Aspocomp sees the benefits of a diversified business

The company recorded fourth quarter net sales of EUR 6.2 million, which is a YoY decrease of 6%. The five largest customers accounted for 49% of net sales (62% 10-12/2016). In geographical terms, 95% of net sales were generated in Europe (97%), 2 % in Asia (3%) and 3% in North America (1%). The operating result for the fourth quarter amounted to EUR 0.3 million (EUR 0.8 million 10-12/2016). Fourth-quarter operating result was 6% of net sales. The order book at the end of the review period was EUR 2.5 million (EUR 2.4 million 12/2017). “We continued to perform well in 2017, although we fell slightly short of our growth target of around 10 percent. We have succeeded very well in our main strategic objective of diversifying our business. Our net sales and profitability are no longer entirely dependent on individual customer relationships or customer segments. We have expanded into several customer segments and have increased our sales and activity in Central Europe, especially in Germany and the United Kingdom,” CEO Mikko Montonen said in the company’s fiscal report. “The general economic recovery and the launch of investments were particularly evident in the industrial electronics customer segment, which saw the strongest growth. Last year, the sales of the security and defense electronics customer segment also developed strongly. In Aspocomp's latest customer segment, testing semiconductor components, we nearly triple our sales,” he continued. For the full year, the company recorded net sales of EUR 23.0 million, up from 21.6 million, a YoY increase of 6%. Aspocomp expected a growth of about 10%, but fell short due to the weakening of the US dollar and the delays in a major customer project in December 2017. Growth was strongest in the industrial electronics customer segment. Strong development was also seen in sales of the security and defence electronics customer as well as testing semiconductor components segments. The five largest customers accounted for 50% of net sales (53% 1-12/2016). In geographical terms, 96% of net sales were generated in Europe (93%), 2 % in Asia (5%) and 2 % in North America (2%). Operating result amounted to EUR 0.8 million (EUR 0.7 million 1-12/2016), representing a year-on-year increase of EUR 0.1 million. The company expects to grow significantly faster than the market at an average rate of 10% a year thanks to the EUR 10 million investment project to develop the company’s Oulu plant, which was announced in December, and the outsourcing of Asian volume production services.