Neways books higher turnover in third quarter

Neways recorded fully organic year-on-year growth in net turnover of 16.0%. The semiconductor and automotive sectors made particularly strong contributions to turnover growth. Turnover in the medical and industrial sectors remained unchanged compared to Q3 last year. Order intake showed a year-on-year decline of 18.0% in the third quarter compared to the very high level in the same period in 2017. The order book stood at € 297.7 million at the end of September 2018, which constitutes a 19.8% increase compared to the end of September 2017, a press release states. The increase in the order book is the result of stronger demand from clients in the automotive, industrial, semiconductor and medical sectors. The book-to-bill ratio stood at 1.09 at end-September 2018. Huub van der Vrande, Neways' CEO, comments the fiscal report: “The positive trend of the first half of the year continued in the third quarter. Turnover and order book once again increased when compared to the third quarter of 2017. We are also making progress in those areas where there is clear room for improvement. Streamlining the operational processes, focus on first-time-right, smarter purchasing and improved inventory management remain key priorities in that respect. Addressing these issues will enable us to do more justice to our role as the technological and logistics partner for large multinationals in the manufacturing industry, while at the same time making better use of our profit potential. There are additional challenges, too, particularly in the form of the continued shortages of certain components and a shortage of technically trained personnel. Nevertheless, the outlook is still positive and we expect to continue to record growth in the remainder of the year. For the full-year 2018, we expect higher turnover and improved profitability.”