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Wellington Drive lifts sales and is bullish on annual guidance

Wellington Drive expecting a strong Q4, closer to revenue levels earlier in the year.

Paul McBeth
Thu, 27 Oct 2016

Wellington Drive Technologies, lifted third-quarter revenue 25% and is still targeting positive earnings for the year.

Revenue rose to $6.3 million in the three months ended September 30 from $5.1 million a year earlier for the company which makes energy efficient motors for commercial refrigerators.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was a loss of $427,000 in the quarter, smaller than the $607,000 ebitda loss reported a year earlier, and Wellington Drive maintained guidance that it would generate a "modest ebitda profit" on an annual basis.

"We continue to build growth momentum with our new ECR2 and SCS products as we enter Q4 and are also seeing an uptick in demand for our ECR1 motor product," chief executive Greg Allen says.

"We expect a strong Q4, closer to revenue levels earlier in the year, and are targeting achievement of a modest ebitda profit for the full year."

Wellington Drive has focused on Latin America to make the company profitable after years of underperformance, convincing cornerstone shareholder SuperLive, the NZX-owned fund manager, to back a series of capital raisings.

The company says it has started seeing the benefits of cutting costs in its supply chain with increased volumes, though warned future reductions will have a less measurable impact.

Mr Allen says the company will update 2017 guidance when demand for the new season is clearer, and that it is focused on "putting in place additional supply chain capacity and customer field support to meet its 2017 requirements."

Wellington Drive's year-to-date sales rose 34% to $25 million at a gross margin of 23.6%, widening from 21.9% a year earlier. Its year-to-date adjusted ebitda loss was $145,000, narrowing from an ebitda loss of $1.3 million.

The shares last traded at 14.5c, and have jumped 81% this year.

(BusinessDesk)

Paul McBeth
Thu, 27 Oct 2016
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Wellington Drive lifts sales and is bullish on annual guidance
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