EQS-News: Schweizer Electronic AG: Business development in the first nine months of 2024

Schweizer Electronic AG: Business development in the first nine months of 2024 

• Order backlog at 221 million euros
• Sales increase by 7.8 percent
• EBITDA -1.0 million euros
• Forecast for 2024 adjusted

Schramberg, November 8, 2024 – The SCHWEIZER Group publishes the results for the first nine months of 2024. Despite a challenging market environment, a sales growth of 7.8 percent was achieved. However, due to intensified competition in the PCB industry, profitability could not be increased to the same extent.

The order backlog at the end of the third quarter was 221.0 million euros (September 30, 2023: 254.4 million euros). A highly volatile market and project-specific shifts led to a restrained order intake in recent months.

The revenue generated by SCHWEIZER in the first nine months amounted to 110.1 million euros, driven by a disproportionately strong increase in products through the Asian partner network, while in-house production decreased compared to the same period last year. Trading sales increased by 38.8 percent compared to the same period last year, accounting for 44.3 percent of total sales by the end of Q3 2024 (9M 2023: 34.4 percent).

Automotive customers represented 80.6 percent of sales in the first three quarters (9M 2023: 70.5 percent). The share of sales from industrial customers decreased to 13.4 percent (9M 2023: 22.4 percent) and from other customers to 6.0 percent (9M 2023: 7.0 percent). While sales in Germany declined by 15.3 percent, significant increases of 61.0 percent were achieved in the rest of Europe. The regions of Asia and America remained stable with slight growth rates compared to the previous year.

The gross profit for the reporting period was 7.5 million euros (9M 2023: 10.6 million euros). Due to price pressure from both customers and suppliers, gross margins could not be increased to the same extent as sales revenues. Earnings before depreciation, interest, and taxes (EBITDA) amounted to -1.0 million euros (9M 2023: 8.2 million euros*).

As of September 30, 2024, the group's equity amounted to 16.6 million euros, corresponding to an equity ratio of 16.5 percent (December 31, 2023: 24.3 percent). Operating cash flow was at a good level of 5.1 million euros, achieved through strict working capital management.

Forecast / Outlook 
For the year 2024, the board of directors specifies its expectations. The board continues to forecast sales at the lower end of the range of 140 to 150 million euros.

The effectiveness of the already initiated cost adjustment measures at the Schramberg site has been somewhat delayed due to various cost remanences, so they will not be fully effective in the fourth quarter. As a result, the board expects EBITDA between 0 and 2 million euros (previously: 2 to 5 million euros) and an equity ratio between 15 and 20 percent (previously: 20 to 25 percent).

In light of the ongoing challenges, management will continue to drive the program to improve results to address the capacity situation at the Schramberg plant.

Further information on business development and the forecast is available at the SCHWEIZER website https://schweizer.ag/investoren-und-medien/finanzberichte/downloads-berichte

*adjusted for the Chinese subsidiary and deconsolidation effects

About SCHWEIZER
Schweizer Electronic AG offers the latest, cutting-edge technology and consultancy expertise in the PCB industry. Thanks to its state-of-the-art production facilities in Schramberg, Germany and Jintan, China as well as close partnerships with other technology leaders, SCHWEIZER provides individual PCB & Embedding solutions. SCHWEIZER's innovative PCB technologies are used in the most demanding applications, for example, in the Automotive, Aviation, Industry & Medical and Communications & Computing sectors, and are characterised by their extremely high quality and energy-saving and environmentally-friendly features.

The company was founded by Christoph Schweizer in 1849 and is listed at the Stuttgart and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges (ticker symbol „SCE“, „ISIN DE 000515623“).

For further information please contact:

Elisabeth Trik
Schweizer Electronic AG
Einsteinstraße 10
78713 Schramberg
Phone: +49 7422 / 512-302
E-mail: elisabeth.trik@schweizer.ag
Please visit our website: www.schweizer.ag
Pictures: Schweizer Electronic AG | Flickr