SGL Carbon corrects guidance, CEO Jürgen Köhler resigns

SGL Carbon has corrected its 2019 guidance for the business unit CFM and the group. For CFM business unit, it now expects for the fiscal year 2019 a recurring EBIT1 in a mid-single digit million € amount (previous guidance: recurring EBIT close to the prior year level of approximately €21 million).

The deviation to the previously expected recurring EBIT of the business unit CFM can be attributed to a number of factors, each contributing approximately to half of the deviation. Within the framework of a high-volume contract in the market segment Wind Energy, which was initially shipped in July 2019, erroneous planning assumptions were discovered.

Secondly, the actual results for July 2019 also document that the anticipated recovery in the market segment Industrial Applications as well as the planned earnings improvement measures will not benefit the results in the second half 2019 in the expected magnitude.

Due to these new findings, counter measures will be required. Amongst others, restructuring measures are being considered.

The development also results in a new guidance for group recurring EBIT for 2019: Results in the business unit Graphite Materials & Systems (GMS) and Corporate, which in total will be a mid-single digit million € amount higher than expected, will only partially be able to compensate for the deterioration in the business unit CFM. Therefore, SGL Carbon now expects a recurring group EBIT of approximately €10 million below the prior year level (previous guidance: approximately on prior year level of €65 million). Accordingly, consolidated net results are expected to reach a high single digit million loss (previous guidance: break-even consolidated net result).

In consideration of these developments, the group guidance for 2020-2022 is no longer sustainable. The company now plans to publish the new guidance after completing the new group plan in January 2020 at the latest.

SGL Carbon is a technology-based company and world leader in the development and production of carbon-based solutions. Its high-quality materials and products made from specialty graphite and composites are used in industrial sectors that determine the future: automotive, aerospace, solar and wind energy, semiconductor and LEDs as well as in the production of lithium-ion batteries and other energy storage systems. In addition, SGL Carbon develops solutions for chemical and industrial applications. (PC)

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