SCHWEIZER Posts Record Order Income in 1H 2016

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The SCHWEIZER group reported a record order income in the first half year 2016, achieving a new peak at €175.6 million. Orders for the Asian partners climbed by 56% to €27.2 million, while order booking at the Schramberg production site jumped by 42% to €148.4 million.

Despite the increasing order income, turnover fell by 3.3% compared to previous year's period and amounted to €58 million. Such a fluctuation, however, is not unusual and is rather a seasonal phenomenon than a shift of the basic direction.

Due to the sales decline, EBITDA decreased by €0.2 million to €4.6 million. EBIT amounted to €0.9 million (2015: €1 million). The financial development at SCHWEIZER continues to remain stable; the balance sheet indicators remain on a high level. In the first half of the year, the company invested €5.3 million at the production site in Schramberg, with a focus on the new combined heat and power plant as well as on technological investments in bottleneck areas. The equity capital declined by 1% against the 2015 year-end level to €66.4 million, 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% from 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 whole year.

About Schweizer

Schweizer Electronic AG stands for state-of-the-art technology and consultancy competence. SCHWEIZER’s premium printed circuit boards and innovative solutions and services for automotive, solar, industry and aviation electronics address key challenges in the areas of Power Electronics, Embedding and System Cost Reduction. Its products are distinguished for their superior quality and their energy-saving and environmentallyfriendly features. Together with its partners Elekonta Marek GmbH & Co. KG, Meiko Electronics Co. Ltd. and WUS Printed Circuit Co., Ltd., the company offers in its division electronics cost- and production-optimised solutions for small, medium and large series. Together with its partner Infineon Technologies AG, SCHWEIZER plans to jointly tap the chip embedding market in future.