Neways Strongly Positioned for 2022 with Well-filled Order Book

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Neways Electronics International N.V. announces the results for the financial year ending on 31 December 2021.

Highlights:

• Net turnover of € 469.5 million, 1.9% lower than in 2020, largely due to the rationalization of less profitable customers. Growth with existing clients was dampened by continued material shortages and supply chain disruptions;
• Order intake up by 47.4% to € 613.5 million in 2021; order portfolio increases to € 364.3 million at year-end 2021, a rise of 61.9% compared with year-end 2020, driven by a recovery in Automotive, increasing demand in Medical and continued growth in demand in Semiconductor;
• Gross margin as a percentage of turnover increases to 39.2% from 36.7%, driven by Neways’ focus on profitable turnover and positive mix effects;
• Normalised EBITDA rises by 26.7% to € 27.5 million in 2021, primarily driven by improvement in gross margin;
• Normalised operating result increases by 86.1 % to € 14.7 million;
• Net result recovers strongly and rises to € 8.7 million (€ 0.71 per share), compared to a net loss of
• € 3.9 million in 2020;
• Net cash flow comes in at a negative € 33.4 million, among other things, due to higher working capital utilisation, one-off cash-out effects related to the reorganisation in Germany and the integration of two operating companies in the Netherlands, plus the payment of deferred taxes;
• Neways is strongly positioned for further growth in 2022. The order book is well filled, market developments are positive and the demand for System Innovator solutions is gaining traction among our clients. Continued supply chain disruptions, high energy costs and rising inflation could have a dampening effect on turnover and profit growth in 2022.

Message from the CEO

Eric Stodel: “In the second half year we continued the strong trend as seen in the first half of 2021. We saw a strong improvement in our margin, primarily as a result of more deliberate choices, positive mix effects and a strong focus on offering greater added value. We also managed to limit the impact of international supply chain disruptions on our margins. In combination with our OneNeways transformation, this led to recovery and improvement of our profitability.

Due to the rationalization of less profitable customers, turnover is slightly lower in 2021 than in 2020, and turnover growth with existing clients was limited by shortages of materials and supply chain disruptions. On the other hand, strong demand resulted in a well-filled order book at the start of the new year. The recovery in the Automotive market is continuing and the number of long-term initiatives in other market sectors, including Medical, are now starting to translate into higher order intake. The demand in the Semiconductor sector is still very strong and we expect this to continue in the year ahead.

In terms of deploying our strategy, we are well on schedule. We are making increasingd headway in our positioning as a System Innovator, focusing on providing our clients with greater added value. For instance, we gained a number of new clients last year, divided across all our strategic market sectors, and at the same time saw continued growth in our pipeline of prospects. We also made solid progress in our transformation to OneNeways, which is helping to make our organisation more efficient and to optimise the delivery of services to our clients.

In 2022, the ongoing supply chain disruptions, high energy costs and rising inflation could have a dampening effect on our turnover growth and/or our profitability. Despite this, we are in a good starting position for 2022. Our order portfolio is well filled and we will continue to offer high-grade solutions in order to strengthen our competitive position and improve our profitability. We are seeing an increasing demand for these solutions from our clients and we will continue to invest in distinctive innovative technologies that contribute to the energy transition, the growth of the semiconductor industry and high-grade medical solutions.”