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Cicor Publishes Nine-month Results Report due to OEP Mandatory Offer
December 20, 2024 | CicorEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
Cicor Group is publishing a nine-month report today. OEP has published a mandatory offer after it converted its Mandatory Convertible Bonds (MCNs) and thereby crossed the mandatory offer threshold. The offer is expected to settle on 28 February 2025. Since the last published annual or interim report of Cicor before the end of the offer period was more than six months ago, Cicor is required to prepare a current interim financial statement and publish it as part of the offer prospectus.
Cicor achieved very satisfying financial results in the first nine months of 2024. Net sales of CHF 351.7 million marked a 19.4% increase over last year’s CHF 294.5 million. Our organic sales development, while at -3.5%, outperformed the overall market, which faced a significant double-digit decline, allowing Cicor to capture additional market share. The operating margin improved to 11.6% (PY: 11.2%), with an EBITDA reaching CHF 40.7 million (PY: CHF 32.9 million).
Net profit increased to CHF 17.4 million, a 52% increase from CHF 11.5 million last year. Particularly encouraging was the sharp rise in free cash flow before acquisitions, which increased to CHF 37.4 million (PY: CHF 10.8 million), driven by a reduction in net current assets and contributions from the newly acquired companies. Order intake stabilised in the third quarter, boosting the book-to-bill ratio to 0.92 over nine months, thus maintaining an order backlog of approximately one year.
The integration of our 2024 acquisitions has been highly successful. Notably, the three sites acquired from TT Electronics, quickly achieved an operating margin close to the Cicor’s standards after just a few months post-acquisition. Additionally, STS Defence and Evolution Medtech showing a promising development.
Cicor's balance sheet as of 30 September 2024, has been further strengthened. The leverage ratio (net debt relative to EBITDA over the past twelve months) was reduced to 1.1 in the last quarter, largely due to the recovery of a significant portion of the CHF 49 million used for acquisitions through free cash flows. Additionally, the equity ratio increased to 32.1% from 31.4% at the end of June 2024.
Both divisions contributed positively to these results. The EMS Division increased its sales by 21% to CHF 318.9 million (PY: CHF 263.5 million) and its EBITDA by 24% to CHF 39.7 million (PY: CHF 31.9 million). Meanwhile, the AS Division achieved an organic sales increase of 8.3% to CHF 34.6 million (PY: CHF 31.7 million) and a 25% rise in EBITDA to CHF 5.1 million (PY: CHF 4.0 million).
Outlook for the Full Year 2024
Cicor is performing well in the current challenging economic climate and anticipates only a slight decline in organic growth for 2024. Nevertheless, the strengthening of the Swiss Franc, particularly against the Euro, is negatively impacting sales. Despite this, profitability is improving due to the rapid alignment of operating margins of newly acquired companies with those of the Cicor Group. Consequently, Cicor expects sales to be in the range of CHF 470-490 million, which is in the lower half of the previous guidance (CHF 470-510 million). However, EBITDA is projected to be between CHF 55-60 million, aligning with the upper half of the communicated guidance (CHF 50-60 million).
The robust operating business and solid balance sheet enable Cicor to continue its growth trajectory. Our Strategy 2028, called ‘creating together’, positions Cicor to become the leading pan-European development and production partner for advanced electronics in the medical technology, industry, and aerospace & defence sectors.
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