Talgo SA (
www.talgo.com) — a Spanish manufacturer of intercity, standard and high-speed passenger trains — registered net revenues of 85.2 million euros in the first quarter of 2018, compared to 121 million euros in the first quarter of 2017.
Adjusted net profit stood at 8.0 million euros, while adjusted EBITDA stood at 15.8 million euros; the company registered an operating margin of 18.5%, but says its whole-year margins outlook for 2018 is 20%.
Talgo says its Q1 results reflect the “current transition period” between the completion of the major Saudi Arabian Mecca-Medina project and the beginning of the Talgo Avril very-high-speed train project, which the company expects will start increasing its revenues by the end of the year.
Talgo’s backlog at the end of Q1 stood at 2.7 billion euros.
The Avril project is for the conversion of up to 156 Talgo overnight coaches into very-high-speed trains (with a top speed 330kph).
The project is worth about 107 million euros and includes an option for 72 more coaches, taking the total order value to 151 million euros.
With regard to the Mecca-Medina project, Talgo expects to continue to increase its ‘net cash’ in 2018, as completed units continue to be delivered.
So far, it has manufactured 33 units out of 36, and 16 have been delivered. The train in question is the high-speed Talgo 350 ‘El Pato’ (Duck shape).
It is the leading high-speed train in Spain, with a 50% market share in the high-speed segment; it runs on a number of routes, including Madrid-Málaga, Madrid-Valencia and Barcelona-Seville.