Mycronic Releases Interim Report January–March 2024

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Mycronic announced interim report for January–March 2024.

First quarter

• Order intake amounted to SEK 1,645 (1,617) million, an increase of 2 percent
• Net sales increased 39 percent to SEK 1,692 (1,219) million. Based on constant exchange rates, net sales increased 42 percent
• EBIT amounted to SEK 599 (182) million and the EBIT margin was 35 (15) percent
• Earnings per share were SEK 5.01 (1.52) before dilution and SEK 5.00 (1.52) after dilution

Outlook 2024

• The Board of Directors’ opinion remains that consolidated net sales for 2024 will be at a level of SEK 6.25 billion.

Anders Lindqvist, President and CEO, comments:

We started the year strongly. The order intake for the first quarter was at the same favorable level as last year, while net sales increased 39 percent, driven mainly by Pattern Generators. EBIT amounted to SEK 599 million – our second-strongest quarterly results ever – corresponding to an EBIT margin of 35 percent.

In 2024, we celebrate “more than 50 years of innovation” at Mycronic. It is therefore particularly gratifying that we are starting this anniversary year with the launch of two new products in Pattern Generators: Prexision 8000 Evo, which is the division’s most advanced mask writer for displays to date, and MMX, our first metrology system for semiconductor photomasks. Both of these exciting new additions to Pattern Generators’ customer offering were launched externally at an industry conference in Japan in April.

In Pattern Generators, the photomask market for displays was stable in the first quarter of the year after having slowed slightly in the fourth quarter of 2023, while the photomask market for semiconductors remained at a high level. Pattern Generators received orders for five mask writers during the quarter: one Prexision 8 Evo and four SLXs.

In High Flex, demand in Europe and the US slowed slightly in the first quarter of the year, while China showed indications of recovery. High Flex received positive feedback from customers for its stencil printer, which combines well with MYPro A40, the new pick-and-place machine that was launched in the fourth quarter of 2023 and is up to 50 percent faster than its predecessor.

During the quarter, High Volume noted a recovery in demand in both China and the foreign markets in which it operates. This recovery was seen for customers in both consumer electronics and the electric vehicle industry. As a result of the preparations ahead of a possible listing of Axxon on a stock exchange in China, Ivan Li left Mycronic’s executive management during the quarter, but remains as Head of Axxon, the core of Mycronic’s High Volume division.

In Global Technologies’ PCB test business line, demand for test equipment was strong, driven by increased demand for printed circuit boards used in advanced servers for training AI models. Strong AI driven demand in the data communications market continued from last quarter and supported the die bonding business. The die bonding business line launched a product for active alignment of optical components during the quarter that will address additional steps in our customers’ production process.

At the end of the quarter, Global Technologies signed an agreement to acquire Vanguard Automation, a small company headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, which has developed a technology and automated equipment for 3D microfabrication of optical interconnects. The acquisition was finalized at the beginning of April and it is gratifying to be able to add this exciting technology to our customer offering.