With accelerated Growth and despite ongoing Bottlenecks Well on Track for Full Year 2022 20.10.2022, 07:00 Uhr von EQS News Jetzt kommentieren: 0

Corporate Contact
Matthias Tröndle
Chief Financial Officer
+423 388 3510
matthias.troendle@inficon.com

• Significant sales growth of 17.7% (excluding currency effects 24.6%) to USD 143.8 million; continuing excess demand
• Positive trends in all target markets and world regions
• Increased operating profit of USD 25.3 million (+14.9%) yielding margin of 17.6% after 18.0% a year ago
• Guidance for 2022: Sales of USD 570-590 (previously 560-600) million; Operating profit margin unchanged around 19%

The sales development at INFICON has again gained momentum in the third quarter – traditionally often the weakest period of the year: Compared with the same period of last year, sales increased by 17.7% to USD 143.8 million. Excluding negative currency effects (-6.9 percentage points), the organic growth amounted to 24.6%. The strategic expansion projects as well as additional measures to safeguard a stable energy supply are well on track. The shortages and the fierce price competition on the supply markets, however, put pressure on the margins. With tightly managed costs, INFICON reports for its third quarter an operating profit of USD 25.3 million, up 14.9% over the same period last year. This yields a slightly lower margin of 17.6% for the quarter, down from 18.0% a year ago. The net income rose by 6.2% to USD 17.8 million (last year period USD 16.8 million) resulting in a somewhat lower net income margin of 12.4% after 13.8% a year ago. Earnings per share were USD 7.30 compared with USD 6.87 as per end of September 2021.

Cash flow and Balance Sheet

INFICON generated an operating cash flow of USD 11.0 million in the reporting quarter after USD 21.9 million a year ago. This decline is mostly due to the rising inventory levels to accommodate the order intake. This rise also shows in the working capital that rose to USD 181.4 million or 31.5% of sales (previous year 29.9%). INFICON reports an equity ratio of 60.1% (Q3 2021: 62.0%).

Development in the Target Markets and World Regions

INFICON assesses the development in all target markets and world areas as positive.  

In the market Semi & Vacuum Coating, demand from tool manufacturers continues to be high. Some signs of deceleration are perceptible at chip makers, yet on a very high activity level. Overall, INFICON assesses the trend in its largest target market for the next quarters as positive. In the reporting quarter, sales rose year-over-year by 27.4% to USD 75.4 million; compared with the preceding second quarter, a plus of 1.3% was recorded. This market contributed 52.4% to Group sales.

Sales generated with customers in the industrially broadly based General Vacuum market rose by 9.9% to USD 36.8 million. Compared with the second quarter, there was a slight decline of 1.1% in USD, which does not reflect the economic dynamics of this market due to exchange rate fluctuations. This market contributed 25.6% to Group sales.  

Sales generated in the Refrigeration, Air Conditioning & Automotive market also increased in comparison to the second quarter (+12.6%) as well as year-over-year by 11.2% to USD 26.9 million. This equals 18.7% of Group sales.

INFICON’s smallest target market Security & Energy reports 9.3% higher sales over the preceding second quarter. This shows that shipments of INFICON’s portable gas analysis tool, HAPSITE, to the US Department of Defense have started towards the end of the quarter. When compared with the same period of last year, sales to this market that is markedly influenced by large public sector orders declined by 11.3% to USD 4.7 million.   INFICON is, however, very positive for the business trend in this target market for the next couple of quarters.

Looking at the world regions, the market in Asia continued to flourish; in local currencies, the plus was even more pronounced than in reported US dollars. With USD 66.8 million, INFICON achieved a sales increase of 12.1% year-over-year and – due to exchange rate impacts – a decline of 3.2% when compared to the prior quarter. This region contributed 46.5% to overall Group sales. Europe reports a plus of 11.2% to USD 34.8 million in comparison to the same quarter of last year. Despite the weaker Euro, sales remained stable over the preceding second quarter and thus contributed 24.2% to Group sales. Sales in the Americas boomed as shown by a year-over-year increase of 40.3% and a plus of 19.3% compared with the second quarter. The USD 41.4 million is a new record sales level for the area and contributed 28.8% to Group sales.

Outlook

INFICON considers the further development of its business to be quite positive, despite the situation on the supply market, which has only eased slightly so far, and the geopolitical and trade policy uncertainties. INFICON expects a strong closing quarter and anticipates sales for the full year 2022 to reach USD 570-590 million and an operating profit margin of around 19%.  

Presentation and Web Conference  

The presentation accompanying the quarter results is available online in the Investor Relations section of the  INFICON Website www.inficon.com at

https://ir.inficon.com/financial-results-and-presentations/.

INFICON discusses its third quarter results 2022 today at 0930 CEST at an English language web conference. Please log in using one of the following links.

http://bit.ly/IFCN_WebConference

https://ir.inficon.com/conference-calls-or-webcasts/

Communication calendar 2022/2023

The communication calendar of INFICON is continuously updated and available on line at https://ir.inficon.com/financial-calendar/
 

E-Mail Alerts

To automatically receive notification via e-mail of the latest financial information from

INFICON, sign-up for news in the Investors section of the INFICON website at

https://ir.inficon.com/contact-and-information-request/

ABOUT INFICON     
INFICON is a leading provider of innovative instrumentation, critical sensor technologies, and Smart Manufacturing/Industry 4.0 software solutions that enhance productivity and quality of tools, processes and complete factories. These analysis, measurement and control products are essential for gas leak detection in air conditioning/refrigeration, and automotive manufacturing. They are vital to equipment manufacturers and end-users in the complex fabrication of semiconductors and thin film coatings for optics, flat panel displays, solar cells and industrial vacuum coating applications. Other users of vacuum based processes include the life sciences, research, aerospace, packaging, heat treatment, laser cutting and many other industrial processes. We also leverage our expertise in vacuum technology to provide unique, toxic chemical analysis products for emergency response, security, and environmental monitoring. INFICON is headquartered in Switzerland and has world-class manufacturing facilities in Europe, the United States and China, as well as subsidiaries in China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. INFICON registered shares (IFCN) are listed on SIX Swiss Exchange. For more information about INFICON and its products, please visit www.inficon.com.

This press release and oral statements or other written statements made, or to be made by us contain forward-looking statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of our management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect our current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.