Brief: Walter Meier FY sales stable, combination with Tobler
21/02/2017 05:31
Feb 21 (Reuters) - Walter Meier AG WMN.S :
* FY sales of 239.6 million Swiss francs ($238.27 million), a marginal fall of 0.5 percent
compared to prior year
* Group's continuing operations, i.e. Climate technology business, reported FY EBIT of 13.0
million francs, following 9.4 million francs in prior year
* Compared to prior-year figure of 7.4 million francs, net income for 2016 came to 14.7
million francs, or 2.02 francs per share
* Will submit a proposal to annual shareholders' meeting on March 24, 2017 to issue a
dividend payout of 2.00 francs per share
* Intention is to keep dividend unchanged at 2.00 francs per share for coming year as well
* At same time, it will also propose that ordinary share capital be increased by 470,541.20
francs to 1,200,000 francs by issuing 4,705,412 fully paid-up registered shares
* As situation stands, implementing combination between Walter Meier and Tobler (Tobler
Haustechnik AG) should be achievable in Q2 of 2017
* Current members of board of directors Alfred Gaffal, Silvan G-R. Meier (as Chairman) and
Heinz Roth are standing for re-election
* Paul Witschi is also standing for re-election but will leave board of directors after two
companies have merged
* Simon Oakland and Heinz Wiedmer, representing Wolseley Group, will also be put forward for
election to board of directors, although their term of office would not start until transaction
has been completed
* Current CEO of Walter Meier Ltd., Martin Kaufmann, will remain responsible for managing
the company
* A payment of 117.8 million francs to Wolseley has been destined to cover remainder and
even out differences relating to items on two companies' balance sheets, with bank loans
furnishing necessary liquidity
* UK-based heating and plumbing distributor Wolseley will hold around 39.2 percent of Walter
Meier shares once this transaction is complete
* Walter Meier expects its net debt to increase to around 170 million francs as of year-end
2017
* Net income is expected to remain stable and on a par with previous year in both units,
although result for 2017 is likely to be encumbered by integration costs in low eight-figure
range
Source text - http://bit.ly/2m2K6rZ
Further company coverage: WMN.S
($1 = 1.0056 Swiss francs)
(Gdynia Newsroom)
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