Pfeiffer Vacuum Reports Steady year-to-date Growth

In the third quarter, Pfeiffer Vacuum grew its sales by € 2.7 million, or 7.2 %. Sales posted double-digit advances in the markets of Asia and Europe (excluding Germany), while growing moderately in the United States and Germany. Sales of turbopumps, the company’s most important and highest-margin product, increased by 13.4 % in the third quarter, from € 14.2 million to € 16.0 million. And sales of backing pumps, first and foremost dry and Roots pumps, rose at an even faster pace of nearly 27 %, from € 4.9 million to € 6.2 million. Component, vacuum gauge and service sales declined moderately. The coating and leak detection systems that were shipped in the third quarter boosted sales in the systems segment sharply, from € 0.9 million to € 2.2 million. With new orders for multiple leak detection systems, primarily for the automotive supply industry, systems can be assured of a good utilization factor in the coming months.

A sales volume of nearly € 2 million has already been generated with new turbopumps in the 1000 to 1500 l/sec class that were brought to market early in the year. These pumps are installed in therapy accelerators and ion implanters, for example, as well as in glass and optical coating systems.

Initial successes were achieved at customers in the coating industry with the OnTool™ Booster pump, which was brought to market in the 2nd quarter of 2005. This high-performance pump, which works against atmospheric pressure and achieves ultimate pressures of up to 10-5 mbar at high pumping speeds, is meeting with keen interest on the part of customers in the coating, semiconductor and research & development segments.

Since withdrawing from DVD systems business, the company’s profitability has developed on a very good note. In spite of higher prices for raw materials and energy, the ratio between cost of production and sales was maintained at the same level as the year before. Gross margin stood at 46.5 % for the first nine months of 2005, as opposed to 46.7 % the year before, while the EBIT margin again rose from 21.8 % to 22.5 %. Net income also includes the remaining losses from DVD operations for the current year 2005 in the amount of € 0.8 million (first nine months of 2004: € 3.4 million).

With net earnings of € 16.2 million (third quarter of 2004: € 12.5 million), the company was able to achieve an outstanding net return of 13.8 % (third quarter of 2004: 11.1 %). Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Dondorf had this to say about the latest numbers: “Following two somewhat lackluster months in July and August, demand for Pfeiffer products was again up sharply in the month of September. Overall, our book-to-bill ratio is positive at 1.04. Given the level of orders on hand and current contract negotiations, forecast sales of around € 160 million would appear to be realistic. And it even seems possible that our EBIT margin will rise from 22.5 to 23 %.”