08/11/2011 08:33:00 CEST
- Doubling of revenue to around EUR130 million
- Further profitability improvement with operating earnings (EBIT) EUR 3.5 million
- Order book position of around EUR 120 million (as of end of June 2011)
Manz AG, one of the world's leading providers of production systems for the photovoltaic and flat panel display (FPD) industry, generated €129.8 million of revenue in the first six months of 2011. This represents almost doubling of revenue compared with the previous year's figure of €67.5 million. In addition, the company's total operating revenue climbed to around €142.3 million (previous year: €77.6 million). The most significant revenue-drivers in this context were primarily the newly developed and innovative products from the solar and flat panel display (FPD) business areas, which benefited to a particularly strong extent from high demand on dynamic Asian markets.
After deducting operating costs, Manz AG generated significantly improved earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of €3.5 million, compared with the previous year's operating loss of minus €1.5 million. When taking into account a slightly negative net financial result of minus €0.3 million, earnings before tax (EBT) stood at €3.2 million, compared with minus €1.1 million in the first six months of 2010. The company also reported significant improvements in terms of consolidated net income in the period under review: after deducting tax and non-controlling interests, consolidated net income stood at €2.7 million, compared with the previous year's net loss of minus €0.7 million. Given an average number of 4,480,054 shares outstanding, this corresponds to earnings per share of €0.61 (previous year: minus €0.16).
In view of the good order position and capacity utilisation, and very promising opportunities in the solar business to upgrade customers' existing production lines with highly efficient Manz systems, and thereby make them more profitable, the Management Board is confident that it can achieve its targeted revenue volume of between €240 million and €250 million, also in the current market environment, and that it can maintain its positive profitability trend. This assessment is also underpinned by continued good demand in the flat panel display (FPD) area. Current developments on capital markets, and the attendant risk of unstable financing terms in the company's target sectors, nevertheless make it difficult to provide a reliable outlook for the second half of 2011. Should macroeconomic and sector conditions worsen further over the course of the year, the risk exists that the company cannot fully achieve the targets it has set for itself.
Dieter Manz, CEO of Manz AG, commented accordingly as follows: "The currently critical capital market environment, particularly for solar stocks, shows that it was correct for us to diversify our business model, and to orientate ourselves consistently toward high-growth sectors of the future. Along with an optimised cost structure that has smoothed our path back to profitability, innovative products at competitive prices are the key to sustainable success for us." Dieter Manz went on to add: "In order to achieve this objective - efficient technology accompanied by declining manufacturing costs - we are outstandingly positioned, not least thanks to our international presence, and the associated opportunity to offer our customers German engineering on local terms."
The complete H1 report can be downloaded from today from the company's website at www.manz.com, within the "Investor Relations" area.
