Elmos: Weak auto market determines sales level

The company said the business continues to be determined by the pronounced weakness of the non-premium manufacturers. The semiconductor business, which focuses on the automotive industry, posted a disproportionately large decline to 82.5 million euro (HY1 2011: 89.0 million euros). This part of the business is also affected by customers’ product generation changes. Contrary to that, the company said the satisfying development of the Asian business has been keeping up continuously. Consolidated sales in this region climbed 27.2% compared to the first half-year 2011. The micromechanics segment, supplying different business sectors, also managed to continue the positive trend and recorded an increase in sales of 18.3% to 9.9 million euros. Due to weak sales performance, a cost savings program was implemented in the second quarter of 2012. The measures have taken effect since the middle of the second quarter. With respect to the first half-year, the gross margin reached 39.2% (HY1 2011: 44.3%). The EBIT came to an amount of 4.3 million euros (HY1 2011: 12.2 million euros). The EBIT margin was 4.7% in the reporting period (HY1 2011: 12.5%). The consolidated net income amounted to 3.5 million euros, equivalent to earnings per share of 0.18 Euro (HY1 2011: 8.5 million Euro or 0.44 euros). Elmos expects sales for the full year 2012 to turn out slightly below the prior-year level.