The Marketing Minute: If Your Marketing Budget Gets Cut in Half, Then What?
Punching Out: How Are the Big Boys in Electronics Doing?
It’s Only Common Sense: Complexity Is the Enemy of Profit
Agfa-Gevaert Group in Q3 2023: Overall EBITDA Growth Driven by Strong Performance
November 20, 2023 | Agfa-GevaertEstimated reading time: 3 minutes
Agfa-Gevaert commented on its results in the third quarter of 2023.
“I am pleased to see that all growth engines performed well, even in the face of challenging economic and geopolitical conditions as well as adverse currency effects. We considerably improved the profitability of the Digital Print activities and the HealthCare IT division. Sales for our ZIRFON membranes for green hydrogen production continued to grow strongly and this business also started to contribute to profitability. On the back of good operational performance, we have returned to a positive free cash flow in the third quarter,” said Pascal Juéry, President and CEO of the Agfa-Gevaert Group.
Reporting post Offset Solutions
The recent sale of the Offset Solutions division (now rebranded to ECO3) influences the way the Agfa-Gevaert Group reports its results. The numbers from sales to EBITDA present the Agfa-Gevaert Group with Offset Solutions excluded, but with a new division called ‘Contractor Operations & Services former Offset’ or ‘CONOPS’. CONOPS represents the supply of film and chemicals as well as a set of support services delivered by Agfa to the external party ECO3. The turnover represents the supply agreements, with corresponding COGS charges. The income related to the support services will be accounted for as Other Income, while the costs related to those support services are re-presented in the different SG&A lines. The comparative period Q3 ‘22 has been re-presented accordingly. As per IFRS 5, stranded costs related to Offset Solutions have been treated differently in 2023 vs 2022. In Q3 ‘22 stranded costs are reported under CONOPS. In Q3 ‘23 these are absorbed by the three business divisions.
Third quarter
- Excluding currency effects, the Agfa-Gevaert Group’s revenue increased by 1.3% versus the third quarter of 2022, driven by the HealthCare IT division, ZIRFON membranes for green hydrogen production and the good performance of the ink product lines in the Digital Print & Chemicals division. Traditional film activities were under pressure from challenging economic conditions (including adverse currency effects and the weakening economy in China) and the current geopolitical circumstances.
- Driven by the HealthCare IT and Digital Print & Chemicals divisions, the Group’s gross profit margin improved to 30.5%, in spite of adverse effects including cost inflation, adverse currency effects, manufacturing inefficiencies and the weakness in the industrial film markets.
- Adjusted EBITDA improved strongly from 7 million Euro to 17 million Euro (6.1% of revenue).
- Restructuring and non-recurring items resulted in a charge of 5 million Euro versus 12 million Euro in Q3 2022.
- The net finance costs amounted to 7 million Euro.
- Income tax expenses increased to 6 million Euro versus 5 million Euro in Q3 2022.
- The Agfa-Gevaert Group posted a net loss of 15 million Euro.
Financial position and cash flow
- Net financial debt (including IFRS 16) remained stable versus Q2 2023 at 33 million Euro.
- Trade working capital (CONOPS excluded) evolved from 35% of turnover at the end of Q3 2022 to 31% in Q3 2023. In absolute numbers, trade working capital evolved from 370 million Euro at the end of Q3 2022 to 341 million Euro.
- In Q3 2023, the Group generated a free cash flow of 5 million Euro.
Outlook
The Agfa-Gevaert Group confirms the outlook that was provided in the Q2 2023 press release. Overall, the Agfa-Gevaert Group expects a recovery in profitability in the full year 2023 versus 2022.
2023 outlook per division:
- HealthCare IT: Order intake growth continues to be strong. As the portion of own IP in the sales mix is expected to grow, profitability is expected to continue to improve versus the third quarter. This will likely result in a strong end of the year. Impacted by adverse currency effects, full year EBITDA is expected to be slightly below that of last year.
- Radiology Solutions: For medical film, exchange rate and margin pressure is expected to continue, resulting in a weak performance in the fourth quarter. The progress in Direct Radiography is expected to continue.
- Digital Print & Chemicals: The division expects to continue to improve profitability, based on pricing, cost improvement actions and positive contributions from digital print and the ZIRFON membranes. The revenue generated by ZIRFON will continue to grow very strongly.
Share on:
Testimonial
"In a year when every marketing dollar mattered, I chose to keep I-Connect007 in our 2025 plan. Their commitment to high-quality, insightful content aligns with Koh Young’s values and helps readers navigate a changing industry. "
Brent Fischthal - Koh YoungSuggested Items
Punching Out: How Are the Big Boys in Electronics Doing?
05/12/2026 | Tom Kastner -- Column: Punching Out!Let’s see what the public companies are up to in the PCB and EMS industries. In North America, there are only a couple of publicly traded PCB companies: TTM Technologies and Firan Technology Group. On the EMS side, there are a few more: Flex, Jabil, Celestica, Sanmina,, Benchmark, Fabrinet, Kimball Electronics, Plexus Corp, Nortech Systems, and Key Tronic Corp. From an M&A standpoint, these public companies have been fairly quiet in the past five years. FTG completed two deals in 2022 (IMI and Holaday), Flex had three deals, Jabil had five deals, and Sanmina had one deal.
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
05/08/2026 | Marcy LaRont, I-Connect007This week, I’ve selected some outstanding interviews that you’ll want to take note of. First, is a roundtable discussion featuring three dynamic industry cybersecurity experts. Please watch this important discussion that affects us all. Following that, I spotlight the IPC-2581 Consortium, which explains why IPC-2581 is the standard to replace Gerber data for manufacturing. Next, I am including my interview with PCBAA and AAM, who collaborated to release a short documentary on U.S. PCB manufacturing.
A Necessary Shift From Gerber to IPC-2581
05/07/2026 | Tracy Riggan, Global Electronics AssociationIPC-2581 is an open, vendor-neutral data exchange standard developed by the Global Electronics Association to streamline the exchange of PCB design information across fabrication, assembly, and test. It replaces multiple legacy formats—including industry standards, Gerber, and ODB++—with a single, comprehensive, XML-based dataset that captures all manufacturing details.
ViaSat-3 F3 Satellite Successfully Launches from Kennedy Space Center
05/04/2026 | BoeingBoeing mission controllers confirmed that the ViaSat-3 F3 (VS-3 F3) satellite is healthy in orbit following its successful launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at 10:13 a.m. ET from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.
Microchip Expands Post-Quantum Root of Trust Controllers
04/29/2026 | MicrochipAs the industry embarks on the transition to post‑quantum cryptography (PQC), Microchip Technology is expanding its portfolio of Trust Shield, PQC‑ready devices with the TS1800 Platform Root of Trust controller and the TS50x secure boot controller.