Order book increased by 44 percent for Schweizer

Orders for the Asian partners climbed by 56 percent to EUR 27.2 million, the order book at the Schramberg production site jumped by 42 percent to EUR 148.4 million. Despite the increasing order income, the turnover decreased slightly by 3.3 percent compared to previous year’s period and amounted to EUR 58.0 million. Such a fluctuation, however, is not unusual and is rather a seasonal phenomenon than a shift of the basic direction. Due to the slight turnover decline, the EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) decreased by EUR 0.2 to EUR 4.6 million. The EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) amounted to EUR 0.9 million (2015: EUR 1.0 million). The financial development at Schweizer continues to remain stable, the balance sheet indicators stay on a high level. In the first half year, the company invested EUR 5.3 million at the production site in Schramberg, with a focus on the new combined heat and power plant as well as on technological investments in bottle neck areas. The equity capital declined slightly by 1 percent against the 2015 year end level to EUR 66.4 million, which is mainly caused by a profit-neutral allocation to pension provisions. Due to a slightly increased balance sheet total, the equity ratio declined to 54.8 percent against 56.5 percent on December 31, 2015. With a net gearing of minus 1.0 percent (December 31, 2015: minus 5.1percent) Schweizer disposes of a net asset. The significant jump in order income reflects a progressively forward-looking ordering procedure of customers in particular in the automotive sector, which accounts for 77 percent of Schweizer’s turnover volume. Germany remains the strongest market. Technologically advanced products and solutions increasingly continue to contribute to Schweizer’s success with the power electronics technologies achieving a particular high growth rate of 31 percent. Forecast The economic environment as well as the growth forecasts have been overcast by the United Kingdom’s potential exit of the European Union. This is likely to affect the German and the European automotive industry as well. However, Schweizer’s turnover and in particular the order book development of the first half year give reason to confirm the spring forecast of 2 percent turnover increase for the total year 2016.