Mycronic Reports Growth in All Market Segments for the First Quarter

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Mycronic's net sales rose 97 percent compared to the first quarter of 2016. The underlying EBIT margin amounted to 31 percent. "Growth in the quarter proves that our product offering meets the customers’ challenges," says Lena Olving, president and CEO.

First quarter January-March 2017

• Order intake reached SEK 653 (794) million
• Net sales reached SEK 676 (344) million
• EBIT was SEK 159 (32) million
• Underlying EBIT was SEK 208 (32) million
• Earnings per share was SEK 1.15 (0.24)

Outlook 2017

It is the Board’s assessment that net sales in 2017 will be at the level SEK 2,800 million.

Events since end of the quarter

On 20 April, 2017, Mycronic launches the all new product platform, MY700, of the next generation product series MYPro. With the MY700, for application of solder paste and dispensing of assembly fluids, Mycronic addresses more application areas and a larger market in the electronics industry. The MY700 can apply two different media in the same process step.

CEO and President Lena Olving comments

During the first quarter, consolidated net sales increased 97 percent. As presented in the table on the previous page, the increase is from both organic growth in Assembly Solutions and Pattern Generators, and from the acquired operations. During the quarter, we delivered two mask writers and a MY600 multiple order among other things, and we had a closing order backlog of SEK 1.3 billion.

Consolidated EBIT continued to develop favorably and was 23 percent for the first quarter. EBIT is charged with costs related to the acquisitions, which are not related to operational activities. These costs will remain for some time to come, even if they are greatest during the current year. In this report, we refer to the concept of underlying EBIT to show how our operations develop and perform. The underlying business achieved an EBIT margin of 31 percent.

As we have said many times since the strategy for growth was decided in 2013, Mycronic continues to invest in product development. The largest financial investments are being made in Assembly Solutions, both within our SMT operations and in the acquired companies, which has affected the profitability in this business area. These investments enable us to continue providing our customers with efficient production solutions. And today I am happy to announce the launch of MY700, an all-new product platform as one result from these investments. We expect to remain at the current level this year.

Market data shows that after a sluggish first half-year 2016, the global SMT equipment market grew for the full-year. There is no prognosis for the trend for SMT equipment in 2017, but the assessment is for positive development in the electronics and semiconductor industries, creating favorable conditions for the SMT market. Through our acquisitions, Assembly Solutions now addresses a larger share of the electronics industry. This broadens our product offering and reach a larger market, product wise as well as geographically.

Both the display and photomask markets declined in 2016. There is a shift towards a greater proportion of AMOLED displays. During the reconstruction phase of factories, capacity is temporarily reduced and development activities are also decreasing during this phase. The assessment is that production capacity will increase in 2017 as the re-modeled production lines are brought into operation and development activities can be resumed. The continuous contact we maintain with our customers, and with the customers’ customers, shows continued demand for equipment that enables efficient photomask production for the advanced displays of the future.