Wärtsilä Corporation’s (OMX: WRT1V) fourth quarter sales decreased by a whole 15% but order intake made up for that disappointment as it grew by an eye-popping 25% to one and a quarter billion Euros. The main reason behind the lower sales was a delay in power plant deliveries. Operating results was 145 million compared to 157 million as an improvement of 0.8% in the operating margin made up for some of the sales decline.
Fourth quarter earnings per share were 0.48 Euros, pushing the annual total to 1.52 Euros (1.48). Wärtsilä is proposing a dividend of 90 cents a share. Wärtsilä’s target is to pay 50% of operational earnings per share as a dividend. Wärtsilä’s owners have been enjoying a long run of high dividends. Recent split may confuse some people comparing those. The company has also booked some big one-off gains from asset sales in the years past.
Last November it came to light from marine and oil & gas industry service provider Hamworthy plc’s announcement that Wärtsilä was about to make a cash offer for the British company. Wärtsilä is now closer to getting control over Hamworth as the Scheme of Arrangement regarding to acquisition was sanctioned by a Court in London yesterday. Hamworthy’s shareholders supported the bid and the acquisition is expected to become effective within the next few days.
Wärtsilä has announced numerous orders to Power Plants business unit as of late and President & CEO Björn Rosenberg says that potential for further orders in the pipeline is strong. The company expects 5-10% net sales growth with a 10-11% EBIT margin before non-recurring items for 2012. The stock opened down over 4% but has recovered somewhat along with the rest of the market to currently trail at -1.5%.
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