S.T.DUPONT: CONSOLIDATED SALES FOR 3rd QUARTER AND FIRST 9 MONTHS 2006-2007

25.01.2007 18:00:00 CET

25 January 2007

CONSOLIDATED SALES FOR 3rd QUARTER AND FIRST 9 MONTHS 2006-2007

25.5 M€ the 3rd Quarter and 58.7 M€ for the first 9 months

Sales variation compared to last year

Including exchange rates :
+ 7.5 % for the 3rd quarter
- 3.7% for the first 9 months

Excluding exchange rates :
+ 11.3% for the 3rd quarter
- 1.1% for the first 9 months

1. SALES BY PRODUCT LINE

 
Euros millions  Q3  Q3  Variation  Dec 06  Dec05  Variation 
  06/07  05/06  Including exchange rates  cumulative  cumulative  Including exchange rates 
      (%)      (%) 
             
Lighters & writing instruments  13.7  12.6  + 8.1  29.9  31.8  - 6.0 
Ready to wear & Leather goods   7.8  7,4  + 5.3  19.2  19.9  - 3.7 
Others  2.9  2.6  +10.0   5.8  6.1  - 5.1 
Sales (Products)  24.4  22.7  + 7.4  54.8  57.8  - 5.1 
Royalties  1,1  1.0  + 9.2  3.9  3.2  + 20.8 
Consolidated sales  25.5  23.7  + 7.5  58.7  61.0  - 3.7 

Sales for the 3rd quarter are significantly higher than last year. As indicated in our half year 1 report, sales for Q2 were impacted by the strike in Faverges late September that postponed approximately 2.5 millions euros sales. This strike mostly impacted the lighters and writing instruments sector of business that are manufactured in Faverges. This explain the +8.1% increase of this segment for quarter 3. On the +7.4% increase in sales (products), roughly +10% comes from the impact of strike. Thus on a comparable basis, the increase should have been a -2.6% decrease.

During the 3rd quarter, there were two launches of limited editions (Versailles and James Bond) that impacted our sales in a positive way.

On the contrary, exchange rates (euro vs US$, HK$ or JPN ¥) impacted our sales by -3.8% on Q3 and -2.6% on a cumulative basis.

Royalties are increasing but this increase is not really on a comparable basis as negociations with one of our Licencee that took place last year led to a lower level of royalties for the first 3 quarters of 2005-2006 and a significant increase in quarter 4.

2. SALES by geographical areas

 
Euros millions  Q3  Q3  Variation  Dec 06  Dec05  Variation 
  06/07  05/06  Including exchange rates  cumulative  cumulative  Including exchange rates 
      (%)      (%) 
             
Europe (including France)  11.7  10.2  + 14.8  23.3  25.4  - 7.9 
Asia (including Japan)  9.7  10.4  - 7.2  25.6  26.9  - 4.9 
Américas  1.6  1,1  + 49.8  2.9  2.8  +6.6 
Others  1.4  1,0  + 39.9  3.0  2,8  +7.3 
Consolidated Sales (Products)  24.4  22.7  + 7.4  54.8  57.8  - 5.1 

All European countries are above last year for the 3rd quarter thanks to the strike impact and the launch of limited editions.

Asia suffers mostly of the comparable basis in Japan because some major customers went to bankruptcy last year. Hong-Kong/China area is doing better for the quarter although sales are still slightly decreasing.

As for Americas and Others, increase in sales results from the launch of limited editions as it is a significant part of their business.

3. OTHER INFORMATIONS

During the quarter, the following items impacted the business:

- Implementation of the social plan late October for lay-off and late December for the larger part of retirement departures;
- Recovery of the loss of production due to the strike late September;
- Formal decision to change our agent for Russia.

Thanks to the level of sales (although including the recovery of the impact of strike) and the improvement in gross margin or monitoring of indirect costs, 3rd quarter EBIT is slightly positive (+0.2 m€) vs a negative EBIT (- 2.3 m€) last year.

Contacts :

- Contact Analysts :

Michel Suhard
01 53 91 33 11

- Contact Press :

Burson-Marsteller
Sandrine Romano
01 41 86 76 77
sandrine_romano@fr.bm.com