SCHWEIZER Posts Successful Start in Fiscal Year 2018

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With a turnover of 31.8 million euro in the first quarter 2018 (2017: 32.4 million euro), the SCHWEIZER Group met its expectations. The group’s EBITDA (earnings be- fore interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) remained stable compared to last year’s first quarter at 3.5 million euro, whereby the EBITDA margin of 10.9% slightly exceeded last year’s value (2017: 10.7%). The EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) increased to 1.6 million euro (2017: 1.5 million euro), corresponding to an EBIT margin of 4.9 percent (2017: 4.5%).

Backed by a good economic development as expected, the positive trend continued in SCHWEIZER’s most important customer segment automotive as well. The pressure to implement the demanding CO2- reductions and the fast pace of technological developments in the areas of auton- omous driving and lighting technologies have a positive impact on the demand for SCHWEIZER’s printed circuit boards. Increasing bottle necks in the supply chain of car manufactures, in particular in the components sector however, set limits to the actual growth potential.

SCHWEIZER still achieves the major part of its turnover with customers from the automotive sector. Sales with this customer segment came up to 22.1 million euro in the first quarter (2017: 23.1 mil- lion euro). Sales in the industry segment increased by 10.4% to 7.4 million euro, while the development with the other customers remained stable.

The production site in Schramberg accounted for 88% of the total turnover, the partner net- work in Asia for 12%. Series production started at Meiko Electronics in Vietnam as well as at WUS Kunshan. We expect further output increases from here in the coming quarters.

SCHWEIZER’s balance sheet figures and the operative cash flow remain at a good level, debts slightly increased to 52.9 million euro (December 31, 2017: 51.3 million euro). While the financial liabilities were reduced further, other reserves increased. The equity capital rose to 64.3 million euro so that the equity ratio came up to 54.9% (December 31, 2017: 54.9%). Net gear- ing amounted to -4.5%. This means the liquid assets continue to be higher than the fixed-rate debts. In the previous year’s quarter this amounted to +0.9%.

Forecast for 2018 Confirmed

“We are very happy with the start into the new fiscal year. We further on expect our turnover to in- crease by 6 to 8% to a level slightly below 130 million euro. The turnover achievements of the first quarter and the expected sales increases through our partner network reaffirm this forecast. Concerning the EBITDA we also stay with our previous estimate of about 10 million euro or an EBITDA margin of 7 to 9%. Besides the usual seasonal influences we also expect an impact deriving from the start of the construction period of our site in China”, comments Marc Bunz, Chief Financial Officer of Schweizer Electronic AG.

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 avia- tion electronics address key challenges in the areas of Power Electronics, Embedding and System Cost Re- duction. Its products are distinguished for their superior quality and their energy-saving and environmentally- friendly features. Together with its partners WUS Printed Circuit (Kunshan) Co., Ltd., Meiko Electronics Co. Ltd. and Elekonta Marek GmbH & Co. KG 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.