03/08/2012 16:35:00 CET
- Sales up by around 33% on the preceding year
- EBIT improves from EUR 0.6 million to EUR 3.1 million
- Results emphasize successful diversification strategy
Reutlingen, March 8, 2012 – Manz AG, one of the leading suppliers of production systems for the photovoltaic and flat panel display (FPD) industries, today published its preliminary figures for 2011. These figures show sales revenues up from EUR 181.4 million to EUR 240.5 million, with aggregate performance climbing 30.5% from EUR 205.0 to EUR 267.5 million. The high-tech engineering company in Reutlingen has exceeded its revised autumn forecast for sales in the order of EUR 220 – 230 million. The volume of sales even topped the pre-crisis level last seen in 2008, setting a new record in the company’s history.
The principal reason for this positive development lies in the substantial growth in the FPD segment, in which Manz AG develops and manufactures innovative equipment and systems for the production of flat screens and touch panels. Driven by the booming worldwide demand for tablet computers and smartphones, sales in this segment increased from EUR 58.8 million to a record EUR 98.5 million. Despite the continuing difficult conditions, the company also recorded a 10.5% increase in the solar segment, with sales rising to EUR 72.6 million (previous year: EUR 65.7 million). In its New Business segment in which the company is primarily engaged in developing and distributing equipment for the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries, Manz AG virtually tripled its sales relative to the year before. This segment has now established itself as a third mainstay with another new record turnover of EUR 9.5 million (previous year: EUR 3.6 million). Other sales, which mainly comprise equipment for the circuit board industry, also increased during the past financial year from EUR 53.3 million to EUR 59.9 million.
The positive development in the FPD and New Business segments was more than enough to compensate for the modest development in Photovoltaics, with the result that financial year 2011 also brought an improvement in earnings. 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).
Dieter Manz, CEO of Manz AG, was highly satisfied with these results which confirm the company’s business strategy: “The key to our operational success lies in the diversification of our business model and the attendant focus on three strategic business areas. By consistently developing our technologies and applying this approach across individual segments, we have been able to achieve strong growth in our FPD and New Business segments.”
Manz AG will publish its final figures for the 2011 reporting period together with its complete 2011 annual report on 28 March 2012.