02/28/2019

Corporación Financiera Alba reached a net profit of €154.4 million in 2018

Corporación Financiera Alba reached a consolidated net profit amounted to €154.4 million in 2018, which is 67.4% lower than the previous year. This decrease is due to the fact that the 2017 results included the capital gains obtained from the sale of the remaining stake in ACS.

Net Asset Value (NAV) was €3,911.9 billion on 31 December 2018, equivalent to €67.17 per share. Alba’s share price on this same date was €42.50, representing a discount of 36.7% compared with NAV per share. NAV, both in absolute terms and per share, decreased by 3.4% compared with the same date in 2017.

In October, Alba distributed an interim dividend of €0.50 gross per share, representing a disbursement of €29.1 million. The total amount distributed in dividends during the 2018 financial year was €58.2 million.

During the year, Alba invested €639.0 million in various shareholdings and divested assets for a total amount of €139.9 million, reducing its net cash position to €269.4 million on 31 December 2018.

The investments made by Alba in 2018 were the following:

• Purchase of an indirect stake of 5.16% in Naturgy through the investment of €500.0 million in Rioja Bidco Shareholdings. In mid-May, Rioja Bidco Shareholdings bought Repsol’s 20.07% stake in Naturgy. In addition, a direct stake in Naturgy of 0.11% was acquired for €21.3 million.
• Purchase of 2.00% of Ebro Foods for €53 million, increasing the stake in this Company to 14.00%.
• Purchase of 1.68% of Viscofan for €40.6 million, increasing the stake in this Company to 13.00%.

Additionally, Alba acquired 1.42% of Parques Reunidos and 0.10% of CIE Automotive, for €12.0 million and €2.7 million, respectively. At 31 December 2018, Alba’s shareholdings amounted to 21.43% in Parques Reunidos and 10.10% in CIE Automotive.

Through Deyá Capital IV, a stake of 3.7% in MonBake was acquired for €9.4 million. MonBake is the new group resulting from the acquisition, by funds managed by Ardian, of Panasa and Bellsolá, two Spanish leading companies in the bread and deep frozen pastries sector. This reinvestment is part of the agreements reached between Deyá Capital and Ardian in the sale of Panasa.

The divestments made by Alba in 2018 were the following:

• Through Deyá Capital a 26.5% stake in Panasa was sold for €88.4 million and, through Deyá Capital IV, a 40.3% stake in Gascan was sold for €36.0 million. With these sales Alba has completely disinvested in both companies.
• Sale of a property in Madrid for €15.5 million.

Finally, Deyá Capital, along with other investment vehicles managed by Artá Capital, agreed to take part in a group of investors led by funds managed by KKR, with the aim of launching a takeover bid for 100% of the share capital of Telepizza. This takeover bid is currently pending approval from the CNMV.

Since 31 December 2018, Alba has made the following investments:
.Purchase of an additional 1.58% of Parques Reunidos for €13.4 million, increasing the stake in this Company to 23.02%.
.Purchase of 0.03% of CIE Automotive for €0.8 million, increasing the stake in this Company to 10.13%.

Alba’s portfolio at 31 December 2018 was as follows: