- Consolidated sales: Up around 19% to €152.8 million
- Consolidated EBIT: Increase by around 12% to €9.7 million
- New orders and order books remain at a good level within expectations
- Sales and earnings targets confirmed
euromicron AG remains on course for growth thanks to successful and stable operational business in the first half of 2012. Increases in efficiency, cost reductions and leveraging of synergy effects are the main intermediate results of this phase in the company’s development, in which the focus is on integration and professionalization of corporate and personnel structures.
In particular, merger of telent GmbH with the listed euromicron AG is going according to plan. Customers and employees are increasingly acknowledging the cooperation between euromicron’s companies, with their medium-sized setup, and telent with its powerful structures. The strong contribution made by telent’s business also means overall that euromicron is participating more extensively in large projects and is thus boosting its system business, which is seasonal in nature given that value-added services are traditionally performed and projects in progress invoiced in the second half of the year. This is due as usual to the fact that many key accounts, in particular those in telent GmbH’s arena, increasingly do not award contracts until the second half of the year after projects have been jointly conceived and negotiated in the first half. That increasingly impacts the euromicron Group’s order situation, with orders being placed to a greater extent in the second half of the year than was previously the case, although this does not weaken the company’s overall performance.
The Executive Board anticipated this development as part of consolidation of telent and remains positive about the second half of the year in view of the company’s good business performance thus far. “We are convinced that, with a business model geared toward sustainable growth and our clear strategic orientation coupled with a secure basis for financing and a equity ratio that remains solid, we can achieve our sales and earnings targets and ensure the long-term further development of our company,” states Dr. Willibald Späth, Chairman of the Executive Board.
Consolidated sales
At June 30, 2012, euromicron generated consolidated sales of €152.8 million, around 19% up on the €128.3 million at the same time in the previous year.
Consolidated income
In the first half of fiscal 2012, euromicron posted consolidated income before interest and taxes of around €9.7 million (previous year: €8.6 million), an increase of 11.9% over the same period in 2011. Operating income of the associated companies was as expected: Around €12.4 million, compared with €11.9 million in the previous year. Despite the fact that new shares were issued in the final quarter of 2011, undiluted earnings per share were €0.82 (previous year: €0.95).
Order situation at the Group
In line with the change in project and customer structures toward large projects and so an intensification of the seasonal course of business where services are mainly performed in the second half of the year, orders books are – as expected – lower at €122.7 million (the previous year’s figure of €146.9 million, which is not comparable due to the different fiscal year, fully included takeover of telent’s business). New orders for the first half of the year totaled €148.0 million (previous year: €156.1 million), i.e. still at a very good level.
Balance sheet structure
The euromicron Group’s total assets at June 30, 2012, were €281.1 million, up by around €15 million from December 31, 2011 (€265.7 million).
Personnel
1,597 persons were employed by the euromicron Group as of June 30 of fiscal 2012. Personnel costs totaled €43.4 million (previous year: €32.9 million).
Equity
Equity at June 20, 2012, is €118.0 million after payment of the dividend of €7.7 million and around €2.2 million below the level at December 31, 2011. The equity ratio after the first half of the year is thus 42.0%. The lower equity compared with that in the 2011 financial statements is mainly attributable to the dividend payment and, as in previous years, can be regarded as temporary.
euromicron’s share
euromicron’s share started the first day of trading in the second quarter very well at €22.61 and constantly performed above the €20 mark in April. In May and June, it was no longer able to buck the general market pressure. In an internationally extremely volatile stock market climate, the share was priced between €18 and €20 in May. By the end of the 2nd quarter, it moved well above €20 for a while and remained stable at this level near to the €20 mark.
Outlook
euromicron AG will continue to work further on optimizing and integrating its corporate and personnel structures in the second half of 2012 so as to leverage potential in the market in an even more focused manner.
To enable this, the Group will press ahead with its continuous improvement process, which comprises among other things various employee qualification and recruitment programs, adaptation of processes to market requirements, optimization of cost structures and stronger investment in new products, further development of existing ones, and efficient production processes and methods. By establishing cross-organizational Competence Centers, topics and solutions which the company is convinced will reap success will be marketed and presented to interested customers to an even greater extent.
In addition, euromicron will continue to seize worthwhile opportunities to expand its business model, take over qualified teams, technologies and market access or patents from the market and integrate them in the Group. Several smallish specialist companies are currently being examined and, if the outcome is positive, could be included in the euromicron Group.
In the current fiscal year 2012, euromicron aims to achieve a sales target of €330 to €345 million and an EBIT return at the Group level of 8 to 11 percent.
“Our operational business is successful and stable. Having increased sales by around 19% and earnings by some 12% in the first half of the year, euromicron remains on course,” says Dr. Späth. Given the change in project and customer structures, Späth points out the following trend as part of the outlook: “In 2013 and the years after, we assume that there will be an even huger shift in business toward the 2nd half of the year. We are getting ready for that, gearing our financing and backup processes in sales to it and making our reporting even more transparent for our shareholders with regard to this change.”
You can find the 2012 half-yearly report as of August 10, 2012, on our homepage at http://www.euromicron.net/en/finanzberichte.
euromicron AG (www.euromicron.de) is an all-round solution provider for communications, transport, data and security networks. euromicron’s network infrastructures integrate voice, video and data transport wirelessly, via copper cable and by means of fiber-optic technologies. euromicron builds its leading applications, such as security, control, healthcare or surveillance systems, on the basis of these cutting-edge network infrastructures.
Founded on its expertise as a developer and producer of fiber-optic components, euromicron AG is a strongly growing, highly profitable group that is listed on the stock market, has a medium-sized character and focuses on operational growth, integration and further market penetration, internationalization and expansion.