• Ackermans & van Haaren realised a record profit of 212.9 million
euros in the first half of 2019 (H1 2018: 111.7 million euros),
supported by a significant capital gain on the sale of
Residalya.
• Ackermans & van Haaren invested 45.3 million euros in the
further development of its portfolio, and has a net cash position
of 261.6 million euros as of June 30, 2019.

Jan Suykens, CEO - Chairman of the executive committee
“Since we became a shareholder of Residalya early 2015, we have
been able to develop this group, in partnership with the management,
into a medium-size player in the French retirement home sector,
with special attention to the high-quality care for the approximately
2,600 residents. In this sector, which is characterised by a
strong wave of consolidation, we, together with the management,
sold to the French number 3, DomusVi. This transaction has provided
Ackermans & van Haaren with 165 million euros in cash, and a
capital gain of 105 million euros.
But Ackermans & van Haaren also invested more than 45 million
euros in the first half of the year. This has predominantly been
in the strengthening of our participations in CFE/DEME, Rent-
A-Port, SIPEF and Sagar Cements. But we are also open to new
investments: at the beginning of 2019, Ackermans & van Haaren
acquired 60% of Biolectric, a producer of small-scale biogas installations
intended for agriculture. In addition, in July 2019, we have
subscribed for an amount of 10 million euros to the capital increase of Ghent-based AgroSavfe, a spin-off of the Flemish Institute for
Biotechnology. AgroSavfe is developing protein-based biological
crop protection products as an alternative to chemical pesticides.
The half-year result of Ackermans & van Haaren reaches a record
level of 212.9 million euros thanks to the capital gain on Residalya.
Without the effect of capital gains/losses, our result is virtually the
same as the result of H1 2018. The improved results in ‘AvH &
Growth Capital’ have been able to almost completely compensate
for the decline in contributions from the core segments.”

Breakdown of the consolidated net result (part of the group).
(€ million) 30.06.2019 30.06.2018
Marine Engineering & Contracting 26.0 32.2
Private Banking 58.2 57.7
Real Estate & Senior Care 15.8 25.9
Energy & Resources -0.6 6.5
Contribution from core segments 99.4 122.3
Growth Capital 5.6 -10.7
AvH & subholdings -1.0 -5.1
Net capital gains(losses) / impairments 108.9 5.2
Consolidated net result 212.9 111.7

General comments on the figures
The shareholders’ equity of AvH (group share) increased to 3,279.4
million euros on June 30, 2019, which, after correction for 371,585
own shares in the portfolio, corresponds to 99.0 euros per share. As
of December 31, 2018, the shareholders’ equity amounted to 3,176.5
million euros, or 95.81 euros per share. A dividend of 2.32 euros per
share (77.7 million euros) was distributed on June 5, 2019. This means
that the shareholder’s equity per share (including the dividend payment)
has increased by 5.51 euros per share, which represents an increase of
5.75% over 6 months.
At the end of June 2019, AvH (including subholdings) had a net cash position
of 261.6 million euros, compared to 102.9 million euros at the end
of December 2018. In addition to cash and short-term deposits, this net
cash position consists of securities amounting to 41.5 million euros, own
shares and short-term debts in the form of commercial paper amounting
to 24.0 million euros.
In order to hedge its obligations of share option plans, AvH possessed
363,000 own shares as of June 30, 2019 (compared to 334,000 at the
end of December 2018). 8,585 own shares resulting from the purchases
and sales in the context of the liquidity agreement on the AvH share
(2018: 9,415) have to be added to this on June 30, 2019. In total, AvH
thereby held 371,585 own shares as of June 30, 2019.
Ackermans & van Haaren acquired a new (60%) participation in
Biolectric in February 2019. Moreover, AvH also purchased additional
shares in the listed companies CFE (+0.37%, which also automatically
increased the participation of the group in DEME, Rent-A-Port and Green
Offshore) and SIPEF (+0.37%) in the first 6 months of 2019. Ackermans
& van Haaren also raised its participation in Rent-A-Port to 50% - identical
to that of CFE - and has subscribed to a capital increase. Finally,
AvH subscribed to convertible warrants from Sagar Cements, and already
converted the first half of these into new shares prior to June 30, 2019,
resulting in Ackermans & van Haaren owning 19.86% of Sagar Cements.
The divestments in H1 2019 consists primarily of the sale of 71.72% in
Residalya. Besides several smaller divestments, the 50% participation
in Henschel Engineering was also sold to the co-shareholder. Henschel
Engineering is a company that was included in the Telemond consortium,
which, as its sole asset, owns a property alongside the A12 in Wilrijk that
is no longer in industrial use.

Outlook 2019
The contribution of the core segments is expected to be higher in the
second half than in the first half of the year, as it is usually the case,
although it is not expected that the record contribution of 2018 will be
equalled over the full year.
The capital gain that has already been achieved on Residalya enables the
board of directors of Ackermans & van Haaren to already anticipate a
historical record result for the full financial year 2019.

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tijd 09.13
De Bel 20 3.537,81 +11,69 +0,33% Ackermans & v.H. EUR 129,250 +30ct vol. 890