Geberit AG
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Earnings Call Transcript

Earnings Call Transcript
2018-Q1

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Operator

Good morning. I am the Arkadin operator for this conference. Welcome to the conference call on the first quarter results 2018. [Operator Instructions] This call must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Christian Buhl, CEO; accompanied by Mr. Roland Iff, CFO; and Mr. Roman Sidler, Head of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

Thank you for the introduction. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our conference call. Geberit had a successful start into the year 2018, with strong sales and earnings growth in the first quarter. We generated a sales growth of 11.7% to CHF 823 million in the first quarter. In local currency, sales grew by 4.7%.The adjusted operating cash flow grew by 12.1% to CHF 245 million, corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 29.8%. Net income, adjusted for one-off costs related to the Sanitec acquisition, increased by 12.9% to CHF 183 million, corresponding to an adjusted net income margin of 22.2%, which is 20 basis points higher than in the previous year. Adjusted earnings per share increased by 13.4% and reached CHF 5.Let me now first comment on the sales development and also remind you that it is not our policy to communicate with Q1 results our sales figures by individual markets. The Group's first quarter sales amounted to CHF 823 million, an increase of 11.7% in Swiss francs. A favorable currency development led to a sales increase of CHF 51 million or 7.0% versus previous year's quarter. The sales growth rate in local currency reached 4.7%. Sales in Europe increased by 4.2% with positive growth rate in all countries and sub-regions with the exception of the U.K. and the Nordics. In Far East/Pacific, sales were up by 30.1% with strong double-digit growth rate in all key regions. The Middle East/Africa region, sales grew by 2.8% with positive growth rates in the Gulf region and South Africa. In North America, sales grew by 3.1%.I will now comment on the sales development per product area, again, in local currency. Please keep in mind that we have adjusted the reported structure as of this year, due to the completed integration of the Sanitec organization. The product area of Installation and Flushing Systems, with a share of 39% of Geberit sales, grew by 6.5%. Bathroom Systems, reflecting 32% of Group sales, grew by 3.4% in the first quarter. And Piping Systems, contributing 29% of total sales, grew by 4.0%.And now let me update you on the operating and financial results. Due to the completion of the major tasks of the Sanitec acquisition, we will not report any longer one-time costs and corresponding adjustments on EBITDA level. We will only report adjusted figures on EBIT and net income level and for earnings per share, due to the last year of amortization costs for intangible.Now to the results. The Group EBITDA reached CHF 245 million, corresponding to an increase of 12.1% versus the adjusted EBITDA of the first quarter 2017. The EBITDA margin as percentage of sales reached 29.8%, which is 10 basis points above the adjusted margin of the first quarter of last year. The EBITDA margin was negatively affected mainly by 2 factors: substantially higher raw material prices and secondly, higher personnel tariff costs. The negative effect on the EBITDA margin has been fully compensated, mainly by the following 3 levers. First, higher sales prices fully compensating the higher raw material prices, leading to a 0 net price effect. Second, the operating leverage from volume growth. And thirdly, efficiency improvements, especially the full benefits from the site closures in France. The substantial currency fluctuations did not have any impact on the operating margin, due to our nearly perfect natural currency hedge.The adjusted operating profit increased by 12.7% to CHF 215 million, corresponding to an adjusted EBIT margin of 26.1%, 20 basis points above Q1, 2017. Adjusted net income increased by 12.9% to CHF 183 million and adjusted earnings per share grew slightly disproportionately by 13.4% to CHF 5.00.One-off costs related to the amortization of intangible, in relation to the Sanitec acquisition, amounted to CHF 9 million on EBIT level and CHF 7 million on net income level. Driven by the strong results, the Group's balance sheet has further strengthened. The equity ratio grew again above 50% and reached 51.8% versus 49.1% at the end of last year. We further continued our share buyback program started in Q2 last year and repurchased another 31,000 shares in the first quarter. In total, we have now repurchased around 236,000 shares per end of Q1, 2018.Let me now comment on our market outlook for 2018. The various market outlooks for the construction sector have been presented and commented on with the release of our full year result 2017 in March. Since then our view has not changed significantly. In Europe, we expect overall a favorable, but mixed construction market environment. Meanwhile individual markets will continue to develop differently. We remain confident about the construction demands in Germany, although the limited qualified installation capacity might remain a bottleneck for growth.In Switzerland, we expect a stable market, running on a high level. In the Nordic region, we expect a mixed picture. While we are positive for the building construction industry in Denmark and Finland, we expect a further cool-down of the markets in Sweden and Norway. In Italy, we foresee an improving market environment.Favorable building statistics indicate to a growing construction market in France. Despite a robust residential market in the U.K., we expect, overall, a decline in market environment in U.K. due to a weak nonresidential sector. In Austria, we expect again a growing construction market, but at a slower pace compared to last year. We are positive for Benelux, although the recovery in the Netherlands leads to shortages of qualified installation capacity. The outlook for the Eastern European markets remains mixed with a positive outlook for markets like Poland and a stabilization of the market in Russia. And finally, in Spain, we expect an ongoing recovery of the building construction sector.In North America, we foresee a moderate improvement of the institutional construction market, while both relevant segments for Geberit, the health care and the educational sector, should contribute to growth. The residential construction sector should also do well and further grow in 2018. In Far East/Pacific, we see a mixed picture across the region. We expect a moderate increase of the residential construction market in China. In India, we are more cautious for the residential construction sector, due to new regulations and policies introduced last year. And in Australia, we expect overall a stagnating building construction market.Let me finalize our market outlook 2018 with the Middle East and Africa region. We expect an improving construction market in the Gulf and a stagnating building construction environment in South Africa. We remain cautious for the Northern Africa and Near East region with a mixed picture.And now a few words about the raw material price environment . Average raw material prices in the second quarter will be above the level of the second quarter last year, driven by the already increased price level and a further price increase in the second quarter compared to the first quarter this year.And finally, let me briefly update you on the Geberit outlook 2018. We expect for the full year, total CapEx of CHF 170 million. Important investment projects this year will be complete renewal of our metal piping systems manufacturing site in Germany and the capacity expansion for the manufacturing of our installation and flushing systems in various sites in Germany and Switzerland.Another important topic this year will be the preparation of the phase-out of 4 ceramic brands and replacement by a Geberit brand, as already announced with our full year results in March. As a consequence of this phase-out, we will amortize the book value of these brands, leading to additional yearly amortization costs of approximately CHF 8 million. This amortization starts this year and will run up to 12 years. As usual, we will provide the quantitative sales and EBITDA margin guidance for 2018 with our half-year results in August. But keep in mind that we will face in the remaining year a stronger tariff increase than in previous years, and additional personnel costs for the buildup of production capacity for installation systems, due to the strong growth of this product line.This is the end of our introduction. We are now ready to answer your questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] We have received the first question, it comes from Andre Kukhnin of Credit Suisse. Mr. Flueckiger, you can ask your question now.

M
Martin Flueckiger
Equity Analyst

Martin Flueckiger from Kepler Cheuvreux. Three areas-for questions please. Now, I appreciate you don't want to talk about the country-specific growth rates, but you've indicated at the Q4 reporting stage that there was a pre-buying effect in Switzerland, most likely also for Q1. Was that the case and could you talk about the magnitude that you think is appropriate for that? That's my first question on Switzerland. The second one is on the order book level at sanitarian stores in Germany in Q1. Do you have any updated figures for that? I seem to remember that it was 10.3 weeks last time you spoke about it. And then my third question would be on the net price effect in Q1, which was flat. Could you give a little bit of insight on what the individual components, i.e. selling price increases, but also raw material price increases were in Q1 and how these were offsetting one another, and also talk a little bit about that the raw material price increase in Q1 and the quantitative indication and also provide some quantitative guidance for Q2. That would be my third question. I'll go back in line for the rest. Thanks.

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

Pre-buying effect in Switzerland in the first quarter, yes, we had pre-buying effect in Switzerland in the first quarter, although we had first pre-buying effect at the end of last year. These pre-buying effects in Switzerland this year were higher than in previous years, due to the higher price increase which we have implemented at beginning of the 1st April this year. Second question, Germany, the order book of sanitary installers. The latest statistic indicates that the order book of sanitary installers in Germany has further increased currently and stands at 12.9 weeks, that is from the spring survey, which is an increase of 13% compared to last spring. So the bottleneck remains in Germany, the order book level of installers remains to be on a high level. Number three, the net price impact of the first quarter. We have had seen raw material price increases of 2.5% in the first quarter versus the first quarter of last year. And we have compensated this 2.5% raw material price increase by a sales increase -- sales price increase of around 1% in the first quarter. And let me briefly come back to the first question of the pre-buying effect in Switzerland. The higher pre-buying effect in Switzerland compared to previous year led also to a relatively weak sales in April. Of course, the pre-buying fills the inventory levels in wholesalers and led to relatively weak sales in April.

Operator

The next question is from Revill of Reuters.

J
John Revill

I'm just interested in your outlook on raw material price versus moving forward. What [indiscernible] you expect those to rise. Which metals are we talking about here, the first ones, steel, aluminum, and what sort of price rises do you expect moving forward into Q2 and beyond that? And then secondly , how much of this is down to kind of U.S. sanctioned do you think, or on Rusal, or just a general U.S. metal sanctions that are coming out there? Thank you very much.

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

We expect to further increase of raw material prices for plastic raw materials and metals, both of them in the second quarter compared to the first quarter this year. We talk about metals, it's mainly metals which are linked to aluminum, copper, nickel and zinc, the main metals there we are exposed to. To your third question, we have not seen any impact so far from the U.S. sanctions or from Rusal on our prices and raw material price -- purchasing prices in the first quarter. So we haven't seen any impact so far.

J
John Revill

The U.S. sanctions on Rusal, there's been no impact from that. Okay. And [ as a figure ], so how much you expect metal prices to go up in the second quarter, we can say?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

I would say, compared to last year, in the first half of the year, we expect an increase which is lower compared to the first half-year last year. If you look, for example, at the spot prices of aluminum, copper, nickel, zinc, they are year-to-date up in the single digits. Last year, aluminum, copper, nickel et cetera, they went up between 25% and 30%. So we expect a further increase, but at a lower extent compared to last year in the first half of the year.

J
John Revill

So it's sort of single-digit range into the second quarter as well then, year-on-year?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

Yes.

Operator

We now have Andre Kukhnin back on line.

A
Andre Kukhnin
Mechanical Engineering Capital Goods Analyst

Can I just start with the labor costs that you saw in Q1 2018? That was unexpectedly high and quite a step-up from the run rate of quarters of 2017. Is this just the inflation as we're seeing elsewhere, or was there anything else in that [ 195 ] figure?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

No. In Q1, we also record the cost for our employee participation programs, that's why Q1 is always a little bit higher than Q4. In addition, the last quarter figure is also an important holiday month. So that's why labor cost in Q4 is always a little bit lower than the run rate.

A
Andre Kukhnin
Mechanical Engineering Capital Goods Analyst

Right. But it was also, I think, good sort of 7.5%, 7.6% up year-on-year and I don't think that was a trend in the previous years.

R
Roland Iff

No. I mean you had also an important FX impact in there and then [indiscernible] is also quite positive. We expect higher labor increases or tariff increases throughout the year in the area of 2.5% and for the whole 2018, which is a little bit more than what we had last year

A
Andre Kukhnin
Mechanical Engineering Capital Goods Analyst

Right. So we should take [ 195 ] and think about that as more of a run rate through quarters for 2018 and maybe a touch less in Q4?

R
Roland Iff

We will give the guidance then with the midyear numbers.

A
Andre Kukhnin
Mechanical Engineering Capital Goods Analyst

Okay. And on net price and on the Swiss price increase, is that still planned as before at 3%?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

Correct. No changes there. We implemented a disproportional price increase of 3% as of April 1 this year in Switzerland.

A
Andre Kukhnin
Mechanical Engineering Capital Goods Analyst

Great . Yes, indeed. And can I ask just a book-check on the German installers? I heard what you said about the spring survey and the lead times, but your language changed from kind of severe constraints to might constrain. Is there anything to read into this or are there any signs of this easing, or kind of why did you change your language?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

It is indeed that we think at a certain point in time it should change a bit, and it should help the installers add capacity. We haven't seen it, but at a certain point in time it should come and that is the reason why we've changed our language slightly, but we haven't seen it so far.

A
Andre Kukhnin
Mechanical Engineering Capital Goods Analyst

Right. And if I may, are we of the same view and I've asked that question pretty much every quarter [ is held on ] every other quarter that it should change and economic forces should prevail and your answer was always, we're seeing none of that on the horizon. It sounds like you are seeing something on the horizon. I don't want to push too far on this, but just generally interested, because you clearly monitor a lot more things and you see more things than we can see from here?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

It's not only horizon, but it's the horizon itself, that is the reason, but nothing -- no secret on the horizon, but there should be a horizon.

A
Andre Kukhnin
Mechanical Engineering Capital Goods Analyst

Just last one. You obviously made a big announcement at the end of last year on the brand structure intentions in Europe and then particularly a big one in Germany with Keramag. Could you share any kind of initial reactions you had from customers or other stakeholders from installers and wholesalers, if you can?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

In general , we have positive reactions from the wholesalers, maybe even less to prices than what we would have expected. We have even some customers who expected that decision because they understand the logic why we do that, they understand the simplification not only for Geberit but also the simplification for the market, for our customers, for our partners. So all in all, a positive reaction.

Operator

The next question is from Martin Husler of Zurcher Kantonalbank.

M
Martin HĂĽsler
Research Analyst

I have two questions. First of all, the amortization of the book value for this brand phase-out. Can you repeat again? So CHF 8 million per year, we should add to amortization for 12 years? And then my question is, why don't you impair this in one step? And the second question related to this, is there already CHF 2 million impact in the first quarter on amortization? So this is the first topic I'd like to speak. And then the other one is relating to working days. According to my calculations, you had about a negative impact of 2% -- 1 or 2 working day less in the first quarter compared to last year. Is this correct? And for the second quarter, I would assume a positive impact by 2 working days, i.e about 2% sales impact on positive territory. Is this a fair assumption?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

I'll start with question number two, and Roland Iff will answer question number one. You're right , we had a positive effect -- sorry a [indiscernible] working day less in Q1 this year, there was 1 working day. In the second quarter, some of the countries will have an additional working day, not all of them, for example, Switzerland. So in second quarter, you can assume a positive effect, maybe a half working day, not more than that. Did I answer your question?

M
Martin HĂĽsler
Research Analyst

Yes, thank you.

R
Roland Iff

And related to this brand amortization, the reason why we don't impair it in one step is that we will still use the brand, of [ either ] brand for spare parts, for example, which are in the market then. And we also have an interest in protecting those brands for certain number of years. That's why we're not impairing it, that's why we are amortizing it. And yes, we have already charged CHF 2 million now in the first quarter.

M
Martin HĂĽsler
Research Analyst

Okay. And would you consider this as adjusting, or will you present adjusted EBIT figure for that or is this for you ordinary impact on EBIT?

R
Roland Iff

No, this is an ordinary cost. The only thing we adjusted was the amortization of the ceramic production know-how, as we have done it in that line already in the past years. So no adjustment for that going forward and also not in 2018.

Operator

The next question is from Charlie Fehrenbach of AWP Finanznachrichten AG.

C
Charlie Fehrenbach

Do you expect any possible negative implications through the trade dispute between U.S. and Europe and -- or maybe possible cost-in from Europe or Switzerland?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

Not sure if I fully understood your question. I think it was around if we expect any negative impact from the trade disputes between the U.S. and Europe. If that is the question, no, we don't think that we are affected by the trade dispute, definitely not on the short-term. Our operations, which we have in the U.S. [indiscernible] basically manufacturers are selling product which are manufactured also in the U.S. They have relatively limited product flow between the U.S. and Europe, so we do not expect any negative impact.

Operator

The next question is from Fabian Haecki of UBS.

F
Fabian Haecki

My first question, when you take the Bathroom Systems growth of 3.4% and now with the new business unit structure, I mean, when we look at last year, the ceramics business was slightly down. Now a new structure has gained some traction, it is mainly due to the shower toilet or can you give some indication how the ceramics, ex shower toilet and ex [indiscernible] business, how that performed?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

Both businesses performed well. We are in line with our expectations in terms of the development of the ceramics business. And also shower toilets had a very good first quarter. We were in line with our expectation of a double-digit growth. So both of them contributed to the growth of Bathroom Systems.

F
Fabian Haecki

Okay. And then a second question on your kind of combined products you're planning with the ceramics. Are they in front of the wall [ or ] behind of the wall. Can you elaborate on this how you want to combine kind of the know-how on -- kind of some technicalities on how that should work and what should be the benefit for the installers and the consumers?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

So there are many areas I could talk about in that context. But basically what we do, we want to combine the technical know-how, the engineering know-how with the ceramics design know-how to improve or to bring benefits to both, professional customers, for example an easier installation of bathroom ceramics, but also the same way, more benefits for end users, not only design, for example some functionality, which are then driven by technical features behind or at the wall. I can't go into more details, because that is an area of high concern and confidentiality for us. We are working on these topics and we expect that we will bring as of next year first products to the market, which are based on this combination of know-how and the design of ceramics in front of the wall.

F
Fabian Haecki

And now the wholesale, some plumbers already informed kind of about the steps and how do they react about potentially increasing market power of Geberit. Are they concerned about their strategic direction?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

If you refer to new product innovation, they are not yet informed. We do that in the regular course of the year, they will be informed at the end of this year, or beginning next year about the new product introduction. So, therefore, they are not yet informed about the concrete innovation ideas we are working on.

Operator

The next question is from Bernd Pomrehn of Bank Vontobel AG.

B
Bernd Pomrehn
Analyst

Three questions, if I may, please. Firstly, is it correct that you saw a significant pre-buying effect only in Switzerland and no other countries, or what should we have in mind when we do our estimate for the next 1 to 2 quarters? Secondly, is it true that your expectations for Italy have slightly improved? I realized that you changed your wording slightly. So, so far, you guided for a slightly improving environment in Italy, now you are speaking about an improving environment in Italy. And finally, how do you see the market acceptance for your new AquaClean Tuma Classic year-over-year. Will this further help you to improve penetration rates for shower toilets or how do you see the risk of cannibalization of your higher priced [indiscernible]?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

Coming to the first question. The pre-buying effects were mainly in Switzerland, due to the disproportionate price increase in Switzerland. But that is not the only impact which we have now seen on the second quarter. What we have seen at the beginning of the second quarter, or in April, relatively weak sales, because we have seen that the weather impact in Europe, of the cold weather end of February, beginning of March, led to low order income and sales in April. So that was a clear impact now on the second quarter. Question number two, you're right, we are a little bit more positive for Italy. We expect now an improving market environment than we have been a little bit more pessimistic at the beginning of the year. Question number three, the acceptance of our new shower toilet AquaClean Tuma Classic. That is -- it's too early, to be honest, because we introduced the product the 1st of April. It's just too early to talk about the first acceptance by our professional customers. Wholesale showrooms is very positive, but it's not yet the time to talk about the acceptance at the end consumer level.

Operator

The next question is from Martin Flueckiger of Kepler Cheuvreux.

M
Martin Flueckiger
Equity Analyst

Just coming back to this issue of selling and raw material price increases. Now, looks like selling price increases, the ordinary ones, plus the extraordinary one in -- might you, the extraordinary one in Switzerland is only as of Q2. So the ordinary selling price increase is obviously no longer sufficient to cover cost inflation and looking at other cost effects was minus 60 basis points. Then we also had this raw material price impact. So when are you guys considering introducing extraordinary selling price increases to cover the impact of rising raw material prices, because looking at your guidance, it looks like raw material price inflation will continue?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

Well, what is your question exactly, can you repeat your question?

M
Martin Flueckiger
Equity Analyst

Yes. So when are you thinking of increasing the selling prices at an extraordinary level, due to the higher raw material prices, because now cost inflation is not covered by selling price increases?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

No, we do not plan any extraordinary price increases, because in the last quarter, but also already in the fourth quarter 2017, we compensated the higher raw material prices with our regular base price increases.

Operator

We have a next question that's a follow-up question of John Revill of Reuters.

J
John Revill

It was just a question, obviously, you said that you see no price increases from Rusal, the sanctions on Rusal in the first quarter. But then I realize obviously the sanctions of any kind have come in, in the second quarter. So just looking ahead, do you see any kind of -- what sort of effects do you see -- do you see any effect on Rusal for aluminum prices in the second quarter because of those sanctions? And then secondly on the U.S. tariffs overall, just a clarification. Moving forward, the tariffs in the second quarter, is that going to have any effects at all or this is a general metals tariff that they brought in over there, just a bit of clarification that'll be nice?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

It is important to know that our exposure to aluminum is relatively limited. First of all, we are not buying aluminum at all, we are buying parts made out of aluminum, so there's value-add in between. Therefore, even if there is a price -- an impact on the spot price of aluminum, the effect would be much lower on Geberit. And if you look at the aluminum spot price, it's more like on the level where it has been at the beginning of the year. So we don't even see an impact currently on the spot price for aluminum.

J
John Revill

So you don't see any impact on the Rusal -- because of Rusal moving forward, and you don't see in the future then, particularly?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

Sorry, say again.

J
John Revill

You don't see any impact on the aluminum prices because of the Rusal sanctions particularly then?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

I just look at the aluminum spot prices, and they came down again and they are at a level of beginning of the year.

J
John Revill

Okay. And the general U.S. metal tariffs, are they kind of having any effect on sort of prices at all, or you expect then to have moving forward?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

No, the reason is the following, because in the U.S. we are manufacturing faucets and the raw materials we are requiring there are neither aluminum nor steel. Therefore we are not impacted with our U.S. operations by any tariffs, which are then implemented or not, which we don't know.

J
John Revill

Okay, good stuff. [indiscernible] the Rusal thing, you see no particular impact on aluminum prices moving forward then, that's correct?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

As I said before.

Operator

The next question is from Manish Beria.

M
Manish Beria
Equity Analyst

I have two questions. Firstly is on your gross margins. If I calculate your gross margin and I see that in this quarter it had contracted by 120 basis points, but in your presentation you say that the net price effect is 0. So my question is, like, how do you reconcile these 2 numbers? So this is my first question. The second one is that we were of the impression that the CHF depreciation actually brings in some margin accretion, as there are more cost in CHF rather than the revenue versus the Group, but now you are saying that there will be no margin application from hereon. So my question is, has something fundamentally changed on the ForEx equation? That's all my two questions.

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

Question number one, the 120 basis point higher cost of materials as a percentage of sales Q1 '18 versus Q1 '17, was driven, one, by the raw material price increases, but also prior product mix effect. So these two-pronged factors explain the [indiscernible] the additional basis points. And also the currency effect, because we are buying a higher share of our raw materials in euros versus our sales. So three effects, increasing raw material prices, the product mix effect and the ForEx effect. And can you repeat question number two, please?

M
Manish Beria
Equity Analyst

So we were of the impression that the CHF depreciation actually brings in some margin accretion for the Group, because there are simply higher -- more cost in Switzerland than the revenue versus the Group. But these are changed. I mean you're now saying that there will be no margin increment because of the CHF depreciation from now on. So just want to understand, I mean had something fundamentally changed on this ForEx equation?

R
Roland Iff

We have even improved our naturally hedge with the acquisition of Sanitec. And that is now visible. If you looked in the first quarter this year, we had a 0 impact on the margin from all these currency fluctuations. So we have even improved the better natural currency effect, it's a nearly perfect natural currency effect -- hedge.

M
Manish Beria
Equity Analyst

Yes. So, can I just ask one more question basically, like the first question -- related to the first question. So how do you calculate this net pricing effect. So if I take your last year revenue of CHF 737 million, maybe the cost of material of CHF 203 million, and just multiply by 2.5%, that is the raw material price increase and then maybe take 1% sales increase and multiply with the CHF 800 million or something like that. So that's the way you calculate the net price impact? There are lot of elements there like currency --

R
Roland Iff

Basically what we do is, we take the raw materials, we take the raw material price effect, which was 2.5% in the first quarter up and then we add the price effect from base price increases, which was 1% in the first quarter, and this equation leads to the net -- the 0 net price effect in the first quarter.

Operator

We have a next follow-up question of Martin HĂĽsler of ZĂĽrcher Kantonalbank.

M
Martin HĂĽsler
Research Analyst

It's just an additional question for me because I struggle a bit to see the tariff increases in your personnel costs. If I take the change in cost of this 7.6% in the first quarter and I think you added about 1.4% in number of personnel. So this then gives a difference of less than 6% and I assume that you have a ForEx impact in the personnel cost of about the range of 6% to 7% and I was just wondering how I can see or calculate the tariff or whether there is an increase in personnel cost then.

R
Roland Iff

We have tariff increases if we compare to the previous year of around 2%. That will increase then towards year-end a little more, because, for example, in Switzerland, we increased the tariffs in Q2 or as of 1st of April. Then we have the FX impact, as you mentioned. And on the other side , we have the savings from the closure of the French plant. So those are -- plus we invest obviously in capacity. So out of those four effects, you have this [ plus 7.6% ] versus prior year first quarter. And if you compare it towards the fourth quarter last year, we don't have a currency impact that's roughly neutral. But then Q4 is always a little bit lower, due to holiday et cetera, and in Q1 we book our costs for the employee participation program, which were a little bit lower this year than they were last year.

Operator

There is a next question from Andre Kukhnin of Credit Suisse.

A
Andre Kukhnin
Mechanical Engineering Capital Goods Analyst

The first one was actually on the -- you guys have just discussed this, so you had the full benefit from the French site closures in Q1 already. And given it's all now done, maybe you could help quantifying that. We kind of have it at about CHF 3 million to CHF 4 million. Would that be a right ballpark?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

As usual, we are not quantifying that impact, but we had the full impact in Q1 and already in Q4 last year. So for your full year consideration for 2018, keep in mind that we have only for 3 quarters now the full impact of the site closure in France, because Q4 already last year we had a full impact.

A
Andre Kukhnin
Mechanical Engineering Capital Goods Analyst

Got it. And the second follow-up is on the answer you gave about the new products you're planning to introduce, where you said you will combine the technical engineering know-how behind the wall systems with ceramics design know-how and can you just repeat what you said in terms of kind of the benefits what that product would be geared to do?

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

There will be several advantages. For the professional it will be a faster and easier, safer installation. And for the end user, in the front of the wall, it will not be on the design, it will be a lot around functionalities for end users, but I don't want to go into more details here.

A
Andre Kukhnin
Mechanical Engineering Capital Goods Analyst

No, I understand. I just wanted to double -- to confirm the faster [ these are ] installed as well as user benefits.

Operator

The next question is from Bernd Pomrehn of Bank Vontobel AG.

B
Bernd Pomrehn
Analyst

It's just another housekeeping question, please. Tax rate was again quite low in the first quarter. Do you provide any updated guidance for the full year tax rate?

R
Roland Iff

Yes, we take it down to 14% for the full year.

Operator

Thank you. As there are no further questions, I would hand back to you, gentlemen.

C
Christian Buhl
Chairman of the Group Executive Board & CEO

So, thank you very much for the participation. We wish you all a great day. Thank you, goodbye.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attendance. This call has been concluded. You may disconnect.