Order book increased by 44% to 175.6 million Euro
• Slight seasonal turnover decline by 3%
• Investments of 5.3 million Euro at the Schramberg production site
Schramberg, August 10, 2016 – The SCHWEIZER group again reported a record order income in the first half year 2016 so that the order book achieved a new peak at 175.6 million Euro. Orders for the Asian partners climbed by 56% to 27.2 million Euro, the order book at the Schramberg production site jumped by 42% to 148.4 million Euro. Despite the increasing order income, the turnover decreased slightly by 3.3% compared to previous year’s period and amounted to 58.0 million Euro. Such a fluctuation, however, is not unusual and is rather a seasonal phenomenon than a shift of the basic direction.
Due to the slight turnover decline, the EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) decreased by 0.2 million Euro to 4.6 million Euro. The EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) amounted to 0.9 million Euro (2015: 1.0 million Euro). The financial development at SCHWEIZER continues to remain stable, the balance sheet indicators stay on a high level. In the first half year, the company invested 5.3 million Euro at the production site in Schramberg, with a focus on the new combined heat and power plant as well as on technological investments in bottle neck areas. The equity capital declined slightly by 1% against the 2015 year end level to 66.4 million Euro, which is mainly caused by a profit-neutral allocation to pension provisions. Due to a slightly increased balance sheet total, the equity ratio declined to 54.8% against 56.5% on December 31, 2015. With a net gearing of –1.0% (December 31, 2015: -5.1%) SCHWEIZER disposes of a net asset.
The significant jump in order income reflects a progressively forward-looking ordering procedure of customers in particular in the automotive sector, which accounts for 77% of SCHWEIZER’s turnover volume. Germany remains the strongest market. Technologically advanced products and solutions increasingly continue to contribute to SCHWEIZER’s success with the power electronics technologies achieving a particular high growth rate of 31%.
Forecast
The economic environment as well as the growth forecasts have been overcast by the United Kingdom’s potential exit of the European Union. This is likely to affect the German and the European automotive industry as well. However, SCHWEIZER’s turnover and in particular the order book development of the first half year give reason to confirm the spring forecast of 2% turnover increase for the total year 2016.