Hansen Reports Q2 and First Half Results for the 2010 Financial Year

Edegem, Belgium and London, UK – Hansen Transmissions International (‘Hansen’, ‘the group’ or ‘the company’, LSE ticker ‘HSN’) has announced its results for the three months ending on 30 September 2009 and for the six months ending on 30 September 2009.

Highlights of results for the first half of the 2010 financial year are:

• Revenue of €286 million compared to €295 million for the same period in the previous year – down 3.1% YoY and up 9.9% on the previous quarter
• Underutilised capacity and one-time restructuring costs have brought EBITDA1 margin down to 6% compared to 15.7% for the same period in the previous year, but up from 5.2% in the previous quarter
• One-off costs had a -2.2% impact on EBITDA margin in the second quarter of the 2010 financial year
• Ongoing deployment of several cost containment measures to maintain flexibility, align the cost structure and support EBITDA margin and cash flow
• Working capital management – inventory down in the third quarter from €194 million at the end of June 2009 to €178 million at the end of September 2009
• Net debt reduction of €45 million in second quarter of the 2010 financial year to €180 million at the end of September 2009
• Term sheet signed with second Chinese customer during the Global Wind Power conference in Beijing in October 2009
• Reiteration of current year’s guidance – the company expects flat revenue for the 2010 full financial year
• One EBITDA equals earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation – includes one-off costs

Ivan Brems, CEO of Hansen Transmissions, commented: “The short-term outlook remains volatile and challenging, and as with many industries, there remains an important dependency on global financing and increased regulatory certainty. Hansen is managing well through this period, continuing to develop business opportunities whilst also focusing on implementing opex and capex saving programmes that are allowing the company to maintain its leading position in multi MW gearboxes.

We remain convinced in the multiple long-term fundamental growth drivers for the wind sector, which remain solid, with increasing environmental awareness, favourable worldwide government targets and the desire for security and diversity of energy supply. We expect that the wind sector will soon return to solid growth levels as seen in the past [few] years.”

Outlook

In the medium and longer term, the company remains confident in the projected growth prospects of the international wind power market. Hansen’s strong product offering and the quality of its customer base ensure that the company remains well positioned in this attractive sector.

While the operating environment remains challenging and lacks visibility, the company remains somewhat cautious. The current market conditions do not support the efficient utilisation of all of the manufacturing capacity. However, the company anticipates that this situation will ease during the second half of this financial year as a result of gradually improving market dynamics. Against this backdrop, the company reiterates its financial year’s guidance of flat revenue for the full financial year 2010.

Analyst meeting

Hansen hosted an analyst presentation on the first half results for the 2010 financial year, with Ivan Brems (CEO) and Alex De Ryck (CFO) on Monday 26 October 2009. A replay of this analyst presentation is available on the Investor Relations section of Hansen’s website.