Schweizer posts lukewarm results for 2019

Schweizer has confirmed the preliminary figures for the full financial year of 2019. Consolidated sales amounted to EUR 120.7 million, which is at the lower end of the projected sales of EUR 120 – 125 million (previous year: EUR 125.3 million). Gross profit was EUR 12.6 million (2018: EUR 18.6 million). EBITDA amounting to EUR 0.1 million (previous year: EUR 9.2 million). Orders on hand totalled EUR 126.7 million at the end of the reporting year, of which EUR 98.1 million is scheduled for delivery in 2020. “While we were able to expand business through our Asian partners WUS and Meiko with an increase of 52.9 percent, sales from our main plant in Schramberg did not develop satisfactorily (-17.5 percent). This decline was shaped by the downturn in economic activity since the beginning of 2019, which resulted in a corresponding reluctance to place orders among both automotive and industrial customers,” the company writes in a press release. Despite the reluctance of automotive customers to place orders, sales with this customer group increased and amounted to EUR 92.0 million. This corresponds to an increase of EUR 4.1 million or 4.7% compared to the previous year. By contrast, sales to industrial customers declined. Their contribution to sales amounted to EUR 22.3 million in the 2019 financial year (previous year: EUR 30.5 million). The main reasons for the decline in the operating result is said to have been the sharply increased share of sales of the PCBs manufactured by the company’s Asian partners and a simultaneous decline in in-house production. China investment project Construction work on the company’s production and administration building was completed on schedule in 2019. It was also possible to install all the systems required for the start of production on time, which made it possible to produce the first sample PCBs in January 2020. Despite the outbreak of the coronavirus in China, the first series products will be delivered with a slight delay in April 2020. With the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the company says that it is very difficult to make reliable projections for the 2020 financial year. Aside from the COVID-19 situation, global trade disputes and Brexit seemed to have come a step closer to a solution, but there is still a lack of clarity on these issues. Based on these factors, Schweizer expects negative business development in 2020. This assumption is based in particular on the very negative impact that can be expected from the coronavirus crisis.