PartnerTech swings to growth in second quarter

PartnerTech announced in November its action plan in which 150 people were made redundant. All of those have now left the company and in the fourth quarter PartnerTech is expecting full effect of these cost saving, which the company amounts to 10.6 MEUR per year. Net sales in second quarter were 73.7 MEUR (72.5) and the operating profit was 0.86 MEUR (2.58). The profit after tax for the same period was 0.39 MEUR (1.69). The operating profit rose by 1.83 MEUR from the first quarter of 2008 and this can be explained by the significantly increasing volumes within the business segment Terminals/Machines. Net sales in first half were 138.7 MEUR (144.9) and the operating profit was -0.11 MEUR (5.81). The profit after tax was -0.65 MEUR (3.64). Cash flow after investments amounted to -0.17 MEUR (11). Cash flow was due primarily to an increase in accounts receivable as a result of high deliveries before the vacation period and tax paid that was higher this year than the same period last year because tax is based on historically high earnings. Proceeds from the units divested during the year generated positive cash flow of 3.4 MEUR. Investments totalled 2.74 MEUR(2.74). Sales for the Terminals/Machine Solutions business segment increased by 5.97 MEUR or 19.5% to 36.53 MEUR (30.56) during the first half of the year, the biggest improvement of all the business segments. Sales for the Medical Equipment business segment decreased by 4.44 MEUR or 16.7% to 22.11 MEUR (26.55). The decline was caused by generally lower demand by most of the segment's customers. Sales for Industry/Telecom, the biggest segment, decreased by 7.74 MEUR or 8.8% to 80.1 MEUR (87.8). The reason for the decline was lower demand by a number of the segment's customers. Lower demand by some of the customers was temporary in nature and was due to season variations in ordering. Some of the segment's larger customers are doing very well and offset part of the decrease.