Savaria Presents Record Results for the Year ended December 31, 2015

LAVAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - March 10, 2016) - Savaria Corporation (TSX:SIS), one of North America's leaders in the accessibility industry, discloses its results for its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2015 and for fiscal 2015.

Highlights:

Results for Q4 and fiscal 2015 broke all Corporation records to date.

Three months ended December 31, 2015

• Record revenue of $26.6 million, up $5.1 million or 23.8%;
• Record gross margin of $8.7 million, up $2.1 million or 31%;
• Record operating income of $3.7 million, up $1.4 million or 59.6%;
• Record EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $4.4 million, up $1.3 million or 44.2%;
• Cash flow from operating activities of $6.4 million versus $3.6 million in 2014.

Twelve months ended December 31, 2015

• Record revenue of $95.3 million, up $12.4 million or 14.9%;
• Record gross margin of $29.6 million, up $4.3 million or 16.8%;
• Record operating income of $11.4 million, up $2.6 million or 30.1%;
• Record EBITDA of $14.6 million, up $3.4 million or 30.4% from the 2014 record;
• Cash flow from operating activities of $12.1 million versus $9 million in 2014.

(in thousands, except per-share amounts and percentages)	Quarters Ended December 31, (Unaudited)								Years Ended December 31,
	2015			2014			Change		2015			2014			Change
Revenue	$	26,605		$	21,497		23.8	%	$	95,263		$	82,909		14.9	%
Gross margin	$	8,713		$	6,651		31	%	$	29,577		$	25,320		16.8	%
As a % of revenue		32.7	%		30.9	%	n/a			31	%		30.5	%	n/a
Net income	$	2,867		$	1,714		67.3	%	$	8,944		$	6,391		39.9	%
As a % of revenue		10.8	%		8	%	n/a			9.4	%		7.7	%	n/a
Earnings per share - diluted	$	0.09		$	0.06		50	%	$	0.28		$	0.23		21.7	%
EBITDA	$	4,372		$	3,032		44.2	%	$	14,559		$	11,164		30.4	%
As a % of revenue		16.4	%		14.1	%	n/a			15.3	%		13.5	%	n/a
EBITDA per share - diluted	$	0.13		$	0.10		30	%	$	0.45		$	0.40		12.5	%

(1) Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (see section Compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards)

A Word from the President

"Our financial results for the year ended December 31, 2015 are very satisfying. Savaria broke its records in revenue, net income and EBITDA. Revenue for fiscal 2015 increased by 14.9% compared to 2014, while operating income jumped 30.1%. The sustained efforts to improve productivity and to increase revenue resulted in an EBITDA of $14.6 million for fiscal 2015 compared to $11.2 million for fiscal 2014, an increase of 30.4%. EBITDA reached 15.3% of revenue in 2015 versus 13.5% in 2014, up 13.3%. I am pleased to see that the results of our Accessibility segment exceeded our expectations. Worth highlighting, the sales of our stairlifts for straight and curved stairs progressed very well; they have more than doubled in 2015 compared to 2014 and we anticipate a 50% increase for both products in 2016. Indeed, we forecast sales in excess of 4,200 stairlifts for straight stairs and 550 stairlifts for curved stairs in 2016," declared Marcel Bourassa, President and Chief Executive Officer of Savaria.

"Our new building in Laval, for which improvements were completed in January 2016, should double the capacity for side entry van conversion while also integrating our head office and our direct sales for the Montreal region.

"With 10,000 people turning 65 each day in North America and a strong desire to age-in-place, Savaria is well positioned for market growth. The Corporation continues to hold a strong balance sheet allowing it to fund internal growth and pursue growth by acquisitions," concluded Mr. Bourassa.

Outlook 2016

In such a promising business environment, we are raising our forecast reported on December 1, 2015, and we now forecast revenue for the twelve-month period ending December 31, 2016 to be approximately $107 million and EBITDA in the range of $16.5-$17.5 million.

Savaria Corporation (savaria.com) is one of the North America's leaders in the accessibility industry focused on meeting the needs of people with mobility challenges. Savaria designs, manufactures, distributes and installs primarily elevators for home and commercial use, as well as stairlifts and vertical and inclined platform lifts. With the acquisition of Silver Cross, the Corporation now operates a lead generation program to capture and distribute leads on potential customers to close to 100 affiliates in North America; also, it is a franchisor of stores through which new and recycled accessibility equipment is sold. In addition, Savaria converts and adapts minivans to be wheelchair accessible. The diversity of its product line, one of the world's most comprehensive, enables the Corporation to stand out by proposing an integrated and customized solution for its customers' mobility needs. Its operations in China have substantially grown and the collaboration with Savaria's other Canadian facilities increases its competitive edge in the market place. The Corporation records more than 60% of its revenue outside Canada, primarily in the United States. It operates a sales network of some 400 active retailers and affiliates in North America and employs some 440 people at its head office and plant in Laval (Québec) and at its plants and sales offices in Brampton and London (Ontario), Calgary (Alberta) and Huizhou (China).

Compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS")

The information appearing in this press release has been prepared in accordance with IFRS. However, the Corporation uses EBITDA for analysis purposes to measure its financial performance. This measure has no standardized definition in accordance with IFRS and is therefore regarded as a non-IFRS measure. This measure may therefore not be comparable to similar measures reported by other companies. Reconciliation between net income for the period and EBITDA is provided in the Reconciliation of EBITDA with Net Income section below.

Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" regarding Savaria, including, without being limited thereto, understanding of the elements that might affect the Corporation's future, relating to its financial or operating performance, the costs and schedule of future acquisitions, supplementary capital expenditure requirements and legislative matters. Most frequently, but not invariably, forward-looking statements are identified by the use of such terms as "plan", "expect", "should", "could", "budget", "expected", "estimated" "forecast", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", variants thereof (including negative variants) or statements that certain events, results or shares "could", "should" or "will" occur or be achieved. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors liable to cause Savaria's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those set forth in or underlying the forward-looking statements. Such factors notably include general, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties. Although Savaria has attempted to identify the key elements liable to cause actual measures, events or results to differ from those described in the forward-looking statements, other factors could have an impact on the reality and produce unexpected results. The forward-looking statements contained herein are valid at the date of this press release. As there can be no assurance that these forward-looking statements will prove accurate, actual future results and events could differ materially from those anticipated therein. Accordingly, readers are strongly advised not to unduly rely on these forward-looking statements.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/savariabettermobility

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mobilityforlife

Reconciliation of EBITDA with net income provided below.

Complete financial statements and the management's report for fiscal 2015 will be available shortly on Savaria's website and on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

Reconciliation of EBITDA with Net Income

(in thousands of dollars - Unaudited)	Quarters Ended December 31,				Years Ended December 31,
	2015		2014		2015		2014
Net income	$	2,867	$	1,714	$	8,944	$	6,391
Plus:
Interest on long-term debt		130		146		563		560
Interest and bank charges		31		70		186		190
Income tax expense		976		685		3,288		2,401
Depreciation of fixed assets		286		241		1,062		982
Amortization of intangible assets		152		223		747		787
Less:
Interest income		70		47		231		147
EBITDA	$	4,372	$	3,032	$	14,559	$	11,164