Cicor remains profitable even during the pandemic

Cicor’s sales amounted to CHF 109.0 million (EUR 101.11 million) during the first half of 2020, which is, as stated earlier, a drop of 17.3% from CHF 131.9 million (EUR 122.36 million) during the same period last year. This decline in sales was however in line with the company’s outlook and affected both the Advanced Microelectronic and Substrates (AMS) Division with a decrease of 11.0 % and the Electronic Solutions (ES) Division, which reported a decrease of 18.9 %. Cicor says it reacted very quickly to the looming crisis and was able to ensure its ability to deliver to customers at all times thanks to implemented protective measures. These measures did however lead to temporary reductions in production capacity. Nevertheless, existing customer projects were continued without exception, albeit in some cases with delays. The Order intake for the first half-year 2020 was CHF 92.6 million (EUR 85.89 million), compared to CHF 111.8 million (EUR 103.7 million) for the same period 2019, a decline of 17.2 %. “The low order intake reflects on one hand the wait-and-see attitude of many customers due to the COVID-19 pandemic and on the other hand the customers’ efforts to secure liquidity by reducing inventories, although well-known customers are already signaling a return to rising market demand,” the company writes in a press release. Even though the company – much like most manufacturing companies – struggled with the effects of the pandemic, a positive operating result (EBIT) was achieved in the first half-year 2020. EBIT for the first half-year 2020 amounted to CHF 4.1 million (EUR 3.8 million), compared to CHF 7.0 million for the first half of 2019 (EUR 6.49 million). Despite the difficult business environment in the first half-year 2020, the net profit of the Group is nevertheless positive at CHF 1.7 million (EUR 1.57 million), compared to CHF 3.8 million (EUR 3.52 million) during the first half-year of 2019.