03/28/2012 10:32:00 CEST
- Additional new orders valued at around EUR 40 million, order backlog currently stands at over EUR 104 million
- Revenues some 33% higher than the year before
- Operating profit (EBIT) improves to EUR 3.1 million
Reutlingen, 28 March 2012 – Manz AG, one of the leading suppliers of production systems for the photovoltaic and flat panel display (FPD) industries, today published its annual report for 2011 announcing the highest annual sales revenues in the company's history. The 2012 financial year is also off to a good start for the high-tech engineering company in Reutlingen thanks to several new contracts and a strong orderbook.
In the past financial year Manz AG generated revenues of EUR 240.5 million (previous year: EUR 181.4 million), exceeding its revised autumn forecast for revenues in the order of EUR 220 - 230 million. Total operating revenues were up by 30% from EUR 205.0 million to 266.7 million. Strong growth rates in the FPD and New Business segments in particular compensated for the modest development in the solar business. Following on from earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of EUR 0.6 million in the preceding year, in 2011 Manz AG achieved EBIT of EUR 3.1 million. Taking financial income into account, pre-tax earnings (EBT) amounted to EUR 2.2 million (previous year: EUR 0.7 million). Due to tax effects, however, Group earnings slipped slightly to EUR 1.2 million (previous year: EUR 1.8 million), equating to earnings per share of EUR 0.19 (previous year: EUR 0.35).
After booking an individual order in the FPD segment in February 2012 valued at EUR 33 million, the company followed this up in March with additional contracts totalling around EUR 40 million. These include further orders for equipment and systems to produce components for the FPD industry amounting in total to EUR 32 million. In addition in its New Business segment, Manz has also won orders worth around EUR 8 million for Li-Ion battery production systems. Order backlog as of today's date now stand at over EUR 104 million.
Dieter Manz, CEO of Manz AG, expressed his satisfaction with the business development: "Having successfully implemented our diversification and integration strategy, the results we have achieved once again underscore our powers of innovation. By transferring technology between sectors, our business model is becoming increasingly robust against cyclical fluctuations in individual industries. Our successful strategy is also reflected in the latest orders in our FPD and New Business segments." Describing the orders recently acquired, Dieter Manz continued: "The equipment ordered for the FPD industry is essentially based on a technology platform originally developed for the production of crystalline solar cells. This once again underscores the strengths of our business. What's more, the order for production systems to manufacture lithium-ion batteries demonstrates that our research and development is accurately targeting the needs of the industry. We are now unlocking new sales potential in this young and growing sector."
Looking ahead to future developments, Manz AG CFO Martin Hipp added: "Thanks to our strong orderbook, our production capacities are well utilised. With an order backlog currently standing at around EUR 104 million, there is an excellent chance that our revenues this year will be on a par with 2011. With "non-solar" orders accounting for over 90% of our orderbook, we are highly confident of achieving our targets despite the current weakness in the solar industry market. Dependent on the development in the market for CIGS technology, the potential exists to exceed the targets we have set."
The full annual report for 2011 can be downloaded from the Investor Relations section of the company's website at www.manz.com.
