MARR: The Board of Directors approves the interim report as at 31st March 2019

Rimini, 14th May 2019 – The Board of Directors of MARR S.p.A. (Milan: MARR.MI), the leading company in Italy in the sale and distribution of food products to the foodservice, today approved the interim report as at 31st March 2019.

The total consolidated revenues for the period amounted to 333.4 million Euros compared to 336.5 million in the first quarter of 2018, which had benefitted from the positive effect of Easter (on 1st April 2018 and on 21st April this year) on the sales to the main category of Street Market clients.

After the application of the accounting standard of IFRS 16, the EBITDA and EBIT amounted to 17.3 and 10.7 million Euros respectively. IFRS 16 requires the new accounting, starting on 1st January 2019, of the leases that involve the right to control the use of the asset being leased. The effects of IFRS 16 in the first quarter of 2019 amounted to +2.2 million Euros on the EBITDA and +0.1 million on the EBIT. In the first quarter of 2018, the EBITDA and EBIT, without the effects of IFRS 16, amounted to 16.4 and 11.8 million Euros respectively. 

The net result for the period reached 6.6 million Euros, with -0.2 million Euros being due to the effect of IFRS 16. The net result for the first quarter of 2018 was 7.4 million Euros.

As at 31st March 2019, the net trade working capital amounted to 252.8 million Euros, compared to 250.0 million at the end of the first quarter of 2018.

The net financial debt, that increased by 57.5 million Euros as a result of the application of IFRS 16, amounted to 227.0 million Euros, compared to 186.7 million as at 31st March 2018, that was without the effects of IFRS 16. 

The consolidated net equity as at 31st March 2019 amounted to 331.1 million Euros (311.7 million as at 31st March 2018). 

Group sales in the first three months of 2019 amounted to 329.3 million Euros (332.6 million in 2018), with sales to clients in the Street Market and National Account categories amounting to 273.4 million Euros compared to 276.4 million in the first quarter of 2018. 

In particular, the Street Market category (restaurants and hotels not belonging to Groups or Chains) reached 198.4 million Euros (199.0 million in 2018) and, as stated previously, the comparison with the first three months of 2018 has been penalised because of the Easter festivities, which this year were in the second quarter. 

The performance of the end reference market of Street Market clients, on the basis of the most recent report by the Confcommercio Studies Office (Survey no. 4, April 2019), recorded an increase in consumption (by quantity) of +1.4% in the first quarter for “Hotels, meals and out-of-home food consumption”.

Sales to National Account clients (operators in Canteens and Chains and Groups) amounted to 74.9 million Euros (77.5 million in 2018). 

Sales to clients in the Wholesale segment amounted to 56.0 million Euros in the first quarter of 2019 compared to 56.2 million in 2018.

On 18th April the Shareholders’ Meeting approved the distribution of a gross dividend of 0.78 Euros per share (0.74 Euros the previous year) with “ex-coupon” (no. 15) on 27th May, record date on 28th May and payment on 29th May. The profits not distributed will be allocated to the Reserves.

On the same date, in fulfilment of art. 2401, paragraph 1 of the Civil Code, the Shareholders’ Meeting integrated the Board of Statutory Auditors by appointing one Standing Statutory Auditor and one Alternate Auditor, in compliance with art. 148 of Legislative Decree 58/1998. 

Andrea Foschi and Simona Muratori were appointed respectively as Standing Statutory Auditor and as Alternate Statutory Auditor. Auditors thus appointed will step down from office together with the other members of the Board, and thus on the date of the Shareholders’ Meeting called to approve the financial statements as at 31 December 2019.

Lastly, it should be pointed out that the meeting of the Board of Statutory Auditors held today assessed the independence of the Auditors appointed by the Shareholders’ Meeting on 18th April last and informed the Board of Directors accordingly.

Sales to the main category of Street Market clients recorded an increase of +4.0% in the first four months of the year and reposition the sales to the Street Market and National Account categories at the end of the first four months in line with the growth objectives for the year. 

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MARR (Cremonini Group), listed on the STAR segment of the Italian Stock Exchange, is the leading Italian company in the specialised distribution of food products to the foodservice and is controlled by Cremonini S.p.A..

With an organisation comprising 850 sales agents, the MARR Group serves over 45,000 customers (mainly restaurants, hotels, pizza restaurants, holiday resorts and canteens), with an offer that includes over 15,000 food products, including seafood, meat, various food products and fruit and vegetables 

(http://catalogo.marr.it/catalogo).

The company operates nationwide through a logistical-distribution network composed of 35 distribution centres, 5 cash & carry, 4 agents with warehouses and 750 vehicles.

In 2018 the MARR group achieved total consolidated revenues amounting to 1,667.4 million Euros, consolidated EBITDA of 119.3 million Euros and consolidated net profit of 68.5 million Euros.

For more information about MARR visit the company’s web site at www.marr.it

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The manager responsible for preparing the company’s financial reports, Pierpaolo Rossi, declares, pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article 154-bis of the Consolidated Law on Finance, that the accounting information contained in this press release corresponds to documents, books and accounting records.

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It should be noted that the interim report as at 31 March 2019, approved today by the MARR S.p.A. Board of Directors, will be made available by the end of today on the Investor Relations Section of the company website www.marr.it/investor-relations/bilanci-relazioni, at the company headquarters and on the authorized storage system. www.emarketstorage.com.

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The results as at 31 March 2019 will be illustrated in a conference call with the financial community, to be held today at 17:30 (CET), This presentation will be available in the “Investor Relations – Presentations” section of the MARR website (www.marr.it) from 17:15 today. 

The speech in English of the presentation with a summary of the Q&A session will be published in the “Investor Relations – Presentations” (English version) section, where it will be available for 7 days from the morning of Wednesday 15 May. 

Luca MacarioAntonio Tiso

lmacario@marr.itatiso@marr.it

mob. +39 335 7478179tel. +39 0541 746803

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