Singulus Technologies announced financial results for the first quarter of 2019.

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Unedited press release follows:

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES Reports Results for the 1st Quarter of 2019

• Sales of € 20.8 million increased compared with previous year

• EBIT of € 1.1 million significantly improved (previous year: 
€ -1.6 million)

• Several orders for the work areas Decorative Coatings and Medical Technology

• Project talks for Solar segment progressing favorably

• Positive outlook for the business year 2019 – further increase in sales and earnings

Kahl am Main, May 14, 2019 – Sales for the SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES Group (SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES) amounted to € 20.8 million in the quarter under review exceeding the prior-year level of € 17.3 million. The earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) developed positively to € 1.1 million (previous year: -1.6 million). The EBITDA of € 2.0 million was also significantly above the previous year’s level of € -1.2 million.

In the first three months of the business year 2019 a gross margin in the amount of 31.1 % (previous year: 27.1 %) was achieved. The order backlog of € 57.0 million (March 31, 2018: € 125.5 million) was below the prior-year level. The first quarter 2018 was mainly impacted by the large orders for machines for the production of CIGS solar modules. The order intake at SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES in the first quarter 2019 came to € 11.8 million and was thus below the level achieved in the previous year.

Dr. Stefan Rinck, CEO of SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES, comments: “We expect a considerably favorable course of business in the next couple of months and anticipate that both sales and EBIT will increase substantially in the second half of the year and that we will achieve a positive EBIT ranging from € 6.0 million to € 11.0 million for the full-year.”

The headcount within the SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES Group remained at a constant level of 350 employees as of March 31, 2019 (December 31, 2018: 343 employees).

New segmental structure from 2019
In the past couple of months SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES has worked intensively on several projects for the new application areas Decorative Coatings and Medical Technology and was able to successfully sign orders during the quarter under review. In April, additional orders for vacuum coating machines of the POLYCOATER type as well as production machines for Medical Technology was recorded.

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES focuses its activities on the development, manufacturing as well as on the sales and marketing of machines and systems in the area of vacuum coating technology, surface treatment, wet-chemical as well as thermal process technology and was able to establish itself with these technologies in the new work areas Decorative Coatings and Medical Technology. The company was able to position these products in the market with orders in the past year.

Due to this new positioning as well as the increasing importance of the new work areas, SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES has adjusted the segmental structure to these trends. Accordingly, the new segment Life Science includes the business activities in the areas of Medical Technology, Decorative Coatings as well as Optical Disc. In addition, the company continues to the report the segments Solar and Semiconductor.

Positive outlook for the business year 2019
For the current business year, pursuant to IFRS, SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES expects a further increase in sales and earnings compared with the previous business year 2018. Sales in the business year 2019 should be in a range from € 135.0 million to € 155.0 million. The operating earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) should most probably also develop favorably and are projected to be in a range between € 6.0 million to € 11.0 million. The key sales and earnings drivers are expected to originate from the Solar division and here from large project orders for investments in production lines for CIGS solar modules. These improvements are based on the current project plans with respect to the realization of the current projects as well as the start of expected new projects for the planned expansion and the new CIGS sites of CNBM, respectively. With regards to the forecasts for the business year 2019 the Executive Board assumes that the signing of the delivery contracts and the receipt of the corresponding prepayments will materialize in the next couple of months with a high probability.

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, consumer goods and optical disc sectors.

The company’s core competencies include various processes of coating technology, surface treatment and wet-chemical and thermal production processes.