(DGAP-Media / 2015-08-07 / 19:17)
Financial Results First Half-Year 2015
Business improvement delayed by slack customer demand
- H1 group sales of EUR 88.6 million (H1 2014: EUR 92.9 million)
affected by customers withholding investments into capital goods and
new projects.
- H1 EBITDA reached EUR 4.2 million (H1 2014: EUR 8.9 million) with an
EBITDA Margin of 4.8% (H1 2014: 9.6%).
- Promising project pipeline further increased by technology driven
projects.
Luxembourg, 7 August 2015 - 06.30 p.m. - The revenue for the first six
months 2015 reached EUR 88.6 million (H1 2014: EUR 92.9 million)
representing a decline of 4.6%. In the reporting period, exceet's sales
were unfavorably affected by the following market events: Facing the
surprising intensity of the Euro crisis, overall investment activity was
even more restraint than before and core clients of exceet acted reluctant
to call-up existing framework agreements. Additionally, the persistent
strength of the Swiss Franc reduced the demand for electronic products
manufactured in Switzerland.
The gross profit and the EBITDA results of the group have therefore to be
seen in the light of lower than anticipated sales and utilization rates.
exceet continued to invest substantially into its own organization by
increasing the number of FTEs to 978 (H1 2014: FTE 950). In combination
with the lower sales level exceet achieved an EBITDA of EUR 4.2 million
(4.8% of net sales) compared to
EUR 8.9 million (9.6% of net sales) in H1 2014.
On 30 June 2015 exceet's order backlog amounted to EUR 85.2 million which
is 2.4% lower as of
31 December 2014 (EUR 87.3 million). This resulted into a book-to-bill
ratio of 0.88 (H1 2014: 1.01) reflecting the prolonged cautious customer
behavior concerning the placement of orders from the existing framework
agreements and development projects.
Electronic Components, Modules & Systems (ECMS) contributed 72.8% to
overall Group sales. Net Sales decreased slightly to EUR 64.5 million
during the first six months of 2015, against EUR 67.0 million during the
first six months of 2014. The ECMS segment achieved an EBITDA of EUR 7.2
million, accounting for an EBITDA margin of 11.1%, compared to 10.9 million
or a margin of 16.3% in the same period of the previous year.
ECMS developed, together with its customers, new devices for a number of
new projects. Promising projects are for instance the treatment of epilepsy
and of depression by means of neural stimulation, the determination of
women's fertile phases by measuring and logging the body vital parameters
or furthermore the measurement of the blood lipids for the improvement of
the efficacy of cholesterol diseases treatment. In the first half-year 2015
the segment received amongst others an order for a medical device that
allows, thanks to 4,000 sensors and to a sensorimotor data comparison
technology, the analysis of the patient's balance skills. After having
delivered the product to hospitals in Austria, ECMS started serial
production.
ID Management & Systems (IDMS) accounts for 22% of the group-wide sales.
The revenue in the first half-year 2015 amounted to EUR 19.5 million, which
represented a decrease of 12.2% compared to EUR 22.2 million in H1 2014.
IDMS reported an EBITDA of EUR 0.7 million for the first six month 2015
which results in an EBITDA margin of 3.4%. In the same period of the
previous year the segment achieved an EBITDA of EUR 0.8 million
representing 3.6% EBITDA margin.
IDMS further intensified the activities in the loyalty segment and started
first projects with the strategic partner Brain Behind. The partner
developed the platform ValueMaster(R) which supports real-time customer
specific marketing activities. The innovative loyalty system perfectly fits
the IDMS strategy to offer full-service card based solutions for retail,
banking, tourism and urban mobility. The card specialist will benefit from
the complete value chain and gain revenues through the card production as
well as through transaction fees and related integration efforts. Up to now
the solution was rolled out by IDMS in five municipalities. Further
municipalities and partners are expected to follow.
exceet Secure Solutions (ESS) accounts for 5.2% of total group sales. In H1
2015 the segment generated revenues of EUR 4.6 million. This reflects an
increase by 17.9% compared to H1 2014 of EUR 3.9 million. EBITDA for this
reporting period reached minus EUR 0.4 million (H1 2014: minus EUR 0.4
million).
ESS intensified long-term partnerships and won a follow-up order in context
with the German telematic health care infrastructure. Furthermore, the ESS
management board was enhanced with a security expert and based on this new
organization ESS is well positioned to fulfil the continuously increasing
security requirements of the market. However, the Internet of Things (IoT)
business is characterized by restrained growth, which clearly doesn't keep
pace with the huge potential generally seen in the markets.
Outlook for 2015
The main driver for the business of exceet is the overall investment
activity of corporations into particularly technology driven new products
and applications. Investment propensity has not seen a convincing recovery
for years. Gross investment in plant and equipment in the Eurozone has
shrunk by 15% since 2008 and corporate investments are dependent on
long-term economic stability. Therefore broad technology investment of
public entities and big industry players into lighthouse growth projects
like Internet of Things (IoT) and Intelligent Electronics remain difficult
to predict.
The management of exceet remains strongly confident to participate in the
substantial growth potential of the fundamental structural changes taking
place in the markets health, industry and security. exceet's portfolio of
products, solutions and competences is perfectly able to adress the
technical skills in demand, especially miniaturization in Intelligent
Electronics and complex security architectures.
With Q2 2015 showing signs of improvement by the end of the quarter, the
management is envisaging H2 2015 sales and profitability well above the
level seen in H1 2015. For the current year, total sales should most
probably surpass the figure for 2014, but sustaining the EBITDA margin
level of the preceding year will be challenging. While regaining overall
economic stability and restoring investment confidence will take patience
for the markets, the management is highly committed to resume exceet's
favorable trend for sales and double digit profitability as seen in the
second half of 2014 as soon as possible. exceet will take more measures to
improve the flexibility and cost efficiency of the entire production
process within its European network of plants. This should also help to
cushion the cost pressure out of the strong Swiss Franc.
Greenock S.à r.l. a major shareholder of exceet Group SE had informed the
company in Q1 2014 that they are assessing their strategic options related
to their shareholding in exceet Group SE, including a possible disposal of
such shareholding to a third party. Pursuant to the updated information
provided by Greenock S.à r.l., no final decision has still been taken
regarding the form and timing of a potential transaction.
Annex: Performance and Structural Data first half-year 2015
Complete Interim Management Report on the first six months 2015 and actual
Investor Relation Presentation available at www.exceet.lu
Please contact for further information:
Wolf-Günter Freese, CFO - Email: Investor.relations@exceet.lu
exceet Group SE
115 avenue Gaston Diderich
L-1420 Luxembourg
Phone +352 26 29 91 22
ISIN LU0472835155 (Public Shares), Regulated Market, Prime Standard,
Frankfurt/Main
ISIN LU0472839819 (Public Warrants), Regulated Market, General Standard,
Frankfurt/Main
exceet will announce nine months results for 2015 on 2 November 2015
(after closing of the market)
About exceet
exceet is an international technology group, which is specialized in the
development and production of intelligent, complex and secure electronics.
End of Media Release
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Issuer: exceet Group SE
Key word(s): Enterprise
2015-08-07 Dissemination of a Press Release, transmitted by DGAP - a
service of EQS Group AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements,
Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.
Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de
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Language: English
Company: exceet Group SE
115, avenue Gaston Diderich
L-1420 Luxemburg
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Phone: +352 2629 9122
Fax: +352 2629 9150
E-mail: info@exceet.ch
Internet: www.exceet.ch
ISIN: LU0472835155, LU0472839819
WKN: A0YF5P, A1BFHT
Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated
Unofficial Market in Munich
End of News DGAP-Media
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384915 2015-08-07
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 07, 2015 13:17 ET (17:17 GMT)
