Pfeiffer Vacuum Experiences Positive Business Development in the First Six Months of FY 2016

“After six months we have achieved sales around the same level as in the prior year. Our business has been characterized by a large amount of smaller projects. All market segments are ahead of last year with the exception of the semiconductor market, for which we expect demand to pick up in the second half of the year”, comments Manfred Bender, CEO of Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology AG. “We confirm our outlook for FY 2016 with sales expected around € 470 million and a noticeable increase in operating profit and of the EBIT margin compared to the prior year.”

Bender carries out further: “In the first half of 2016 we recorded an operating cash flow of € 12.9 million. After the dividend payment of € 31.6 million our liquid assets amounted to € 89.7 million at the end of the period and clearly surpassed the financial liabilities of € 20.5 million. We continue to maintain a net cash position on the balance sheet.” The development of sales by market segment, product and region behaved as follows:

The distribution of sales by market segment showed a 10.4 percent decrease in semiconductor to € 67.4 million (H1/2015: € 75.3 million). Sales in the industry segment grew by 2.5 percent to € 54.0 million (H1/2015: € 52.7 million). The analytics segment increased 1.7 percent to € 45.4 million (H1/2015: € 44.7 million). Sales in the coating market segment rose 9.8 percent to € 29.8 million in the reported period (H1/2015: € 27.2 million) while the sales contribution from research and development increased 6.0 percent to € 26.2 million (H1/2015: € 24.8 million).

Concerning product groups, turbopump sales decreased by 5.7 percent and amounted to € 66.6 million (H1/2015: € 70.6 million). Backing pump sales experienced an increase of 5.9 percent to € 56.7 million (H1/2015: € 53.6 million). Sales with instruments and components amounted to Page 3 of 7 € 47.4 million and were 1.7 percent lower in the reported period (H1/2015: € 48.2 million). The service business declined by 1.3 percent to € 48.2 million (H1/2015: € 48.8 million) while sales in the systems business continues to play a limited role at € 4.0 million (H1/2015: € 3.4 million).

In Europe, sales increased 1.0 percent to € 92.3 million in the first half of 2016 (H1/2015: € 91.4 million). Sales in Asia grew 2.7 percent to € 78.9 million in the reported period (H1/2015: € 76.9 million). In the Americas there was a decrease of 7.6 percent, hence taking the sales figure to € 51.6 million (H1/2015: € 55.8 million).

New orders in the first six months of 2016 totaled € 231.5 million and thus were 5.5 percent lower versus the previous year’s figure (H1/2015: € 245.0 million). The book-to-bill ratio, the ratio of order intake to sales, was 1.04 for the period (H1/2015: 1.09). The company’s order backlog of € 73.3 million on June 30, 2016, was 8.1 percent lower than the corresponding figure one year earlier (June 30, 2015: € 79.8 million).

Pfeiffer Vacuum’s gross profit margin in the first half of 2016 increased by 0.5 percentage points to 38.2 percent (H1/2015: 37.7 percent). The period’s operating profit of € 26.9 million was 11.5 percent below the prior year’s corresponding figure (H1/2015: € 30.5 million). This resulted in an EBIT margin of 12.1 percent (H1/2015: 13.6 percent). Net income amounted to € 18.7 million and thus was 11.8 percent lower than a year earlier (H1/2015: € 21.2 million). This translated to earnings per share of € 1.89 for the reported first six months of 2016 (H1/2015: € 2.15).