MARR: The Board of Directors approves the results of the first half of 2013.

MARR: The Board of Directors approves the results of the first half of 2013.

Total revenues for the half-year of 632.0 million Euros, with sales to Street Market and National Account clients of 520.7 million (+10.2%)

Net result above 20 million Euros confirmed

Rimini, 2 August 2013 – The Board of Directors of MARR S.p.A. (Milan: MARR.MI), the leading company in Italy in the distribution of food products to the foodservice, today approved the half-year financial report as at 30 June 2013.

Main consolidated results of the first half of 2013

Total revenues for the first half-year amounted to 632.0 million Euros, an increase of 5.1% compared to 601.4 million Euros in 2012.

EBITDA and EBIT for the half-year – net of non-recurring costs amounting to 1.1 million Euros for the start-up of the ex Scapa warehouses – reached 41.5 million Euros (41.2 in 2012) and 35.5 million (35.2 in 2012) respectively.

The net result for the first six months amounted to 20.3 million, compared to 21.1 million for the same period in 2012.

The trade working capital as at 30 June 2013 amounted to 221.8 million Euros compared to 223.7 million after the first six months of 2012, while the net financial debt reached 186.4 million Euros compared to 184.9 million as at 31 March last and 171.8 million as at 30 June 2012.

The consolidated net equity amounted to 210.9 million Euros as at 30 June 2013, compared to 209.0million as at 30 June 2012.

Results for the first half of 2013 by sector of activity

The Out-of-Home food consumption market, although confirming an improved performance compared to that of overall consumption in Italy, showed a weak and uncertain trend, with a decrease in value of consumption for “Hotels, meals and non domestic consumption” (Confcommercio Studies Office, July 2013) which, after the re-statement of the figures for the first quarter , showed a variation of -2.0% in April and +0.4% in May.

As regards stays in hotels in the first 5 months of the year (Federalberghi, June 2013), a decrease of 0.8% was recorded, with an increase in the number of foreigners (+3.1%), which compensates for the lack of domestic demand, according to a trend confirmed in a recent study by Confesercenti (July 2013).

As regards the MARR Group, sales to Street Market and National Account clients in the first half-year reached 520.7 million Euros, an increase of 10.2% (+9.6% in the second quarter), compared to 472.3 million in 2012.

The “Street Market” category (restaurants and hotels not belonging to Chains and Groups) registered sales of 372.7 million Euros (356.4 million in 2012), while sales in the “National Account” category (operators in Chains and Groups and Canteens) reached 148.0 million Euros, with an increase of 27.7% compared to 115.9 million in the first half-year of 2012. In the second quarter, the increase in sales in the National Account category amounted to 33.3%, thanks to the positive contribution – in terms of new clients and the expansion of existing ones – of the service to clients in the Canteens segment, through the ex Scapa warehouses in Marzano and Pomezia, which started on 23 February last.

Sales to the “Wholesale” clients amounted to 101.2 million Euros (119.5 million for the same period in 2012).

Events following the end of the first half of 2013

On 12 July, MARR notified the closing of a bond private placement amounting to 43 million dollars, destined for US institutional investors.

The bond loan, of which 10 million dollars with 7 years maturity and 33 million dollars with 10 years maturity, after the swap in Euros, has an average coupon of about 5.1%.

This is the debut for MARR on the US private placement market, and MARR is the only Italian company with sales concentrated in Italy to have finalised a USPP financing recently.

The operation will enable MARR to diversify its sources of financing and to extend their expiry dates, thereby giving more solidity to the process of consolidation of its own reference market.

Always with the view of extending maturities of its financial debts, in June, MARR finalized a syndicated credit line in Euros for a total amount of 85 million, which involves the participation of significant international financial institutions and is composed of a loan facility of 60 million Euros, with 5 years maturity and reimbursement in 9 instalments from June 2014, and of a revolving facility of 25 million Euros with bullet reimbursement at 3 years.

The reorganisation process of the logistics, related to the integration of the ex Scapa warehouses in Marzano (Pavia) and Pomezia (Rome), is continuing according to plans. Those warehouses are becoming the two distribution centres dedicated to the management of activities for clients in the Canteens sector (primarily) for the North-West and Centre-South respectively. In addition the Marzano and Pomezia warehouses are also becoming major storage platforms, with the relative redrawing of the distribution routes from the platforms to the single distribution centres.

In the framework of the reorganisation of the storage platforms, the purchase from the Consorzio Commerciale Ingrosso Carni Srl of the property located in Bologna where the branch of Carnemilia is based, which had been previously leased by MARR for an annual fee of approximately 1.1 million Euros, was finalised in July.

The property, which is on a plot with a surface area of approximately 17,000 m2, has a covered area of approximately 5,800 m2 and is strategic because, in addition to being based in a suitable area, it is also equipped perfectly to meet MARR’s requirements.

The activities of Carnemilia are concentrated in the meat products category and involve processing (boning and portioning) and the storage and distribution of goods for single MARR distribution centers nationally. At Carnemilia products are also subjected to several quality controls specific for meat products, in addition to being in possession of ISO 9001 Quality System certification, UNI 10854 Self-Control System certification (HACCP) and ISO 22005 Traceability System certification, the centre also has ongoing voluntary procedures for the labelling of beef products in compliance with EC 1760/2000 regulations. The lines under its own brand names “Carnemilia” and “Tavola Reale” are also produced and packaged in the Carnemilia processing centre.

The full availability of the centre will also allow for the improvement and modernisation of the production lines to be continued, which, together with its location, structure and skills, will enable Carnemilia to provide a unique competitive advantage to MARR in the meat sector.

The price for the purchase of the real estate property and equipment installed therein has been determined at 15.5 million Euros, that was paid in July.

The reduced rental cost consequent to the purchase will have a positive effect, on an annual basis, of more than 1 million Euros on the EBITDA, effect that at the EBIT level and because of the increased depreciation costs, is reduced to approximately 580 thousand Euros. Net of the increased financial costs due to the purchase payment, the impact on the net profit is expected to be almost neutral.

Outlook

The market environment is expected to remain complicated and uncertain also for the second half of the year, although the sales trend of the MARR Group to Street Market and National Account clients during July have further consolidated the positive results of the first half-year.

In the second half-year, management focus will primarily be on consolidating the market presence, integrating the operational and logistic activities of the ex-Scapa warehouses, presiding over the management of the trade working capital and combining levels of service with profitability

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 more than 650 sales agents, MARR serves over 38,000 clients (mainly restaurants, hotels, pizza restaurants, holiday villages and canteens), with an offer that includes 10,000 food products, including seafood, meat, various food products and fruit and vegetables.

The company operates nationwide through a logistical-distribution network composed of 33 distribution centres, 5 cash & carry, 4 agents with warehouses and more than 700 vehicles.

In 2012, MARR achieved total consolidated revenues amounting to 1,260.0 million Euros, consolidated EBITDA of 90.1 million Euros and a Group net profit – after the minorities - of 48.3 million Euros.

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

The manager responsible for preparing the company’s financial reports, Antonio Tiso, 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 the document results, books and accounting records.

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It should be noted that the half-yearly financial report as at 30 June 2013, approved today by the MARR S.p.A. Board of Directors, will be made available by the end of today, together with the Report by the Independent Audit Firm, on the Investor Relations Section of the company website http://www.marr.it/it/bilanci and at the company headquarters.

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Press contact

Luca Macario - lmacario@marr.it - mob. +39 335 7478179

Investor relations

Antonio Tiso - atiso@marr.it - tel. +39 0541 746803