The Ferrari Board of Directors met today chaired by Luca di Montezemolo to consider the company’s financial results for the first quarter of 2014.
The first three months of the year brought growth in all the key economic indicators, a very meaningful result given that production of the California is currently phasing out, while no new California Ts have yet been delivered. Ferrari’s strategic decision to reduce its output in order to maintain its cars’ exclusivity and high residual value was taken in May last year and thus had no impact on first quarter 2013.
Revenues leaped by 12.5% to 620 million euro despite a 6% drop in the number of road cars delivered: with total of 1,699, 100 less than last year.
Net profits rose 5% to over 57 million euro, while trading profit equalled last year’s excellent 80 million euro.
The first quarter of 2014 also confirmed Ferrari’s ability to generate strong cash flows, with a net industrial financial position just shy of one and a half billion euro at March 31st. This 1,487 million has reached an unprecedented level in the company’s history and its growth has been such that this figure has practically doubled in the course of the last two years.
Net industrial cash flow has been excellent, reaching 129 million euro in the first quarter of the year.
Ferrari’s ROS (Returns On Sales) was again very robust, surging to 13% despite still-significant investments in product.
During today’s board meeting, Chairman Luca di Montezemolo declared: “We want to keep total production of the cars in our range under the 7,000 mark once again this year whilst strengthening our economic results. This target poses an even greater challenge in the light of the very substantial investments we are making in both our product and Formula One where an exceptional effort, financially as well, is required to bridge the gap with our competitors.”
The US market continues to perform well with demand remaining consistently high. In fact, despite deliveries being restricted, there was still 8% growth with 494 Ferraris sent across the Atlantic.
The market in the Middle East continues to expand too and was up 6% with 150 deliveries.
In the Far East, sales in Japan almost doubled with 128 cars delivered, 57 more than in the first quarter of 2013. China too is yielding positive results with 73 cars delivered, an increase of 4%. There is also huge expectation building in the country regarding the 458 Speciale: in fact, our order book in Greater China (People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) swelled by 42% in the first quarter of this year.
In Europe, demand remains high in the United Kingdom with 168 cars delivered (+3%), allowing it to retain its position as the Continent’s leading market. After months of negative results, sales have begun to rise once again in Italy: 63 cars were delivered, an increase of 13%. However, on an annual basis, it is expected that the domestic market will remain marginal, accounting for less than 3% of total deliveries. Ferrari recorded a slight drop in demand in Germany where 162 were delivered (around 30 less than last year) in line with the decision to limit the number of cars sent to more mature markets as well as the end of the California’s life-cycle.
Also in the first quarter of 2014, our brand activities (licensing, retail, e-commerce) saw a 19% advance in direct retail revenues with e-commerce up by 10%. Several important new licencing agreements were also signed in the early months of the year, including one for the building of the Ferrari Land theme park in Spain and another with the world-leading eyewear company, Oakley, for an eyewear range and sponsorship of Scuderia Ferrari.
Ferrari continues to be strongly committed to digital media and will make significant investments in this area in 2014. In the first quarter of the year, all of its websites enjoyed double figure growth, while its Facebook page now has 16.5 million fans and its official YouTube channel has had 40 million views.
Source: Ferrari