Singulus Technologies announced financial results for its full 2019 business year.

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Unedited press release follows:

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES Reports Financial Results for 2019

• Sales and earnings within expectations

• Gross margin at prior-year level

• Increase in sales and earnings planned for 2020

• Already € 12.4 million prepayments received for large CIGS order

• COVID-19 pandemic impacts the short-term course of business

Kahl am Main, March 24, 2020 – In the past business year 2019 SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES achieved sales in the amount of € 79.4 million (previous year: € 127.5 million) pursuant to IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). In the period under review the operating result (EBIT) came to € -8.2 million (previous year: € 6.8 million). Due to the bankruptcy of a large customer in the Solar segment, the company incurred losses from impairments in the amount of € 3.3 million in 2019, which were reflected in the EBIT. Earnings before depreciation (EBITDA) of € -4.1 million were also negative (previous year: € 9.1 million).

On January 15, 2020 SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES signed the contracts for a large order exceeding € 50 million with the China National Building Materials Group (CNBM), Beijing, China, for the site in Xuzhou for the delivery of machines for the manufacturing of CIGS solar modules. Up to date, for these orders SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES already received € 12.4 million of the agreed prepayments. The contracts were recognized in the order backlog in the first quarter.

The order intake came to € 39.7 million overall in the year under review 2019 (previous year: € 86.8 million) and was substantially below previous year’s level due to delays relating to significant projects. The order backlog amounted to € 26.3 million as of December 31, 2019 (previous year: € 66.0 million). The operating cash flow within the Group was negative at € – 3.2 million in the business year 2019 (previous year: € 2.5 million). The level of cash and cash equivalents increased slightly to € 14.8 million (previous year: € 13.5 million). Despite the overall lower sales, in the year under review the gross margin of 28.8 % remained around the previous year’s level of 28.1 %.

As of December 31, 2019, the headcount within the SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES Group increased to 351 employees in the business year 2019 (December 31, 2018: 343 employees). In Germany, the number of employees as of the year-end amounted to 296 (previous year: 293 employees).

Outlook
For the current business year, (pursuant to IFRS) based on the current forecasts SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES anticipates a substantial increase in sales and earnings compared with the past business year 2019. Sales in the business year 2020 should come in at a range from € 120 million to € 140 million. The operating earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) should also develop favorably and come in at a mid-single-digit million range. It is an essential prerequisite for the planning that the partial payments, which are due based on the already contracted large orders, will actually be made without material delay.

To achieve the financial forecasts requires a course of business activities in this business year as planned. A material delay in ongoing projects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could result in a significant negative impact on the sales and earnings targets for the business year 2020. However, it is currently impossible for the company to conclusively assess the implications and impacts on the business activities. The management is monitoring the situation in order to be able to promptly implement required countermeasures.

For the year 2021 the company forecasts a further increase in sales based on the average of the aforementioned range. The operating result (EBIT) should improve correspondingly.

At a Glance – Consolidated Key Figures 2019 – 2018

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES
Innovations for new technologies

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES develops and assembles innovative machines and systems for efficient and resource-saving production processes, which are used worldwide in the solar, semiconductor, medical technology as well as consumer goods and data storage sectors.