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2014 Annual Report
Prysmian Group
4
LETTER TO STAKEHOLDERS
Our Group's performance in 2014 confirms signs of a slight
recovery in sales volumes, accompanied by a generally stable
level of profitability. The decisive contributions to this result
were from the strategic submarine cables and systems
businesses, with strong growth, and from optical cables,
with recovering volumes and profitability. This is a particu-
larly significant result, having been achieved in a still difficult
scenario, that has seen demand recover for some businesses,
like optical cables and renewables, contrasting with weakness
in themore cyclical sectors, like power distribution cables, and
a slowdown in the Oil & Gas market. Extraordinary events also
had a significant impact on the Group's results, such as the
technical problems encountered with the important Western
Link project, which we promptly reported to the customer and
the market. I am pleased to say that the Group was able to
deal with and manage even this crisis situation, the effects
of which are in line with previous announcements and whose
recovery plan is proceeding according to schedule.
Business performance
Group Sales amounted to Euro 6,840 million, posting organic
growth of +1.8% assuming the same group perimeter and
excluding metal price and exchange rate effects. Excluding
the adverse impact of the Western Link project, organic
growth would have been +2.7%. The decisive contribution to
this good sales performance came from submarine cables and
systems, where the Group had double-digit growth. Telecom
cables also posted a solid recovery, while Trade & Installers
saw a slight upturn in volumes. Performance by High Voltage
cables and the SURF business was broadly in line with 2013,
while there were no signs of recovery for Power Distribution
and the OEM and Oil & Gas segments of the industrial cables
market.
In terms of profitability, Adjusted EBITDA came in at Euro 509
million, compared with Euro 613 million in 2013. Excluding the
adverse impact of the Western Link project, Adjusted EBITDA
would have been Euro 603 million, basically in line with its