Mr. Daes, Chief Executive Officer of Tecnoglass, commented, "Our business activity has continued to accelerate since we became a U.S. listed company in late 2013. 2014 results were led by strong growth in the United States with margin improvement driven by our manufacturing and delivery cost advantages. We recorded record U.S. sales of $101.6 million in 2014, up 52.3% over 2013 and representing 51.5% of our total revenues."
Mr. Daes continued, "While we do not believe it is represented in the stock price, the business continues to perform very well operationally and we are very optimistic about our company's future. Backlog continues to grow via robust activity, and we are booked through 2016 at sizable step ups in both orders and expected profitability. As we mentioned last quarter, we have also made significant investments in our equipment, and in mid-2015 we expect a significant increase to our manufacturing capacity as well as a new coating line to come online in August. We have also benefitted from the strength of the U.S. dollar, as the majority of our revenues are in dollars while the majority of our costs are in Colombian Pesos. We believe that the business will generate strong profits and cash flow going forward, and we are committed to returning capital to shareholders in the form of cash dividends.
"To this end, our Board has approved a dividend policy of regular quarterly cash dividends of $0.125 per share, or $0.50 per share annually. In order to allow warrant holders an opportunity to participate in these dividends, the Board has also approved an exchange offer to acquire all of our outstanding warrants at an exchange rate of three warrants for one ordinary share. The exchange offer will remain open for a period of 30 days once exchange documentation is sent to warrant holders and the first quarterly dividend payment will be made to shareholders of record 15 days after the end of the exchange offer. Further details will be provided to security holders in our future filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission."
Concluded Mr. Daes, "We are extremely pleased with our business and with our strategic positioning within the industry. Given the high visibility we have with regards to orders and general demand, we look forward to a strong 2015 and 2016 and to returning meaningful capital to our shareholders as we move forward."
Read more: investors.tecnoglass.com/releasedetail.cfm