XP POWER LTD - Trading Statement

13 January 2020

XP Power Limited

(“XP Power”, “the Group” or “the Company”)

Pre-close Trading Update

XP Power, one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of critical power control components to the electronics industry, is today issuing a trading update for the fourth quarter and year ended 31 December 2019.

Trading

Trading in the period since the Company’s update of 10 December 2019 has been in line with the Board’s expectations. Order intake in Q4 2019 was strong with an acceleration in December of the trends seen earlier in the quarter.  The improvement was seen across all of our sectors. 

The Group’s new Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) system is working well and the Group has continued to ship at or above normal rates since mid-November.

£ Millions	2019	2018	Change	Change in constant currency	Like for like change1
Orders
Fourth quarter	58.6	45.1	30%	29%	n/a
Year to date	215.1	198.4	8%	4%	2%
Revenues
Fourth quarter	47.7	49.0	-3%	-5%	n/a
Year to date	200.4	195.1	3%	-1%	-4%
Book to Bill
Fourth quarter	1.23	0.92	0.31
Year to date	1.07	1.02	0.05

¹ Like for like basis, removing currency effects and the impact of the Glassman acquisition in May 2018.

Financial Position

Net debt at 31 December 2019 was £41.5 million, compared with £52.0 million at 31 December 2018. The net debt position benefited from foreign exchange movements and the phasing of working capital over the year end.

The Company renewed its financing facilities with effect from 8 November 2019, increasing the revolving credit facility by US$15m to US$120m, with a US$60m accordion option. The facility is provided by HSBC UK Bank PLC, J.P. Morgan Securities PLC and DBS Bank Ltd on similar terms to the previous arrangements, with a four year term up to November 2023.

Dividend

A dividend of 20 pence per share for the third quarter will be paid on 13 January 2020, to shareholders on the register at 13 December 2019.

The recommended dividend for the fourth quarter of 2019 will be announced with the 2019 Final Results on 3 March 2020 but is not expected to be less than 36 pence per share, representing a minimum total dividend of 91 pence per share for 2019, an increase of 7% over the total dividend of 85 pence per share paid for 2018.

Outlook

Order intake for the fourth quarter was strong and we remain encouraged by the healthy order book and ongoing new design wins. On this basis we expect revenue growth in the 2020 financial year.

Enquiries:

XP Power 

Duncan Penny, Chief Executive Officer  [phone]

Gavin Griggs, Chief Financial Officer      [phone]

Citigate Dewe Rogerson                    

Kevin Smith/Jos Bieneman                    [phone]

Note to editors

XP Power designs and manufactures power controllers, the essential hardware component in every piece of electrical equipment that converts power from the electricity grid into the right form for equipment to function.

XP Power typically designs power control solutions into the end products of major blue-chip OEMs, with a focus on the Industrial (circa 47% of sales), Healthcare (circa 24% of sales), Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturing (circa 18% of sales) and Technology (circa 11% of sales) sectors.  Once designed into a programme, XP Power has a revenue annuity over the life cycle of the customer’s product which is typically 5 to 7 years depending on the industry sector.   

XP Power has invested in research and development and its own manufacturing facilities in China and Vietnam, to develop a range of tailored products based on its own intellectual property that provide its customers with significantly improved functionality and efficiency.

Headquartered in Singapore and listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange since 2000, XP Power serves a global blue-chip customer base from 29 locations in Europe, North America and Asia. 

For further information, please visit xppower.com

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