International. The Board of Directors of Carel Industries approved the Group's results as of March 31, 2020, with consolidated revenues in continuity with respect to the same period of 2019.
The company reported consolidated revenues of €78.7 million, -1.7% compared to the first three months of 2019; its consolidated EBITDA was €14.4 million (18.2% of revenues), -8.7% compared to the first quarter of 2019; consolidated net profit was €7.6 million, -14.1% over the same period in 2019, and consolidated net financial position recorded a negative €61.9 million, in line with the €62.1 million reported as of December 31, 2019.
Francesco Nalini, CEO of the Carel Group, stated: "The first quarter of the year has been marked by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which also led to a lockdown in several areas of China, including the temporary closure of our production plant located in Suzhou. In addition, there was also the temporary closure of The main production center of Carel, located in the province of Padova. Despite the negative effects due to these circumstances, which had an impact of between €6 million and €7 million on the results for the quarter, the Group reported revenues of approximately €79 million through March 31, 2020, substantially in line with the first quarter of 2019, demonstrating the great strength of its business portfolio and productive capacity."
Consolidated revenue
Revenue amounted to €78.7 million, up from €80.1 million at 31 March 2019, representing a slight decrease of 1.7%. This decrease is a direct consequence of the effects of the blockade in China and the temporary closure of the production plant in Italy, quantifiable at around € 6-7 million, after the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The negative effects of the various blockades that followed one after another from February at different times and in different geographical areas around the world would have been even more significant if the Group had not reacted quickly by taking advantage of the flexibility of its manufacturing plants, in particular: its location on almost every continent and the fact that a significant part of CAREL's product platforms can be manufactured. simultaneously in at least two factories. This allowed part of the production to be transferred from one plant to another, which limited the growth of production delays. In any case, the existing delays will be partially reduced in the coming months. As for the effect of the exchange rate during the quarter, it remained neutral.
EMEA was the geographical area that recorded the largest increase in percentage terms (+2.8%) and represents approximately 79% of the Group's revenue. This increase is mainly due to the strong growth in the Refrigeration sector compared to 2019 and the expansion of CAREL's presence in Eastern Europe.
The APAC area, on the other hand, experienced a reduction of 17.5%, attributable to the effects of the aforementioned blockade and quantifiable by approximately € 3 million.
North and South America recorded different trends. In South America, without considering the negative effects of the exchange rate, growth was 4.7%, compared to the double-digit growth recorded at the end of 2019, with Brazil as the main contributor to these results. On the other hand, North America suffered an 8.3% decrease in revenue due to physiological consolidation after strong growth in 2019 (+20%), complemented by the worsening of the macroeconomic situation due to the health emergency.
