Constellium Reports First Quarter 2016 Financial Results

AMSTERDAM, May 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Constellium N.V. (NYSE and Euronext: CSTM) today reported results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016. Highlights below are in comparison to the first quarter of 2015.

• Shipments of 362 thousand metric tons
• Revenue of €1.2 billion, down 5% on a like-for-like basis
• Adjusted EBITDA of €92 million, down 3%
• Automotive rolled product shipments up 30%
• First test coils produced ahead of schedule in new finishing lines at Bowling Green, Kentucky and Neuf-Brisach in France
• Strong liquidity position of €773 million, including proceeds from new issuance of $425 million Senior Secured Notes
• Jean-Marc Germain to be nominated as Executive Director during Annual General Meeting in June 2016 with the view of subsequent appointment as Chief Executive Officer in the course of summer 2016

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Constellium began 2016 with solid first quarter results. Revenues for the first quarter of 2016 were €1.2 billion, a decrease of 17% from €1.4 billion in the first quarter 2015, primarily driven by lower metal prices and a 5% decrease in volumes. On a like-for-like basis (excluding the impact of movements in London Metal Exchange prices, premiums and currency exchange rates), revenue was down 5% from the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA was €92 million, which represented a decrease of 3% from the first quarter 2015 Adjusted EBITDA of €95 million.

First quarter 2016 shipments were 362k metric tons, a decrease of 5% from Q1 2015. Adjusted EBITDA per metric ton for the first quarter 2016 remained stable at €255 per ton for the group.

Commenting on the first quarter 2016 results Pierre Vareille, Constellium's Chief Executive Officer said: "First quarter results were solid with record performance in AS&I, further recovery and improvement in A&T and within our expectations for P&ARP. Overall, Constellium has a clear strategy and the means to execute its growth initiatives. I remain very optimistic about the mid and long-term future of our company."

Appointment of new Chief Executive Officer

In the first quarter of 2016, Pierre Vareille announced his decision to retire and step down from his current position as CEO of Constellium. In April 2016, Constellium announced that Jean-Marc Germain will be nominated as an Executive Director at the Company's June 2016 Annual General Meeting, with the view of his subsequent appointment as the new Chief Executive Officer of Constellium in the course of summer 2016. 

Quarter Highlights and Recent Developments

In March 2016, Constellium announced that it had signed a multi-year contract with Airbus to support all of their leading aircraft programs. Under the new agreement, Constellium will continue to supply Airbus with a broad range of aluminium rolled products for airframes with a focus on higher value-add products.

In April 2016, Constellium announced the opening of the Constellium University Technology Center at Brunel University London, a dedicated center of excellence for the design, development and prototyping of aluminium alloys and automotive structural components.

Group Summary

Results by Segment

Packaging & Automotive Rolled Products (P&ARP)

Adjusted EBITDA in P&ARP segment in the first quarter 2016 decreased €11 million or 20% compared to the prior year. The decreases in prices and volumes were mostly driven by the fact that Q1 2015 had benefited from an outage at a competitor's mill in the U.S. Adjusted EBITDA, excluding the impacts of premiums and currency exchange rate, decreased 12%. Adjusted EBITDA per metric ton decreased by 14% to €172 per ton.

Volumes for the P&ARP segment in the first quarter 2016 were 8% lower compared to the prior year, reflecting lower packaging rolled products volumes mainly due to the impact in the first quarter of 2015 of the outage at a competitor's mill as referenced above. This decrease was partially offset by continued growth in automotive rolled product shipments which increased 30% from the prior year.

The Body-in-White finishing line projects are progressing well at both Neuf-Brisach and with our partner, UACJ, at Bowling Green. In April 2016, Constellium produced test coils ahead of schedule in its new Body-in-White finishing lines at Bowling Green and Neuf-Brisach. We expect the initial qualification process to be completed in 2016 for both lines and production to ramp-up in 2017.

Aerospace & Transportation (A&T)

Adjusted EBITDA in the A&T segment for the first quarter 2016 increased €3 million or 7% compared to the prior year, reflecting increased volumes and continued focus on costs and operational efficiency, partially offset by a €2 million unfavorable net impact from foreign exchange and premiums. Adjusted EBITDA per metric ton increased slightly to €470 per ton from the prior year.

Volumes for the A&T segment were 5% higher in the first quarter 2016 compared to the prior year, primarily reflecting larger shipments of transportation, industry and other rolled products.

The recovery plans for this segment continue to progress well as we continue to enhance our aerospace capacity and focus our strategy on higher value-add products.

Automotive Structures & Industry (AS&I)

The AS&I segment achieved record Adjusted EBITDA of €27 million in the first quarter of 2016, representing an increase of 53% from the first quarter 2015 Adjusted EBITDA of €18 million. Shipments of 57k metric tons increased by 2% from the same period in the prior year, while revenues decreased by 2%. Overall, Adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter of 2016 reflects strong operational performance, a positive mix effect and a solid ramp-up in our growth projects and also benefited from a positive impact of €2 million from metal premiums. The segment reported a record high Adjusted EBITDA per ton of €486, which was mainly attributable to a strong contribution from our automotive structures business.

Net income

Net income in the first quarter 2016 was a negative €8 million compared with a negative €31 million in the first quarter of 2015. This improvement was primarily attributable to unrealized gains on derivatives of €30 million in the first quarter of 2016 compared to losses of €46 million in the first quarter of 2015 and a €19 million income tax expense in the first quarter of 2016 compared to a €17 million tax benefit in the prior year.

Earnings per share

For the quarter ended March 31, 2016, diluted earnings per share were a negative €0.08 versus a negative €0.30 per share for the same period in 2015. Diluted earnings per share are based on a weighted average number of ordinary shares of 105.5 million and 104.9 million for the quarters ended March 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

Cash flow and liquidity  

Adjusted free cash flow was a negative €137 million for the first quarter of 2016 versus a negative €72 million for the first quarter of 2015. Cash flow from operating activities was a negative €59 million in the first quarter of 2016 as the Company seasonally uses operating cash flow in the first half of the year. In comparison, cash flow from operating activities in the first quarter of 2015 was a positive €12 million and benefited from a significant improvement in trade working capital at Muscle Shoals while the first quarter of 2016 was negatively impacted by lower non-recourse factoring compared to year-end 2015.

In March 2016, Constellium successfully issued $425 million of Senior Secured Notes, due 2021, and consequently, the Company canceled the pre-existing €145 million revolving credit facility. Net debt at March 31, 2016 increased to €1.85 billion compared to €1.7 billion at December 31, 2015 and our cash position was €625 million at March 31, 2016 compared to €472 million at December 31, 2015.

This new transaction further enhanced liquidity for Constellium. As of March 31, 2016, liquidity was €773 million comprised of €60 million available under our factoring facilities, €81 million available under our asset based lending facilities, €7 million available under a revolving credit facility, and €625 million of cash and cash equivalents.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This press release may contain "forward looking statements" with respect to our business, results of operations and financial condition, and our expectations or beliefs concerning future events and conditions. You can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as, but not limited to, "believes," "expects," "may," "should," "approximately," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "plans," "targets," likely," "will," "would," "could" and similar expressions (or the negative of these terminologies or expressions). All forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties.  Many risks and uncertainties are inherent in our industry and markets. Others are more specific to our business and operations. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the ability of Constellium and Wise to achieve expected synergies and the timing thereof, Constellium's increased levels of indebtedness which could limit Constellium's operating flexibility and opportunities; the potential failure to retain key employees, the loss of customers, suppliers and other business relationships as a result of the acquisition of Wise Metals; disruptions to business operations; slower or lower than expected growth in the North American market for Body-in-White aluminium rolled products, the possibility that Constellium joint venture expansion with UACJ may have terms that differ materially from those currently contemplated, and other risk factors set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 20-F, and as described from time to time in subsequent reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The occurrence of the events described and the achievement of the expected results depend on many events, some or all of which are not predictable or within our control. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

About Constellium

Constellium (NYSE and Euronext: CSTM) is a global sector leader that develops innovative, value added aluminium products for a broad scope of markets and applications, including aerospace, automotive and packaging. Constellium generated €5.2 billion of revenue in 2015. Constellium's earnings materials for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 are also available on the company's website (www.constellium.com).

Non-GAAP measures

In addition to the results reported in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (all standards applied by the Group have been endorsed by the European Union), this press release includes information regarding certain financial measures which are not prepared in accordance with IFRS ("non-GAAP measures"). The non-GAAP financial measures used in this press release are: Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA per metric ton, Adjusted free cash flow and Net debt. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable IFRS financial measures are presented in the schedules to this press release. We believe these non-GAAP measures are important supplemental measures of our operating performance. By providing these measures, together with the reconciliations, we believe we are enhancing investors' understanding of our business and our results of operations, as well as assisting investors in evaluating how well we are executing our strategic initiatives. However, these non-GAAP financial measures supplement our IFRS disclosures and should not be considered an alternative to the IFRS measures and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

In considering the financial performance of the business, management and our chief operational decision maker, as defined by IFRS, analyze the primary financial performance measure of Adjusted EBITDA in all of our business segments. The most directly comparable IFRS measure to Adjusted EBITDA is our net income or loss for the period. We believe Adjusted EBITDA, as defined below, is useful to investors and is used by our management for measuring profitability because it excludes the impact of certain non-cash charges, such as depreciation, amortization, impairment and unrealized gains and losses on derivatives as well as items that do not impact the day-to-day operations and that management in many cases does not directly control or influence. Therefore, such adjustments eliminate items which have less bearing on our core operating performance.

Adjusted EBITDA measures are frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in their evaluation of Constellium and in comparison to other companies, many of which present an Adjusted EBITDA-related performance measure when reporting their results.

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as profit from operations before depreciation, amortization and impairment, as adjusted to exclude losses on disposal of property, plant and equipment, acquisition and separation costs, restructuring costs, pension amendments and unrealized gains or losses on derivatives and foreign exchange differences on the remeasurement of monetary assets and liabilities, exceptional consulting costs, effects of purchase accounting adjustment, standalone costs, exceptional employee bonuses in relation to cost saving implementation and targets, start-up and development costs, acquisition costs incurred in connection with business combinations, share-based compensation expense and the effect of favorable or unfavorable metal price lag (the financial impact of the timing difference between when aluminium prices included within our revenues are established and when aluminium purchase prices included in our cost of sales are established).

Adjusted EBITDA is the measure of performance used by management in evaluating our operating performance, in preparing internal forecasts and budgets necessary for managing our business and, specifically in relation to the exclusion of the effect of favorable or unfavorable metal price lag, this measure allows management and the investor to assess operating results and trends without the impact of our accounting for inventories. We use the weighted average cost method in accordance with IFRS which leads to the purchase price paid for metal impacting our cost of goods sold and therefore profitability in the period subsequent to when the related sales price impacts our revenues. Management believes this measure also provides additional information used by our lending facilities providers with respect to the ongoing performance of our underlying business activities. Historically, we have used Adjusted EBITDA in calculating our compliance with the financial covenants under certain of our loan facilities.

Adjusted EBITDA is not a presentation made in accordance with IFRS, is not a measure of financial condition, liquidity or profitability and should not be considered as an alternative to profit or loss for the period, revenues or operating cash flows determined in accordance with IFRS.

Adjusted free cash flow is net cash flow from operating activities, after capital expenditure and excluding margin calls. Net debt is defined as borrowings plus or minus the fair value of cross currency interest swaps less cash and cash equivalents and cash pledged for the issuance of guarantees.

Management believes that Adjusted free cash flow is a useful measure of the net cash flow generated or used by the business as it takes into account both the cash generated or consumed by operating activities, including working capital, and the capital expenditure requirements of the business. Management believes that Net debt is a useful measure of indebtedness because it takes into account the cash and cash equivalent balances held by the Company as well as the total external debt of the Company.

Net debt and Adjusted free cash flow are not presentations made in accordance with IFRS, and should not be considered as an alternative to borrowings or operating cash flows determined in accordance with IFRS.

Related Links

http://www.constellium.com