Full RSDB annual report for 2008 - Roto Smeets Group

Report of the Management Board
Financial developments 2008
The balance between supply and demand in the printing
industry has been further disturbed as a result of the
deteriorated financial and economical climate. According
to the forecast issued in December, turnover from
continuing business activities fell by € 37.5 million to
€ 447.5 million (2007: € 485.0 million), Partly caused by the
divestment of 2organize and Logic Use (2007: revenue
€ 6.6 million) and by declining print runs and sizes of
magazines and the discontinuation of titles by customers.
The value-added (VA) at continued pressure on margins
was € 18.0 million lower, at € 212.9 million (2007: € 230.9
million). This was caused on the one hand by the divestment
of 2organize and Logic Use (2207: VA € 4.8 million)
on the other hand by lower prices.
As a result of the improvement programmes already
started in 2007, the sale of 2organize and Logic Use
(2007: operating costs € 4.8 million) and the costs in 2007
for the intended acquisition of Quebecor World Europe
(€ 7.5 million), the operating costs declined by € 20.6
million to € 207.1 million (2007: € 227.7 million). In addition
to this, costs are managed by further and continuous
process control / automation. The number of employees
on the basis of ftes declined from 2,257 at year-end 2007
to 2,189 at year-end 2008. This efficiency boost was partly
undone by the annual wage increase in accordance with
the Grafimedia central labour agreement (CAO).
EBITDA fell to € 37.2 million (2007 € 40.9 million). The
trend of pressure on margins that started some years
ago continued in 2008, with an EBITDA / VA marge of
17.5% and a ROCE (return on capital employed) of 0.7%.
The operating result (EBIT) fell to € 5.8 million (2007: € 6.3
million). RSDB NV reported a net profit after tax for 2008
of € 1.3 million, against € 5.4 million for 2007.
With an unchanged number of 3,290,275 issued ordinary
shares, this result development led to an earnings per
share of € 0.41 (2007: € 1.65).
The cash flow from operating activities declined to € 13.3
million (2007: € 50.4 million). The decline of the operating
cash flow was caused mainly by a decrease of trade and
other payables of € 19.6 million due to the decline of the
investment commitments and liabilities related to the
acquisition of QWE. Paper stocks were maintained at a
high level with regard to the expected significant price
increases for 2009. Net investments amounted to € 23.0
million (2007: € 30.2 million).
16 RSDB Annual Report 2008