Areva 9-months Revenue Falls 14.3% - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - French nuclear-plant maker Areva SA (ARVCF.PK) said Friday its revenues for the nine-month period ended September 2014 fell 14.3% to €5.56 billion from €6.48 billion last year. On a like for like basis, revenues for the period fell 12.9%.

"This decline is explained by the absence of non-recurring items from 2013 in the Mining and Back End Business Groups and by the deteriorated market situation in 2014," said Pierre Aubouin, the company's chief financial executive officer.

"We are expecting stronger activity in the 4th quarter, particularly in the Mining BG, and thus confirm the revenue and EBITDA outlook for the full year. The level of free operating cash flow before tax, targeted close to breakeven, remains dependent on the pace of certain customer payments expected before year end," Aubouin said.

Among segments, Mining revenues for the nine-months slid 44.8% from last year, Back End revenues fell 24%, Renewable Energies dropped 16%, Reactors & Services declined 7.7%, while Front End gained 13.2%.

Foreign exchange had a negative impact of 54 million euros over the period, while consolidation scope had a negative impact of 46 million euros.

For the third quarter, Areva said its revenues slid 15.3% from last year to 1.67 billion euros. On a like for like basis, sales fell 14.1%. Consolidation scope had a negative impact of 28 million euros over the period, while foreign exchange had practically no impact, the company said.

Revenue in the nuclear operations for the third quarter totaled 1.655 billion euros, a drop of 14.2% from last year.

At September 30, the company's backlog increased 11.4% from last year to €46.1 billion.

For 2014, Areva targets a 10% reduction in organic revenue, EBITDA margin of 7% of revenues and gross capital expenditure of 1.1 billion euros. The guidance is at constant consolidation and change scope, excluding the impacts of asset disposals.