Rexel has returned to organic growth. Over the course of 2018, sales grew in all three of the Group's geographic regions - Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific.
These results reflect the success of the strategy implemented in 2017. The goal “More Customers & More SKUs” has led to a significant rise in the number of omnichannel customers. In 2018, digital sales reached the milestone of 2 billion euros, representing 16% of Groupe sales. At the same time, sales over the past 30 months grew by 1 billion euros. Rexel's mid-term objective is to reach a higher rate of organic sales growth than that of the Group's markets.
The Group's gross profit margin for 2018 reached 24.7% of sales. Its adjusted EBITA reached €608.3 million, up 6.1%, resulting in a margin of 4.6% of sales, up 10 basis points. The indebtedness ratio (net debt/EBITDA) on December 31, 2018 was 2.67x, vs 2.84x the previous year.
“The Group's solid performance enabled us to propose to shareholders a dividend1 for 2018 of €0.44 per share, 2 cents higher than last year.”
Ian Meakins, Chairman of the Board of Directors
1 partly deducted from the distributable income and partly from the “share premium” account.
