The Nexans Board of Directors meeting on February 6, 2013, under the chairmanship of Frédéric Vincent, approved the Financial Statements for 2012. Net sales for 2012 totaled 7.178 billion euros compared with 6.920 billion euros in 2011. At constant non-ferrous metal prices1, the figure is 4.872 billion euros compared with 4.594 billion euros in 2011. At constant exchange rates and scope, sales were unchanged on 2011(-0.3%)4.
The operating margin totaled 202 million euros, that is, 4.2% of sales at constant non-ferrous metal prices, compared with 5.7% in 2011. As expected, second-half 2012 profitability (4.7%) was higher than in the first half (3.6%) thanks to the improved situation for underwater cable business while the other businesses reported varying performances depending on the geographic area.
Referring to the 2012 results, Frédéric Vincent, Chairman and CEO said: "In 2012, numerous strategic initiatives were implemented, such as the acquisition of AmerCable in the United States and Yanggu in China, as well as the launch of the project to build a plant in South Carolina for land high voltage cables. Nonetheless, they occurred against the backdrop of worsened economic conditions in the second half of 2012 and implementation difficulties for submarine high voltage energy contracts, and the 2012 results did not meet expectations. The Group did however keep its main balance sheet items under control.
For 2013, the economic context in certain parts of the world is unclear (Brazil and Australia) or even subject a recession (Europe). High voltage business will see its profitability improve without, however, reaching a level considered normal. Given that the action plans launched or under review will produce only marginal effects in 2013, the Group is currently expecting operational profitability to be roughly the same as in 2012."
