Ferrari nudges up year forecasts after improved results in Q2

LUXURY sports car maker Ferrari on Wednesday (Aug 2) raised its forecasts for its full-year revenue and core earnings by a modest amount, after better results in the second quarter, supported by a “very strong” order book.

The company said it saw its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) growing this year to between 2.19-2.22 billion euros (S$3.2 billion-S$3.3 billion), versus a previous forecast of between 2.13-2.18 billion euros.

The guidance upgrade was supported in particular by better than expected results in personalisations, chief executive Bendetto Vigna said in a statement, as well as by a strong product mix. Personalisations are the added touches that a customer requests to make the car more suited to their tastes.

The forecast for full-year Ebitda margin, however, remained unchanged at around 38 per cent. The expected cash generation was also broadly unchanged, seen at around 900 million euros versus a previous guidance of up to 900 million euros.

Milan-listed shares in the company erased small gains after results were published and by 1110 GMT were down 1.9 per cent, among the worst performers in Italy’s blue-chip basket.

Ferrari shares are however up around 40 per cent this year.

In the second quarter Ferrari’s adjusted Ebitda was up 32 per cent to 589 million euros, broadly in line with analyst expectations of 580 million euros, according to a Reuters poll.

Car shipments were slightly down in the quarter, in all regions except for the EMEA one. Hybrid deliveries accounted for 43 per cent of total shipments, more than doubling the prior year figure. REUTERS