Highlights 2009:
Overall growth in turnover is 3%
Gross margin at 21%
Operational cash flow € 62 million
Brunel Netherlands: turnover down 10%
Brunel Germany: turnover down 22%
Brunel Energy: turnover up 18%
Full year 2009, Brunel International realised a turnover of € 738.4 million; up 3% compared to 2008. Gross profit decreased by 9%, from € 167.0 million to € 151.8 million. Gross margin reduced to 20.6% for the year compared to 23.4% in 2008. The Ebit developed in line with the gross margin from 8.7% in 2008 to 6.1% in 2009. The company achieved a group net income of € 32.1 million compared to € 45.5 million in 2008.
Brunel’s core activities are secondment, project management and consultancy. The company performs these activities through the flexible deployment of highly skilled and experienced specialists in the fields of Engineering, Oil & Gas, Aerospace, Automotive, ICT, Finance, Legal, Insurance and Banking. Brunel offers its’ core activities globally from its’ own international network of 90 offices in 32 countries. Brunel Netherlands, Brunel Germany and Brunel Energy are the company’s largest business divisions. In 2009 these divisions accounted for respectively 19%, 14% and 64% of global turnover.
All business regions have experienced the impact of the worsening economic developments in 2009. The professional staffing businesses in Holland and Germany were particularly adversely affected. The Energy division has been able to further grow its’ business despite the reluctant investment policy of companies in the oil and gas industry. We continue our policy of investing in the quality of our organisation in order to limit the impact of the decrease in market demand and we are confident that our focus on the quality of our employees will remain key in realising profitable growth. However, we also do recognise that the upturn in the economy during 2010 is expected to be modest.
Brunel International continues to benefit from the strong balance sheet as global contracting parties put more emphasis on continuity of the relationships. Solvency remains high at 71%, in line with 2008. As a result of an acquisition in 2009, intangible assets increased to € 11.5 million. The goodwill at year end amounts to € 7 million representing less than 4% of shareholders’ equity.
At € 73 million, Brunel’s cash position as at December 31st 2009 is sound. Despite the decrease in net profit compared to 2008, we propose a dividend payout of € 0.80, equal to last year.
The average workforce of Brunel worldwide decreased by less than 1% from 7,904 in 2008 to 7,847 in 2009.
Jan Arie van Barneveld, CEO Brunel International: “2009 has been a challenging year but Brunel has been able to meet these challenges in an excellent manner. All our businesses remained profitable and have continued to serve our customers requirements by keeping the focus on the quality of our organisation. The market for staffing did show a decrease in demand in Western Europe but the impact on Brunel is limited as a result of the investments made in both our organisation as well as in our customer relationships. Brunel is considered to be a reliable partner in business, both in prosperous periods as well as in periods when our partners are faced with more challenging circumstances. In the Energy division we were able to continue profitable growth despite a slowdown of investments in the industry”.
Brunel Netherlands
In the Netherlands Brunel recorded a net turnover of € 139.2 million, a 10% decrease compared to 2008. The gross profit decreased by 17% from € 60.8 million in 2008 to € 50.6 million this year. The gross margin of 36% is less than realised in the previous year as a result of a temporary decrease in productivity and limited price pressure. The overhead costs in 2009 amount to € 35 million, resulting in an Ebit of € 15 million representing 11% of turnover.
Most of Brunel Netherlands’ business lines faced a reduction of customer demand. The business lines Insurance & Banking and Legal particularly noted a strong decrease in turnover as they predominantly provide services to the industries which are most affected by the financial crisis. The business line Engineering & IT managed to limit the decrease in turnover to 4% compared to 2008.
The 4th quarter clearly shows that not only has the decline stabilised but also that a recovery to previous levels of business will take some time. Revenue in the 4th quarter was € 35.6 million, up 11% compared to the previous quarter that included the holiday period.
Brunel Germany
In Germany Brunel achieved a turnover in 2009 of € 105.7 million, a reduction of 22% compared to 2008. The decline in turnover that commenced in the fourth quarter of 2008 ended in the third quarter of 2009, starting a period of stabilisation. At 34%, the gross margin for the year is 2% less than in previous year, mainly as a result of the lower productivity. Ebit for the year remained positive due to a reduction in overhead costs which came down from € 37.4 million in 2008 to € 34.9 million in 2009. Ebit realised in 2008 included € 4.8 million of other income resulting from capital gains on divestments. Excluding € 1 million one off costs in the fourth quarter 2009, Ebit would have been 2.4% of turnover for the last quarter of 2009. Full year 2009 overhead costs include in total € 3.3 million of one off costs. An amount of € 2 million is written off for uncollectable receivables and € 1 million additional costs were accounted for relating to future lease terms for unused office premises.
The automotive and aerospace industries are of great importance to the German economy. These industries were very significantly affected by the economic downturn. As a result the German market for technical project management and engineering secondment has suffered. This explains the decrease in turnover during the period September 2008 – September 2009. During the last quarter of 2009 the turnover level stabilised.
The gross margin has declined from 36% in 2008 to 34% in 2009. The main reason for this decline is the lower productivity in 2009 as a consequence of having more employees “on the bench”. Newly appointed management has initiated a turnaround to adapt to the changed circumstances in the market, resulting in improved productivity and lower overhead costs in the fourth quarter.
Brunel Energy
Brunel Energy increased its’ turnover by 18% to € 473 million. Turnover in Q4 2009 was, as expected, lower than in the previous quarter mainly due to the completion of the Pluto project in South East Asia. This project generated € 70 million turnover during 2009 (€ 14 million in 2008).
Gross margin remains around 13% of turnover and due to a reduction in overhead costs Ebit as a percentage of turnover rose from 5.0% in 2008 to 6.3% in 2009.
Brunel Energy strengthened its’ position as the leading global supplier for technical expertise and capacity in the Oil and Gas industry. The Energy division realised profitable growth in a market that can be characterised as “waiting for better times”. Investments were postponed due to the lower oil prices and worsening economic conditions. Despite these conditions, turnover increased as a result of continuous investment in our commercial organisation.
Belgium
Brunel Belgium generated a turnover of € 20.7 million and a gross profit of € 4.1 million resu