RoodMicrotec sees losses increase

Longer lead times and postponement of some big orders resulted in sales of EUR 4'770 million, 13% down on the first half of 2013 (HY1 2013: EUR 5'504 million). Sales in all business units except for Test decreased between 4% and 29%. Lower sales and seizing new market opportunities have resulted in a net result of EUR -594 million in the first half of 2014 (HY1 2013: EUR -386 million). Philip Nijenhuis, RoodMicrotec CEO commented: “In the first half of 2014, we have seen the number of applications increase enormously, as stated before, and correspondingly the number of offers made. In view of our stable and relatively high hit rate (offers that result in an actual order), this gives us a great deal of confidence for the future. Our focus on new customers and projects with longer running times and recurring sales by definition strengthens our market position. But here, too, costs come before benefits, as the results for the first half show.”