The economic situation of A.S. Création in the crisis year 2022 provides a snapshot of the company under special conditions and does not paint the picture of the company as it will be in the future.
Maik Krämer
Finance/Controlling
Annual reports
On March 30, 2023, A.S. Création published its Annual Report 2022:
In the first two months of 2022, Group sales were above the previous year's level, but as the year progressed, the extent to which the consequences of the Ukraine war affected demand for wallpapers became apparent. Overall, A.S. Création's sales declined by 8.0% from € 145.6 million in the previous year to € 134.0 million in fiscal 2022. Despite an attractive product range with many novelties, A.S. Création was unable to escape the general decline in demand.
In 2022, A.S. Création did not succeed in fully offsetting the massive price increases for raw materials and energies by raising its own selling prices. This is reflected in the decline in the gross profit margin from 49.5% in the previous year to 45.8% in the year under review.
In order to adjust A.S. Création to the changed framework conditions, restructuring programs were launched inOn March 30, 2023, A.S. Création published its Annual Report 2022: some Group companies, in particular at A.S. Création Tapeten AG in Germany, in 2022. Apart from the decline in sales revenues and the lower gross profit margin, these restructuring expenses additionally weighed on A.S. Création's earnings position. However, even excluding the restructuring expenses and other special effects, A.S. Création was in the red in fiscal 2022. The corresponding adjusted earnings after taxes declined from € +3.3 million in 2021 to € -2.1 million in 2022.
Due to the loss, the Managing Board and the Supervisory Board do not intend to pay a dividend for fiscal 2022.
The annual reports are only available in German.
Key figures
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | ||||
Sales Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) EBIT margin Earnings before taxes Return on sales before taxes | €'000 €'000 % €'000 % | 199,818 10,238 5.1 5,233 2.6 | 189,128 3,306 1.7 -5,052 -2.7 | 166,515 7,880 4.7 5,622 3.4 | 152,608 5,917 3.9 10,202 6.7 | 143,329 -15,808 -11.0 -17,776 -12.4 | 134,485 -2,885 -2.1 -5,710 -4.2 | 141,057 4,503 3.2 15,287 10.8 | 144,869 4,430 3.1 3,695 2.6 | 145,639 5,710 3.9 5,160 3.5 | 133,993 -8,554 -6.4 -9,092 -6.8 | ||
Earnings per share Dividend per share | €/share €/share | 0.48 0.25 | -3.39 0.00 | 1.19 0.60 | 2.70 1.25 | -6.45 0.00 | -2.17 0.00 | 5.13 0.90 | 0.53 0.90 | 1.40 0.90 | -1.95 0.00 | ||
Capital expenditures Depreciation Cash flow from operating activities | €'000 €'000 €'000 | 8,667 9,469 12,585 | 5,115 9,340 14,165 | 5,342 8,645 17,444 | 5,014 7,612 17,095 | 10,218 6,538 3,231 | 8,304 6,060 3,321 | 5,933 5,715 -2,139 | 3,724 5,497 7,009 | 4,853 5,703 7,978 | 2,907 6,138 40 | ||
Total assets Shareholders' equity Equity ratio | €'000 €'000 % | 159,067 93,473 58.8 | 146,162 86,891 59.4 | 140,405 93,188 66.4 | 140,273 96,502 68.8 | 130,714 75,715 57.9 | 128,650 72,233 56.1 | 128,000 79,427 62.1 | 127,492 78,881 61.9 | 126,806 81,024 63.9 | 113,487 76,681 67.6 | ||
Net financial debt (+)/Net investment position (-) Debt relief period | €'000 years | 20,317 1.6 | 11,929 0.8 | -291 n.a. | -11,651 n.a. | -417 n.a. | 3,368 1.0 | -6,118 n.a. | -11,446 n.a. | -11,590 n.a. | -5,512 n.a. | ||
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE) Return On Equity (ROE) | % % | 8.1 1.4 | 2.8 -10.4 | 7.3 3.7 | 5.8 7.8 | -16.8 -20.6 | -3.3 -8.1 | 5.1 18.6 | 5.2 1.8 | 6.8 4.8 | -10.4 -6.8 | ||
Number of employees Sales per employee Personnel expenses as % of total output |
€'000 % | 837 239 22.5 | 822 230 23.2 | 801 208 26.5 | 768 199 26.8 | 761 188 28.1 | 755 178 27.8 | 750 188 26.5 | 752 193 26.9 | 771 189 27.2 | 754 178 28.8 |
