture. On the one hand, sales in key markets such as India, Australia and South Africa significantly increased year-on-year. On the other hand, the Chinese truck market declined sharply in the first quarter of 2022, especially compared with the exceptionally strong previous years quarter, which was boosted by pull-forward effects. JOST was able to partially offset the negative effect of China's market drop through high growth in the other markets of the APA region, so that overall sales in APA decreased by only 13.8% to EUR 40.2 million (Q1 2021: EUR 46.6 million). In line with the sales development, adjusted EBIT in APA went down by 10.7% to EUR 7.3 million (Q1 2021: EUR 8.2 million). Nonetheless, the adjusted EBIT margin improved to 18.2% (Q1 2021: 17.5%), as the regional product mix was more favorable compared to the previous year. This is due to the fact that compared to the other markets in the APA region, the Chinese market has a higher share of on-road applications, which come at lower margins than off-road applications.

Significant increase in net income
Due to the strong sales and earnings growth, reported net income in the first quarter of 2022 grew by 13.5% to EUR 21.5 million (Q1 2021: EUR 18.9 million). Accordingly, earnings per share improved to EUR 1.44 (Q1 2021: EUR 1.27).

Adjusted net income rose by 14.3% to EUR 23.0 million during the first quarter of 2022 (Q1 2021: EUR 20.1 million). Adjusted earnings per share also improved by 14.3% to EUR 1.54 (Q1 2021: EUR 1.35).

Strong growth and increased prices burden working capital
Largely due to the improvement in consolidated net income, JOSTs equity grew by 11.5% to EUR 342.4 million as of the reporting date March 31, 2022 (December 31, 2021: EUR 307.2 million). As a result, the equity ratio improved to 32.7% (December 31, 2021: 31.2%).

Compared to the same period of the previous year, working capital went up by 36.6% to EUR 236.4 million (Q1 2021: EUR 173.0 million). In addition to the year-on-year boost in business volume, the surge in working capital was due to the increased selling prices as well as the significantly higher material costs compared to the first quarter of 2021. Accordingly, the ratio of working capital to last-twelve-months sales rose to 21.4% (Q1 2021: 20.1%)

Investments in property, plant and equipment and intangible assets increased to EUR 5.6 million in the first quarter of 2022 (Q1 2021: EUR 3.9 million) and amount to around 1.8% of sales (Q1 2021: 1.5%).

The dynamic increase in business volume and the associated increase in working capital as well as higher capital expenditure led to a year-on-year decline in free cash flow to EUR -12.8 million (Q1 2021: EUR +1.6 million).

As of March 31, 2022, cash and cash equivalents remained stable at EUR 87.7 million compared to December 31, 2021 (December 31, 2021: EUR 87.5 million). Net debt increased slightly to EUR 208.5 million (December 31, 2021: EUR 193.9 million). The leverage ratio (ratio of net debt to last-twelve-months adjusted EBITDA) also increased slightly to 1.51x (December 31, 2021: 1.45x).

Christian Terlinde, CFO of JOST Werke AG, said: "In the past, JOST has been able to prove how resilient our business model is. The results achieved in this challenging environment show that we are well prepared to deal flexibly with market fluctuations. As CFO, I continue to closely monitor the development of our working capital. The key task here is to strike the right balance between necessary liquidity on the one hand and ensuring JOST's ability to deliver profitable and sustainable growth on the other."

Outlook for fiscal 2022 confirmed
After a successful start to 2022, JOST remains positive about the coming nine months of the year despite the increased uncertainties in the market. Thanks to its balanced regional distribution, diverse product portfolio and broad customer base of truck, trailer and agricultural tractor manufacturers, JOST is able to respond quickly and flexibly to regional market fluctuations.

Thus, the Executive Board continues to expect consolidated sales in 2022 to increase in the mid single-digit percentage range compared to the previous year (2021: EUR 1,048.6 million). Adjusted EBIT will most likely develop in line with sales, also growing in the mid single-digit percentage range compared to 2021 (2021: EUR 104.8 million). Although the Executive Board expects further rises in freight, energy and materials costs to have an adverse impact, JOST should be able to largely offset this with ongoing efficiency measures and price adjustments. As a result, the EBIT margin is expected to remain stable in 2022 compared to the previous year (2021: 10.0%).

This forecast was drawn up on the assumption that the Russia-Ukraine war will remain local and limited in time and will not spread beyond the region. The forecast also assumes that the global economic situation will not unexpectedly and rapidly deteriorate and no prolonged plant closures at JOST or at important JOST customers or suppliers will occur.

Video conference for analysts and investors
The interim report for the first quarter of 2022 is available at https://ir.jost-world.com/interim-reports. The accompanying virtual conference will be held on May 12, 2022, at 11:00 am CEST. After the conference, the recording will be available on JOST's website under https://ir.jost-world.com

Contact:

JOST Werke AG
Romy Acosta
Head of Investor Relations
T: +49 6102 295-379
romy.acosta@jost-world.com

About JOST:

JOST is a leading global manufacturer and supplier of safety-relevant systems for the commercial vehicle industry with its core brands JOST, ROCKINGER, TRIDEC and Quicke. JOSTs global leadership position is driven by the strength of its brands, its long-standing client relationships serviced through its global distribution network, and its efficient and asset-light business model. With sales and production facilities in 25 countries across five continents, JOST has direct access to all major truck, trailer and agricultural tractor manufacturers as well as relevant end customers in the commercial vehicle industry. JOST currently employs more than 3,300 staff across the world and is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. For more information about JOST, please visit www.jost-world.com