Profitable despite significantly lower tonnage prices and one-off restructuring costs

The consolidated net sales of the Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube Group amounted to € 549 million. The decrease in comparison to 2015 (€ 623 million) is mainly caused by the significantly lower average sales price per ton. As a result, the gross margin on sales declined to € 106 million, but on a percentage basis rose to 19.3% of consolidated sales (2015: 18.5%). The tonnage sold under these difficult market conditions remained virtually the same in comparison to the previous year.

Timely measures were taken in anticipation of the deteriorating market conditions, including closing our operations in Brazil, a reorganization in the Netherlands, and further cost reductions. In spite of the one-off costs amounting to more than € 5 million associated with these measures, the operating result (EBIT) amounted to positive € 1.5 million. 

In comparison to last year, total costs declined by over € 6 million to € 104 million. Despite the one-off effect of the above-referenced measures, Van Leeuwen at the end of the year came out at a positive net result of € 0.7 million. 

The operating working capital was brought in line with the company’s operations. A decrease of € 25 million in operating working capital was achieved, bringing it down to € 180 million. This significantly improved the company’s cash position. Our net debt position further decreased from € 48 million to € 22 million. Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube Group’s cash position and bank facilities are more than adequate to meet the company’s financing needs. The group equity remained stable at € 162 million and solvency improved considerably from 46% to 49%.