Cicor grows despite economic headwind

In 2019, Cicor’s net sales grew to CHF 253.9 million (EUR 240.3 million), up 2.3% compared with CHF 248.1 million (EUR 234.9 million) in 2018. 2 Driven by pull-in effects stemming from the component shortages of 2018 and as a result of the record high order backlog at the beginning of the year, the net sales in the first half-year 2019 was very strong, followed by a slowdown in the second half-year due to the change in the economic environment, the company states in its full year report. EBIT fell slightly in the year under report to CHF 14.9 million (EUR 14.1 million), compared with CHF 15.2 million (EUR 14.3 million), in 2018. A net result of CHF 8.4 million (EUR 7.9 million) was posted, a decrease from CHF 9.6 million (EUR 9.0 million), during the previous year. Uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic According to the latest findings, the coronavirus pandemic will have a much greater impact on supply chains than originally assumed. Although many companies in China resumed operations in mid-February 2020, they did so with significantly reduced capacity due to a lack of returning personnel. “Especially the lack of availability of printed circuit boards, which nowadays are mainly produced in China, is leading to production downtimes along the entire value chain. Transportation capacity, not only within China but also to Europe, is also severely affected by the pandemic. As things stand today, it can be assumed that the coronavirus pandemic will also have an impact on Cicor’s 2020 results. The exact impact cannot be estimated at the moment,” the company writes. The major new projects that are ramping up and the catch-up effects from the situation in China indicate significant growth in the second half of 2020, but Cicor overall still expects slightly lower net sales in 2020 compared to 2019. Cicor Group‘s long-term EBIT margin target remains unchanged in the range of 6% to 8 %.